The impact of territorial expansion on the sectionalism in America In the Mid 1800s, due to manifest destiny, America was quickly expanding. However, a major effect of this rapid growth was the division of a nation, also known as sectionalism. Sectionalism is ones pride in their section and during the mid 1800’s, the recognized "sections" were the North and the South. When analyzing the causes and effects of sectionalism on the civil war, it can be concluded that territorial expansion played a huge part politically, economically, and socially. In the beginning, it was common for Americans to simply feel pride in their nation, or to have nationalism, and while the South and the North did have their dissimilarities, they were not opponents- this was until territorial expansion threatened the existence of slavery, the South’s foundation. The most important and most notable difference between the north and the south was slavery and with land expansion the question of slavery and its existence in the new states arose- if the new states were to be slave …show more content…
At the time, the states were evenly divided between anti-slave states (northern) and slave states (southern) and with Missouri's entrance; there would be more slave than non-slave states. Therefore, this addition to the slave states would be a win for the South, however, shortly after Missouri applied to join the union, Maine applied as well and as a free state. The compromise that came from this time period was set so Missouri was to be added as a slave state, Maine was to be added as a free state, and any territories north of the latitude 36,30 would be deemed free states as they apply to enter into the union, this compromise is known as the Missouri compromise. This compromise marked the start of a downward spiral towards war and from this point on sectional tensions only