ICSE Class 8 Answered
With the advent of Industrialisation, the demand for raw cotton had skyrocketed and there was much profit to be made if there was cheap slave labour available to be exploited. Therefore, slavery had long become an important part of the economy of the American South, where white farmers employed black labourers brought over from Africa for cultivating large cotton plantations. There was a stark cultural divide between the states of the south and the north. The north was more industrialised and urbanised, and the population there had largely liberal leanings. On the other hand, the south still had a deep imprint of the plantation era conservative culture. By the middle of the 19th century, slavery was prohibited throughout the British empire and there grew widespread opposition to slavery in the northern American states where slave labour was not required for the sustenance of the economy.