Question

How did the inventions of the industrial revolution change the economies of the North and the South?

Answer 1

It is probably more nearly correct to state that the Northern states offered more fertile soil for industrialization to grow and prosper than the South.  The comments above about slavery are misstated. The Southern economy was indeed agrarian and dependent upon slave labor; however the reason for this is was that the economy in that portion of the country consisted of large scale plantations of staple crops, primarily cotton.  It is manifestly incorrect to state...