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Sectionalism In The 1800s Essay

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Throughout the 1800s, the United States made advancements as a nation. The expansion of territory towards the West brought new beginnings for some citizens and an increase in nationalism of the country. But, it also caused problems. This once unified country started to show a prominent divide of two regions, the North, states in the Northeast of the country, and the South, states in the Southeast and South of the country. At first, it was not as visible, but started to show when slavery was more dominant in the Southern states and decreasing in the Northern states. Then, the divide started to expand to politics, causing dysfunction in settlements of debates. When the Industrial Revolution took place, it showed the advancements the North was …show more content…

The North was not in favor of slavery. One point was because that there was not much basic use for slaves in the cold, mountainous North. Second point was that there was a growing community of abolitionists in these states, who believed that slavery was wrong and should be considered unconstitutional. The South, on the other hand, was proactive in the preservation of this practice. One reason was because it increased economy and brought in high incomes to the masters of plantations and the state governments. A second reason is that production of exports from plantations is easier and faster with slaves. These two opinions add on to the division of the regions significantly, since slavery was a large practice in the South. One example of the growing sectionalism is when the Missouri Compromise was created, which stated that all states bought in the Louisiana Purchase that are above the border of Missouri at 36°30’ are non-slave states (Textbook). Originally, this compromise was created in order to decrease the tensions built up between the North and the South in politics. However, it created more problems, leading to a larger divide between the regions. The debate over the Missouri Compromise led to criticism made about how the laws in the document are unconstitutional or that this will further lead to the expansion of slavery (History.com, …show more content…

One example of this is the Eerie Canal. It was started in the 1790’s and made its debut as the fastest way to transport merchandise from Albany to Buffalo, making the duration of 20 days shorten to 6 days. Another example is the railroad system, connecting the North to Western states and Southern states, leading to a longer range and faster of connectivity. However, the example that has changed America from this point in time is the rise of factories in the North. The Lowell Brothers, who created the first factory in Massachusetts and brought more emphasis on the word “industry”, first implemented this development. These factories increased the speed of production and revenue in the Northern states. In the South, not many of these were implemented into the states in this territory. Since the area was flatter and warmer than the North, there was more agricultural-based work done. Slavery was also used in plantations in the South, which was very productive and brought with it a high income for the masters of these plantations. However, with the advancements made in the North, the South is not developing as fast as the North.

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