The North and South had similarities and differences in the 1800’s, but can the differences drive them to a civil war? Women were mad about having so little rights, slavery was being questioned, and the political parties couldn’t seem to agree.
Women in the United States had little rights, but women in the North had more, but not where it really counted. In the North, women had ownership of their wages and property (Holt, pg. 427). New York demonstrated giving women more rights, than other Northern states soon followed. Both women in the North and in the South thought marriage was like slavery (The Abolitionists). Once a woman married, she basically became property, no matter where they lived. Women in the North wrote many documents on women’s rights, but women in the South were afraid. A woman in the South had fewer rights than the poorest woman in the North. Sojourner …show more content…
Slaves were badly beaten. Slaves were often whipped for two hours and then had salt water poured on the open wounds (America: The Story of Us). Slave masters or overseers were ruthless. One slave assessed the situation, and coined the phrase perfectly; “he whipped to make her scream, he whipped to make her hush” (The Abolitionists). Slaves also had poor living conditions, while wage laborers did not (Holt, pg. 387). Slaves often had dirt floor cabins with leaky roofs, and they were crowded with many in one cabin. It was illegal to teach a slave how to read and write, but wage laborers could do as they pleased, and of course, wage laborers were free people. Slave auctions were common, but an auction for wage laborers never occurred. Why not just use wage laborers? After all, the North was against slavery, every state in the North had abolished slavery, and the work was getting done. With the silent screams from the slaves came the loud shouts from the political parties, and they did a significant amount of