During the Industrial Revolution, the institution of slavery was primarily associated with the Southern states of the United States, where agricultural economies relied heavily on slave labor, particularly in the production of cotton, tobacco, and sugar.
In contrast, the Western region of the U.S. during that period was more diverse in terms of economy and labor systems. The early Western territories and states had limited slavery compared to the South, primarily due to a combination of economic factors, settlement patterns, and legislative measures. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787, for example, prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory, which includes parts of present-day states like Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
As the U.S. expanded westward, debates over the expansion of slavery into new territories became a significant political issue. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state while designating certain areas as free. The Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 further intensified these debates, allowing for popular sovereignty in determining whether new states would be slave or free.
While there were some slaveholding communities and individuals in the West, notably in areas such as California and Texas, the overall scale of slavery in the West was significantly smaller than in the South. By the time of the Civil War, the question of slavery had become a central conflict in the country, leading to various tensions and ultimately to the war itself.
In summary, while slavery did exist in some Western territories and states, it was not as prevalent or as central to the region's economy as it was in the Southern states during the Industrial Revolution.
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