Confederate Taxation And Inflation During The Civil War Essay

The economies of the North and South were vastly different leading up to the Civil War. Money was equivalent to power in both regions. For the North, the economy was based on industry as they were more modern and self-aware. They realized that industrialization was progress and it could help rid the country of slave labor as it was wrong. The North’s population had a class system but citizens could move within the system, provided they made the money that would allow them to move up in class. The class system was not as rigid as it was in the South. By comparison, the South wanted to hold on to its economic policy. In doing so, the practice of slavery kept the social order firmly in place. The economic factors, social issues and a growing

Although the American Civil War mainly occurred because of slavery, the fact is that slavery had a lot to do with economic and social issues.

The North and the South were prepared to fight a war because of the political advantages each side possessed. The North had an advantage because they had an established, working government. The South had to create a new government after they seceded from the Union. The North’s government had over seventy years to fix any problems in their government. The South also had a political advantage; they were defending their land. This gives the South

As the war continued on the industrial capabilities of the North would prove to become one of the greatest contributing factors to their ability to sustain military operations. Tied directly into the industrial capabilities of the North is the economical superiority that they held over the South. "The economy was the greatest Southern weakness; it was the North's greatest strength. The North was not only a huge farm but a sprawling factory as well" (Kennedy, Cohen, and Bailey pg. 439). Wars are expensive, and in order to sustain military operations especially one that would drag on for four years money would become of great importance. The North was comprised of approximately 75% of the nation's wealth, and they were able to maintain their trade with Europe which kept the money, and weapons pouring in. The South's inability to raise money took its toll on the pocket books of the Southern States, and in turn would be one of the major contributing factors to their defeat. A lengthy war on the other hand favored the wealthier and

     When the Civil War finally concluded, thousands of American soldiers died fighting for what they believed in. The Confederate army lost a total of 258,000 soldiers and the Union army lost 360,000 soldiers. The loss of so many people immensely harmed the nation mentally and economically. Almost everybody had a family, relative, or friend that died in the Civil War. Half of the lives lost were farmers in the South, which devastated the South’s economy because these farmers were also consumers for their

Since the Civil War brought extensive economic change to the United States, civilians in the North and South faced many economic challenges. "In the North the arms, metalworkings, boot making, and shipbuilding industries boomed, but the scarcity of cotton caused widespread layoffs and closures in the textile industry" (Keene, 391). Even though workers' salaries rose by forty percent, prices increased even faster, resulting in inflation that averaged fifteen percent. Despite the North's economic hardships, the problems the South faced were far worse. "The Southern economy was hit hard by the cessation of trade with the North and Europe due to the Union blockade" (Keene, 391). Southern industry and agriculture were limited by persistent

“Why did the North win the Civil War?” is only half of a question by itself, for the other half is “Why did the South lose the Civil War?” To this day historians have tried to put their finger on the exact reason for the South losing the war. Some historians blame the head of the confederacy Jefferson Davis; however others believe that it was the shear numbers of the Union (North). The advantages and disadvantages are abundant on either sides of the argument, but the most dominate arguments on why the South lost the war would be the fact that state’s rights prevented unification of the South, Jefferson Davis poor leadership and his failure to work together with his generals, the South failed to gain the recognition of the European nations, North’s superior resources made the outcome inevitable, and moral of the South towards the end of the war.

The South fought this war as the Second American Revolution. The cause of the South was equated to that of their forefathers who had fought and won their freedom from Great Britain less than 100 years earlier. If it was a war to set men free, it was the Southern farm boy that wanted his freedoms guaranteed under the original constitution. The Northern states' politicians were aggressively attempting to implement a monarchial form of government, which was precisely what the early colonists had fought against in the American Revolution. The Northern states were taking advantage of their superior numbers in the federal government and were using their advantage to implement unfair tariffs against the South. Enormous amounts of money were taken from the South and funneled into the Northern states. Most of the revenue taken from the Southern states was used to run government programs. This brought about the argument of "State's Rights" and a weaker central government by the South.

Historians have argued inconclusively for years over the prime reason for Confederate defeat in the Civil War. The book Why the North Won the Civil War outlines five of the most agreed upon causes of Southern defeat, each written by a highly esteemed American historian. The author of each essay does acknowledge and discuss the views of the other authors. However, each author also goes on to explain their botheration and disagreement with their opposition. The purpose of this essay is to summarize each of the five arguments presented by Richard N. Current, T. Harry Williams, Norman A. Graebner, David Herbert Donald, and David M. Potter. Each author gives his insight on one of the following five reasons:

The American civil war began in 1861 and ended in 1865. It was a War in which people were probably suffering the most. With a total death people close to 620,000 and million more injured. This event was a decisive one, according to the United States history. Through the North to the South, and the East to the West, that period of battle and civil War let engraved marks in population minds, which turn out is a watershed for Slaves and Freeman. One of the important turning points of the civil War was the importance to finance it. It cost a lot to both part of the United States to entertain war and battle during approximately four years. For example, the national debt rose from $65 million in 1860 to $2.6 billion in 1866. Nevertheless civil

"If wars are won by riches, there can be no question why the North eventually prevailed." The North was better equipped than the South, with the resources necessary to be successful in a long term war like the Civil War was, which was fought from 1861 – 1865. Prior, and during the Civil war, the North's economy was always stronger than the South's, boasting of resources that the Confederacy had no means of attaining. Compared to the South, The North had more factories available for production of war supplies and larger amounts of land for growing crops. Its population was several times of the South's, which was a potential source for military enlistees. Although the South had better naval leadership and commanders, such as Robert E. Lee

One of the key factor contributing to the Civil War was States Rights. This refers to the struggle between federal government and individual states over political power. One side argued for greater state’s rights and those arguing felt that the Federal Government needed to have more control over states. The states felt they should have the right to decide if they were willing to accept certain federal acts. Meaning that states had the right to rule federal acts unconstitutional. The federal government denied states this right. When nullification would not work and states felts that they were no longer respected, they moved towards secession from the Union. The southern people were viewed as democratic and depended slaves for the plantations, they were devoted to agriculture and shipped cotton up north and favored low tariffs.

The Civil War was the bloodiest war in American history. America was split into two sides that had strengths and weaknesses against each other. It seemed they were the complete opposite. The North had more factories and railroads, while the South had more farms. Politics had a strong part to play too. The North had a better government, while the South struggled to form one. Finally, the North had a larger army throughout the war.

Though, in the South they wished Europe would help them because of the cotton industry. The South had very meniscal amount of factories and little to no railroads compared to the South. Abraham Lincoln asked the loyal states to help the arm. The South attempted to have single authority, but in the end this seemed to have failed and not workout. The South had also made the inflation due to the amount of printed paper. At one point shoes were $200 Dollars a pair and a barrel of flour was $300 Dollars which was ten time the cost of a normal one before inflation (Davidson and Stoff 487-488, Guelzo, “Confederate States”).

America's republican form of representative government was premised upon the idea of three co-equal branches of government: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. The three branches, in theory, operate independent of one another and serve as check upon one another. It is this structure of this government, the founders believed, that would retard any establishment of monarchial government that the American Revolution was fought upon. However the civil war, and more specifically the Reconstruction period following it tested these principles to the core. While it may be accurate to characterize governmental struggles that defined Reconstruction as ones that were inter-branch, a more detailed and nuanced survey reveals it was borne more so out