What were the essential differences between the North and South in the antebellum period?

Question

What were the essential differences between the North and South in the antebellum period?

Answer 1

Just briefly, the North was more industrialized while the South was mostly agrarian.

The South held slaves, and the North had "wage slaves"--people who were free, but worked under conditions in factories and mills that were little better than slavery. The difference was that they were paid (and usually not much) for their labor and at least had the option of taking a better offer if one came along.

Answer 2

Agrarianism v industrialism.