Which definition below best describes the meaning of the term sectionalism as it relates to pre-Civil War United States?
A. A tax or duty imposed on goods imported from other countries designed to protect the market for domestically made products.

B. Putting interests of a particular section or region above those of the nation…this refers to the growing cultural and economic differences between the North and South in the years leading up to the Civil War

C. The residents of a territory would vote on whether their new state would be a free state or slave state

D. Belief that the states have certain rights under the 10th Amendment that the national government cannot violate

B. Putting interests of a particular section or region above those of the nation…this refers to the growing cultural and economic differences between the North and South in the years leading up to the Civil War.

Explanation:

The most divisive issue was slavery, free states versus slavery states, abolitionists of the North against the pro-slavery establishment in the South. The two parts of the USA had different economic systems, with the South being agrarian and the North being industrial. There were major divergent commercial and business interests, too.