3.Continued expansion of the country in all areas (fiscal, territorial, and political – i.e. new states joining the Union) was influenced by sectionalism.

South So , in to prevent the passage of national laws that would favor the North but not the South , the Southerners need as many senators as the North had . Thus , there would have to be an equally number of free states and slave states since each state regardless of size has two senators ( An Outline of American History , 1994

This balance was especially essential for the South as the clamor against the practice of slavery was growing steam . The people of the South believed that they had to have slaves in to

grow cotton and since cotton was such a valuable export for the United States , ergo slavery is good for all of the U .S . The Southerners wanted to have slavery in at least some of the new territories because new farmland was needed and since the plantation system was based on slavery , they sought this new land where slavery was permitted . However , slavery had become a trade in itself . In the old South where cotton had worn out the land raising slaves for sale was good business . The cruel aspect of this is the separation of families . While the union acceded to compromises in the acceptance of slave states , it was firm on its stand on the prohibition of slavery in the federal territories in the West . The remaining territories were then rendered inaccessible to slavery and will therefore be eventually accepted as free states in effect breaking the balance . Hence , the South no longer found expansionism their interest and strongly called for the annexation of Texas and even Cuba which were non-U .S . territories ( Columbia Encyclopedia , 2004 .References

Chapter Eight : Agrarian Distress and the Rise of Populism (1994 An outline of American history . Retrieved October 5 , 2007 , from http /us .history .wisc .edu /hist102 /lectures /lecture07 .html...