Northern, southern, border, slave or free? The modern categorization of U.S states

Resumen o Introducción

To answer this question one has to clarify the meaning of the word “categorize”. Regarding Longmann (1995:201) categorize means: “[...] to put people or things into groups according to what type they are, or to say which group they are in [...]”. So whenever we put persons into groups, according to certain facts, we unconsciously categorize them. As late as 1808, when the international slave trade was abolished, many thought that slavery would soon end. But the South became strongly united behind the establishment of slavery as new economic factors made slavery far more profitable than it had been before. The reason for their decision was the rise of a great cotton-growing industry. Sugarcane and tobacco, two labor-intensive crops, also enhanced slavery's extension (U.S. Diplomatic Mission to Germany. Retrieved January 27, 2012, from http://usa.usembassy.de/history-civilwar.htm ). The country was divided into states permitting slavery and states prohibiting it. In 1820, politicians debated the question of whether slavery would be legal in the western territories. So during the U.S. Civil War the categorization of states served as a identification possibility. Furthermore the states were as already mentioned, divided in two groups, the Confederate States of America, which was set up by eleven southern slave states whereas the Union was supported by 20 free states and five border slave states
(U.S. Diplomatic Mission to Germany. Retrieved January 27, 2012, from http://usa.usembassy.de/history-civilwar.htm ). The states fought against each other, depending on their categorization either Union or Confederate.