Final answer:
The antebellum Southern economy was characterized by its dependence on cotton production and slave labor, with cotton becoming the predominant crop and slavery integral to maintaining this agricultural system. The social and economic fabric of the South was built on these factors, leading to ideological divides that contributed to the Civil War. Post-war Reconstruction efforts resulted in continued poverty and a shift towards sharecropping.
Step-by-step explanation:
Agriculture, specifically cotton production, and slavery were inextricably linked in the antebellum South, heavily shaping its economy. The Southern states relied on the labor of enslaved people to grow and harvest crops like cotton, rice, and tobacco, with cotton being especially crucial as it became the dominant crop by 1860, responsible for two-thirds of the world's supply. The profitability of these plantation crops, facilitated by the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney, cemented the economic reliance on slave labor, making it a defining aspect of Southern life and economy. Meanwhile, slavery itself was a commodity, with human beings traded and used for economic gain, creating a society deeply divided along racial lines. Resistance to the institution of slavery manifested in various forms, including the creation of strong community networks and cultural expressions among the enslaved. However, the South's economic structure was so dependent on slave labor that calls for change, diversification, or the end of slavery threatened the region's identity and wealth, contributing to the ideological rift that led to the Civil War. After the war, the ineffectual attempts at Reconstruction led to a perpetuation of poverty in the South, as many farmers, both white and black, became sharecroppers without the means to own land.