North vs. South
Taylor C.
Geography in the North
All Northern states have four seasons, fall, winter, spring, and summer. The North is also really hilly and rocky. New England's hills rose sharply above v-shaped valleys carved by steep streams. The North has some natural features like the jagged New England Coast as well. The coast also has a lot bays.
Economy in the North
Inventors in the U.S. and Europe learned to use steam engines to power energy. People also stopped doing things by hand and created machines to do all the work. They had textile factories that combined spinning and weaving, so it made things a lot easier. The new inventors and manufacturing methods they used was to make goods cheaper and it worked.
Transportation in the North
Eerie canals was so successful in the 1800's that other states wanted to build canals as well. Around 2000 miles of railroad tracks covered the North. The North had better roads then a lot of the states as well. They had steam boats powered by steam goods to transport goods.
Society in the North
Cities often lacked sewers and paved streets. About 7 in 10 Northerners lived on farms so there was never any real wealthy or powerful people. African Americans were not equal to white men because they still saw them as slaves. Anti-slavery had many mills and factories.
Geography in the South
Southerners had mild winter, and long hot summers. Many plains had swamps and marshes. The south also had a many broad, flat rivers, and thick forests that went many miles. They had many fertile lowlands that stretched across the south for as much as 300 miles.
Economy in the South
In the South plantation owners used slaves to grow crops and white southerners just worked to own small farms. There was a machine called the cotton gin and they put cotton through it and the seeds separated from the cotton.
Transportation in the South
Southerners used steam boats that traveled hundreds of miles. Many of the railroads in the south came from Virginia. Slow currents and channels of southern rivers made water travel easy and cheap. Also people and the goods traveled on rivers.
Society in the South
A small group of wealthy plantation owners dominated the economy and politics. As long as the slave economy could be preserved the south had little incentive progress. A small minority of African Americans in the south were blacks. Southerners in 1860 still measured wealth in terms of land and slaves.