Economic Factors:
* Agriculture: The southern economy was heavily reliant on cash crops such as cotton, tobacco, and rice, which required extensive labor. These crops were labor-intensive, and enslaved people provided a cheap and readily available workforce. The profitability of these crops made slave labor economically выгодным for plantation owners.
* Industrialization: The northern United States experienced rapid industrialization during the 19th century. This led to a shift from an agricultural economy to a more diversified economy based on manufacturing and trade. This shift reduced the demand for enslaved labor in the North.
Social Factors:
* Racist Attitudes: Racist attitudes and prejudice were more deeply entrenched in the South. Many white southerners believed in the inherent superiority of whites over blacks and argued that slavery was necessary to maintain social order.
* Social Structure: The South had a more hierarchical social structure, with a small planter elite at the top and a large population of enslaved people at the bottom. This structure reinforced the system of slavery and made it more difficult for enslaved people to gain freedom or challenge their status.
Political Factors:
* States' Rights: Southern states argued that the federal government had no authority to interfere with their internal affairs, including slavery. They invoked the principle of states' rights to resist efforts by the federal government to abolish slavery.
* Political Power: The South had a strong political bloc in the United States Congress. This bloc was able to block legislation aimed at abolishing slavery or limiting its expansion.
* Missouri Compromise: The Missouri Compromise of 1820 temporarily resolved the issue of slavery in the newly acquired territories by admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. This compromise also established the 36°30′ parallel as the dividing line between free and slave territories in the Louisiana Purchase. This line helped maintain the balance of power between the free and slave states in the Senate.
In summary, the economic dependence on cash crops, deeply entrenched racist attitudes, the hierarchical social structure, the principle of states' rights, and the strong political power of the South all contributed to the persistence of slavery in the southern United States for longer than in the northern United States. Slavery in the South was only finally abolished with the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865.