United States History Student Edition

01 Introducing Life in the North and the South A Changing Country In the mid-1800s, the country was changing and growing. In the North, new immigrants filled textile mills, and cities grew. Innovations in transportation and communication fueled industrial growth. The South remained primarily agricultural, and cotton became “king.” As plantations grew, so did the reliance on the labor of enslaved people, setting the stage for future conflict between the regions. Plantation Life Evergreen Plantation, today a National Historic Landmark, is located in Wallace, Louisiana. The main house, originally built in 1790, is pictured on the left. The image on the right shows some of the cabins that at one time housed as many as 103 enslaved people.

“ Our beds were collections of straw and old rags, thrown down in the corners and boxed in with boards; a single blanket the only covering. . . . The wind whistled and the rain and snow blew in through the cracks, and the damp earth soaked in the moisture till the floor was miry [wet and spongy] as a pig-sty.” —Rev. Josiah

Cotton Production as a Percentage of U.S. Exports

Henson, formerly enslaved person, 1878

PHOTO: (tl)RM USA/Alamy Stock Photo; (r)Chris Brown/Alamy Stock Photo; (bl)Science History Images/Alamy Stock Photo; TEXT: Henson, Josiah. An Autobiography of the Rev. Josiah Henson (Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom") from 1789-1881. London: "Christian Age" Office, 1878.

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