HIST 1301
April 11, 2017
Slavery and the Growth of Sectionalism To be a slave is to be owned by another person. Sectionalism can be defined as the devotion to just one certain region, rather than the nation as a whole. These two powerful words go hand-in-hand when looking back on American history during the 1800s. There was a time when the United States (U.S.) was divided into two separate sections because of the different points of views towards slavery; southerners supported slavery, while the northerners opposed it. This sectional issue created several problems throughout the U.S. and caused a division that would last for decades. As American colonists began to settle in the “New World”, sugar and tobacco plantations were …show more content…
Therefore, the northerners began to develop an abolition movement, which was an effort to remove slavery. In agreement with the Abolition Project, “The early abolitionists were mainly motivated by religious beliefs”. The first religious group to bring about the idea of anti-slavery is known as the Quakers. As the Quakers expressed their ideas of anti-slavery, other abolitionists decided to rise and stand up for the slave’s rights, which include James Ramsey and Granville Sharp. These two gentlemen were able to observe the harsh reality of slavery on a first-hand basis; Ramsey was a doctor on one of the slave ships and Sharp spoke to an injured salve. The two shared their experiences and their ideas, which led to them becoming campaigners against slavery. Another reason why the North was against slavery was due to the fact that they were advancing in the industrial revolution, while the South continued to rely on agriculture. Obviously, the South was in need of human labor while the North was not because of the new machines that were making the jobs easier for …show more content…
This war was an internal conflict fought in the U. S. which was a battle between the Union (North) and the Confederate States (South). When President Abraham Lincoln was elected, the South decided to secede from the Union and create the Confederate States of America. After four years of battle, the Confederate States decided to surrender. Even though the Civil War was the beginning of the end of slavery, America still faces many challenges today with discrimination. The sectional issue that was once the cause of a Civil War still continues in today’s society which is bringing up a lot of issues. Will history repeat itself?
References
"Sectionalism and Slavery | CourseNotes."Sectionalism and Slavery | CourseNotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2017. http://www.course-notes.org/us_history/unit_notes/unit_four_1800_1840/sectionalism_and_slavery
"Slavery and Sectionalism."Slavery and Sectionalism < Sectional Conflict < History 1994 < American History From Revolution To Reconstruction and beyond. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2017.