Sectionalism in America

Sectionalism between the North and the South during America's Colonial Period continued until after the Civil War, proceeding in an evolutionary fashion. Initially, sectionalism was due primarily to geographic differences, as the South had the climate for an agricultural way of life, while the North's less accommodating climate demanded an economy based on commerce. The North also had excellent seaports for transoceanic commerce, an advantage that meant that the North tended to receive new technologies from overseas before the South did. Slavery was another facet of sectionalism, as the Southern plantation's success was predicated upon slave labor. Although there were slaves in the North, as well, they were not key to the success of the economy as they were in the South. Moreover, the South and the North were socially different by virtue of their widely divergent economies. In the South, polite society governed, and plantation life was one of teamwork and cooperation in close quarters. In the North, this communal lifestyle was largely absent, and society was more individualistic.

In 1783, the Paris Peace Treaty was signed, formally ending America's War of Independence ("The Paris Peace Treaty of 1783"). The Treaty not only formally recognized the United States' freedom and independence; it established U.S. boundaries ("The Paris Peace Treaty of 1783"). This marked the beginning of a series of changes for the United States: "America developed int

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he Anti-Federalists also felt that the executive branch held too much power (Chin & Stern). These two factions sharpened the division already started by sectionalism, and when the Federalists got the Constitution ratified, this was not because the differences between the two groups had been resolved. Ultimately, the Civil War was the strongest factor in sectionalism, and it arose out of the Federalist vs. Anti-Federalist conflict. The South was unwilling to part with slavery, since its entire economy depended on it, and the North was against slavery, but the larger issue was that of states' rights. Kenneth Milton Stampp argues that "the war had its origin in opposing principles...that lay in the organic Structure of the Government of the States"-federal vs. national, and centralism vs. consolidation (63). Stampp asserts that "Slavery...was but the question on which these antagonistic principles...were finally brought into actual and active collision with each other on the field of battle" (63). President Abraham Lincoln referred to the Civil War as an "irrepressible conflict," and historian James McPherson called it "the second American Revolution" ("A House Divided"). Defining the American ideals of "human dign

Category: History - S