When we wrest our independence, the country was an agricultural colony largely slaved worked. Within a hundred and fifty years, after much sacrifice of treasure and lives, we had become, based on a system of personal responsibility and individual freedom, the richest leading manufacturing nation in the world and a magnet for the poor and semi-enslaved of the world. That sounds pretty great to me, in spite of what New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo might think.
Yes - but even so - agriculture was much, much stronger in the north, including cotton, as they did not rely on slave labor but hired workers and through technological innovation. As a result, the north’s economic base was much stronger than that of the south, which a big reason why the south ultimately could not compete with the north militarily...the north had far more wealth and resources to draw on.