The South

The south was built on an agricultural economy that thrived on cash crops such as cotton and tobacco. To harvest cotton to make the most profit, farmers would import slaves from Africa to help with the intensive labor. The slaves had no rights and were treated worse then animals in the south. As the Atlantic slave trade ended, the need for slaves to continue the profitable agricultural economy grew. Also the south profitted with the invention of the cotton gin which would save time to process the cotton. As the United States expanded West, they wanted to keep slavery by having equal representation in the senate as the north. The farther west that the United States expanded, the dimmer the hopes were for the south. After the Missouri Compromise was declared unconstitional, the expansion west of the Mississippi River would either end slavery or cause a war. To keep the south's agricultural way of life with slaves, the south needed to win the Civil War.