 Sectionalism: the rivalry between the North and South over

important issues such as slavery, tariffs, states’ rights, and

transportation
 The North and South had historically different ways of life.
 Different experiences, desires, and needs.
 Both the North and South underwent drastic changes in the
early 1800s that increased their differences that ultimately
estranged the two regions.
 These differences made it difficult for northerners and southerners
in the government to find common ground and agree of how to
address major issues.
 Northerners did not understand southerners and southerners did not understand
northerners. They did not have the same cultural values or similar lifestyles.
 The northern economy was production-based.
 Originally, the northern economy was based on trade
and shipping. Local skilled craftsmen produced most of
the things used by everyday Americans as well as those
goods that were traded overseas. This made northern
coastal cities centers of commerce .
 Following the War of 1812, the north’s economy grew rapidly.
Small factories and local artisans were replaced by major
industrial factories such as textile mills.
 As a result, many young Americans moved from farms to cities in search of
better job opportunities
 Most of the factory workers were young; in 1820, 45 percent of New England
factory workers were under the age of twelve.
 Life in the North
•This new class of industrial
workers looked to the future
with optimism for a better
life.
•As large industries grew in
the North, however, workers
suffered from the abuses of
capitalism.
• Low wages, child labor,
impersonal bosses, bad
working conditions,
economic depressions,
unemployment, and
crime.
 To confront the
problems of the
growing economy,
Northerners channeled
a new spirit of religious
revival, social activism,
and political
pragmatism.
 This concern for a
better society brought
on the greatest era of
reform in American
history.
 Northern reform movements called for better schools, hospitals,
and prisons; for women’s rights and better working conditions.
There were also movements against liquor, tobacco, animal
cruelty, war, and, finally, slavery.
• In summation, the North was socially, economically, and politically distinct from the
South. Technological innovation and rapid industrialization transformed what had
previously been an agricultural region into a diverse network of factories and maritime
trade.
•Because of this, slavery was not an important economic resource in the north and the
northern people could not understand how it was an essential part of the south’s
economy and culture. Vermont was the first territory (it was not yet a state) to outlaw
slavery in 1777. In 1780, Pennsylvania became the first state to abolish slavery,
followed by Massachusetts in 1781, New Hampshire in 1783, Connecticut in 1784, New
York in 1799, and, finally, New Jersey in 1804. Also, in 1787, the Congress of the
Confederation passed the Northwest Ordinance, a law which prohibited slavery in the
Northwest territory, lands that would later become the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. In this way, the Northwest was an extension of
the Northeast
•A new way of life made northerners optimistic about the future, and the problems
caused by the industrial revolution made them anxious to change society for the
better. Consequently, the north cultivated a new liberal political philosophy which
was based on the idea that it was the government’s responsibility to make the changes
necessary for a more perfect Union.
•Since the early colonial era, Americans saw the South as an area fundamentally
different from the North.
•Tradition held that the Southerners were descendents of European aristocrats
and Northerners were the lineage of 17th century Puritans from England.
•Stereotypes: The aggressive, self-concerned, and greedy Yankee versus the
wealthy, sophisticated, and gallant Southerner.
•Southern society was hierarchical and ordered. This means that a person
was expected to fulfill a certain role, perform a required function, or occupy
a particular place in society.
 Education
 The elementary schools throughout
the state are irresponsible
institutions, established by
individuals, from mere motives of
private speculation or gain, who are
sometimes destitute of character,
and frequently of the requisite
attainments and abilities. From the
circumstance of the schools being
the absolute property of individuals,
no supervision or effectual control
can be exercised over them; hence,
ignorance, inattention, and even
immorality, prevail to a lamentable
extent among their teachers.
 -Working Man’s Advocate, 1830
 The scheme of Universal Equal
Education at the expense, is virtually
"Agrarianism." It would be a
compulsory application of the means
of the richer, for the direct use of the
poorer classes; and so far an arbitrary
division of property among
them....One of the chief excitements to
industry...is the hope of earning the
means of educating their children
respectably ...that incentive would be
removed, and the scheme of state and
equal education be a premium for
comparative idleness, to be taken out
of the pockets of the laborious and
conscientious.
-Philadelphia National Gazette, 1830
 Temperance
“Intemperance is the sin of
our land, and, with out
boundless prosperity, is
coming in upon us like a
flood; and if anything shall
defeat the hopes of the
world, which hang upon our
experiment of civil liberty, it
is that river of fire, which is
rolling through the land,
destroying the vital air, and
extending around an
atmosphere of death.”
-Lyman Beecher, 1826
“[How] will reformation and
temperance be secured...?
Never except through the
instrumentality of the law. If it
were possible to reason the
drunkard into sobriety, it
would not be possible to make
the rumseller forego his filthy
gains....The only logic he will
comprehend, is some such
ordinance...coming to him in
the shape and with the voice
of law--you shall not sell.”
-American Temperance
