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.
In contrast to the many economical differences of the industrial north and agrarian south, few similarities arise in the struggle of sectionalism. Both the societies consisted of utilization of trade, westward expansion, and the use of unskilled labor. The north's industrial businesses such as textile industries demanded the south's production of cotton in order to maintain its market with oversees buyers. Also, the fight for westward land was among the many conflicts between the north and the south. And the use of unskilled labor was highly shared between these two economies. In the south, the use of untrained African slaves was its main entity to economic success. Like the south, the north used amateur workers in its industries to boost its production.
The North attracted many people for religious reasons and eventually developed a profitable shipbuilding industry based on the natural forests and harbors. More people who were interested in profit inhabited the South. This lead to the importation of a lot of slaves. Women's and slaves rights differed too, the South had fewer women so they were treated better, and the North had fewer slaves so they were not treated as bad. But overall both regions profited and lived happily off their
America’s transformation into the country we live in today has been formed through numerous events during its short history but the event that will split the United States into North versus South is truly one of the most defining events in American history. Through numerous events leading up to the start of the Civil War, I will attempt to show how the United States was destined for conflict and that the Civil War was inevitable. The first way I will show how the war could not be avoided will deal with the issue of slavery. Slavery should be the first mentioned because many conflicts within the United States leading up to the Civil War and the division of the United States dealt with slavery. The Missouri Compromise should also be talked
Sectional differences between the North and the South have caused the two regions to disagree on multiple issues since the establishment of the United States. The North’s economy was primarily based on industry, while the South’s economy was primarily based on agriculture, which greatly changed the two section’s desire and need for slaves. When the United States began annexing new territory, disputes over the expansion of slavery became prominent. In the Missouri Compromise of 1820, Missouri was added to the Union as a slave state while Maine was added as a free state in order to maintain the balance between slave and free states, and slavery was prevented from extending above the 36th parallel line. In order to follow the guidelines of the Missouri Compromise, Southerners looked westward in order to expand slavery. Southerners supported the extension of slavery into western territories because it allowed them to use free labor to harvest cotton and other crops, and the addition of new slave states would strengthen the South in the House of Representatives, because more states would vote for policies that favored slaveholders. Northerners were against the expansion of slavery into Western territories because they believed slave labor undermined free white labor and took away job opportunities, and would disrupt the balance between free and slave states. Controversy over the expansion of slavery into western territories between the years of 1845-1861 contributed to the
America’s states were being shattered in the fact that the states were turning against one another and fighting for what each geographical state believed in. The Northern more states wanted slavery to be abolished and to treat them like humans, however the South
The first half of the nineteenth century in the United States of America was a time of tremendous change for the nation. Firstly, change began as Thomas Jefferson was elected president, which meant the beginning of the Democratic-Republicans reign in office. But this development of the modern United States led not to a unified nation, yet it led to one divided. The expansion and development of ideas and land exposed great regional differences in the United States between 1800 and 1848. Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase had not only provided the country with land to farm, but it had doubled the size of the United States. Decisions over what to do with the new land separated the country. This is clearly seen in disputes concerning the United States’
The South, on the other hand, stuck to its roots and stayed as a farming society were most of the supplies they used were made at home. In the North, immigrants flooded in and filled up the jobs at the growing factories. Factory jobs were very dangerous, many workers were injured heavily as they worked the huge machinery, works day were long and stressful. Even as these problems grew to be apparent, they were successful for the fact that people moved to the North merely for the reason of getting modernized jobs and soon farming in the South began to decline (“The Industrial Revolution”). Populations in Northern cities doubled. Unfortunately, since the newly formed cites lacked any form of sanitation, disease spread rather quickly and infected millions of citizens (“Industrial Revolution”). Supplies were made in larger quantities and in less time. The face of the American workforce had transformed
In the early 1800s, America changed in a lot of ways in a short amount of time. The change that occurred was, for the most part, the result of the industrial development. The industrial advancements in the early 1800s had a huge amount of consequences, both positive and negative. But the industrial development from 1800 to 1860 affected the North and the South in hugely different ways. The prominent differences eventually caused an amazing amount of tension between the two regions as they moved in completely separate directions. Mainly, the North and the South differentiated when it came to cultures, economies, and political views.
