Economics is the major contributing factor to sectionalism. Consequently, well before the great expansion of the United States, the Constitution's framers were familiar with sectional differences. The North's cool climate and rocky soil proved unsuitable for large farms. Its economy soon depended on trade and the growth of industrial cities. The North was mostly based on manufacturing, steam-powered machines. It had unskilled laborers working in factories, and it was the centre of the Industrial Revolution. The South's economy depended on farming and large plantations worked by black slaves from Africa. The South was based on agriculture, small farms and plantations. It used slaves to raise cash, crops, especially cotton. Sectional debate during the Constitutional Convention revolved around the slave trade, export taxes, and shipping.
The South was an agrarian (agricultural) society that enjoyed a long growing season. With the controversial use of slavery, the South produced several cash crops for export. The greatest of which was cotton, that was sold to the North as well as England. Cotton farming wore out the soil which left the Southerners looking for more good land. The South relied on many industrial goods which they received from the North or imported from England. Although most southerners did not own slaves, the South favored a weak central government and strong state governments because they wanted to make their own decisions on controversial issues such as slavery.
The most prominent issue was slavery. This was an issue that has been going on for a crucially long time. The divisions in the country brought about by slavery seem to be categorized into two main groups, abolitionists, and slave holders. These two groups also were divided geographically for the most part due to the South's need of slaves for cheap, and reliable man power, and the North, as it was not an agriculturally based economy and needed little in the way of unskilled laborers. It was very easy for the North to bash the South's slavery because their economy did not depend upon slavery. They had no slaves, no need for slaves, and saw slavery as inhumane and unlawful. The south, however, depended upon slavery as a basis of production, and the only way to operate large farms at the time, primarily being the large cotton plantations of the south. Several people tried to resolve the issue of slavery with compromises and bills that set clear rules and laws to appeal to both sides. The most prominent being the Missouri compromise. This document set the standard for slavery at the time. The bill clearly stated that no states above the proposed line shall have slavery, with exception to those already in existence. This meant that all new states being brought into the country from the west had a choice to have slavery if and only if they lay below the line. Obviously, the south did not really like the idea, as it allowed the northern non-slave states to outnumber the southern slave-states in the south as far as representation in the government was concerned.
The West was an agrarian society that had a short growing period, which will make it very different from the South. This short growing season made the use of slaves in the West financially wasteful. So farmers of the West grew grain without the use of slaves. Major cities like Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati became trade centers and grew up along major bodies of water. Many hardships were endured by Western farmers, among them were: angry Native Americans, the need for more land, and a more reliable way to transport their grains and lumber to markets to sell them. Lastly, the West wanted a strong central government to help solve their problems.
In conclusion I’ve outlined the geography, economics, population, and political views of each of the different regions that emerged during the American Republic in the early 19th century. All of the above examples are all representative of issues of the time which played a large roll in sectionalism, and the breakup of the United States. Over the long run, it is a miracle that, with the vast spectrum of people in the country, the regions have managed to stay together, through thick and thin, driven by one common force, "Freedom."
Work Citied List
Bragdon, Henry W., Samuel P. McCutchen, and Donald A. Richie. History of the American Nation. Columbus OH: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 1998.
