Economic Growth After The Civil War

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.

What were the short-term and long-term effects of the Civil War? The Civil War produced many short-term and long-term effects. For example, the struggle of Freedmen and Reconstruction shortly after the Civil War was addressed with many short term solutions like, the Freedmen’s Bureau, the 10% Plan. and the Wade-Davis Bill. There also times like, the battle over Reconstruction, where the pure tension and disagreements throws the U.S. into pure chaos with the assassination of Lincoln and not much gets done due to the back and forth arguments between Johnson and Republicans. Although, the end of Reconstruction presents a myriad of long term effects which will radically change America like, the KKK and Plessy V. Ferguson promoting racism and the election of Hayes in 1876. From 1863-1896, the United States was completely divided and was going through Reconstruction in an attempt to unite the North and South after the Civil War to prevent other countries from attacking America. After the Civil War, the struggle to rebuild the Nation, the battle over Reconstruction, and its inevitable end produced a plethora of long-term and short-term effects which would change America forever.

After the civil war, especially during the late 1800s, the US industrial economy has been thriving and booming which reflected on the numerous improvements that occurred in transportation through new railroad, in new markets for new invented goods and in the increased farm yield. However, most of this wealth has been captured by the capitalists, they looked down on the working poor class and expected them to submit to them. Also, they had control over the government seeking to maintain a system of monopoly to allow them to grow richer from others. Thus, they were controlling both political and economic conditions of the country.

After the Civil War (1861-1865), agriculture was no longer the main base of Americas economy. The factories that the Union built were repurposed for more profitable intentions. Because of this and the ambition of a few powerful men, America took a swift turn to becoming more industrialized. While the nation was growing, so were the railroads and small businesses. Americans no longer worked for themselves but for an employer. If a business couldn’t provide the best product at the cheapest prices they went bankrupt and were

Although the South produced the huge amounts of cotton needed, and exported it as a primary product to the rest of the world, it did not lead the way in industrialisation-this was dominated by the Northeast. What America lacked was manufacturing efficiency and as the Historian J.G.Rayback explains the war made 'Americans profoundly aware of other areas besides their own; in the post-Revolutionary period they made a vigorous effort to increase their knowledge of the entire nation and to take advantage of its limitless opportunities.'

DBQ: The Industrial Boom In the 1860s, industries in Europe were booming. The United States, however, was not developing very much at all. In fact, we were busy fighting a Civil War, and cleaning up the mess afterwards, so there really was not much time or money for the development of huge factories and businesses. In time, the Civil War and Reconstruction eras ended, and America was rapidly growing its industries.

Before the Civil War began, the United States had two distinct economies. Although farming was a staple throughout the United States, from an economic standpoint the Northern and Southern farmers were fundamentally diverse from each other. Unfree labor and staple crops were an essential part of Southern life. While their counterparts to the North comprised of an economy that contained finance, a wide range of industries, and commerce; wage earners and small business owners. The Civil War drastically changed this way of life for both the North and South. The South after the war was left in decimated, while the Northern economy boomed. Southern farmers between 1859-1860 were harvesting a record number of cotton crops. Cotton was America’s most

The slave states were Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Mississippi, and Tennessee. These states grew tobacco as their first crop prices were not always stable and cotton would soon be king. In the year 1793 an African American inventor named Eli Whitney created the cotton gin. This invention allowed textile mills in the north to use the type of cotton grown by the southern slave states thus creating a more profitable crop than tobacco. With the invention of the cotton gin and the economic boom that came with it. The south’s economy was now more than ever tied to the peculiar institution.

By the time of the Civil War, the technologies upon which the First Industrial Revolution was based were established in the United States. In the years following the war, the nation's industrial energies were focused on completing the railroad and telegraph networks of the North, rebuilding those of the South, and expanding those of the West. Once the devastating depression of the 1870’s depleted, the stage was set for the Second Industrial Revolution.

After the Civil War, the United States went through a period of rapid industrialization which affected the nation dramatically. Industrial growth, the spread of railroads, the rise of big businesses, and the appearance of labor unions during these decades created a modern industrial economy, and American workers and farmers faced new challenges in adapting to these changes.

The Effect of The American Civil War on The Economy (North and South) Before 1800, the American economy was mostly agricultural, with many families owning their own farm and working and living on it, save for some people owning small shops, or craftsmen like writers or painters, though these people would likely still have a farm of some sort at their home. This all started changing rapidly after 1800, with the United States, and by extension, the world, going through an industrial revolution. This brought wealth largely to the North, who saw an influx of refugees and locals looking to work in the growing mills. The South, contrastingly remained largely agricultural, becoming one of the worlds largest producers of cotton. This was influenced in part by how fertile the soil was in the South, and greatly by the fact that slavery was still legal and extremely commonplace.

In the northern states of the united states, pre-Civil War, they had been booming with new factories. Industrialization had taken over the northern states, becoming their entire economy. After the Civil War though, the industrialization economy really took a hit. Roughly 360,000 Union deaths took place during the Civil war, many companies lost many employees. Shortly after the Civil War the United States entered an era we now know at the “Gilded Era”. During this era, some of the richest men, even in todays money, were born. Big names like Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J.P. Morgan entered the economy, trying to earn their way to the top.

This change hurt the economy by a lot but Jefferson needed to do it. Americans wanted to go to war after this but this helped that from happening. They didn’t come into contact with any others at war either so they had no way of fighting back. Even though this act made the American’s mad, Jefferson knew it was the best thing for the country.

Americans suffered many economic, social, and political problems in the post-Civil War era. I have identified one of each of these types of problems that I believe were among the most important during the period of 1865-1900. The economic issue that I believe had one of the biggest impacts on Americans at the time is the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. The social issue that I feel greatly affected America after the Civil War is Chinese immigration. One of the biggest political issues, to me, is the Populist Party.

The decades after the Civil War rapidly changed the face of the United States. The rapid industrialization of the nation changed us from generally agrarian to the top industrial power in the world. Business tycoons thrived during this time, forging great business empires with the use of trusts and pools. Farmers moved to the cities and into the factories, living off wages and changing the face of the workforce. This rapid industrialization created wide gaps in society, and the government, which had originally taken a hands off approach to business, was forced to step in.