Industrialization in the USA: A Comparison of North and South Regions

This essay examines the industrialization of the United States, focusing on the economic and social disparities between the North and the South. The introduction establishes the thesis that the industrialized North was more developed than the agrarian South. The essay supports this claim with arguments highlighting the stalled social conditions in the South due to its reliance on agriculture and slavery, the role of the American Civil War as evidence of the South's resistance to change, and the impact of industrialization on societal culture. The essay also acknowledges opposing viewpoints, such as the South's own forms of industrialization. The conclusion reinforces the lasting economic impact of these historical differences, emphasizing the North's continued dominance in terms of industrial output and development.

Running head: INDUSTRIALIZATION IN USA
INDUSTRIALIZATION IN USA
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
Not just in terms of culture, even in term of the economic development the northern and
the southern part of the United States of America is disparate and distinct from each other, which
is owing to the fact that the southern part of the nation had been heavily dependent on the feudal
mode of production while the northern part of the nation had industrialized itself rampantly. That
had resulted in the differential rate of development in the northern and the southern part of the
nation. Industrialization had aided the rapid economic growth of the nation in the northern part,
while the pastoral economy down south thriving on slavery had not developed as much as the
northern part of the nation did (Hackney, 2017). In this particular essay the discussion shall be
focusing upon the thesis statement that the northern part of the nation had by virtue of being
more industrialized had been more developed than the southern part of United States of America.
The discussion in the following sections shall be providing four arguments supporting the thesis
statement and a view opposing it with an argumentative undertone supporting the motion
majorly.
Arguments supporting the thesis statement
There can be several strands of justification which can contribute to the support of the
thesis statement that the northern part of the nation had by virtue of being more industrialized
had been more developed than the southern part of United States of America. Firstly, the
development of the social conditions in the southern part of the United States of America had
been stalled because the area was highly agricultural and it remained agricultural because the
willingness of the influential people therein to switch over to other modes of economy was

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absent. The landlords or the owners of the farmlands were very much status quo oriented and did
not wish to do away with the system of slavery as the persistence of the system of slavery had
made them rich on an individual basis while the region as a whole remained highly
empoverished as there was no means of innovating the economic system. Given the amount of
privilege that the landlords were getting from agriculture would have been lost had they thought
of innovating the system of economy that prevailed. Altering the pastoral mode of economy
would have meant the loss of the status quo of white supremacy and the rising of the negro
slaves in the social ladder would have implied the suffering of the agriculture (Hackney, 2017).
Secondly, the outbreak of the American Civil War is the prime evidence which proves that the
landlords of the south were very much averse to the idea of doing away with the system of
agriculture. The main cause behind the American Civil War was for safeguarding the unity of the
nation and save it from getting disintegrated. When President Abraham Lincoln had assumed the
office of being the President, he had vowed to put an end to the system of slavery. That did not
appeal to the landlords of the south who had formed a confederacy and had expressed their
decision to secede from the Union in order to continue with the system of slavery. However their
dream never fulfilled and they were defeated which meant the defeat of the southern forces in the
American Civil War (Sanso-Navarro, Sanz & Vera-Cabello, 2015).
The southern forces had not been victorious in the American Civil War while the
northern forces had managed to defeat the secessionist forces and had also maintained the unity
of the nation from being jeopardized by the threat of disintegration. The reason behind the
victory of the northern forces spearheaded by President Abraham Lincoln can be attributed to the
higher economic and military power of the northern forces compared to the southern forces. The
superior army power of the northern part of the nation was a result of the greater economic

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power gathered by means of industrialization and diversification of the economy (Murray &
Hsieh, 2018). Finally, the high degree of industrialization in the north can also be attributed to
the change in the societal culture which was adverse to the continuation of slavery. As a result of
the industrialization, the free economic system had been ushered in which called for
specialization and the division of labour. Innovation was another key element which exemplified
the industrial mode of economy and the development that had taken place in the northern part of
the nation. By virtue of industrialization the spirit of constant evolution and striving for the
betterment was aspired which had facilitated the broadening of the horizon of the value
perceptions and development in economic and societal terms. Thus these are the reasons why the
north was way more developed than the south and industrialization was the sole reason behind
the discrepancy in the rate of development (Murray & Hsieh, 2018).
Arguments opposing the chosen thesis statement
To say that the north was more developed because it was industrialized while the south
was less developed as the economy was pastoral is an unjust generalization and one sided view.
The south also had its share of industrialization but it was agriculture based. The cotton gin
invented by Eli Whitney was very much in use in the southern part of the nation and it produced
cotton yarn at a rapid rate. The agriculture had developed over time, especially after the second
world war and the system of slavery had been replaced by a greater degree of dependence on
machinery than the use of man power to supplement the agricultural production (Jaworski,
2017).

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Conclusion
With regard to the legacy and the impact today it can be said that the southern part of the
United States of America is still by and large agricultural and the only form of development that
has taken place is in the method of conducting the agriculture which is no longer dependent on
the deployment of man power solely, instead it has been highly machinized. Even then the
contribution of the southern part of the nation is economic terms is less than the industrial north.

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References
1. Hackney, S. (2017). Magnolias without moonlight: The American south from regional
confederacy to national integration. Routledge.
2. Jaworski, T. (2017). World war ii and the industrialization of the american south. The
Journal of Economic History, 77(4), 1048-1082.
3. Murray, W., & Hsieh, W. (2018). A Savage War: A Military History of the Civil War.
Princeton University Press.
4. Sanso-Navarro, M., Sanz, F., & Vera-Cabello, M. (2015). The impact of the American
Civil War on city growth. Urban Studies, 52(16), 3070-3085.