Essay on Economies of North and South During American 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.

The North and South were very different from each other. Industrialization was happening in the North, while large-scale cotton planting was happening in the South. The South sold their crops to England in exchange for inexpensive factory-made goods produced in Europe. As a result of industrialization, Northern Factories began producing many of the goods that were already being produced in Europe. Thus, the North started to tax the South on any goods imported from Europe, so that the South would buy goods from the North. These unfair taxes angered the South, and contributed largely to its anti-North attitude (Civil War

Throughout the 19th century, the distinctions between the North and South in the United States were controversial. Prior to the Civil War, the North consisted of business owners and middle-class men. The South consisted of mostly farmers. The North was industrial, using railroads and factories. The South was agricultural, with mostly farms and plantations. The North paid their labor workers. The South used slaves. Not only did their opposing views on slavery and the separation of the two cultures, tensions arose that eventually led to one of the most gruesome wars in history.

The main difference between the Northern and Southern states was that the North was mostly populated by small farms and larger towns and cities with mercantile and factory-based economies, in contrast the South was populated by large plantations and had relatively fewer large cities and few factories. Since the north had significantly more factories, they tended to trade more manufactured goods instead of raw materials like the south. The south’s economy was heavily reliant on the labor of slaves, the north had slaves as well but it did not really compare to that of the

There were many economic differences between the North and the South that eventually led to the Civil War. One main difference was that The South's economy was based on agriculture and slave labor while the North's economy was more focused on manufacturing. According to Document 1a, “Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project” , it represents that the value of Northern manufacturing surpassed the value of Southern manufacturing. This shows that the Northern states had a very well off economy , which can partly be due to its geography and location along the coast which contributed to major trade. Another reason for the North’s good economy was because unlike the South the industrialized North generated their wealth through innovation

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

In the south the people had a very different way of life. Most were poor farmers with the exception of large plantation owners who were very wealthy. These plantation owners white and black alike used slave labor to grow and harvest their crops. There was almost as many black plantation owners as there were white. In Charlestown, South Carolina there were more than 100 free black men who owned slaves. Slave labor was a big part of the South’s economy. Cotton was the South’s number one cash crop. The only way they could make good money was to sell to the highest bidder. The highest bidder was not always the industries of the North. Most of the time the south would sell their crops to other countries such as England and France, and then in return they would buy their goods from these other countries. That is the reason these countries backed the south in the war. The north did not like the idea that the southern states were trading with foreign countries because they were losing out on a lot of money. The southern states were cutting the north out of the trade cycle completely. So, how does the north stop this? The Government of The United States passed laws and put heavy taxes on imported goods. They passed laws hoping it would cause the south to do more business with the northern industries. It did not work.

The antebellum era exposed the entirely different views and ways of life between the North and the South. These differences can be observed on the economic aspect. The North was industrialized enabling them to have functioning economy without the use of many labors; however, in the south, people relied on agriculture, and thus they needed a large number of slaved labors to help them work on the plantations. Such difference led to the main distinction which existed throughout the entire Civil War, the dependence on the slavery. These differences sparked conflict between the North and the South placing them in an indisputable position, eventually leading to the Civil War. The prosecution of the Civil War of North and South differed drastically. The North fought to preserve the Union which entailed abolishing slavery, enlisting the black in the army and also paying them proper wages, and the South fought to withdraw and preserve slavery and their agricultural lifestyle. These conflicting views did not disappear after the war. Although the North won the Civil War, they still wanted to unify the country, not only territorially, but also economically and politically by enforcing many new laws and amending the Constitution. And the South, even after the abolishment of slavery, people in the south remained hostile toward the freed people, saw themselves more superior than the freed people, and tried to resurrect the “Old South”.(192~198) To achieve the real union and realize the

The South heavily relied on slavery to keep their economy stable, although not their only source of money, but by abolishing slavery and making it illegal it would damage their economy quite badly. And so this caused a lot of tension between the North and South because they were very different economically. The South is much more agricultural, and is reliant upon exports as well. The North on the other hand is in complete contrast to the South. The North industrialised very fast and many people of poor background and some African-American succeeded and made a lot of money. It isn't very clear that if they had lived in the South if they could have achieved this much success, but those in the North faced a lot less discrimination compared to the South. "Because the economics of the dynamic industrializing North and the static agrarian South were incompatible, the two societies were on a collision course that led inexorably to war" (http://civilwartalk.com/threads/historians-evolving-views-of-civil-war-causality.21223/) Many historians agree that this was not a major cause. According to economic historian Lee A. Craig, "In fact, numerous studies by economic historians over the past several decades reveal that economic conflict was not an inherent condition of North-South

In the time just before the Civil War, the United States was one of the most successful nations in the world. The United States had become the world’s leading cotton producing country and had developed industry, which would in the future, surpass that of Great Britain. Also, the United States possessed an advanced railroad and transportation system. However, despite its successes, the United States was becoming increasingly divided. The North and the South had many distinct differences in terms of their social, cultural, and economic characteristics that brought about sectionalism and, eventually, the Civil War.

The Civil war was the most momentous and crucial period of time in the history of America. Not only did this war bring an end to slavery but also paved way for numerous social and political changes. The country had already been torn by the negative trend in race relations and the numerous cases of slave uprisings were taking their toll on the country 's political and social structure. The country was predominately divided up into 3 sections, the North, the South, and the West. Each of these groups had different fundamental interests. The North wanted economies depending on farming, factories and milltowns, while the West relied on expansion and development of land for farming and new towns. The South mainly relied on agriculture like

In the period after the civil war there were many consequences in the economy in such categories as agriculture, labor, industrialization, and transportation. Many of these economic categories took a hit because many suppliers, work areas, and and employees were hurt or destroyed during the war. It took many years after the end of the Civil War for the agricultural industry, labor industry, industrial industry, and transportation industry to regain their footing in the economic world. Even then some of the industries would forever be changed by the things that the great Civil War caused in our country.

While both the North and the South had stable and confident economic systems, the North was much more industrialized and diversified and with a better transportation system they not only had the ability for mass production but also the means for speedy and

The North’s actions of abolishing slavery and enacting tariffs caused the South to fight in hopes of preserving their way of life and economy. Plantations in the South were only successful because of slavery. Without the slaves helping them create the abundance of cotton, the South would have no economy. The country’s economy would be greatly altered if slavery was eliminated both from a consumer and producer perspective. When the North did announce that they wanted to completely eradicate slavery, the South was taken aback due to the fact that the whole country would not function without slavery and the cotton produced. The North wanted the South to industrialize but the South replied “… we must ever continue to be, wholly dependent upon agriculture and commerce (South Caroline Protest Against the Tariff of 1828).” The climate in the South did not allow for the same industrialization to occur as it did in the North. Plantations and their productions of cash crops were booming in the South and the northern frontier was too small of a market, therefore leading them to sell to foreign countries. This caused the North to enact tariffs and in order to prevent the South from being too successful and lose them as a market. The North ended up petrifying the Southerners into fighting a war in order to preserve their way of life and thriving economy.

The Northern states had a largely industrial economy. The coastal states were filled with port cities to ship out manufactured goods to other places around the world. Capitalism was in full swing, with all sorts of factories popping up everywhere. The industrial