The North and South both had opposite opinions about slavery, The South favored slavery because of there agricultural based economy which they needed slaves to attend to their harvests and crops, the North was against slavery because they were an industrialized nation they had no need for slavery. This debate went on and almost resulted
The South was based on agriculture, leaning towards strong local governments. The North was heavily influenced by Henry Clay’s American System, accompanied with large scale industrialization and cities. The most distinctive political difference between the northern and southern states was their view on slavery. The southern states found slaves a necessity in order to have a labour force to operated the cotton gins in the plantations; however, the northern states opposed the use of slaves due to their morales. This sectionalism caused a division among American citizens, affecting the government’s ability to unite the two political ideologies. To attempt to satisfy the demands of both the North and South, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was created to resolve issues of slavery in newer western states. This compromise brought upon the 36-30 Parallel Line, a geographical line that split the North and South, depicting the contrasting political and societal views and increasing sectionalism (F). This power struggle between states and the federal government only caused unrest, resulting in no further beneficial reforms or rulings, causing the Era of Good Feelings to not hold true to its name.
For example, there was a high tariff placed on foreign goods. This was beneficial for the north because it increased the chances of Americans purchasing the goods produced in their factories. However, this was disadvantageous for the south. Since slaves were viewed as objects, imported slaves were considered imported goods and were sold with high tariffs attached to them. The three regions were becoming more sectionalist because they were becoming increasing concerned with problems facing their own area, and not the country as a whole. The sectionalism that emerged during this time period did so within a short period of time. This is easy to see in the election maps of 1820 and 1824. Within these four years, the United States went from being uniformly supportive of one candidate (Monroe in 1820), to having support for several candidates. While much of the south was in support of Andrew Jackson, the first president who did not have a formal education and supported the “common man”, much of the north backed John Q. Adams, the eventual winner. These maps illustrate the regional differences that eventually led to the lack of a majority vote. Sectionalism became quite prominent with the emergence of different factions within the Republican Party and eventually the creation of new parties. Each region was sectionalist in that they voted for the candidate who would be the best advocate for their area, rather than leader for their country.
Ever since declaring its independence from Britain, America has developed on the foundation of compromise. Upon the drafting of the Constitution, the Founding Fathers were succumbed to compromise in order to incorporate the needs of the different parts of the nation. During the early eighteenth century, Americans achieved reconciliation of political disputes, predominately between the North and the South, through compromise. By 1860 this was no longer feasible and the nation was faced with disheartening threats to its unity. Sectionalism in the Union was further increased. Tariffs were commonly accepted by one part of the nation and debated by the other. The economy of the North and South was becoming increasingly divergent- the North
In the 1800s, politics started to change drastically. It was no longer Whigs versus Democrats but North versus South. In every government decision sectionalism became more evident. The Wilmot Proviso is an example that shows sectionalism in the Democratic Party. The South wanted slavery in the lands acquired from Mexico. The North was against slavery in the Mexican Territories. In the North and South, slavery was not the only difference between them. They had very different social lives and economies. The North was very industrialized. Many immigrants came to the North to work in factories. The influx of immigrants caused the birth rate to increase and the population to
War in 1812-1815 against England finally put to an end the possibility of returning United States back under the British Crown. Henceforth, the Americans finally believed that they will be able to live and succeed as an independent nation and country. However, the country was not very identical. States vary greatly in population. Also States varied in economy and industry conditions. Conventionally, the country was divided into North and South. Initially, the border between them took place on the Potomac River. The main aspect was that the South was agricultural land, which was officially allowed slavery. The North states were Free states, and in the first third of the 19th century a transition from an agrarian economy to an industrial has rapidly occurred.
Slavery was something that became interwoven into the South’s economy considering it was a one crop economy that depended on cotton. Therefore it depended on slaves, even if only a fraction of the population actually owned slaves. Meanwhile, the northern economy was more focused on industry rather than agriculture. Their industries would purchase raw cotton and turn it into a finished good. The North and South therefore also had major differences in their economic attitudes. The dispute over slavery and the future of it led to secession, which brought a war where the Northern and Western states fought to preserve the Union and the Southern territories fought to establish their independence as a new confederation under a constitution of its own.