Factors Of Slavery On The North And The South

Slavery has had a major impact on both the North and the South although neither shared a common view on slavery .It was tolerated by the North and accepted by the South then some factors arose that began to influence people 's attitudes toward slavery especially during a specific time period .Between 1830 and 1860 the attitudes of the North and the South toward slavery drastically varied due to economic,social, and political factors. For many years the economic benefits of slavery were the leading arguments from the south to maintain slavery. With the argument being that without slavery there would be a large damaging economic impact in the South where slave labor was the foundation of their economy and that there would be widespread unemployment …show more content…
The South was agriculture based with a cash crop economy meaning it was based on certain crops such as tobacco, rice, sugar cane, and cotton. The South was heavily reliant on cotton especially after the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney’s which required more slaves to pick cotton. Without slaves to perform the labor “the cultivation of the greatest staple crops cannot be carried on in any portion of our country” (document 2).Meaning that their crops would not be harvested causing The cotton economy to collapse, the tobacco crop would dry in the fields, and Rice would stop being profitable.Thus ruining the Southern economy Whereas the North was industry based as a result of shorter growing season which …show more content…
Slavery came under scrutiny especially after the 2nd Great Awakening where the enlightenment found prompted many people to advocate for emancipation on religious grounds. Causing the North to begin to view slavery as sinful, immoral and regarded it as “the highest crime against God and man” (document 3). Making the South feel threatened as the North made these claims about their culture and the type of people they were Thus resulting in the South feeling the need to defend themselves and their culture. Many claims were based on the treatment of the slaves where the North felt that slaves were being treated unfairly although the South claims that “the comforts of our slaves are greatly superior to those of the English [factory] operatives, or the irish”(document 1). Also demonstrated in document 4 which shows a southerner 's view of slavery as many slaves are picking cotton where they are not being hurt or forced to work. This belief around the treatment of slaves led to the rise of many anti slavery groups like the anti slavery society and liberty party who fought to free slaves. To spread awareness abolitionists used literature to spread these views such as in the newspaper called the liberator and Uncle tom 's cabin which were meant to bring awareness about slavery (document 6). Thus making more people see slavery as bad in addition to encouraging slaves to be hopeful