Leading up to the late 19th century, the United States was experiencing a boom in expansion. The idea of manifest destiny encouraged Americans to expand all the way to the Pacific coast, and the overwhelming populations of people who began to settle in present-day Texas and Oregon led to their annexations from Mexico and Great Britain. By the 1850s, America had tripled in size from the original 13 colonies. However, the acquisition of so much land brought up conflicts between the North and the South. In attempt to quell the antagonistic sentiments between the two sides, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which allowed the Kansas-Nebraska territories to decide based on popular sovereignty whether each state would be considered
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In “The Impending Crisis of the South” by Hinton Helper, Helper notes that the South had a strong dependence on the North for manufactured goods and for materials needed in construction (Document 3). The majority of the Southern economy was centered on farming and agriculture due to the land’s fertile soil, which forced Southerners to purchase goods from the North. Allen Weistein and R. Jackson Wilson’s “Resource of the Union and Confederacy, 1861” reveals that the North dominated the South in almost every aspect regarding resources except for in cotton production (Document 2). The supremacy of the North meant that Congress often favored to pass import tariffs in order to decrease competition with American manufacturing. The South depended on imported goods but these tariffs forced the South to buy products from the North, allowing anti-North sentiments to develop. In comparison with the North, the South had fewer railroads running through the major cities (Document 1). Although the South often had to ship cotton and other crops across the country, fewer railroads available for Southern use meant that it was more difficult for Southerners to bring their products to the North for sale, which did not help in stimulating their economy. Since the South ran on slave labor, the differing economies also meant differencing opinions on …show more content…
The “Kansas-Nebraska Act” diagram depicts the bold division of free and slave states (Document 7). The contrasting views between the North and South regarding slavery often resulted in slave uprisings such as Nat Turner’s Rebellion as well as legislature that attempted to appease both sides like the Missouri Compromise. Fredrick Douglass, in his “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro”, argued that the 4th of July symbolized a cruel and meaningless event to the American slave due to the deceptive celebration of white men (Document 4). As a free slave, Douglass harbored feelings of hatred towards slavery, which was synonymous with the opinions of the North. In the South however, George Fitzhugh demonstrated the Southern idea of well treated slaves in “Cannibals All! Or Slaves without Masters” (Document 5). Because the Southern economy ran on slave labor, the dependence on slavery in the South was apparent as large plantation owners were often the wealthiest of the Southerners. Although these two documents are contradictory and support the claim that slavery divided the country, they are also both heavily biased in that each author drew from personal experiences rather than factual information. The violence between the North and South due to political differences was a final reason that pushed America into the Civil
In “The Impending Crisis of the South” by Hinton Helper, Helper notes that the South had a strong dependence on the North for manufactured goods and for materials needed in construction (Document 3). The majority of the Southern economy was centered on farming and agriculture due to the land’s fertile soil, which forced Southerners to purchase goods from the North. Allen Weistein and R. Jackson Wilson’s “Resource of the Union and Confederacy, 1861” reveals that the North dominated the South in almost every aspect regarding resources except for in cotton production (Document 2). The supremacy of the North meant that Congress often favored to pass import tariffs in order to decrease competition with American manufacturing. The South depended on imported goods but these tariffs forced the South to buy products from the North, allowing anti-North sentiments to develop. In comparison with the North, the South had fewer railroads running through the major cities (Document 1). Although the South often had to ship cotton and other crops across the country, fewer railroads available for Southern use meant that it was more difficult for Southerners to bring their products to the North for sale, which did not help in stimulating their economy. Since the South ran on slave labor, the differing economies also meant differencing opinions on …show more content…
The “Kansas-Nebraska Act” diagram depicts the bold division of free and slave states (Document 7). The contrasting views between the North and South regarding slavery often resulted in slave uprisings such as Nat Turner’s Rebellion as well as legislature that attempted to appease both sides like the Missouri Compromise. Fredrick Douglass, in his “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro”, argued that the 4th of July symbolized a cruel and meaningless event to the American slave due to the deceptive celebration of white men (Document 4). As a free slave, Douglass harbored feelings of hatred towards slavery, which was synonymous with the opinions of the North. In the South however, George Fitzhugh demonstrated the Southern idea of well treated slaves in “Cannibals All! Or Slaves without Masters” (Document 5). Because the Southern economy ran on slave labor, the dependence on slavery in the South was apparent as large plantation owners were often the wealthiest of the Southerners. Although these two documents are contradictory and support the claim that slavery divided the country, they are also both heavily biased in that each author drew from personal experiences rather than factual information. The violence between the North and South due to political differences was a final reason that pushed America into the Civil