Customer Reviews

Significance of Sections in American History

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sectionalism, especially as it applies to the American South and the causes of the Civil War, is the subject of numerous books and articles. In The Significance of Sections in American History (1932) Frederick Jackson Turner asserts that the frontier and the section are two of the most fundamental factors in American history. Sectionalism, as evidenced by the three colonial regions, came before nationalism. Turner argues that the United States is a federation of sections rather than of states. What has held the sections together is a common legislative body and national political parties.

There have been many sectional struggles throughout American history. One example is that of Jeffersonian Democracy of the South and West versus the Federalism of commercial New England. The most extreme manifestation of sectionalism was obviously the Civil War. This was caused in part by rival societies, North and South, free and slave, seeking to control another section, the West. Thus, Turner sees southern sectionalism as a struggle for dominance of a new and expanding frontier from which the South would continue to draw its power. It is important to mention that Turner highlights not only sectionalism between North and South, but East and West as well. In short, Turner believes that sections are more important than states in shaping the underlying forces of American history.