created two significant distinctions in the Southern identity. First, almost half of the population consisted of slaves. Four million blacks were the property of 5 million white Southerners (Burns, Episode One). Second, these slaves produced the virtually unpaid labor that fueled the Southern economy.
This population and economic balance contrasted sharply with that of the North. The second significant difference between North and South was the difference in populations, not merely numbers but also racial distribution. The 9 million Southerners were outnumbered by the 21 million Northerners. While this made the Southern determination to oppose violently Northern domination appear somewhat foolhardy, being outnumbered may also have fired a Southern unwillingness to give in to what could have been viewed as a larger, louder group of bullies, trying to get their own way.
The third significant difference was the South's predominantly rural, agricultural way of life, a sharp contrast to the more urban, more metropolitan, more technological North. The factories of
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