The North was mainly an urban society in which people held jobs.
The South was primarily an agricultural society in which people lived in small villages and on farms and plantations.
Because of their cultural differences, people of the North and South found it difficult to agree on social and political issues.
The North was a manufacturing region, and its people favored tariffs that protected factory owners and workers from foreign competition.
Southerners opposed tariffs that would cause prices of manufactured goods to increase. Planters were also concerned that England might stop buying cotton from the South if tariffs were added.
While there were several differences between the North and the South, the issues related to slavery increasingly divided the nation and led to the Civil War.
A major conflict was states’ rights versus strong central government.
