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Westward expansion was the growth of the United States as they moved west and claimed land. It connects to nationalism because its goal was to expand the nation. Westward Expansion was concerned with gaining more territory for the United States to make them a larger and more powerful nation.
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The 3/5 Compromise was created to settle a debate between the Northern and Southern states. The Southern states had more people so they wanted those enslaved to count for the overall population to give them more reps. The Northern States had fewer people and argued that if enslaved people are property, they should be taxed. The compromise states that 3/5 of enslaved people would count for population and tax. This is sectionalism because the separate parts of the nation wanted different things. -
The Tenth Amendment states that any rights not listed to the United States in the Constitution are given to the States and the people. This means that the federal government only has the rights listed by the Constitution. Many of the southern states felt like the federal government was growing too powerful, and taking away their popular sovereignty, or right to decide for themselves. This is sectionalism because it only concerns a few of the Southern states and not the entire nation as a whole. -
Adding Missouri as a slave state would give slave states a majority in the Senate, giving them more reps. The solution was to admit Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. For the Louisiana Purchase, states North of the 36˚30'N Compromise Line would be free and states South of the line would have popular sovereignty. That means people living in the state get to decide if they had slavery. The compromise is sectionalism because the North and South had different views on slavery. -
The Compromise of 1850 solves issues created by the Missouri Compromise. If the compromise line were to stretch across the United States, it would cut California in half and give the North more land. To solve this, California was admitted as a free state, laws were set, New Mexico and Utah got popular sovereignty, Texas was given $10 mil and settled a border with New Mexico. This is sectionalism because the North and South wanted different things, so the compromise solved those issues. -
The Fugitive Slave Law was passed in addition to the Compromise of 1850. It states that all enslaved people must be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state, like the Northern states. Slaves could be sent back to the South where slavery was legal, and even Federal commissioners were hired to enforce this law. The Fugitive Slave Law is connected to nationalism because it affected enslaved people and formerly enslaved people all over the nation. -
With the creation of the Kansas and Nebraska territories, the United States needed to decide if these new states would have slavery or not. Stephen A. Douglas wanted to give these states popular sovereignty, the idea to decide for themselves, but since the states were north of the compromise line, that would go against the Missouri Compromise. In the end, the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed, giving the states the right to choose. This is sectionalism because it only involves the two states. -
John Brown, an abolitionist, was the leader of the Harper's Ferry Raid. His hopes for the raid were to start an anti-slavery rebellion, but unfortunately, he and the young men that accompanied him failed. Anyone who didn't escape or was killed during the Harper's Ferry Raid was later executed, including John Brown himself. This is connected to sectionalism because it fueled some conflicts between the slavery supporters in the South and the abolitionists in the North. -
Following the election of President Abraham Lincoln, eleven states withdrew from the United States. Slavery was legal in these Southern states, and they thought that Lincoln's new government would try to abolish slavery. In retaliation, they tried to form a new nation called the Confederate States of America. The American Secession is sectionalism because it was a conflict between the Northern and Southern states which eventually led to the Civil War.