Sectional Differences
BackSectional division was really the basis for the outbreak of the Civil War. Sectional division can be defined as the division of America between the North and South that was eminent during the period leading up to the Civil War. But sectional division stared long before this time.
The very beginnings of sectional division started as soon as American colonies were settled by the British in the 1600’s. As different colonies were established in both the North and the South, it was clear that the way of life would be different in each section. The Southern climate and land were perfect for agriculture, and tobacco became a major cash crop for Southern settlers. This became a major part of the culture and way of life in the Southern colonies. The North, on the other hand, had a much cooler climate, with rockier terrain that did not suit a large farming society. The Northern culture grew on small farms, large communities, and trade. There was no real conflict between the North and South, but as their separate cultures developed further, the differences became stronger.
By the time of the Declaration of Independence, the North and South became divided for the first time on the issue of slavery. Originally, the Declaration not only called for the freedom of colonists from British rule, but it also wanted to put an end to slavery and make all slaves free citizens in the new, democratic nation. But the South was strongly against this claim, because it threatened to weaken their agricultural way of life, which now greatly depended on slavery and the Triangle Trade between England, Africa, and the colonies. The southerners believed more in the government of the states rather than the new central government. Therefore, the North eliminated the abolition of slavery from the Declaration in order to keep the entire nation satisfied. This brief argument between the North and the South foreshadowed the events that would follow long after in the 1850’s.
During the 1800’s, the North and South developed even more differences. By 1860, the North consisted of 22 states while the south had only 11 The Industrial Revolution took a major hold in the North, and the Northern culture and way of life became based on big business, industrialization, and capitalism. While many Northerners worked in factories, the South remained dependent on agriculture, which was still fueled by slavery. Slavery soon became a much larger issue on a national scale. As America grew in size after the Louisiana Purchase, and, later on, following the Mexican War, a major debate was whether slavery should be allowed in the new territories. In 1820 congress passed the Missouri Compromise, which established the Missouri compromise line to determine free states and slave states. Abolitionists made their protests widely known, especially John Brown, who led a raid on Harper’s Ferry, Virginia to protest slavery. Further promoting the issue of slavery and the division of North and South were acts such as the Compromise of 1850, Fugitive Slave laws, the Dred-Scott Decision, and the Kansas- Nebraska Act.
Finally, the Election of 1860 ended in Abraham Lincoln, a northern Republican against slavery, being elected president without any southern electoral votes. The South had long had some bitter feeling toward the North, and they now saw that they wanted no place in the Union. Therefore, South Carolina seceded from the United States, followed by ten more southern states. Sectional division was the seed that grew into the flower of civil war in the United States.