Magazine, 1852
The south was geographically diverse , including mountains, coastal plains, piney
woods, rivers, valleys, and fertile soils. Its main sources of money were livestock and
cash crops such as cotton, indigo, tobacco, and rice. It was not economically diverse,
however.
After the Revolutionary War, the South was extremely important to the nation’s
economy. The region produced 60% of the world’s cotton and 70% of the cotton
exported to Britain. Cotton alone accounted for half of U.S. export revenue. Since the
crop generated so much money, the South provided much of the monetary and capital
resources for the industrial revolution.
• Furthermore, the North also depended on Southern cotton because
it was the raw material that many northern factories turned into
finished goods such as clothing and processed meat. Also, many of
the most powerful banks that financed Southern businessmen were
in the north.
But while the North was economically transformed by the
industrial revolution, the Southern economy remained
relatively unchanged during the 19th century. Its dependence
on forced labor prevented it from developing new
technologies and industries.
Consequently, slavery was still an essential institution
in the South, the backbone of its economy in the 1800s.
Southerners feared that if Slavery was abolished, it
would cause a total collapse of the Southern economy
and they viewed attempts to outlaw it as an assault on
their culture and lifestyle.
 The South’s population was more evenly distributed in the South. It did
not have large, crowded industrial cities like the North. Richmond,
Virginia had a population of just 15, 274 in 1850. By Comparison, there
were 121,000 people in Philadelphia, 132,000 in Boston, and over half a
million in New York City.
 Southern cities were much smaller because the South’s economy was
less diverse. This means that the south did not have many different
industries. Instead, the South depended on farming as its only viable
source of income.
 The south did not have a large processing industry. This means that, rather
than turning them into finished goods themselves, Southerners harvested
raw materials, then they sold and transported them to the north where they
were turned into commodities. For example, Southern plantations would
send cotton to textile mills in New England where the cotton was woven into
clothes. Southerners also placed less emphasis on education.
 Only 80 percent of al Southern whites could read or write, compared to 99 percent
of New Englanders.
 Wealth was very
concentrated in the South.
The southern economy
was dominated by a small
number of extremely
wealthy men with large
tracts of land. This meant
that money and land was
held and controlled by a
small number of people. It
also meant that the
majority of slaves were
owned by the same small
group of extremely
wealthy individuals.
 Southerners were much  Because of this, the
more isolated from each
other and distant states
because they had not
developed extensive
transportation
networks. The few
railways that the South
did have were reserved
for the transportation of
cotton and other
resources.
South did not play a
very active role in the
new economy and its
people were unfamiliar
with and unable to
understand the
changing ways of the
world.
 As a whole, 19th century
Southerners perpetuated
17th and 18th century
lifestyles. Agrarianism did
not give way to
industrialism. Southerners
looked at the North as an
unfamiliar region of
arrogant businessmen and
bankers and believed that
its growing industries and
reform movements were
threats to the Southern
way of life and personal
liberty.
 As two regions with drastically
different cultures, economies,
social structures, and traditions,
Southerners and Northerners had
different perspectives on life and
believed the nation should be
structured in different ways.
 In the 1850s, these different
views would emerge as
competing political
philosophies . People looked to
politics as a way to defend
their lifestyles and voice their
concerns. Over the course of
the decade, these political
rivalries caused the gap
between North and South to
widen and its divisions soon
became irreconcilable.
• Andrew Jackson’s election in 1828 set the tone for the next thirty years of
American politics. Regional politics had much to do with the regional
economies. During the 19th century, the South regularly supported
Democratic candidates. Southerners gravitated towards Democrats
because of their opposition to tariffs , Federal programs that would raise
taxes, and the National Bank. They supported Westward expansion and
Indian expulsion, hard money, and free trade. Democrats, then, had a
virtual monopoly on Southern agrarian politics.
• Democrats feared that modernization would create a caste of rich
aristocrats who would threaten Democracy.
• Initially, the party was split over the issue of slavery because it
consisted of Northern and Southern factions.

 Early Democratic political cartoon from 1837:

 The Democrats’ main  Whigs called for economic,
opponents were the
Whigs, led by Senators
Henry Clay of Kentucky
and Daniel Webster of
Massachusetts. The party
formed in opposition to
Andrew Jackson, whom
the Whigs saw as a
reactionary. The party of
aristocrats, businessmen,
and baking interests.
social, and moral
modernization. They
favored an industrial
economy with protective
tariffs, supported the
National Bank, and called
for a program of “internal
improvements” to roads,
canals, railroads, and
public schools. Slavery
would eventually cause a
split in the party that led to
the formation of the
Republican Party.
 The Impending
Crisis
The Whigs and
Democrats represented
the distinctly different
interests of the North
and South. During the
19th century, American
politics became
increasingly polarized.
Democrats represented
the party of the South,
Whigs of the North. Yet,
while they had many
differences, none would
prove to be so divisive
and ultimately
irreconcilable as the
issue of slavery