A Nation Dividing - Part 1

Soon after Texas became the nation’s twenty-eighth state, many issues divided the country. 

Northern states and Southern states disagreed over state’s rights, slavery, sectionalism, and tariffs. One of the biggest sources of the division between the two regions was slavery.

The issue of slavery greatly divided the North and the South.  The economy of the South was based on plantation agriculture (farms).  The North’s economy was based on factories and industries.  Enslaved workers were an important part of the economy on Southern plantations. 

Although, slavery once existed in the north it was abolished there, mainly due to the north becoming industrial. Texas and other Southern states had an economy based on using enslaved African Americans to produce cotton, and other cash crops. Southerners believed an end to slavery would mean an end to the Southern way of life. 

States’ rights, the position that the federal government should not interfere with the states, was an important issue that concerned Southerners. 

The North believed that the federal government should interfere with the states, and the nation should have the most power.

In 1832 Congress passed new laws which raised tariffs (tax on goods) on raw materials and manufactured goods.

Southerners opposed high tariffs, because they had few manufacturers that would benefit from tariffs.

The North supported high tariffs because they had many factories and manufactures that benefited from the tariffs.

This resulted in the Nullification Crisis in which southern states  believed they had the right to nullify or cancel federal laws if it considered them unconstitutional.