The Sectional Conflict: An Introduction

1. The Problem
   1. Southerners and Northerners: A Common Loyalty
   2. "The War:" A Mutual Enmity
2. The Usual Explanations and Their Problems
   1. A Moral Struggle Over Slavery
   2. A Struggle to Preserve "States' Rights"
3. An Approach to an Explanation
   1. Slavery and the "American Dream:" Two Visions
      1. South: The Essential Foundation
      2. North: A Block to Opportunity
   2. Different? Yes. Conflicting?
      1. Not Necessarily
         1. Territorial Dispersion
         2. The Structure of Federalism
         3. The Need for Union
         4. Northern White Racism
         5. Cross-Cutting Divisions: The Parties
      2. BUT Potentially
         1. Abolitionism
            1. Abolitionists as Threat to Southern Security
            2. White Southern Threats to Free Speech, Press, and Assembly
         2. The Fugitive Slave Issue
            1. South: "Slave Catching" as "States' Rights"
            2. North: "Slave Catching" as Assault on Human Rights
         3. Conflict of Interest: The Struggle for Land