Apush Sectionalism

In the late nineteenth century, small farmers faced increasing economic insecurities. Millions of tenant farmers were stuck in poverty due to the sharecropping system in the South.Farmers in the south weren't the only ones facing difficult times; farmers in the west had to mortgage their property to purchase seeds, fertilizer, and equipment. Farmers who mortgaged their property faced the chances of losing their farms when they were unable to repay their bank loans. Farmers then sought out to find a solution for their condition by going through the Farmers’ Alliance and the

Farmers had been hit a lot harder than most in the 20's and past the

The United States grew at a dramatic rate between the years 1880 and 1900, within the cities. U.S. cities grew by approximately 15 million people in the two decades before 1900. Many historians claim that most of the population growth was due to the expansion of industry. It is also believed that the majority of the population explosion was immigrants that were arriving from all over the world. A good amount of people from the rural areas of America also moved to the cities during this period in the search of work. Between 1880 and 1890, it is suggested that almost 40 percent of the townships in the United States lost population because of migration.

The economy grew more than 400% between 1860 and 1900. There was many things that helped the economy grow. We had technological advances, an expanding population, and transportation improved. John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J.P. Morgan were considered “titans of industry”. Together they build monopolies and revolutionized business practices.

While some historians have dubbed the period after the War of 1812, an “Era of Good Feelings”, the continuous increase of events such as the Missouri Compromise, strengthened the sectionalism in the country and led to a contradiction in the title given to that time period. Politically, America grew more divided as more parties arose, separating the people by their different opinions on how the government should be run and ultimately, who should become our next president. Economically, there was tension between agriculturalists who continued to sink deeper and deeper in poverty as manufacturers continued to grow affluent, due to economic laws passed by the government which favored their growth. Therefore, while the period was labeled an “Era

Nearly all of the reasons for agrarian discontent in the late 19th century stem from three areas: land, transportation, and money. The farmers were fighting the perceived threats posed by monopolies and trusts, railroads, and the demonetization of silver. The American farmer during this period already had his fair share of problems which, compared to the success of the industrialized businessmen, resulted in much of the animosity between the two groups. The fact of the matter was farmers had entered a viscous cycle. Wheat and cotton, once the staples of American agriculture were selling at such low prices that it was almost impossible

There were many problems, events, and situations that led to the Civil War. One of the major reasons for the outbreak of the war was sectionalism. Once the United States was split, many of the country's fundamental issues were disputed, with slavery being at the top of the list. Some of the other major issues in dispute were representation, tariffs, and states' rights. Sectionalism is defined as, the sharp socio-economic differences that divided the Northern and the Southern states in the U.S.

During this time America saw some of its most rapid increase of immigration and population, not to mention westward expansion. Between 1880 and 1900 many cities grew in the hundreds of thousands, making work, shelter, and life a little more competitive. Much of this was

In the 1920s, the United States was in the middle of a revolution in the area of production. With a 64 percent increase in manufacturing; outputting per work hour around 40 percent. The most difficult to grasp was the sale of electricity and the consumption of fuel oil doubled. Americans were spread to their limits. Around 1922 and 1927, the economy grew by at least 7 percent a year.

Sectional tensions between the North and the South during the Antebellum era grew only more and more severe as the issue of what to do with the new territories added to the United States came about. Even though Manifest Destiny was a widely-held belief in the country around this time, Northerners wanted American possessions to become free states whereas Southerners wanted the territories the United States acquired to become slave states. Sectionalism grew somewhat as a result of westward expansion during the former half of the Antebellum period (1800-1820) but intensified during the latter half (1820-1850).

     Farmers were once known for being able to do everything themselves. They grew their own food and sewed their own clothes. People often yearn for the old days and complain about so many people living in cities. Many farmers had to give up their farms and move to the cities, because of something that happened in the late nineteenth century.

The Postbellum period in America from 1865 to the 1920s was characterized by a transformation of the American economy and unprecedented growth. Some of the largest companies founded in this time period are still around and thriving today including the Ford Motor Company, J.P. Morgan Chase, and General Electric. In addition to economic growth, there was also rapid urbanization and population growth from 31 million people in 1860 to 91 million in 1910. A shift in the market from agriculture to manufacturing partially propelled this growth. Despite the decrease in agricultural market share, the output increased threefold. By 1910, America increased its share in world manufacturing to 38.8% from 23.3% in 1870. Some economic historians such as Beard and Hacker propose that this growth is due to the Civil War. In general, there were three main spheres of influence spurring economic growth in this time period including technological advances, economic advantages and big business, and institutional changes.

In the South, rural workers and share croppers also migrated North by trains with plans to work in auto plants around Detroit, Michigan. Farmers had been experiencing harsh market conditions for their crops and goods since the end of World War I due to the lack of necessity and demand but because of this, their crops were rotting away in the fields, and there was nothing they could do about it. Family farms that had been mortgaged during the 1920's to provide money to get through until better times were now being foreclosed. Although America as a whole was industrializing, one quarter of

of tenure, better housing and relatively large, fertile plots which provided a nourishing diet for

The middleman system began in the 1700s and became a major source of misery as they kept sub-dividing estates into smaller and smaller parcels while increasing the rent every year in a practice known as rack-renting. Throughout Ireland, Protestants known as middlemen rented large amounts of land on the various estates then sub-divided the land into smaller holdings which they rented to poor Catholic farmers. they were allowed to build a small cabin and keep their own potato garden to feed their families. Other landless laborers rented small fertilized potato plots from farmers as conacre, with a portion of their potato harvest given up as payment of rent. Poor Irish laborers, more than anyone, became totally dependent on the potato for their