Quote:
Originally Posted by austlar1
Charleston dropped off the top 10 list after 1840. Interesting that Charleston's population remained fairly stagnant during the first half of the 19th Century. It kind of ran out of steam, especially in comparison to the cities in the Northeast which were exploding with population growth. Charleston and Savannah are beautiful little cities, but they were consigned to a lesser tier once the railroads started to develop. New Orleans benefited from being at the bottom of the Mississippi River, and it also developed as a major rail hub. Charleston and Savannah did not have that kind of dynamic connection with the interior of their region.
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It was because of the South wouldn't let go of slavery. The South was slow to industrialize, as the North was doing by the 1840s, because they were too tied to an agrarian economy and slavery.