Before secession from the Union, the American South had what Whites probably considered a great quality of life. Not only did they have a salubrious climate and beautiful landscapes, the southern culture valued family and friend connections and by tradition held onto their land and possessions. There were, obviously, poverty-stricken pockets, there were hot tempers and murders, not to mention feuds, there was the eldest son preference inherited from the 'owd country' but, by and large, life was good. For the American White.

The American North was colder, both in climate and in connections. Largely industrial in employment and finance, and more transient in nature, there was not the same culture of ease found a thousand miles farther south. Pocketed with slums and hardscrabble immigrants, the rich lived comfortably but downscale life dropped off precipitately. People worked hard for what they attained.

War on the South's homeground with its loss of so many young healthy men and the loss of its accustomed essentially unpaid labor knocked the South to its knees.

The climate and the geography stayed the same but basically everything else changed.

Nowadays, wouldn't the Federal Government come in with the equivalent of the Marshall Plan?

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How is that for a stereotypical summary? Notice that I didn't mention slavery by name; the view I give here is the view that Southerners today frequently proffer. (Mind you, I love the South.)