The correct answer is C) based on large plantations growing cash crops.
The statement that best describes the economy of the South in the years leading up to the Civil War is "based on large plantations growing cash crops."
In the years leading up to the Civil War, the north and the south lived under very different economic circumstances. The southern states depended so much on slavery that worked in the large plantation growing cash crops such as cotton. These plantations needed many slaves to produce the number of crops that had to be exported to Europe. On the other hand, the northern states depended on the industry. They had built factories and manufacturing plants that offered jobs to workers and immigrants.
