Sectionalism
Sectionalism
 Supporting the issues of your region of the
nation as being more important than the
issues of the nation as a whole
North
South
West
National Bank
 Recharter was denied in 1811
 Economic panic during War of 1812
 New Second Bank chartered in 1816
 “easy credit” was a major issue
Land Policy
 1800…320 acres @ $2 per acre
 1804…160 acres @ 50¢ per acre
 West wants cheap land
 North/South want to convert land into $$$
– North…cheap land sucks up cheap labor
– South…fears agricultural competition
Tariff
 Protective Tariff v. Revenue Tariff
 War of 1812 impacts rate of Tariff
 North (esp. New England) supports PT
 South initially supports, then changes
 West is split on supporting
 Tariff of Abominations (1828)
– Nullification
Nullification
 Idea that individual states could nullify, or
cancel, national legislation in their borders
 Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions
 South Carolina Exposition & Protest
– Tariff of Abominations
– Force Bill
Internal Improvements
 To what extent should national government
help finance construction of canals,
turnpikes, highways, and railroads
 National Road
 Jackson vetoes Maysville Road project
Slavery
 Prohibited in Northwest Territory
 Slave trade outlawed in 1808
 Could upset equal balance in Senate
 Compromise of 1820
 Fugitive Slave Law
 This will become the MOST heated
example of Sectionalism…WAR
The BIG THREE
Daniel Webster…North
John C. Calhoun…South
Henry Clay…West
The compromises created by these three
Senators helped to delay the coming of the
Civil War as long as possible.
Characteristics of North’s
Economy
 More banking, shipping, insurance,
 Sm and Lg business ownership –creating
middle, or bourgeois, class
 Some agriculture- both commercial and
subsistence farming
 Availability of wage laborers
Characteristics of South’s
Economy
 Dependent on the plantation system, the
center of economic, political, cultural, and
social life in the South
 Slave labor, the dominant labor force
 Majority of white population engaged in
subsistence farming
 Yeoman farmers, who owned small or med
commercial farms, a sm. portion of pop.
 Sm urban bourgeois (middle) class
Characteristics of West’s
Economy
 Primarily agricultural
 Shifting from subsistence farming to
commercial farming.
 Produced more foodstuffs, such as corn
and wheat, than other regions.
 By 1850s the North and West were
economically joined.
Political Objectives of North
 Tariff to protect the N’s growing industries.
 Federal aid in the development of
infrastructure-roads, bridges, canals,
railroads.
 A loose immigration policy (provide cheap
labor)
 Availability of free of cheap land in the West
(settlement & investment opportunities).
 The containment of slavery.
Political Objectives of South
 Low tariffs
 Expansion of slavery for political,
economic, and ideological reasons
 Opposition to a cheap public land systemwould force the planter-slaveholder to
compete politically, economically, and
ideologically with the independent farmer in
the West.
“Cotton is King!”
 Important global commodity
 Most powerful cotton producers were
planter-slaveholders. (fraction of
population)
 Planters made all of the political and
economic decisions.
Tensions Over Political Theories
North / Contract Theory
 The people, no the
states, created the
Union.
 The federal gov’t is
supreme.
 Thus, federal laws
& actions take
precence over state
laws and actions.
 Examples of:
 Various decisions
made by the
Marshall Court
 John Locke’s
Second Treatise
of Government
Tensions Over Political Theories
 States, not the people,
South / Compact Theory
created the national
gov’t.
 Examples of:
 Laws of states are
supreme when in
 Virginia &
conflict with the fed. Kentucky
gov’t.
Resolutions
 States can declare fed. Hartford
laws null & void
Convention
 Extreme conclusion is Ordinance of
succession.
Nullification