The North was an industrial economy by 1860 and the South continued to be an agricultural economy producing cotton, tobacco, sugar and other things. The southern economy relied heavily on slave labor, which was not the case of the North.
In the decades previous to the Civil War (1861-1865), the different administrations imposed high tariffs to foreign products to protect the American- made northern products. This meant that northern products had usually a high price southerners had to pay for; this originated many claims of a preferential treatment which was damaging for the South and disatisfaction.
And of course, there were the rising tensions over the issue of slavery and whether new states should join the Union as free or slavery states.
Between the years 1920 and 1940, the search for
self-identity and the quest for racial equality among the African-Americans
inspired the Harlem Renaissance. This is an upsurge of creative and
unique expression in the arts which is centered in some parts of Manhattan that
are largely occupied by the African-Americans.
When The Great Depression began and Hoover remained an inactive president, he said that if the US waits the economy will improve, and the people should fix the situation
