What was sectionalism in America before the Civil War?
You can think of sectionalism as one big neighborhood dispute, and the neighborhood was the United States in the mid-1800s. The nation was divided by its interests, attitudes, and overall lifestyles. Northerners focused on fast-paced business and industry, spending their days manufacturing, shipping, and trading goods. By contract, the Southern economy relied on slow and steady agricultural growth. Planting and picking crops was the work of slaves who supported plantation owners’ with their labor.
