Throughout the 1840’s and 1850’s a growing tension developed between the Northern and Southern states of America. That tension was primarily focused on the existence of slavery in the Southern states. Most Northern states had abolished slavery by 1850 and made a promise to the people to end slavery completely. They wanted the South to begin to become similar to the North, and to live under the concept of free labor, and not rely on slavery for productivity. The resentment for the interference of the North angered southerners because they felt that it was not the place of the federal government to interfere. Ever since the American Revolution sectional differences arose, the first being those favoring greater states rights and those favoring greater federal rights. Ever since the Revolution more and more dissimilarities arose between the North and the South due to differences in modernization and societal development. These different ideals caused tensions between the two sections and difficulties in staying together as a single union. The Southern ways of life were being targeted and altered by the North’s inconsiderate decisions of their societies foundation, though the North had a strong basis. The southern secession in 1860 was in direct result of the inability for the North and South to cooperate and coexist, and was the only possible alternative, in the minds of the southerners, for the different methods of living to remain. There were many aspects that varied among the North and South states that lead to the Civil War and among these were economic, social and political differences.

Economic and social divergences between the North and the South were one of the most prominent factors leading to Southern secession. The Southern economy was heavily supported on cotton, due to Eli Whitney’s invention of the Cotton Gin, which made cotton extraordinarily