In the Old Northwest, “the contemporary name for the region north of the Ohio River and west of the Appalachian Mountains” an economy based on foodstuffs with a heavy center in the east focused on the consumption and manufacturing of goods. How did this differ from the southern half of the United States? The economy of the southern states lived by the motto where “Cotton was King.” Furthermore, the South was notable for its soil, climate and labor system, and specifically African-American slaves, as a central part of southern society as well as a critical piece in the southern way of life. It is here we start to see differing ways of life between the northern and southern halves of the country. In relation to the years prior to the Civil War, though, both the north and the south feared the other half’s way of life as a threat. It was southern fear that northern states were gaining an advantage in the number of free states, as well as representation in Congress. Running the numbers, it can be ascertained that out of the twenty-seven states in the Union by 1850, fifteen registered as free states while twelve were slave states. Out of the twenty-seven total states, there were 144 representatives of the northern states, with 82 for the southern states. Numerically we can see how the advantage clearly rests with the northern states in…