Final answer:
The Northern elite were mostly merchants and manufacturers who relied on a system of paid wage labor, differing from the Southern reliance on slave labor. They valued hard work and saw it as a route to social mobility and economic growth.
Step-by-step explanation:
The group that consisted of merchants and manufacturers who depended on wage labor were the Northern elite. This newly established economic class thrived in cities and played an integral role in the economic landscape of the North during the antebellum period.
Unlike the white Southern elite, who relied on a system of forced labor, the Northern elite celebrated hard work and economic independence, embodying the dream of upward social mobility through hard work and discipline. They believed in a free labor system where employers paid workers wages which led to economic growth, social mobility, and helped people enter the ranks of the middle class.
This was in stark contrast to the Southern system that depended on slave labor to fuel its cotton production and other economic activities.