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The first half of the nineteenth century saw rapid growth due to plentiful natural resources at the disposal of the country. The land person ration made food production sufficient to provide for much larger families and this led to a population explosion. The endless supply of wood for construction and water for the production of power lead to industrialism in the north. With this industry boom, however came the decline of the agrarian and artisan …

…and German immigrants being Roman Catholic many of them joined the Democratic party, which lead to the formation of new parties such as the Know-Nothing which was anti-foreign and anti Roman Catholic. New political ideas and parties in the late 1840's and early 50's heightened the regional identities of North and South, and by the middle of the 1850's slavery and its existence became a major issue of not only political, but also sectional debate.