Sectionalism

=How the North, South and West were divided socially before the Civil War.=

** The North: **
====**The northern states were very industrialized and also relied on fishing as a major part of their economy. This meant that most people worked in factories in cities or lived near the coast usually in cities like New York and Boston where there was a lot of fishing. Since the north had such was a lot more urbanized the need for slaves was very close to none. The north did not have the large plantations of the south. In the north there was a large anti-slavery feeling because of a large amount of abolitionists.The north also had many immigrants from Scandinavia, Germany and Ireland. These gave cities in the north a diverse ethnicity. **====

**The South: **
====** The Southern states heavily depended on slaves to do their farming. Most of the economy in the south was agriculturally driven because of the seasonal conditions there. The economy was slow but completely slave driven and without them the profits of farm owners would be lost. In the south the rich owned the big plantations the more land you had the more cotton you could harvest. Since the south had so many slaves on plantations they had more slaves then whites. The whites in the south were mostly from England. One of the large issues with banning slavery at the time was that the southern states believed that it was against their own rights to have slaves. **====

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**The West **
====** The west had not yet been highly developed. In 1862 President Abraham Lincoln passed the homestead act to encourage people to settle in the west. The act gave people who settled there for 5 years at least and made improvements got 160 acres of land. The west was mostly farmers and had few slaves. Also the west had little market making many products expensive and many people mail ordered products. With having your neighbors 160 acres made communication hard. The education in the west was also below average. **====

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