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'''You discuss how educational reforms in the North helped prepare Union engineers for the war. How did science and engineering education in the North and South differ during the antebellum period?'''

Before the Civil War each section of the country made a choice about the role technology and science played in the development of their communities, and each section determined how resources were spent, schools formed, and labor was regarded. In the North, many people believed that technology assisted republicanism because, in providing economic opportunity, it led to "equality in class status" and promoted "the welfare of the many as opposed to the special privileges of the few." Consequently, local communities advocated for the expenditure of tax money spent on common schools that taught basic skills in reading, writing, and arithmetic.