It should also be noted that the South had a much more extensive network of navigable rivers and therefore less need for railroads to move its goods to market. Of course, as it turned out, in time of war those rivers were a great vulnerability.
I agree with you about the myth of "northern industry." In fact, up through 1850 there was no "north against south" sectional standoff. There was a three-way split, "industrial" (north)East against the agricultural (north)West and South.
The South was normally able to gang up with the West to win its political battles against the East.
Starting in 1850 the South overplayed its hand, insisting that the settled (by the Missouri Compromise) issue of the expansion of slavery be reopened. This turned slavery from a backburner issue into the most important issue of the day, in the process driving away the South's natural agricultural allies in the West.
The eventual result was secession and war.
The Tredegar Iron Works was a historic iron works in Richmond, Virginia, United States of America.[3] Opened in 1837, by 1860 it was the third-largest iron manufacturer in the United States.[4] During the American Civil War, the works served as the primary iron and artillery production facility of the Confederate States of America. The iron works avoided destruction during the Evacuation Fire of 1865, and continued production through the middle of the 20th century.
During the fiscal year ending 1 June 1860, the country possessed some 128,300 industrial establishments. Of these, 110,274 were located in states that remained in the Union. The most heavily industrialized states, New York and Pennsylvania, each had more industry than all the seceding states combined. In 1860, too, America had a total of $1,050,000,000 invested in real and personal property devoted to business, with $949,335,000 concentrated in the North; Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts each had a larger investment than the South as a whole. Finally, the North contributed 92.5% of the $1.9 billion that comprised the total value of annual product in the country in 1860.
It freaked me out when I went the post office today. I couldn't tell if it was a real stamp or some elaborate forgery.
And notice the pun, too. The "forever stamp" picks up on the word "forever" in the Proclamation (though you have to juggle "henceforward" and "thenceforward" to get there).