the reason they are so different is because of the reasons for secession. the reason the south wanted to secede is not even remotely similar to the reason quebec wants to secede. thing is, history books have convinced people that the american civil war was basically about rich white plantation owners throwing a hissy fit over the abolition movement. however, that's completely not the case. the short form is that the south realized they didn't really need the north. they were tired of financing a government that served their interests less and less. the south had most of the land and raw materials, so their agrarian based economy was capable of operating without assistance from the north. the north was just beginning the industrial revolution.
this is what they based their economy on. they were not so independent of the south because of their greater need for raw materials, food and land. it wasn't about abolitionists at all. slavery had to end, whether anyone liked it or not. the world was growing less tolerant of it every day. however, the north only wanted to end slavery in name only. when slavery was abolished there were huge riots in the north, especially in new york city. hundreds of blacks were beaten to death over it. the north, being flooded by irish immigrants, had a steady stream of men to fight their war for them. many of them stepped right off the boat at ellis island, and right into a union army uniform. the south, not so much. people like to tell happy tales of the underground railroad, and how all these white folks above the mason dixon line wanted to help the black man escape the opression of the southern plantation owner. what they actually wanted was cheap labor. look how long it took america to garantee basic human rights to the black man. it literally took another hundred years (almost exactly) before racial equality began to be more uniformly enforced and accepted. and still from there, another 15+ years before total desegregation in every state was made into law. so there ya go. now you have the cliff notes for what really happened. oh, and one thing worth pointing out. unlike quebec, when the confederacy wanted to secede, they had money. lots of it. the country as a whole was not in deficit, and the south was not trying to dodge their share of the national debt. no one, north or south swore allegiance to a foreign power. in the end, the states would not be what they are had they allowed to confederacy to continue.
both sides are the better for it.
