Similarities Between The North And South

Although the early 19th century north and south contrasted greatly, they may share more in common with each other than you would have previously figured. For one, both the north and south shared a strong sense of pride in being Americans, and mutually believed that America was a land of democracy, a land for the free, a land of the people. However, different climates, social circumstance, daily life and society increasingly divided the north and south. Socioeconomic issues, how the government operated, and opinions regarding a one of the most disputed, and ugly aspects of American history, slavery, triggered bitter feelings in between the north and the south. As time past, this tension continued to grow, until it fractured. As time past,

Due to the smaller and farther spread population, Southern culture tended to be more close knit than Northern culture. Smaller communities often tend to be more religious, and evangelical Christianity was very common throughout the South. It's not that the north was less religious in the south, but conventional religion in the north often took a backseat to philosophy and newer movements to empower the mind, spirit and soul. Slaves, also made their own traditions, and blended old and new. Slaves, desperate for hope and motivation, turned to religion to guide them through their oppression. Slaves wrote lively spirituals, and started forming a genre known as gospel music. Food, although many overlook its significance, is both a major result, and cause, of differences in culture. In the north, people ate foods slightly leaning towards British influence a first, later starting to accumulate central, southern, European and new “American foods”. In the south, food was influenced by many different cultures. Even after the Louisiana Purchase, French cuisine left a lasting effect on the region. Techniques such as saute, and deserts such beignets, and pralines have remained mainstays throughout the south. Spanish cooking left a large imprint in the south as well. Slave culture in the south also contributed greatly to southern cuisine, and crops such as collard greens, yams, rice, and okra became

The west would be a new frontier, almost like another, miniature, New World. It would be a new slate, not quite like the north, not quite like the west. The West would take on many of the cultural aspects of the north and south, but break away from many of the societal standards and become its own. The West would bring many adventurous folks attracted to striking rich by accumulating the region's natural resources such as gold, minerals, stones, and the like, sparking huge booms such as the California Gold Rush of 1848. Like a miniature new world, many found themselves feeling stuck in the East, with land prices rising, seemingly less opportunities, escalating tensions,and wanted a new life. In a way, venturing West was like selecting a “Wild Card”, they didn't know what was going to happen, but there was possibly of a huge surprise, for better or worse, a change. As far as siding more with the North or the South, the west would become its own, wild, frontier, not afraid of confining to either region's status quot. Western daily life would prove to be hard at first, many starting out much like the first settlers of the New World, in unexplored territory, ramshackle dwellings, on small farms, leaving everything they knew behind, with their family, and maybe a friend as their only support group. Many journeying to the west would die of disease and starvation, be