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