One of the great changes that took place in the United States of America in the first half of the 19th century was industrial growth and development.

(a) The cotton-growing industry gave rise to serious problems in the United States. As the plantations increased, so did the demand for labour. The only available source of labour in those days was the slaves brought in from Africa and living in America. The issue of slavery would eventually turn into an explosive problem that would threaten the very existence of the American Union. 

(b) An anti-slavery movement began in the northern states of America.The industrialized northern states did not need slave labour in their industries and, on the whole did not approve of slavery. The southern states on the other hand claimed that they needed slaves for their cotton and sugar plantations.Thus, slaves who provided cheap labour were considered a ‘necessity’ in the predominantly agricultural southern states.The southerners were often needlessly cruel and harsh in their treatment of slaves. This outraged many northerners and the tension between the slave states of the South and the abolition states of the North began to grow.

(c) Harriet Beecher Stowe published her famous book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which highlighted and exposed the horrors of slavery and the miseries of the slaves. This book had a profound influence on the northern states and their antislavery campaign began to gather momentum. The southern states threatened to secede or break away from the Union and form a confederacy of their own.