Page 39 - Reading Success B7

The United States had been growing larger and more powerful as a nation since 1789.
By 1853, its wide expanse had reached from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. Cities were

bustling with different kinds of industry, the North was the nation’s manufacturing region
while the South, with its rich farmlands, was the agricultural region. However, beneath the
prosperity was an expanding rift between the two regions. Even before the U.S. gained its
independence, the North and the South already had differences, which were mainly rooted
on the issues of tariffs, states’ rights, and slavery.

The North welcomed tariffs, which protected its industries from foreign products. On the
other hand, agricultural South opposed the tariffs because they raised the prices of products
they imported from Europe. Another sensitive issue was states’ rights or the principle stating

that powers not specifically given to the federal government by the Constitution belonged to
the individual states. The South supported the states’ rights as a way to stay in the Union
while protecting the region’s interests. They believed that a state has the right to change a

law passed by Congress if the people of that state regarded that law as unconstitutional.
However, the North, believing in a strong Union, argued that if such would be the case,
there would be no unity in the United States. Slavery was another source of conflict. The
North supported the abolition of slavery not only for its moral issue but also to prevent the
Southern states from outnumbering them in the Union should the South be allowed to bring

their slaves to new territories. Not surprisingly, Southerners opposed the move to set the
slaves free, citing that it would destroy their economy and way of life.
Over the next few years, several attempts were made by the government in order to

reach a compromise between the two regions but to no avail.

In 1860, southern states began to secede from the Union and soon seven of them joined
forces to form the Confederate States of America. In 1861, the Civil War erupted with four

more states joining the Confederacy leaving 23 states loyal to the Union. At first, the
Southern troops were victorious in major battles but in the long run, when the Union started
to blockade southern ports to prevent supplies from reaching the Confederate troops, the
South collapsed. In 1865, the Confederacy finally surrendered ending the four-year
bloody and costly struggle and emancipating large numbers of slaves across the land.

Main Idea

What is the main idea of this story?

a. tension between the northern and the southern states in America
b. the American Civil War

c. the expansion of America to the Pacific Ocean.
d. the history of the U.S.

42_Reading Success B 7