How did the issue of slavery divide the nation in the 1800s?

1) The South had many many large plantations for various cash crops. In the 1800's the discovery of cotton gin occured. This machine greatly sped up the process of extracting seeds from cotton fiber. This made more cotton plantations and thus, increased the need for more slaves. In the North however, the climate was not suitable to grow crash crops, thus the North had almost no need for slaves since factory jobs were occupied by women. At the constitutional convention a plan that benefitted southern states but didn't benefit Northern states, involved slaves. This was one of the main reasons why the civil war happened.

It had many causes, but there were two main issues that split the nation: first was the issue of slavery, and second was the balance of power in the federal government ... Without slaves, the South believed that their region's economy would be destroyed.