Thus, there was less impetus and need for change and growth in the South. There were more undereducated people who only knew how to farm for a living, and there were fewer opportunities for these people to better themselves in thriving economic centers. The economy of the South was rooted in slavery, and there was little else for Southerners who wanted change to do to better themselves and their economy.
Clearly, slavery had a huge and lasting impact on the nation. From the first, slavery was contentious. It was even debated during the writing of the Declaration of Independence, and even then, the North and the South were sharply divided on this issue. The North developed a more viable economy that did not need to rely on slave labor, while the South did not. The country became even more divided as more states entered the Union and had to choose sides - free or slave state. By the time of the breakout of the Civil War, the country was even more divided, and...
Thus, the impact on the country was the eventual fighting of the Civil War, but it was much more than that, too.
Dividing the country into free and slave states created tension and dissention when new states joined the Union. In addition, the economies of the North and South were growing at far different rates. The South clearly could not keep up, and something would have to change. After the Civil War, many Southerners, black and white, moved to the Northern industrial cities where they could find work. Today, the South is still more rural and less populated than the North, and there is still marked racial prejudice and hatred. In some ways, the impact of slavery is still being felt today.
References
Mintz, S. "The Economics of Slavery." Digital History. 2003. 28 July 2004. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=80
