As you may know, the Northern US is far, far, far, far far far far far, far, far more industrialized than the Southern US. Well, maybe it isn't so obvious now, but it was up until around the civil war, which was from 1860 to 1865. Oh, and I'm talking about the eastern part of the united states, because the rest wasn't occupied or even discovered for quite some time.
Geology
So first off, the geological conditions of the north aren't exactly spectacular for growing crops; this was a big part of the early failures to colonize America, since hardly anything was produced. The terrain is rocky, the weather is cold and variant, and the soil is no good. The plains of the south, however, are perfect for planting wide expanses of sugar, tobacco, and cotton (something I hope to discuss later). 
Meanwhile, the rocky terrain in the north that I mentioned is fantastic for mining metals and granite, and the incredible forestation provided for plenty of wood to build tools, houses, and burn stuff (my vocabulary is amazing, I know). But more out of necessity for income, northerners actually had no other alternative but to try the factory system.Immigrants
Because land costs a whole heaping ton of money, and a whole heaping ton of land is needed to make a profit, agriculture in the south was usually reserved for the rich. Sometimes after making a profit in northern industry, people would buy some land and some slaves in the south, and move there.
But this also made immigrants from europe go to industry because it was so much cheaper, and extra labor was always helpful. Factory owners preferred immigrant labor as well, since they would work for so much less, giving the factory more profit and allowing for the factories to spread.And while a single plantation took up hundreds of acres, a factory would take up [insert small size of factory here]. This allowed the factories to multiply far faster than the farms. And if it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Snowball
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