States made their own money, decided who they would trade with and taxed their own people to pay off their own war debts. Finally, our Founding Fathers decided something needed to be done. The scrapped the Articles of Cofederation and set up our Constitution as a new form of government to give more power to the Federal government and put some limits and the State's rights. This along with the Louisiana Purchase and War of 1812 seemed to put a new feeling of nationalism into the United States. But then our country started to expand.
Sectionalism start to pop up again with new vigor.
The issue of slavery started to take a front seat in American politics and cities and towns. Abolitionist preached on the horrors of slavery while Southerners defending slavery as a way of life vital to their economy. The Missouri Compromise put a temporary band-aid on the wound. The wound was reopened in 1850 when California seeks statehood. The Compromise of 1850 put another bandage on a suffering nation.