Notes

Sectionalism challenged the spirit of nationalism that represented the romantic era, so that tension brought them both to a year war, after the war they were unified, even though the south was in ruins. Congress worked to balance slave states and free states but a compromise was difficult because the new western territories wanted to be independent. Slavery became more important to the southern economy because that's when they made the cotton gin, which increased cotton greatly after 1793 and that required more slave labor. In the mid 19 century, Americans came together to fight slavery and other social problems. White and black abolitionist started working for emancipation, they created societies, public speaking, published newspapers and swamped Congress with petitions to end slavery. They also established the underground railroad which is a group of abolitionist who helps slaves escape to the north. Former slaves wrote the reality of slavery like Harriet Beecher(uncle toms cabin) and Frederick Douglass(My bondage and My freedom), which brought awareness to women that they were denied of rights, reformers such as Elizabeth Cady and Lucretia mott turned their attention to the fight for women's rights including women's rights to vote. Lincoln is a politician and president who didn't like the division in the country but his election caused war because the southerners didn't like that Lincoln didn't want slavery to spread out west, so they seceded and formed the confederates of America, they attacked fort sumpter which started the civil war in 1861.