Answer:
The best answer is southern agriculture was too important to the U.S. economy to lose slave labor.
Explanation:
Most southerners used salves to support the labor required to grow crops on large plantations. More crops not only meant more money for land owners, but it also kept costs lower for consumers. Without slaves, plantation owners would have to pay for labor, thus raising prices of food, tobaccco and clothing made of cotton. However, this was not a compelling enough reason for the majority of residents in Northern states to support slavery. Northern states had many factories with paid laborers and factory owners were accostomed to paying for labor.
