that might be from our perspective that slavery is a grave evil, the southern elite was correct in fearing that their way of life would be imperiled—or end entirely—were slavery abolished. This sense of imminent threat is what led the south to make the audacious move of deciding to separate from the United States to form their own nation. As we know, that did not succeed as they hoped, largely due to their lack of a manufacturing base to produce the supplies they needed to run a long term war. And as the aftermath of the war showed, the end of slavery did mean the end of a privileged way of life to which the southern elites had become accustomed but which was no longer sustainable.

Across the world, agrarian elites were facing the same pressure from industrialism, which could produce vastly more wealth than agriculture.

The rapid industrial development of the Northern economy was paralleled by the relatively stagnant agricultural economy of the South. As the two parts of the country diverged economically, so they began to move further and further apart culturally and politically. Such divisions became dangerously irreconcilable to the point where civil war was almost inevitable.

Southerners came to distrust the economic and social elite of the North, seeing them as little more than self-interested plutocrats who wanted to turn the United States into an industrialized economy for their own benefit. In the process, the agrarian economy of the South would be damaged, with less capital available to finance its future development.

Industrialization fostered the widespread belief in the Southern states that their whole way of life was under attack from the North. To the partisans of the Southern cause, it seemed that the Northern states were using their growing economic power as an additional means of dominating and controlling the South. According to the popular Southern myth, the embattled South was engaged in fighting a constant rearguard action against Northern control on several fronts, and the economic front was simply the latest one in the undeclared culture war between North and South that would eventually erupt into the armed conflict of the Civil War.

During the first wave of the American Industrial Revolution, which occurred before the Civil War, the North increasingly turned towards industrialization, while the South remained committed to an agricultural economy, largely based on cotton. The North became more abolitionist over time, in part because of moral concerns about slavery arising from the Second Great Awakening (a spiritual movement that stressed the importance of good deeds in achieving salvation), and in part because of its increasing commitment to an ideology of Free Labor. This was the idea that slavery would eventually die out if it were not allowed to spread. As cotton became more and more lucrative because of the invention of Eli Whitney's cotton gin in the 1790s, the South became more invested in slavery as a means of supporting the growth of the crop. Therefore, the Industrial Revolution increased the tensions between North and South in the antebellum period.

During the time period from 1800–1860, industrial development greatly affected the relationship between the North and South.

First of all, the North became industrialized for several reasons. The soil and climate in the North was better suited for small farms than plantations. Therefore, economic development shifted from agriculture to industry. Urban development was centered around factories. Large cities sprang up as a result of this industrialization. Workers were mainly immigrants who settled in the cities for employment. New York City was the largest city during this time. Transportation was easier in the North and the railroads prospered. Manufacturing was booming.

However, in the South, the soil and climate was suited for large-scale crops like cotton and tobacco. The plantation owners saw little need for industry because the South's economy relied on these profitable crops. Few urban areas existed in the South; New Orleans was the largest city. Rail travel was limited, isolating many areas in the region. The cities that did exist were generally located on rivers or the coast so products could be shipped to the North. Complicating matters, many plantations depended on slave labor, which was becoming an increasingly divisive issue between the North and South. In 1820, the Missouri Compromise only added to the issues between the moral and political differences between the two regions. While industry grew in the North, agriculture weakened in the South impacting the South's economy.

Industrial development helped to make the relationship between North and South more difficult because industrialization did not proceed at the same pace in both sections.  During this time period, the North industrialized and the South did not.  This led to sectional conflict such as that seen in the Nullification Crisis.  Industrialization also helped to tie the North to the western states.  This made the South feel more isolated and more in danger as the antebellum period wore on.  Overall, the fact that the North industrialized much more than the South drove the two sections farther apart during this time period.