Essay On The Sectional Crisis

Among the economies of the north and south arose many conflicts that led to the tension of the Civil War in 1861. In the 1800s, slavery was a major sectional issue. Northerners were strongly opposed to slavery unlike the south's belief that slavery was economically beneficial.

The secession of South Carolina on December 20, 1860, by a vote of 169-0 was a response to the election of Abraham Lincoln of 1860. Lincoln perceived as an abolitionist wanted to contain slavery rather than ending it. The majority party above the Mason-Dixon line were Republicans and below were primarily Democrats and Republicans were viewed as abolitionists. The election of a Republican threatened the South’s status quo. The primary catalyst for secession was based on slavery. Different social cultures and political beliefs developed due to the South’s intimate and reliant relationship on slavery. Southern whites feared the end of slavery and this paranoia was shared among plantation slave owners and white Yeoman farmers. Southern whites felt that the North were threatening the supposed tranquility of the South. The South’s agrarian economy, honor, and independence were believed to be in danger. Slavery was intertwined with the South’s social, cultural, and economic makeup. As a result of slavery, the South developed a paternalistic culture and racial ideology of white supremacy. The perceived notion that the North was influencing it’s political and social beliefs on the South lead them to believe that secession was the only act of self-preservation. The growing differences between the South and North made it difficult to negotiate. This fear was exaggerated and accelerated the South’s eventual implosion. The South believed that without slavery it would self-destruct and

Between Constitutional ratification and southern secession, the United States increasingly developed sectional tensions between North and South. Regional differences and territorial expansion created the conflict of interests between the states. Proslavery southern and antislavery northern states envisioned their economical and political future in different ways. The question of slavery during the westward expansion was decisive for politics of both sides because more slave states would create voting advantages for the slaveholding states in the Congress. Northwestern territories were occupied by the new settlers from New England who established urbanized culture and infrastructure in Upstate New York and the Upper Northwest. New settlers in the Lower South organized farms and plantations to develop agricultural sector. Slavery was the main labor force in the South. With technological and transportation development, it became easier to migrate in the search of new territories. In the first half of the nineteenth century, the North supported industrialization and manufacturing, while the South was mostly focused on the agricultural development. The whole economy of the southern states depended largely on the cotton production. For many years, the issues of slavery, human rights and racial inequality were the main topics for discussion by people, and the expansion of borders in the beginning of the nineteenth century intensified discussions around these questions. The

During the early 1800’s in the United States of America, both the Early Industrial Revolution and the Westward Expansion contributed to the sectional tension between the North and the South. While the North had factories popping up everywhere, the South had more and more land dedicated to plantations. To stay at the pace of the North, the South decided it would be beneficial if they were to become their cotton suppliers. With the invention of the cotton gin, cotton was being mass-produced and sent to the North to be made into items such as clothing. Whilst this was going on, the point of slavery became a big issue and the debate over it began, dividing the North and South more and more over time. The North didn't support slavery and instead, hired workers to work in the factories (specifically low-wage woman), while the South supported slavery and used African slaves to work on plantations. This caused many problems as both sides wanted more land to promote their opinion on slavery for either plantations or factories. Due to each of the sides having contradictory points of view on slavery, the Missouri Compromise and the addition of other territories such as during the Louisiana Purchase, the Oregon Treaty, and the Annexation of Texas, much strife occurred in the Senate. The Westward Expansion led to the desire for more land, therefore the United States expanded their land from the East coast to the West coast. The Westward Expansion promoted the addition of new land and

In the mid-1800's, many events occurred that increased sectional tension between the Northern and Southern states of the Union. These tensions ultimately resulted in the outbreak of civil war. One thing in particular that is considered to be a source of sectional discord is the U.S. Constitution. However the Constitution itself was not a source of sectional tension that caused the failure of the Union. The failure erupted generally from the issue of slavery. combination of the people in general and the differences in economic styles that lead to the downfall. Poor political decisions such as the Kansas Nebraska Act, lead to bad decisions which worsened the tensions of the union. The economic differences ultimately lead to the Civil War

The American Civil War initiated directly from the northern and southern strained relations on the controversial matter of states’ right opposed to federal supremacy, slavery, and economic sectionalism. The Presidential Election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 engendered the secession of seven states forming the Confederate States of America, following of four states after emerging battle of the Civil War. Why was the election of Lincoln the catalyst that led to the United States secession? Republicans opposed the enlargement of slavery flowing throughout the territories, therefore restricting the practice of slavery. Southern states discerned on the depriving control of federal government eventually overpowering slavery to become prohibited. In

