In the decade before the outbreak of the American Civil War Northerners and Southerners debated regarding which section possessed the superior economic system. Northerners condemned slavery in the South and praised their own system of "free labor", while Southerners defended slavery as a more moral economic system and condemned the system of "wage slavery" in the North. What arguments and evidence did each side use to support their position?

In the decade before the outbreak of the American Civil War Northerners and Southerners debated regarding which section possessed the superior economic system. Northerners condemned slavery in the South and praised their own system of "free labor", while Southerners defended slavery as a more moral economic system and condemned the system of "wage slavery" in the North. What arguments and evidence did each side use to support their position?