Sectionalism In The 19th Century

Over the course of America’s history, the ideas of of a perfect society filled with stability has been the main focus of our country 's government system. The ideas of power have a significant influence on the way our country has developed. The constitution was a document created in order to spread power and to establish equality between all individuals. Within the preamble of the constitution contains the set goals of what our country was intended to achieve by our Founding Fathers. During the 19th century the United States as a whole had attempted, but ultimately did not achieve its goals of promoting general welfare, establishing Justice and securing the blessing of liberty.
The creation of the three branches within United States government …show more content…
After America won its independence from Britain the country began to divide regionally. The north consisted of a maritime economy in which they relied on industry as well as merchants. The south became a more plantation based region where they made most of their profits off of crops like cotton. This division led to sectionalism in which each region became selfish and did things in order to benefit themselves rather than the country as a whole. The goal of a union was to work together as country, with these divisions based on economy the United States does not achieve its goal of unity. These same concepts of sectionalism are a major factor to the start of the Civil War. Before the commencement of the Civil War slavery became a large topic of debate as well as political power. At this time the country was still divided into two where one side benefited from slavery while the other did not. As a result the government was split into two where neither side wanted to allow the other to gain an advantage. By not working together the idea of unity under one government is destroyed by war. As a result the country becomes even less of a perfect union and cannot achieve its goal as a …show more content…
During the age of reconstruction after the civil war, there were still tensions between races in the south. Several states enacted laws known as the “Black Codes which were designed to restrict the activities of freed slaves in which many blacks were forced into yearly contracts. With these contracts freed slaves were required to work on land that was already owned by whites otherwise they could be arrested as vagrants or fined and forced into labor. Essentially with these new laws African Americans have completely lost their liberties and the America as a whole has reinstituted the same type of oppression created by slavery. In society only the whites were granted their freedoms and liberty. The abolishment of slavery was essentially did nothing for the nation but to grant African american rights that would soon be lost