Economy After 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.

After the civil war, businesses began to become big, they grew significantly in size, number and mostly in influence. Different corporations and businesses grew so much that they had a big effect and so much power and control in America. the businesses began to influence the people of america, the politics and the economy in america. As these companies and businesses grew, some became really powerful which was a good and bad thing. In post-Civil War United States, big businesses and corporations grew with both positive and negative impacts on politics, the economy and the responses of Americans.

At the turn of the 19th century also known as the Gilded Age, many immigrants came to the United States looking for opportunities to live a new life that they were not able to live back home. Many of them may have had hopes of finding a miraculous career that would bring them fame and fortune just like Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Morgan did. But in reality it was not as glamorous and prosperous as it may have seemed to be. Instead it was filled with greed and corruption. Although the United States experienced an economic boom, it created an extremely wealthy upper class. Thus only widening the wealth gap between the rich and poor during this era.

     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

Following the Civil War and Reconstruction, the federal government was looking for a way to get the people motivated; motivated to work again, motivated to have a better life again, and then like an answered prayer we entered the ‘Gilded Age’. The rapid growth from 1865 to 1900 was brought on by the availability of money and resources. With entrepreneurs willing to take a risk with this money and new resources, extraordinary growth arose. Railroads were evolving everywhere and as a result the Steel industry started to rise. With this economic boom all people, especially the federal government, sought after means to sustain this sudden increase in the market. The United States government came up with a plan to promote industrial development

The United States post-Civil War era from 1875 to 1900 experienced massive economic and industrial growth, especially in the North. The rise of new machines, industries (railroad, oil, steel), and buildings contributed to a major upsurge in the prosperity of the American nation. In 1860, no American city had a population over one million; by 1890, three cities had passed the million mark. New York City became the second largest city in the world after London in 1900. The substantial growth of the U.S economically can be contributed to a group of wealthy capitalists that ran businesses/industries and stimulated economic growth. However, historians have argued over whether these capitalists were “robber barons” that were corrupt and took advantage of the American people or “captains of industry” that helped the U.S grow at unparalleled speeds. Wealthy capitalists such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller were indeed “captains of industry” who enlarged American industry and businesses, used their wealth to better their communities, and elevated the United States to new heights as one of the leading industrial powers of the entire world.

The South was greatly troubled by economic problems that arose as a result of the Civil War. The basis of the South’s economy, agriculture, recovered slowly and few southerners had enough money to start new industries.

The Gilded Age was a time a of great prosperity but also great corruption. Many advances in technology and industry took place during the time period. The transcontinental railroad was built, the steel industry was expanded, and oil took off. These developments allowed for the US to experience an industrial revolution, but not all was well. Most of the wealth generated during this time concentrated itself into the hands a of a select few who were able to weasel their way to the top of their industry. One example is John D. Rockefeller, who with wealth adjusted for inflation, amassed a fortune of around $700 billion. The way the these men obtained their wealth was an issue for many during the

The main economic hurdle the country faced was centered in the south. After the war many Southerners were dependant on federal aid subsistence and the emancipation proclamation cost the South $2 billion of it’s capital (Farmer). Furthermore, agriculture had been what maintained southern economy but post-war most farms and plantations were desolate and many of the few railroad tracks that were there before had been destroyed. Historian Charles Beard looks at the war as, “the triumph of the forces of industrialism over plantation agriculture.” However this is not entirely true. While there was some movement towards industry, the south was still primarily agriculturally based and had adopted a system of sharecropping to do so. It took until 1867 for

Mark Twain named the 1870’s to 1900 the Gilded Age. He called this time that because gilded means covered in gold, this describes America, because if your looking at America from the outside in it looked good and business was booming. But if you lived in and worked in America you would have seen the problems and saw that everything was not good as it seemed. He called this time that because gilded means covered in gold, this describes America, because if your looking at America from the outside in it looked good and business was booming. But if you lived in and worked in America you would have seen the problems and saw that everything was not good as it seemed. The wealthy industrialists were robber barons because they paid low wages, poor working conditions, and there was manipulation of laws.

The end of the Civil War brought a whole new era of economy, political control, and Presidential intervention. The economy emerged from its agriculturally based economy into a flourishing big business dominated world and eventually in 1929 came crashing down. I agree only partially with the quote " The Civil War saw the beginning of an 80-year decline of real individual economic opportunity; nonetheless, the vast majority of Americans continued to profess their belief in individualism as evidenced by the Presidents they elected. Thus, between 1865 and 1939, the majority of Americans accepted big business dominance and rejected all forms of government interference and regulation contrary to

The aftermath of the Civil War shook the nation. A new way of life was beginning for the people of America. A way of life that was beautiful and free to some and absolutely devastating to the rest. The country had changed and nobody did a better job at documenting this change than the authors. The authors used this new world to explore new and unique stories as well as capturing what it was actually like living in the post-Civil War times. This paper will examine post-Civil War Literature and its importance to documenting this period in history.

At the end of the nineteenth century began an era of industrialization that created an economic upturn called the gilded age. Hallmarks of this age were technological advances, banking innovations, and wealth concentrations. Railroad construction, advances in steel production, and electrical innovation drove industrial and economic growth. Emerging from this upheaval were a gaggle of industrial big wigs: John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, and Andrew Carnegie. These three represented an unholy alliance with government and big business that left smaller

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.