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3/5 Compromise
During the early days of the constitution, the southern colonies argued for the right to count slaves as votes in the electoral college. The northern colonies wanted to retain as much political influence, and so the did not want the slaves to count. They compromised to allow slaves to count as 3/5 a vote.
Since slavery was not practical in the north, most northern colonies disagreed with the south and their use of slaves, beginning the division between north and south. -
Start of the Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a social reform movement responsible for the beginnings of women's rights, temperance and others, although abolitionism had the largest impact on sectionalism.
The rise of abolitionism established sympathy for southern slaves in the north. Many radical abolitionists promoted freeing slaves with violent methods. -
Missouri Compromise
After Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana territory, the southern states wanted to add Missouri to the country as a slave state. The northern colonies did not want another slave state because they would lose influence in the senate. This comprise added Maine, a free state, with Missouri and created 36 30' parallel. All new states from the Louisiana territory north of this line would be free, and southern states would be slave states. -
Nullification Crisis of 1832
The Nullification crisis was a conflict between the federal government and South Carolina. South Carolina didn't want to enforce a tariff enacted by the government, so they deemed it unconstitutional and voided it. Andrew Jackson convinced South Carolina to enforce federal laws, since if nullification was used states could ignore federal laws.
This was the first time secession was seriously considered by South Carolina, and Jackson almost sent soldiers to stop the state. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican - American War. This treaty gave America Texas, California and the New Mexico territory in exchange for $15 million.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo's promotion of sectionalism was largely due to the controversy surrounding the addition to California to the union. California was a prime slave state, but the north didn't want such a large slave state. This led to the compromise of 1850, which only further divided the north and south. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed the states of, you guessed it, Kansas and Nebraska, to decide for themselves if they wanted slavery or not with popular sovereignty.
This directly ignored the Missouri Compromise, since both states were part of the Louisiana Purchase. The north was very upset, because their goal was to stop the expansion of slavery and both states chose to keep slavery.
This event led to Bleeding Kansas, a civil war between the abolition and pro slavery movements in the state. -
Brown and Harper's Ferry
In 1859 John Brown and his sons, already quite infamous in the south and viewed as heroes to the north, attacked Harper's Ferry, Virginia (Now West Virginia). They hoped the slaves their would aid them and help them take the arms and munitions stored at Harper's Ferry, but the slaves did nothing to help. The Browns were caught and executed.
To the south, Brown was seen as a terrorist. To the north, a martyr for the abolitionist movement.
