cultural similarities Flashcards
(6 cards)
topic sentence
Some historians such as Susan Mary Grant argue that the North and South shared cultural similarities.
evidence 1 - similar distribution of wealth
Both the North and South lived in a unequal society where there were clear divides between social classes. For example, the wealthiest 10% of Northerners owned 68% of wealth, while the wealthiest 10% of Southerners owned 65% of all wealth. This clearly shows that between both sections, there were significant inequalities in wealth as the wealthiest proportion of people had access to majority of American money, while the large majority of people were left with significantly less money. This suggests that the North and South had cultural similarities.
counter analysis
However, it can be argued that the South had limited freedom of speech compared to the North as the Southern planter class, which made up 5% of the Southern population dominated the political scene of the South significantly more than the wealthiest men in the North did
evidence 2 - most were non-slaveholding
Furthermore, the typical Northerner was a yeoman farmer owning 50 to 500 acres of land, meaning that they owned no slaves. In addition, the typical Southerner also owned no slaves as 75% of Southern families did not own any slaves. This suggests that there were cultural similarities between the North and South because the fact that slavery played such a significant part in American politics, highlights that both sections were politically dominated by a minority of wealthy men who owned land.
evidence 3 - similarities in language
As well as the North and South sharing cultural similarities in the unfair distribution of wealth and dominance of wealthy men in politics, it is also clear that the sections shared cultural similarities in language and religion. English was spoken across America and Christianity was the main form of belief across the nation too. This emphasises that the North and South were culturally similar during the 1850s because they shared common beliefs and languages which meant that they could empathises with each other.
evaluation
To evaluate, there were cultural similarities between the North and South because both sections had unfair societies, run by a small proportion of people. Therefore, Susan - Mary Grant argues, “Wealth in both sections was concentrated in the hands of a few, and they tended to hang on to it.
