The U.S. was divided into three segments during this time period because the South/North/West all believed different things, had different policies, laws, tactics of expansion, plantation levels, geography, economic stability, ect. As a matter of fact, in some cases, certain parts had conflicts with others due to the fact that one segment disagreed with one side or the North had conflicts with the South and so on and so forth. Furthermore, one of the many conflicts the South and the North had was that citizens on the North viewed themselves as Americans, while people in the South viewed themselves as Southerners. Actually, many of the North's and South's issues lead to the Civil War. For example, a major conflict was between states' rights from the South versus the North's strong central government.