Political Parties, Sectionalism and the Civil War

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Everything in history seems to lead to something else. The Civil War was no exception. It started with the creation of parties. Thomas Jefferson started the Anti-Federalist Party that would eventually evolve into Andrew Jackson’s Democratic Party. Policies were issued and the two party system started to collapse and sectionalism started to rise. Instead of Democrat versus Whig, it was North Versus South. Neither side could agree on any issues even when compromises were issued neither side really liked the terms. Every act lead to an argument and every argument led to a compromise which would only last for a few years. Eventually the South was tired of not getting their way and seceded from the Union. The underlying cause to the Civil War was sectionalism but many other causes were based on it. In 1792, Thomas Jefferson began the Jeffersonian Party also known as the Anti-Federalist Party. It was created to oppose the Federalist Party. They believed in small government and little or no foreign entanglements. State rights were very important and in some cases were more important than the Central government. They opposed almost all policies that would make the Federal government more powerful. They were well known for their opposition of the Bank of the United States. By creating the Bank of the United States, the Federal government would have abused their power. They had strong views on foreign policy. They had three goals in their principles in foreign alliances. The second was the importance of overseas commerce. They felt that trade would help the agricultural industry and would diminish need for large manufacturing companies. He feared large manufacturing would lead to greed and laziness. Jefferson was correct about those predi... ... middle of paper ... ...cross the border and stuff ballot boxes to promote slavery. The act caused many arguments and corruption between the North and South. Sectionalism was the underlying cause of the Civil War. The North and South could not agree on anything which caused a lot of animosity between the North and South. The collapsing of the two party system and the rise of sectionalism started the Civil War. Every act and policy can be traced back to sectionalism. The South valued State’s Rights and always tried to use them against the North. The North tended to favor Central Government. The question of slavery was also a good example because neither side could collaborate and find the right answer. From the Tariff of 1832 to the Fugitive Slave Act neither North nor South was pleased at the same time. The Civil War was going to happen no matter what as long a sectionalism was an issue.

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