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Slavery played a distinctive role in the difference of society between the South and the North. The two parts of one Union were very different in views on slavery. Slavery defined the essential quality of the South. Slavery made the South very different from the North educationally, morally, and politically. The North was celebrating a new era of liberty while the South was contrasting it by the While modernization was reaping its benefits in the north the south was very much behind in the era of improvements. The North was adapting to the industrial revolution, while the South was continuing to cultivate land and remain rural.
Less than ten percent of Southerners lived in towns with at least twenty five hundred people. This lead to the absence of public education and railroad construction. (Microsoft Encarta) Slaves were not given the right to an education in fear that they might learn and form new ideas against their owners. There were many states that had laws against their schooling. A large majority of them were totally illiterate.
The terms of the "American Dream" Slaves in the south had no civil or political rights besides protection from murder and unusual punishment. Slave marriages were not even recognized. Savage beatings and lashes from whips were common treatment used on slaves. Slavery was intolerably degrading while robbing humans of their right to independence. Just as the United States had fought to gain independence it found itself heading in two different directions. The North was starting an era of liberty and equality while the South was taking two steps backwards as it instituted slavery.
The South was also making itself different from the North politically as ministers, politicians, newspaper editors, and authors were all in favor of slavery. (Microsoft Encarta) Such politically high people were trying to make slavery sound correct by discussing the fact that slaves were only black. Other issues that defended slavery were economic reasons and the belief that this was the way God wanted it. (Microsoft Encarta) As the abolitionists questioned the act of slavery, the southerners became embarrassed and became hostile. Southern postmasters were ordered to burn all mail that contained abolitionist The south could not have abolished slavery on its own as the North did. The Souths economy was to heavily based on the production of cotton.
The abolishment of slavery would have deadened the economy severely. England and the North depended on the South producing cotton. It was a way of life in the south to have slaves. Even ministers and priests found nothing wrong with the policy. Ministers preached that this was the will of God, and we were following out his orders. (Microsoft Encarta) Bibliography:
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