Osmara Barrera
Professor Aki Maehara
History 011
May 23, 2024
Short Essay 5 History 11 Exam
Sectionalism refers to the division in Colonial America between separate
groups, often referred to as North vs South. This general narrative of regional conflict
oversimplifies the complex relationship and mutual dependency between these
opposing sides. Although the groups had a conflict of interest, the North’s industrial
growth was highly dependent on Southern Agricultural production, specifically cotton;
therefore, framing sectionalism as a binary conflict between two opposite sides fails
to explain the full scope of the conflict.
“King Cotton”, played an important role in expanding the United States
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economy in the 19 Century. In 1750, Industrial and manufacturing monopoly
capitalism began in America. In the North, textile manufacturing relied heavily on raw
cotton produced from the south. After the war in 1812, there would be a huge
increase in cotton farming due to a textile boom in the North. In the Northern states,
factories relied so heavily on cotton production that even a slight supply disruption
could have large consequences for the industry. Although the North cotton industry
was big and getting bigger, the main export of cotton went to Great Britain, who was
using the cotton to become a world power. In order to support the work demand,
more than 700,000 slaves would be working by 1770. In the south, Cotton farming
became the biggest industry in the country. The booming industry relied on enslaved
labor for cotton production and became an integral part of the country's national
economy. This industrialized slavery within the nation, and empowered the internal
slave trade.
The Internal Slave trade became a cornerstone of the Southern economy
when the transatlantic slave trade was abolished in 1808. As the cotton industry
grew, the need for more slaves kept increasing. Before this law, slaves would be
imported overseas primarily from Africa. After the law passed, Americans were no
longer allowed to trade slaves between nations. This led slave masters to breed their
own slaves in order to keep up with the growing labor demand. Slaves were viewed
as dispensable tools, and physical and psychological manipulation was used to
control them. Women were meant to provide as many children as possible, and men
were forced to work in the farms. Slaves who rebelled or did not meet labor quotas
were tortured, beaten or killed. By 1865, there would be more than 4.5 million slaves
in the United States, and slave breeding would become an extremely widespread
practice. So much so, that it was also enforced with government policies, such as the
fugitive law which required the return of a runaway slave. The cotton industry was
highly profitable, so the government was incentivized to create policies that would
benefit the South’s main source of income. The economy was built around the cotton
industry, and as it grew many of the smaller family farms were bought out by large
corporations owned by the white elite. As the industry grew, the rich owners would
eventually become
With a growing industry, cotton production required territorial expansion, and
the most obvious choice was to the west, which led to eventually the displacement
and genocide of Native American Tribes. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson passed
the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which enabled Americans to forcibly remove Native
American settlements such as the Camonches from their homelands. Over the
course of the next century, Colonial America began removing native americans from
their homeland, mostly by the use of force. There were many conflicts over the
western expansion, such as the Black Hawk war in 1832 and the Seminole wars,
which were ongoing for many decades. On the “trail of tears” the United States
forcibly marched the Cherokee west, which caused over 4,000 deaths. Throughout
these conflicts, native americans were treated inhumanely, and many were sold into
slavery. Ultimately the fight for land between Native Americans and Colonial
Americans lasted over a century. The desire for expansion in the West also matched
up with the expansion of slavery, which follows the trend of exploiting people groups
for economical gain.
The conflict between the south and north, the western expansion, and the
complicated sectionalism relationship they had cannot be summarized into a binary
conflict. America's priority for western expansionism, and the white superiority
mindset enabled the exploitation of marginalized people groups in the area. Cotton
production relied on slave labor, which perpetuated the internal slave trade and
institutionalized slavery. Production expansion also caused the displacement and
genocide of native american tribes, and ultimately the western expansion was
founded by the very people it persecuted. The consequences of these historical
events have had a long lasting effect on today's society, and African Americans as
well as Native Americans still fight for equal opportunity and representation through
policy reform and awareness.