The American Civil War was an inevitable conflict that stemmed from the fundamental differences between the northern and southern states. The economic differences between the North’s industrial, and the South’s agricultural economy, contributed to this division. Slavery was also central to the conflict. The debate over the role federal government should play in regard to slaves as property. The political climate was cataclysmic from the Missouri Compromise of 1819, to Bleeding Kansas conflict of the mid-1850s, culminating in the election of President Abraham Lincoln. The slavery-based economy of the Southern states differed greatly from the free-labor-based economy of the Northern states. Dating back to the colonial period, the Southern economy was agriculturally based. Cotton production in the South erupted after 1793, and the invention of the Cotton Gin by Eli Whitney. Whitney’s Cotton Gin allowed for the easy extraction of seeds from short staple cotton; a revolutionary advancement which created a year-round demand for slave labor in the southern cotton fields. The abundance and availability of southern cotton facilitated the expansion of the textile industry in the North. Prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, textile manufacturing had become America’s leading industry. Between 1815 and 1860, cotton represented over fifty percent of American exports. This economic fissure between the North and South was further exacerbated by the lack of manufacturing facilities located within the cotton producing states. In fact, “The states that grew all the cotton possessed only 6 percent of the nation’s cotton manufacturing capacity." Reliance on slave labor for the harvest of cotton further shaped the economy of the South via the limitation on modernization efforts. Slavery in the South grew as the demand for cotton rose. This resulted in the expansion of the status quo rather than an increased modernization. As a result, the Industrial Revolution was experienced in a limited form in the South, since railroads were constructed to facilitate the transportation of cotton to inter-state markets, and to foreign markets via ports. Conversely, the North enjoyed an extensive web of railroads that connected nearly every well-populated, industrialized city. Stark contrast between economies within the United States, prior to the 1860's, contributed to growing antagonism. The northern states supported a federal government policy to protect the economic interests of resident manufacturers from cheap imports and foreign competition; while Southern states wanted to peruse an international economic policy to encourage cheap imports. As a consequence of the South’s non-existent factories, both the North and South held competing economic interests. Competing economic structures intensified the tension between factions. These were further intensified by social differences. American social differences were a difference in socio-cultural values, from slavery to the debate about free labor, educational systems, standards, and residency patterns. It is impossible to understate the significance slavery played in shaping the racial strata within society. So