Explain why the “article of faith among northerners that theirs was a

Explain why the “article of faith among northerners that theirs was a society of unprecedented economic equality and opportunity, free of rigid class divisions and glaring extremes of wealth and poverty”

is not entirely an accurate depiction of reality.

ANSWER
Consider: wealth highly concentrated at the top; wide class distinctions, social stratification; urban poverty; frequent unemployment; low wages for the working class; women and child labor required for survival of the family.