Comparison between North and South in the 1880's reveals an overwhelming amount of difference rather than similarities. There are many economic, social, and cultural differences.
There is no doubt that people of both, north and south were separate people. The culture, language, living style, economy, and politics of both the regions were different from each other. Apart from these differences, there was geographical difference also between these regions. The Civil War that raged across the nation from 1861 to 1865 was the violent conclusion to decades of diversification. Prior to 1776, these regions had their own government and were independent in taking their decisions in respect to foreign policy. The federal government had very loose control on various states. The northern economy vastly differed from the southern economy. While northerners produced lumber, textiles, etc., the southern economy was based upon agriculture such as cotton, tobacco, rice, sugar, and indigo. The South wanted cheap imports, while the North used a variety of industries and basically anything to do with machinery. Obviously, the difference in location affected the outcome of economy. Population was a very large difference North and South. The North had a rapid population increase in the early 1800's while the southern population did not gain a lot of immigrants until about 1860. Most immigrants settled in the North rather than in the South. In 1860, the North was populated with about 31 million people, while the South had only 12 million people.
Far more Northerners than Southerners belonged to the Whig/Republican political party and they were far more likely to have careers in business, medicine, or education. In fact, an engineer was six times as likely to be from the North as from the South. Northern children were slightly more prone to attend school than Southern children.
The main reason for the civil war in America was slavery. As per the people of northern America, slavery was immoral and against the constitution of country as constitution states that everyone is supposed to be created equal. These people argued that every person has the right to live independently; hence this practice should be banned all over the country. Apart from this, in many Northern regions, slavery was not common as there were large amounts of industrial development taking place. This reduced the need for having additional human labor. This was not the case with southern states. The whole economy of the southern states was dependent on the slavery. The southern parts of the country were fertile and were known for agricultural productivity and cotton industries. Majority of the workers in these industries were slaves. Without slaves, it was not possible for the owners of farms and industries to run their industries. Hence, they opposed the abolition of slavery in southern sates. Addition to this, they did not consider slavery as immoral because they felt that these practices were encouraged in the Bible, with many societies using them throughout history. 1

Most white Americans alleged that individuals of African descent were not and could never be their political, intellectual, or social equals. At the time of Mexican War, a member of congress from Pennsylvania tried to push for the Wilmot Proviso and while it didn’t become law it states that the land attained after warfare would be reserved only for free labor whites and no blacks should be given any land as he believed that black had already “occupied enough of the fair continent..” This shows the racial beliefs against blacks even from the states that were “free” states. White southerners had convinced themselves that black people were childlike and irresponsible race wholly incapable of surviving as free people if they were emancipated and compelled to compete with white Americans. The blacks were divided on the issue of unification of America. As per Frederick Douglass, the blacks should remain in the