Some historians argue that sectional differences between the north and south significantly increased in the United States between 1800 and 1848. Support or refute this contention using specific evidence.

Intro: In 1800, America was still a young agrarian country, with no industrial backbone in need of other countries for many of its imports. Americans were continuously forcing Indians to leave their lands, both in the north and in the south, towards the west. Slavery was acceptable in some places in the north, and in the south. By 1848, the north had become heavily industrialized, and the south remained an agrarian society. The Missouri compromise line clearly distinguished which states allowed slavery to persist, and which states that had outright banned slavery. Sectional differences significantly increased in the United States between 1800 and 1848 due to economic reasons, but both the north and south had a clear drive for westward expansion. Change: Alexander Hamilton vs. Thomas Jefferson, competing visions for America, outline where they came from and where their bases were strong. Because of booming textile industrialization in the north (Lowell mills in Massachusetts) the American government enacted tariffs for finished textile products from England, which cost the south 100 Million Dollars a year because the south thrived on making raw goods to be exported to England; they had no means of creating the finished products that they themselves imported. The state of South Carolina nullified the tariff; attempting to make a law passed by the federal government for their own regional benefit proved that states in the south valued their own growth over the north, further supporting sectionalism. An essential part of the southern economy was the use of slaves. A cotton boom increased the demand for slaves, and LA (1812), MI (1817), AL (1819) joined the Union as slave permitting states. Meanwhile, by the 1820s, every state north of Virginia and Kentucky was a free state, with many northerners deeply against the institution of slavery, either for moral reasons (Liberty Party), or for reasons that could hurt white people economically (Free Soil Party). When the Wilmot Proviso (Bill proposed after the Mexican War that stated that neither slavery no involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any territory gained from Mexico) was not passed, it further solidified the divide between the North and South, dividing the Democratic Party along regional lines as well. Talk about Roman vs. Byzantine Empire (split because belief in differences of lifestyle and religion)Continuity: Most americans however felt a religious need for westward expansion John OSullivan coined the term manifest destiny in 1848, and americans, both from the south, attempted to help America reach from coast to coast Both southerners and northerners participated in the gold rush of 1849. Furthermore, both southerners forced Indians off of their land to gain access to land for either farming or for natural resources, from the Iroquois in the north, to the Cherokee in the south.

Conclusion:Restate main points, and reword thesis.