Two Economies: North and South
Aligned to C3.D2.Eco.1 — C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.
What this lesson teaches
By the mid-1800s the North and South had grown into two very different economies. The North industrialized with factories, railroads, and paid free labor, while the Southern economy depended on plantations that grew cotton using the forced labor of enslaved people.
Worked example
Eli Whitney's cotton gin, invented in 1793, let workers clean cotton far faster, making it hugely profitable. As a result, cotton production soared and the number of enslaved people in the South grew from about 700,000 in 1790 to nearly 4 million by 1860.
Practice questions
- What did Eli Whitney's cotton gin do?
- Explain how the labor systems of the North and South differed.
- Analyze how the cotton gin made the South more dependent on slavery instead of less.
Watch the lesson
Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.
▶ Watch this lessonEn español
Dos Economías: el Norte y el Sur
Para mediados del siglo XIX, el Norte y el Sur se habían convertido en dos economías muy distintas. El Norte se industrializó con fábricas, ferrocarriles y trabajo libre remunerado, mientras que la economía del Sur dependía de plantaciones que cultivaban algodón usando el trabajo forzado de personas esclavizadas.
Ejemplo: La desmotadora de algodón de Eli Whitney, inventada en 1793, permitió limpiar el algodón mucho más rápido, haciéndolo enormemente rentable. Como resultado, la producción de algodón se disparó y el número de personas esclavizadas en el Sur creció de unas 700,000 en 1790 a casi 4 millones para 1860.
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