There were plenty of sinners to go around and too few saints, but reasonable people understand about proportionality. Do reasonable people understand about money streams, and who is making the profits?
Washington DC and New York were both making huge profits for very little work from slave production in the South. This is why Lincoln supported the Corwin Amendment which kept the status quo of slavery in the South, but opposed the Crittenden Amendment which would have given the South greater representation in Congress, and thereby threaten the cozy deal New York and Washington DC had going on.
New York and Washington DC are still exploiting the rest of us. To conservatives who have been paying attention, the New York media manipulates the public into voting to support liberal spending policies in Washington DC. Washington DC bureaucracy and the "establishment" also work to keep taxpayer money (from the rest of us slaves) flowing through New York and Washington DC.
DiogenesLamp:
"Washington DC and New York were both making huge profits for very little work from slave production in the South." In 1860 Washington DC collected about $53 million in tariff revenues, about 75% of that from New York City.
Studies show Federal revenues were distributed roughly proportionately across the country, North & South.
Of course, if you define "the North" as everywhere north of, say, Charleston, SC, then, sure, "the North" got most of Federal revenues.
DiogenesLamp: "New York and Washington DC are still exploiting the rest of us"
Here is a more accurate map showing that higher income counties generally (but not always) correspond to larger cities, which not coincidentally, also have much higher costs of living.
There is no data to suggest that such higher incomes lead automatically to higher average quality of life.
Indeed, that's exactly why so many of us live as far off the beaten path as we can get -- money is not everything no matter what your pal Karl Marx told you, FRiend. 