History

            The United States of America was founded as a country where "all men are created equal". That famous line is something that should have been kept out of the Constitution for almost a hundred years. The issue of slavery prevented our country from being a place where all men are equal. During the colonial period, two economic systems were created and separated by free and slave labor. These differences would spark a series of future events that would create a chasm in the United States called sectionalism. Sectionalism divided our country through social, political, and economic differences. These differences would culminate during the 1850s and would eventually ignite a divided Congress and country to fight a war it had already won- the war for freedom.
             When our country's Constitution was drafted, the writers considered slavery an issue. Our country was born for men to live in freedom, yet a large portion of its population was held in slavery. How could the United States call its self a republic where "all men are created equal"? After the Constitution was drafted, Northerners began protests to end slavery everywhere, but only succeeded in ending the slave trade in most states. The dividing of people on the issue of slavery turned into the sectionalism that fueled the Civil War.
             During the early stages of growth from the 17th to middle 18th century, two distinct economies developed in the United States. In the North, farming drove the economy. The same farming economy developed into a world of artisans, creating the middle class. The middle class represented almost 65% of the population of the North, until the start of the Industrial Revolution. The South's economy revolved around the plantation. Plantation owners were wealthy, but few in numbers, yet they held the majority of the land in the south. Slave labor drove the plantations of the South. .
             The differences between the regions were small and insignificant during the colonial era.