Question

How were the northern mill system and the southern plantation economically similar

Answer 1

The northern mill system and the southern plantation were economically similar as both contributed to the market revolution, with the former using wage labor and the latter using slave labor. Both systems relied heavily on the production and sale of goods, integrating into a capitalist market that transformed the antebellum United States.

Step-by-step explanation:

The northern mill system and the southern plantation economy were economically similar in that both revolved around the generation of profit through the exploitation of a labor force, and both played a role in the wider market revolution that transformed the United States.

The plantation system in the South heavily relied on slave labor to produce commodities, especially cotton, which was then supplied to northern mills and markets. While planters behaved like capitalists by setting production goals and investing profits back into the capitalist enterprise, enslaved individuals received no wages, thereby making the plantation system atypical within the broader capitalist society.

In the North, the textile mills benefitted from the cotton produced by the slave labor in the South, which fed into the mill system and was processed into finished goods. Despite differences in the labor systems—with northern mills relying on wage labor and southern plantations on slavery—both systems contributed to the economic expansion and capitalist transformation of the United States during the antebellum period. The integration of these economies aided the development of a national market while also exacerbating sectional divisions that would lead to the Civil War.

Answer 2

Step-by-step explanation:

The Southern plantations were connected to the Northern mills because without the Southern plantations, the Northern Factories would have no crop to turn into products. For example, cotton would be picked by the slaves on the Southern plantations, and then be brought up to the Northern factories in order to mass produce such things like clothing. This occurred especially during the time of the Industrial Revolution when factories were becoming more abundant and the deskilling of laborers was rising. Resulting from the Industrial Revolution, many people and immigrants sought factory work, and this also increased the amount of slaves that were needed. Also, such things like the Lowell Mill came about, and the Interchangeable parts flourished.