Sectionalism
sectionalism.docx |
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The central role of the expansion of slavery in causing sectionalism
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Slavery--slavery in the United States first began in
Virginia during the colonial era. Throughout the first half of the 19th century, southern politicians sought to defend slavery by retaining control of the federal government. The issue of slavery continued to plague the Union as more territory was added, resulting in a division between free states and slave states. Efforts to resolve the conflict over the expansion of slavery into newly organized territories were addressed in the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. It was the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln that led many political leaders in the South to believe that the federal government was contemplating abolishing slavery Sectionalism—prior to the Civil War, the United States was divided by the sectional differences between the North, South, and West. The most pronounced difference was over the issue of enslaving people with the South staunchly defending the need for slave labor for its agrarian based economy to function States’ rights—the political position advocating strict interpretation of the Constitution with regard to the limitation of federal powers and the extension of the autonomy of the individual state to the greatest possible degree. Southern political leaders argued that slavery was a states’ rights issue in an effort to protect their common interests Civil War—resulted when the Southern states in an effort to protect their interests, most notably the institution of slavery, seceded from the Union |
For more study go to:
- www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/civil-war-era/sectional-tension-1850s/a/the-slave-economy
- https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/civil-war-era/sectional-tension-1850s/a/life-for-enslaved-men-and-women
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