Sectionalism played a big role for the cause of the civil war. The north and the south had opposite views of slavery. What you would call the north at this time believed in abolishing slavery, while the south relied on slavery for their whole thriving economy. The western territories and states either wanted to be a slave sate or a free state. For example, Missouri wanted to be a slave state, but the north would not allow that to happen without doing something about it. Sectionalism resulted in the Missouri compromise and many other events leading to the civil war.
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