The ante-bellum years were among the most chaotic in American history—a time of significant changes that took place as the United States came of age. As the industrialized North and the agricultural South grew further apart, tensions between both sides grew until war was inevitable. The North and South both had drastic cultural and economic differences- historian Wyatt Brown believed the south had severe cultural differences compared to the ‘Yankee’ north, Owsley believed there was a clash of values and a clash of two economic systems while others believed the aggressive north was infringing on the rights of the south. However, Craven and Revisionists believe the differences between the north and south have been exaggerated and there was more uniting the north and south than dividing, such as the shared language, history and culture. Although, it has been argued that slavery was the underlying cause, which resulted in a bitter, fueled war.

The north and south of ante-bellum America are commonly known as being vastly different, however historian Craven argued that there was more uniting the two sections than diving and he stated that war was not inevitable. Both sections shared a common language, history, culture, politics and transport and trade links. Most southerners, alike the Americans living in the north shared the pride in US achievements, the respect for property ownership and all the other components of the ‘American Dream’ therefore bringing both sections together.

The terms “north” and “south” are figures of speech, which distort and oversimplify the reality that geographical sections in the USA were highly variegated. There were other sections within the north and south such as the upper south (Virginia) and lower south (Alabama), northwest (upper Mississippi, Great Lakes area…) and the northeast (New York, New England...). Although, the south was seen as primary agricultural, the northwest was dominated by farming interests. Up to 1850 and beyond, food production expanded rapidly and the section came to be regarded as the nation’s food store. Although there were some aspects of industrialisation in the northwest it tended to be small scale and revolve mainly around farming. Many people living in the northwest had also moved from the south. The south is dangerous to over-generalise as it did contain such variations. Although the northeast was regarded as the most industrialised section and although the south is the centre of plantation farming, the south also contained over 20,000 factories. The Tredegar iron works in Richmond being the most well known, while much of the north not industrialised. In addition, although many parts of the south indulged in the combination of soil and climate ideal for plantations, other parts of the south did not and had to depend on much smaller farms.

A key difference between the north and south was cultural differences. Historian Wyatt Brown has argued that southerners were more concerned with their personal, family and sectional honour than the north. Males were highly personal to insult. The indicates that the southerners considered themselves much more civilised than the north and some appeared to act and behave in accordance with the values and manners of an earlier, more chivalrous age unlike the north who were beginning to modernise. Additionally, historian Owsley also claimed there was a clash of values between the north and south. The southerners had a more ethnic background of the white dominated ‘WASP’ group compared to the north that had a growing number of immigrants (between 1830-1860 most of the five million immigrants settled in the north). Moreover, the south had a different historical heritage and unlike the north did not wish to industalise and urbanise. Many southerners held a ‘romantic’ view of the southern way of life, seeing themselves as gracious and hospitable, Yankees in contrast, were seen as ill mannered, aggressive and hypercritical.

Another vast difference between the north and south was economic differences. Arguably the north was becoming more modernised, they had double the amount of railways as the south and the north was far more urbanised. In 1860 the confederate states had only twenty towns with over 5000 people. Even cities like Charleston and Richmond had populations of fewer than 40,000. Only New Orleans with 175,000 inhabitants was comparable to northern cities in size and diversity- only one southerner in fourteen was a town dweller compared to one in four northerners. The northerners were generally better educated and more responsive to new ideas unlike southerners who remained proudly and defiantly rooted in the past.

It is clear that the defining feature of southern society at this time was slavery. This is what made the south so distinctive. The southerners were supportive of slavery as it fitted with their traditional agricultural way of life. In 1850, only one I four southern families had the financial income to own a slave and very few indeed had more than five slaves. Although, slavery permeated every part of southern life and dominated the perceptions of the south held by outsiders. Many modern and traditional historians such as McPherson see slavery as the underlying issue that divided the two sections. In 1833 The National Anti-Slavery Society was established, with over 250,000 members mainly from the north, they distributed a massive anti-slavery literature, organised frequent massive petitions to congress, which caused tension between north and south. Additionally, there was a constant issue whether new territories would be slaveholding. The issue of territorial expansion led to increasing sectional conflict because the expansion helped to determine national political representation and the south wanted to protect its social system by keeping parity in the senate and allowing expansion of slavery into the territories. Moreover, while the south supported the expansion of slavery into the territories, the northern ‘free soil’ movement opposed the expansion of slavery, resulting in an increasing divide between the two sections.

In conclusion, the views of Craven that the north and south had an extensive amount of similarities, such as language and their patriotic history are significant, additionally the view that there was only two sections- north and south is too oversimplified and the northeast and upper and lower south are extremely important for understand the similarities and the differences. The economic and cultural differences caused a great divide between the north and south. Although, the extensive difference of the view of slavery between the north and south meant that there was in fact more dividing than uniting.