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Civil War Sectionalism Analysis

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Broadly speaking, the Civil War arose because of the fact that northerners and southerners became divided over various political, economic and social issues during the early nineteenth century. This phenomenon, known as “sectionalism,” came about mainly because of the differences in the economic structures of the north and the south. As Klein says in this regard, the conflict between the two sections of the country were increased “as the northern states moved increasingly into commerce and manufacturing while the southern states expanded their agricultural economy into a plantation system based on slave labor” (36). Because of the differences in these two economic systems, northerners generally took one side on important political issues while southerners generally took the opposing side, creating animosity between the two. This sectionalism that eventually led to full-on secession and the Civil War between the north and south quickly escalated due to many issues, including economics and politics, but much of the divide lied on the issue of slavery. …show more content…

Southerners objected to the northerners’ views in debates on these issues, because they felt that the individual states should have more say in making political decisions, rather than having the federal government dictate laws for all of the states. In addition, most southerners felt that changes proposed by northerners were designed to benefit northern industries at the sake of southern agriculture. As Fehrenbacher says, one of the major reasons for “Southern disaffection” in the years prior to the war was the “sense of having been reduced to economic vassalage by the commercial and industrial interests of the Northeast”

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