How were the North and South different from the beginning? What things were done in the early years of the Rep

Question

How were the North and South different from the beginning? What things were done in the early years of the Republic that made the South feel isolated and threatened?

Answer 1

The north was more industrialized, cities, big banking, and a lot of money. The south was more agriarian, rural, and had more slaves than the did free people. The south did not tend to regulate banks, they let them do whatever they wanted, each store could make it's own currency. Although this happened in the north too there were some very solid banks there. Also, a lot of the major ports were in the north. The south would send their goods to be manufactured to the north because they did not have factories. Also there were more RR's and public schools in the north than the south.
The major issue was slavery. Throughout American History there were always issues about it. The first compromise was the 3/5ths compromise of the constitution. Then when new states started to be added the south did not want to loose power to the north and have them make a law against slavery so there were compromises mad then too, twice. Eventually it led to the civil war.
Another difference is religion. The northern colonies tended to be presbyterian or congregationalist and the occasional deist. the southern colonies were Anglican, after the Revolutionary war they became Episcopalian... same thing different name.

Answer 2

Due to things like the Senate seats by state, rather than population, and unbalanced electoral votes in presidential elections, the lesser-populated slaver-controlled South had greater political power than the greater-populated North and non-slaver controlled sections of the South.

With this political dominance the slavers were able to put in laws giving themselves economic advantages over the manufacturers, shipping companies and bankers to whom they owed money. Thus, the economically-dying institution of slavery was preserved, by forcing the capitalists and other classes to subsidize the slave-owning planter class.

This state of affairs continued until just before the Civil War, when increasing population gave non-slaver controlled areas more seats in the House of representatives, and the new non-slave states in the West got more Senate seats and electoral votes.

Unwilling to accept the loss of their political power and their likely end as a class, the slavers threatened to secede if a non-slaver (not necessarily ANTI-slaver) president was elected. He was, and they did, posing a threat to the survival of the United States.

Essentially, the Civil War was a Second Revolution, to overthrow the slaver dictators who had dominated the Republic since the First Revolution against the British.

This analysis, as opposed to the traditional "North vs. South" version we all got in school, is supported by the fact that 200,000 blacks, mostly from the South, and 120,000 white Southerners, were in the UNION army.

Since the rebel army never had more than 900,000 men, this means that one out of every four Southerners who fought in the Civil War wore BLUE, not gray.

The fights between the free United States and the slaver-dominated areas were ongoing from the very beginning of the Republic. Check out President Andrew Jackson (a Carolina-born slaveowner himself!) and his threats of bloodshed to some Southerners who, even during the 1820s, were toying with the idea of secession ("you will have brought this upon yourselves!").

The slaver dictators felt isolated and threatened because they WERE isolated and threatened. They were far outnumbered by the people, both slave and free, North and South, who they were exploiting.

Answer 3

During the early years of the colonies and then the republic, there were four major groupings, each with a different religion, different cultural background, and different lifestyles. "Albion's Seed" is a wonderful book on the topic; you can get the summary on wikipedia (do a search on the title at that site -- Y!A won't let me post the link)

Answer 4

the North was more industrialized (more factories, etc.) and the South was more agrarian (more agriculture)