SECTIONALISM AND SLAVERY A Divided Union

SECTIONALISM  Loyalty to the individual’s region rather than to the nation

DIFFERING REGIONS

THE NORTH  Soil and climate favored smaller farmsteads rather than large plantations  Industry flourished  More abundant natural resources  Many large cities by 1860  Seven out of every eight immigrants settled in the North

MORE ON THE NORTH  Transportation was easier in the North  Boasted more than two-thirds of the railroad tracks in the country  More Northerners belonged to the Whig/Republican Party  Northerners were far more likely to have careers in business, medicine, or education

THE SOUTH  The fertile soil and warm climate of the South made it ideal for large-scale farms and crops like tobacco and cotton  Agriculture was so profitable few Southerners saw a need for industrial development  Eighty percent of the labor force worked on the farm

MORE ON THE SOUTH  Although two-thirds of Southerners owned no slaves at all, by 1860 the South's “peculiar institution” was tied to the region’s economy and culture  Large farms or plantations in the South depended on slave labor  No large cities aside from New Orleans

TRAINS AND LITERACY  Only one-tenth of Southerners lived in urban areas and transportation between cities was difficult except by water  Only 35% of the nation’s train tracks were located in the South  A slightly smaller percentage of white Southerners were literate than their Northern counterparts  And Southerners were generally Democrats

THE LIFE OF A SLAVE  The Southern economy was based on plantations  Plantations depended on slave labor  Slaves were exploited and forced to labor without pay

THE COTTON GIN  Eli Whitney’s invention, the cotton gin, increased the South’s need for slave labor  The cotton gin allowed raw cotton to be cleaned quickly  Thus making cotton production more profitable  Yet increasing the need for workers as more cotton could be picked, cleaned, and sold quickly

MISTREATMENT  Slaves were frequently beaten  Lived in poor conditions  The children of slaves were frequently sold away from their parents

A WIDENING GAP  In the North, some individuals began to view slavery as immoral  These individuals wanted to abolish slavery  They were known as abolitionists  Southerners viewed slavery differently  Southerners believed that Northern factory owners mistreated workers more than slave owners mistreated slaves

AND NEW TERRITORIES  In addition, as the nation gained new territories and new states prepared to enter the Union, Americans were divided over the status of these new states  Would a state enter the Union as a free state or a slave state?

A BALANCE OF POWER  It is important to remember that the United States has a bicameral Congress  Due to the Great Compromise, the House of Representatives is based on each state’s population  Every state has two senators

POWER  More slave states and the representatives of the slave states would control Congress and thus, the laws of the nation  More free states and the representatives of the free states would control Congress, and thus, the laws of the nation

THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE  The Missouri Compromise allowed Maine to enter the Union as a free state and Missouri to be admitted without restrictions on slavery  The area north of the Missouri Compromise line of 36°30′ was to be free of slavery

BUT NOT FOR LONG  But this compromise will not last for long