Final answer:
Southern slavery had a significant economic impact on the North, with industries like textile mills profiting from the South's slave-produced cotton. Northern economic welfare was interwoven with the Southern economy, despite ideological opposition to slavery, contributing to the complex relationship that eventually led to the Civil War.
d is correct
Step-by-step explanation:
The economic effect of southern slavery on the North was quite substantial. Northern industries, particularly the textile mills, profited from the cheap cotton produced by the South's slave labor. The wealth generated in the South from cotton production and the plantation economy also provided important markets for Northern manufactured goods and services, as well as the need for transportation to move these goods. This dynamic helped finance industrialization and internal improvements in the North, creating a complex web of economic interdependencies between the two regions. Furthermore, Northern insurance companies and shipping industries also profited directly from slavery and the slave trade.
It is important to recognize that while many Northerners and Northern businesses profited from the system of slavery, there were also deeply held beliefs in the North about the detrimental effects of slavery on society and the economy. For instance, proponents of the free labor ideology argued that slavery undermined the dignity and productivity of labor, restricted social mobility, and resulted in widespread poverty.
Despite the dependencies, there was a visible division in attitudes towards slavery between the North and South, not least because of the opposing economic systems, but also due to differing ideological beliefs about free labor versus slave labor. Tensions over these differences would ultimately lead to the Civil War, during which the moral, economic, and political facets of slavery were contested.