NvS/Slavery Essay Plan

Question 1

Intro

Answer 1

• Sectionalism
• Gag Rule
• King Cotton
• P1 Industry/Farming
• P2 Population/Wealth in Society
• P3 Slavery/Tariffs

Question 2

P1: Industry/Farming

Answer 2

North Industrialising
- 140,000 Factories in US by 1850, 50% of that in NE
- 1860 Massachusetts produced more manufactured goods than all of Confederate states together
- South produced 10% of manufactured goods

South Agrarian:
- Centre of plantation farming
- Southern crops made up 3/5 of total US exports
- 20,000 factories in South by 1850 R

H:
- C&M Beard argued that sections were divided into an industrial north and an agrarian south.
- David Potter argued there was no economic gulf between the North and South

Question 3

P2: Population/Wealth in Society

Answer 3

Population:
- Urbanisation happened due to population growth
- James McP “highest rate of urbanisation in American history”
- Non agricultural pursuits grew from 21% to 45%
- Half a million new farms came into production R

Wealth:
- Wealthiest 10% of N owned 68% of wealth
- Wealthiest 10% of S owned 65% of wealth

H:
- Farmer “Both N&S whites lived in a stratified society in which there were great inequalities in status”
- Grant “Wealthy held political power and wielded social and political influence in both sections”

Question 4

P3: Slavery/Tariffs

Answer 4

Cotton:
- Cotton Gin 1793 Eli Whitney
- Cotton from south in 1850’s accounted for 77% of the 800 million pounds of cotton used in Britain

Tariffs:
- South pushed for free trade as North were making money off southern cotton due to tariffs

H:
- Farmer “inevitably, much of the profits from ‘King Cotton ended up in Yankee pockets.”
- Avery Craven argued that the south had the same levels of economic enterprise as North.