Slavery North vs. South, Essay Example

Economic Dependence of North and South on Slavery

The foundation of slavery in southern states of America was based mainly in economics rather than the innate admiration of the practice itself. When in the 1760s the line of Mason-Dixon was established, the revolutionary cotton gin of Eli Whitney (that would in the long run harden the slavery in the South) was not yet developed. However, despite the fact, there existed lines that were drawn between the agricultural economy of the South and the more industrial-based economy of the North. Slavery created a certain backbone of the South economically and as it became more well-known after Whitney’s creation, it became as much the social and political basis of Southern identity as well. Even though there are cases of early abolitionist groups rooted in the South, it was mainly the political goal of the North that no matter all efforts was not fully realized until after the damage of the Civil War and ultimately with the Thirteenth Amendment. Without the capability of having a large power of unpaid and inexpensive people to cultivate the fields, it seems quite positive that the South would not have enjoyed the economic success that was taking place before the Civil War. Slave owners of the South were centered on making profit of crops. Therefore, slaves became the best form of labor which allowed many plantations to become rich. North of America has profited from slavery in numerous ways. Big financial part was coming from the shipping. This money was acquired from slavery either through importing Africans to the Americas, transporting cotton grown by slaves to England or towing Rhode Island run or Pennsylvania wheat to the slave colonies in the Caribbean.