Question

Question #1: Describe the social and economic differences between the northern colonial colonies and the southern colonial colonies. Answers should be 2 to 3 pages.

Subject is US History. can't find History in the list below.

Answer 1

• In searching for early causes for the American Civil War, many historians point to the dramatic differences between the Northern and Southern colonies in the late 17th and 18th centuries. During this period, each region developed a distinctive identity that would dramatically affect the manner with which it participated in the American economy. For the South, this meant agricultural production, for the North, this meant a rapid collection of resources for the purpose of industrial manufacturing.
• Although the Northern colonies also had many farms, these were relatively few in number and never competed with the Southern markets such as tobacco. Instead, the North focused on trade and manufacturing, building ships to transport Southern harvests, and advancing industries such as light machinery and advanced production of textiles. Because starting businesses like these was more risky than farming in the South, the Northern economy lagged behind until enough capital could be built for more investments.
• In the agrarian South, larger workforces brought the potency for larger harvests and greater profits. As a result, plantation owners sought the cheapest form of labor possible and usually settled on quantities of Negro slaves. A booming British slave trade made it easy for Southern plantation owners to acquire Negro slaves, making this form of labor both cheap and profitable. Already-large plantations expanded, and several cities sprung up merely as trading centers in the midst of otherwise rural regions.
• The North had small farms while the South had larger ones called plantations. The main trade item in the North was lumber. The South had less raw materials then the North and mostly traded cotton. The cotton crop was so important to the Southern colonies, it was nicknamed King Cotton. At that time, the North was starting to become more industrialized. The differences between the two sides were that the North had more raw materials for trade than the South, but the South had larger farms and work areas.
  
• The North was more town-centered while the South had based the structure of their lives around the plantations. Northern colony life mainly revolved around the church members. The South had more focus on the wealthy land owners. The Northern landowners were less advanced on the big-city type deals.
• In the New England colonies, the Puritans and Quakers built their societies on precepts of the Bible, whereas southern colonies relied on a conventional, class-based society. New Englanders valued education and promoted literacy to understand the Bible. In societies like those of the Quakers, even women were granted an education. Young men were expected to earn a trade or work towards a religious or political career. In Southern colonies, many people lived on large farms, known as plantations. There was less emphasis on education, since many of the inhabitants were slaves or indentured servants.
• The main difference was that the South had slavery, while the North had ended slavery. The southern society was based on white people controlling the life of the enslaved Africans. Laws were established that protected slavery and that favored the slave owners. Northerners were against slavery and worked to try to end it and/or the spread of it.
  
• The end of the Civil War brought an official end to slavery, but it did not immediately affect economic, political or social differences. Some Reconstruction era policies even exaggerated them.