Civil War Sectionalism Essay

The name Civil War is misleading because the war was not a class struggle, but a sectional combat, having its roots in political, economic, social, and psychological elements. It has been characterized, in the words of William H. Seward, as the “irrepressible conflict.” In another judgment the Civil War was viewed as criminally stupid, an unnecessary bloodletting brought on by arrogant extremists and blundering politicians. Both views accept the fact that in 1861 there existed a situation that, rightly or wrongly, had come to be regarded as insoluble by peaceful means.

Sectionalism was ultimately the main cause of the civil war. Sectionalism is occurs when an individual identifies with a geographic section of the United States based on their culture, social, economical, and political interests of that section. Sectionalism eventually caused the division of the nation, and created parts of the nation, which were the Union and the Confederation. As the tensions progressed, the government strived to unite the divided nation by establishing different legislation to satisfy each section; however, multiple historical events, such as the Election of Abraham Lincoln, the passing of the Kansas Nebraska Act, etc, interrupted the balancing act within the divided nation. The tensions between these sections eventually built up and caused the Civil War to occur. The Civil War was caused by the various economical differences within the nation, the conflict between the legality of slavery, and the political disputes in Congress over issues during that time.

The United States began to dissatisfy some of its citizens and so the concerns of sectionalism, or the split of the country began to arise. There was a continuous riff between the south and the north over a few issues,

“A house divided against itself cannot stand” Abraham lincoln had said during a republican meeting in 1858. During this time, many compromises were being made in order to keep the country together. Although the Missouri compromise and the compromise of 1850 attempted to keep the country together, these events and some others actually divided the nation and eventually led to civil war.

Approximately 180,000 Negros served in the Union during the Civil War. The Negro Soldier was overall a good one. One example was at the Assault on Fort Wagner, South Carolina. The 54th Massachusetts Colored troops led the assault and scaled the fort’s parapet and were only driven back after brutal hand-to-hand fighting. The Negro faced some discrimination in the Union Army in areas such as pay. It wasn’t until June 15th, 1864 that the Congress granted equal pay to Negro troops. Several Negro soldiers earned the Medal of Honor. The North attitude towards Negro troops was mainly positive, while the South did not want Negros to serve in the Confederate Army. It wasn’t until the Confederates were running low on men did they allow Negros to serve. The Negros serving in the North felt it as their duty to serve and support the cause for their own freedom.

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a book called Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which brought up the horrible aspects of slavery into many Americans minds. She brought up many horrifying points about slavery and it is said to have inspired Northern abolitionists to protest against the Fugitive Slave act.

“It [drove] a deeper wedge between the northern and southern wings of both political parties,” states Robert Kagan (Document 2B). The Civil War occurred because the nation was divided. Some of the divisions were caused by their distinct economies. In addition, they were politically divided by their opposing views. Throughout the 1850s, tension began to increase because of these differences, eventually leading to the Civil War. The two most influential differences that eventually led to the Civil War were the North and the South had diverse economies and opposing political views on slavery.

“A house divided against itself cannot stand” (Abraham Lincoln). In other words, the United States, which was split into the North and South, could not stand with the uprising of conflict. The wise words of Abraham Lincoln foreshadowed the Civil War, which would become one of the worst wars in the United State’s history. Disagreement between the northern and southern states began long before the Civil War; in fact, as far back as colonial times. The North and South were not able to accept each other’s differences and come to a compromise, so they divided. During the early years of the republic, these differences between them grew greater as their distrust in each other intensified. Throughout the time period leading up to the Civil War, the

Harriet Beecher Stowe of Connecticut was the American author who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852. This now famous novel was written about the humble life of a slave and the horrible acrostics committed against him. As shown in Document 4, this novel gave a new perspective to the Northerners. It gave the newly informed an understanding of what slavery actually was. The sympathy for the slaves soon turned to anger as a few select citizen lead by John Brown, took up arms to save the slaves.

Sectionalism is simply loyalty to interest of your region rather than the country as a whole. Out northern section would be loyal to the interest of their northern region. We have the south who would be loyal to the interest of the southern region. They would care more about their interest or what matters to them rather than the country as a whole. Some sectionalism that comes into play is the north was for tariffs the south was against, the south was for states’ rights and the north more opposed to states’ rights.

In 1861, the American Civil War commenced after many years of tension building between the Northern and Southern states. The main reason of the tension was said to be the debate of slavery between the North and South, and although some documents support this claim, it is false. The war had been brewing since 1607, before slavery was even introduced to the colonies that would become the United States of America. The debate of slavery did play a major part in the civil war; however it did so in supporting the true cause of the civil war. The main cause of the American Civil War was not the debate of slavery, but rather Europe’s role in the American economy.

     Published in the early 1850’s, Uncle Tom’s Cabin had a huge impact on our nation and contributed to the tension over slavery. It was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, a woman who was involved in religious and feminist causes. Stowe’s influence on the northern states was remarkable. Her fictional novel about slave life of her current time has been thought to be one of the main things that led up to the Civil War. The purpose of writing it, as is often said, was to expose the evils of slavery to the North where many were unaware of just what went on in the rest of the country. The book was remarkably successful and sold 300,000 copies by the end of its first year. It is even rumored that

The novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and published in the United States in 1852. The novel depicted slavery as a moral evil and was the cause of much controversy at the time and long after. Uncle Tom's Cabin outraged the South and received praise in the North. The publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin was a major turning point for the United States which helped bring about the Civil War.

As many people say history was written by the victors, we need to remember there would be no victors without the struggle and turmoil of those that lost. This is what Harriet Beecher Stowe’s compelling novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin has taught us in regards to the war on slavery. In the midst of the 1800’s, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote her best-selling novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, to address the various issues regarding race during this century. Throughout her novel, readers learn the lives of slaves, slave masters, and their families, which leads to the understanding of a unique lifestyle among the characters. As her novel is important in today’s society, it made an even greater impact during the nineteenth century as it portrays the ideology of the Civil War and the abolitionists.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, is a novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe which originally was published on March 20, 1852. Under the background that the country had been divided over the issue over slavery, the south states of the country are slaves states, and the north states of the country are slave free states. Different sides of the country have distinct views over slavery system in south. The north, specially abolitionist, views slavery system is villainous and immoral, it takes away the basic right of human which is freedom, and it againsts God which is Christian believes. The theme of the novel based on the abolitionist views. The purpose of the novel is that tell the world what is slave life like, especially for those northerners never been to the south.Their life will be strenuous or comfortable is depend on what kind of slave owner they meet. The book is appeal people to face and deal with the issue of slavery which lasted in the history for a long time.