Endowments in the various geographies of the early Republic were quite distinct and consequential. In the North, the comparative disadvantage of a short growing season was balanced by a well-established and ever-increasing flow of immigrants, thus increasing the labor force. In the South, the comparative advantage of a very long growing season was balanced by a disadvantageous overemphasis, especially after 1800, on a cotton monoculture.

Was the influx of labor into the North accompanied by rapid tehnological innovation, infrastructure development, and urbanization?

a. Yes, and the failure of urban development in the South, coupled with a polarization of wealth and income, created a widespread antipathy to capitalism in favor of a semi-feudal social order.

b. Yes, but that outcome occurred mainly because the Southern coastline lacked natural ports.

c. No, because the real advantage of the North was the superior sewage-disposal technology, which somehow was not adopted in the South until after the Civil War.

d. No, because the South's disadvantage was that its population was overwhelmingly illiterate.