1. Lesson 13: What were the conflicts between the northern and southern states?
The states of the North and the South had different economies and different economic interests. These differences led to another conflict among the Framers.
Two of the major sources of disagreement were over protective tariffs and slavery.
When we finish this lesson, you will be able to explain these conflicts and how they were solved.

2. Describe the economy of the South
Describe the economy of the South. What did people do for a living there? What did they depend on?
The economy of the south was almost completely agricultural (farms)
People who owned plantations (large farms) in these states depended on slave labor.

3. What products did the southern states produce
What products did the southern states produce? To whom did they sell them?
They produced agricultural products such as cotton, tobacco, and indigo (used to make blue dye)
They sold some of these products to the northern states.
Many of their products were sold to Great Britain and other nations in Europe (the northern states couldn’t buy all of what the southern states produced)

4. From whom did the southern states buy many of the manufactured good they needed?
People in the South bought many of the manufactured goods they needed from Great Britain
Often ships would come from Europe to southern ports filled with manufactured goods that they would unload and then they would load up with agricultural products to take back with them to Britain and Europe.

5. Describe the economy of the North. What did it rely on
Describe the economy of the North. What did it rely on? How did people earn their livings?
The economy of the North was much more diverse than that of the South—there were many different ways that northerners made a living (farmers, fisherman, merchants, bankers, shipbuilders, tradesmen, laborers).
The North relied on free labor (a system in which a worker and an employer agree on how much the worker will be paid)

6. In what way were the northern states in direct competition with Great Britain?
The North was a center of shipbuilding and trade with other nations. It was in direct competition with Great Britain’s shipping and manufacturing industries.

7. What are protective tariffs?
Taxes on products imported from other nations which increase their cost
By putting a tax on the imported product and thereby making it more expensive, people are more likely to buy the things made in the country rather than the more expensive imports from other countries
In this way it “protects” domestic companies from having to compete with products made by foreign companies

8. What was the Northern position on protective tariffs?
The northern states believed that protective tariffs were necessary to allow their businesses to be competitive with England’s and prosper
Protective tariffs on English products would make them cost more than similar products made in America. As a result, Americans would be more likely to buy goods made in their own country instead of those made in other countries

9. What was the Northern position on giving the national government the power to control trade with foreign nations?
Delegates from the North wanted the Constitution to give the new national government the power to control trade between the states and trade with foreign nations.
This power included giving the national government the power to pass protective tariffs

10. What was the Southern position on protective tariffs?
The delegates from the South argues that protective tariffs would increase the cost of the manufactured goods which they bought from European nations.
They argued that this unfairly favored the North.
They were also afraid that England might place tariffs on the South’s agricultural products making them harder for the South to sell.

11. What was the Southern position on giving the national government the power to control trade with foreign nations?
Southern states had fewer citizens (smaller populations) than Northern states. They knew that they would be a minority in the Congress of the new government and that because of this the Northern states would be able to pass protective tariffs.
They might have less power than the northern states in the national government because they would have fewer representatives in Congress.
So they opposed giving the national government the power to regulate trade.

12. What did delegates from three southern states threaten if the new national government denied their citizens the right to own and import slaves?
Slavery had existed in the American colonies since the 1600s. Some of the people in the South depended upon slaves as workers and they had a lot of money invested in the slaves that they had bought and owned.
Delegates from three southern states said they would refuse to be a part of the national government if it denied their citizens the right to own and import slaves.
Many of the delegates from other states were against slavery but they wanted to be sure all states would join the Union.

13. According to the pie chart, what percentage of the American population were slaves in 1790?
17.8%

14. Virginia had the most slaves (292,627—42% of their population)
According to the table on page 55, which state had the most slaves? Which had the least?
Virginia had the most slaves (292,627—42% of their population)
Massachusetts had the least (0)
Massachusetts had outlawed slavery in 1783

15. The Compromise
After considerable debate, the delegates from the North and the South agreed on several compromises that served the interests of both the northerners who did not own slaves and the southern slave owners.
Let’s look at the Article 1, Sections 8 & 9 of the Constitution on page 56 in your text and see if we can identify which parts of it favored the North and which parts favored the South

16. What did the Framers agree to on the question of controlling trade and protective tariffs?
The Constitution gave Congress the power to:
place tariffs on imports
Control both interstate (between states) and foreign commerce (trade)
To get the southern delegates to agree to this, the northern delegates had to compromise on the question of slavery

17. What three demands of southern delegates did the northern delegates have to agree to in order to reach this compromise?
The national government would not interfere with the slave trade until at least 1808.
Each slave was to be counted as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of determining the number of representatives each state would have in the House of Representatives and also for the purposes of taxation
A fugitive slave clause required that slaves who escaped to other states would be returned to their owners

18. What fundamental ideas about constitutional government were violated by this compromise?
All men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights including life, liberty, and property.

19. Why do you think that anti-slavery northern delegates agreed to the demands of the southern delegates?
The anti-slavery delegates realized that they had to compromise in order to get the support of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
These states would not have supported the Constitution without these demands being met.

20. Homework for Tonight Read Lesson 14 in your text (pp. 57-60)
Answer the study guide questions that go with Lesson 14.