The North and South differed in many ways, but none proved more significant than the South's staple crop economy and the labor force that worked it. Cotton (and in some areas tobacco, rice, and sugar) created a system of business and commerce that made Dixie different from the rest of the nation, and the most obvious difference was the region's reliance on slavery. More than an economic system, slavery was a critical, creative force in a social order that included planters, their ladies, plain folk (men and women), and, of course, the slaves themselves. The result was a complex society that has often been romanticized and frequently misunderstood. Bound together by race and by a firm belief in a patriarchal, hierarchical system, whites of different classes and genders shared many of the same beliefs and wanted many of the same things. At the same time, there were significant differences among members of the white community, differences which were not always apparent to the casual observer. African Americans, also united by race and in most cases by slavery, found a variety of ways to maintain their dignity and, in so doing, managed to create an enduring cultural system that transcended their condition and enabled them to endure the hardships they faced.