Sectionalism

Factors Giving Rise to Sectionalism

• Geography determines jobs• jobs influence economic and

social interests• Different economic and social

interests influence politics of the region

Sectional Specialization

• Different regions developed different economies– Industrial and Commercial North

–Plantation South–Small- and medium-farm West

Industrialization of the Northeast

• Factory system expanded quickly because of War of 1812

• Some iron production in PA

• New England = textiles– Top US Industry of the period– Samuel Slater brings spinning mill to U.S.

The Commercial and Industrial North

• Forests, harbors, and access to power sources helped shape economy

• Maritime, banking & manufacturing businesses developed

• Urbanization

Goals of Industrial Northeast

• Protective tariffs for domestic industry

• High-priced public lands to keep workers from migrating away from industrial Northeast

• Federally built internal improvements to expand home markets

• Favored strong banking system

Plantation South

• Cotton Gin increases productivity

• Indian Removal allows expansion

• Success of cotton leads to one-crop economy

The Plantation South

• Mainly agricultural w/ plantations• Tobacco, rice, cotton• Slave labor• “King Cotton” the leading product• Sought more farmland & slaves• Indian Removal allowed expansion

Sectional Views of the South

• Favored: –cheap Western land in large parcels–expansion of slavery into new territories

–state banks• Opposed:

– internal improvements–protective tariff

Diversified Farming in West• Small farms slowly gave way to

specialized farms– Small homesteads in West, plantations w/

slaves in SW

• Improved transportation allowed for marketing of surpluses

• Western goals included:– Low priced public lands to encourage

settlement– Protective tariffs to stimulate growth of

markets– Federally built internal improvements

Improvements in Transportation

• Demand created for better roads & canals

• Turnpikes & Public Roads

• Canals

• Steamboats

Clay’s American System• Henry Clay’s plan for U.S. economic

self-sufficiency

• Two part plan– Protective tariff & Natl. Bank to support

Northeastern manufacturing– expanded road & canal system to unite the

country

• West & South exchange food for Northern manufactured goods

• System never came into being due to sectional rivalries

Southern view of States’ Rights and Nullification

• Union was an agreement among the states

• States had right to determine constitutionality of federal laws

• States could nullify laws within their own borders

Northern view of States’ Rights and Nullification

• Nation a union of people, not states• Federal govt. supreme over states• Only Supreme Court could judge

constitutionality• “Liberty and Union, now and

forever, one and inseparable.” - Webster

Slavery as a Sectional Interest

• Unprofitable in the North• Abolition strong in the North• Slavery integral to Southern

economy• A divisive issue in the first half

of the 19th century - North v South

Politics for the People

• In the early U.S. - real democracy shunned by those in power

• By 1820 - Democracy more appealing

• Tocqueville observes equality in America

• Common people had more say in politics & politicians had to play to them