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EDUCATION
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A nation divided
Culture:North and South
View of Fredericksburg from Ferry Farm. / National Archives
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A civil war is fought between members of the same nation. The two sides have different views on the future of the country. This is what happened in the United States in 1860. America was divided into the North and South.
The Northern states included New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. The North was mainly an urban society with a large population. Most people lived in cities and had jobs. These states believed in a strong central government, banned slavery, and earned most of their money through business and industry.
Boston street scene. / Library of Congress
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The Southern states consisted of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and
Louisiana. The South had a much smaller population, and the people lived in
small villages.
Many people owned farms or plantations and made their money through farming.
The Southern states had developed an agricultural society based on the selling of
crops from plantations and slave labor. The South also believed in the rights of
the states over a national government.
America was a land of bustling cities and industry in the North with plantations
and agriculture in the South. The Mason-Dixon line (the line separating
Pennsylvania from Maryland) and the Ohio River acted as the border between
the North and South.
Both the Northern and Southern regions thought their way of life, or culture,
should be extended across the entire continent. Because of their differences,
however, they could not agree on many issues.
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