Did an American way life emerged at the end of the 17th century?

Question

or Did two wholly distinct ways of life emerged, one New England and th other southern at the end of the 17th century?

Answer 1

Things really changed radically between South and North in the very late 1700's - and especially the first half of the 19th century before the Civil War. With the coming of the industrial revolution, the North industrialized and became more capitalistic while the South stagnated in the old plantation system which was similar in some ways to the medieval manors which had existed in Europe centuries before. The distinction between North and South was less apparent in the early 1700s though there certainly were differences. In the 1600s (17th century) you must remember that the vast majority of people farmed - both North and South - simply to feed themselves. We often lose sight of that today when only a small minortiy of us raise the food we all must eat.