What were the factors led to sectionalism developing in the English

colonies?

The mother country pursued a single policy regarding the diverse colonies. This forced the colonies to realize early the community of their interests. The one unifying goal was to achieve independence. England pursued a policy of mercantilism in the colonies. According to the adopted Navigation Act, all types of raw materials and agricultural products were exported from the North American colonies to the metropolis only on English ships; the British bought at low prices tobacco and sugar, cotton and rice, furs and wood.

There was a monopoly of the mother country to import many goods into the colony at inflated prices. American entrepreneurs were forced to violate government regulations and turn to smuggle.

In the field of industrial production, England introduced strict regulations and prohibited those activities whose products were imported into the colonies from the mother country. For example, the colonists did not have the right to process furs and smelter iron.

Another stumbling block was the settlement of western lands. Already in the middle of the 18th century, up the Appalachian Mountains, all land plots were occupied. But the English crown forbade moving west beyond the ridge. Free immigrants and planters advocated against such a decree. Squatterism (illegal seizure of Western lands) began to spread.

In 1761 and 1764, the British government prohibited the issuance of credit tickets to support the value of the English currency. The prohibition painfully affected intra-colonial trade and industrial development. Trading operations could not be completed; entrepreneurs and ordinary consumers were in dire need of money.

Thus, the ill-conceived policy of England the desire of the American colonists to free themselves from the strict regulation of the mother country and achieve independence aroused.