The Beginnings of the Sectional Crisis :: American America History

The Beginnings of the Sectional Crisis During the antebellum period, the North and the South were complete opposites. This led to each side viewing itself as superior and viewing the other as "backward." Each side believed itself to be superior, in all aspects, to the other. The reasons for these opinions can be found in the different economic, social, and cultural systems found in these two regions. The Southern economy was primarily agricultural. This economy, like many other agricultural economies, did not allow for a great deal of social mobility. The South also lacked factories, or much industry. However, this was not the main difference between the North and the South. Most troubling to Northerners was that the South used slaves as its main source of labor. Obviously, Northerners would be appalled by the barbarism associated with slavery, the beatings, the separation of families; but they were not. Most appalling to Northerners was that slavery did not encourage social mobility, education, or industrial expansion in a society. This was in direct conflict with northern views. The North had always been an industrious society. Ever since the Transportation Revolution of the early 19th century, the North progressed while the South stagnated. The North produced steel and iron while the South's mainly produced cotton. This is not to say that the South was not an economically prosperous region, but it was just not built "in the North's image of industrious." The South did not seem to have a problem with the system of slavery. After all, why should they? it had been successful for over 200 years. Instead, they saw the North as a cruel society full of the treacheries caused by capitalism. They saw factory work as "wage slavery" while they viewed Southern slavery as "paternalistic" and "benevolent." Slavery, they contended, helped eliminate all class distinctions in Southern society. In the North, they saw, factory owners became rich while their employees lived in a state of poverty. Slavery was the great unifier of Southern society. Poor Southerners also supported the "peculiar institution", because it ensured that even the poorest white man was higher than a black man was. This was why Southerners said it preserved social order. Slavery, essentially, gave poor whites someone to look down upon and mock. To an agrarian society the preservation of a rigid class system is of primary concern, unfortunately, this was the only way the South could preserve it was through slavery.