For instance, a tremendous part of the South’s agricultural economy were slaves, as plantation owners needed a surplus of workers to maintain the fields. If the South paid their workers, there would be an extreme amount of profit lost due to how many workers were necessary. Therefore, slavery was a part of the South’s economy and was essential to southern lifestyle. On the other hand, the northern industrial economy did not depend on slavery and instead depended on immigrants to work in the factories. These differences of slavery in the economy led to sectionalism in the United States, for northerners did not comprehend why it was necessary to enslave people when their industrial economy strived even without free laborers. After the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act, the North’s sectionalist thinking was uncovered. Northerners were unhappy with the possibility of getting arrested for helping slaves escape, for the majority of the North believed slavery to be unfathomable. As a result, the North opposed the law and mobs were formed to prevent the Fugitive Slave Act’s enforcement. Henceforth, the North retaliated the similarly as the South did with the tariff of 1828; showcasing their sectionalist belief that their ideas of slavery were more important than the

pieces where this argument is seen are "Appeal to the women of the south" and

The truth of the matter may lies somewhere in between these two viewpoints but they both miss an important fact. Beyond the propaganda and catchy phrases is the simple fact that the Northern states had profited greatly from slaver. In some ways directly such as the trade itself and in others more indirect such as the boom of New England ship building.

The U.S is debating on should slavery be outlawed or allowed. People are supporting their region only. The U.S. will soon divide and war is about to break out. Sectionalism is loyalty to one's area, it exists because it ended the era of good feeling because the north and south disagreed about slavery and tariffs. Sectionalism led to Social and Economic conflicts in the early-mid 1800’s that resulted in the outbreak of war.

In 1861, a civil war broke out in the United States when eleven southern states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. The war was not ended until 1865, and it became one of the most destructive war in the American history. On the other hand, it also shows how the northern states and the southern states were already diverging from one another just less than a hundred years after the founding of the United States. From the period between 1740 and 1865, the divergence of northern states and southern states from one another was mostly contributed by the dispute over the issue of slavery as a result of how the culture in the north and the south were drastically different, with focus on the difference in roles played by the northern states and southern states in the market economy that led to the debate on free labor versus slave labor, the difference in action and reaction between the northerners and southerners towards abolition reform, and the increasingly polarized stands between them on the slavery status for the existing and newly admitted states. On the other hand, the problem of federal power versus state power also had some contribution to the divergence between the north and the south because of the obstacles it produced in regards to political decisions over slavery.

Some laws functioned to stem the tide of slavery, such as the Slave Trade Act of 1818, which served to “prohibit the introduction of slaves into any port or place within. . . the United States” (udayton.edu). Yet for each abolitionist victory, the Southern planation owners were well-prepared with legislation of their own for the purpose of maintaining the status quo. According to Rourk, and his colleagues, “the Fugitive Slave Act proved to be the most explosive of the compromise measures” (Rourk, et. al., 2009, p.481). This was because Northerners viewed it as an attempt to expand slavery beyond the South and to compel their participation in maintaining slavery, even if it defied their religious or personal morals. While Southerners may have believed that the law was justified, as it dealt with the return of what they saw as property, Northerners felt differently. The heart of the conflict between North and South includes a difference in viewpoint on the institution of slavery. The South saw economics as primary, while the Northerners increasingly saw economics as a secondary or tertiary concern after morality and unity.

The years after the war saw a rise in the number of human rights laws

Before the Civil War, issues of slavery and secession arose in the United States. After the Compromise of 1850, abolitionists, such as Frederick Douglass, were a key aspect in keeping the issue of slavery a controversial topic (Montoya, et al., 350) . Because of this, the United States started to divide itself into the Union and Confederacy, which led to the crisis of secession. In December 1860, shortly after Lincoln was elected as president, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union (Montoya, et al., 361) . By February of 1861, six other states seceded from the Union (Montoya, el al., 361) . This caused confliction and separation in the United States with the Union and Confederacy. With this divide, the Civil War begun and both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass both had different responses on the meaning of this war.

The North and Southern regions of the United States had been slowly drifting apart, largely due to their drastically different economies. The South’s capital depended solely on slave labor unlike the North which had a booming industrious economy ran by business moguls and cheap immigrant labor. Many Northerners, although racist, abhorred the idea of slavery. In the year 1850, amidst heated dispute over the territories won in the Mexican-American war, the great compromiser Henry Clay devised a series of acts known as the Compromise of 1850 to resolve the issue. One component of this compromise intended as a provision to the South, a stricter Fugitive Slave Act was passed which required