Post Civil War North Carolina

In contrast to the many economical differences of the industrial north and agrarian south, few similarities arise in the struggle of sectionalism. Both the societies consisted of utilization of trade, westward expansion, and the use of unskilled labor. The north's industrial businesses such as textile industries demanded the south's production of cotton in order to maintain its market with oversees buyers. Also, the fight for westward land was among the many conflicts between the north and the south. And the use of unskilled labor was highly shared between these two economies. In the south, the use of untrained African slaves was its main entity to economic success. Like the south, the north used amateur workers in its industries to boost its production.

The North’s economy was based on textiles, shipping, and skilled trades. Their climate was not suited for the same type of agricultural products that the South produced like cotton, sugar, rice and tobacco. Northern states like New England manufactured and shipped goods like guns, clocks, plows and axes (page 399). One reason for the South’s dependence on slavery is because their economy relied on the existence of slave labor. For example, the cultivation of cotton depended largely on slave labor, with 75% of the crop grown on plantations,

Cotton was still a major industry in the South after the Civil War, but iron and tobacco became strong competitors. There was an increase in Southern cotton mills. In 1800, there were one hundred and sixty mills; in 1900, there were over four hundred mills. There were, however, racist hiring practices. Very few blacks acquired jobs. This was justified by mill owners because whites suffered in competition with blacks for agricultural jobs. The counterargument may be that they were not jobs, because the blacks were slaves and not paid. Southerners found large coal and iron ore reserves, and thereby had a tremendous growth in iron and steel mills. Eventually though, these mills became controlled by foreign investors and Northerners around 1900. Tobacco was traditionally grown in the South, but factories for processing were not developed until post Civil War in 1900. Outside capitalists also controlled these industries. The Northerners reconstructed the Southern economy—one that they controlled—but did not change much in the South itself, which still had multiple racial and social issues.

The New South was mostly about development and growth that started to gradually increase after 1877 on into the 1900s. Iron and steel were the main contributors followed by tobacco and timber. Steel mills were popping up all over the south which provided numerous jobs and a better way of living. The downside was the effect it had on the farm industry due to the fact that cotton was cheap and so was labor. As a result most of the people preferred to work in the factories which paid higher wages.

The urbanization and industrialization of early America became another underlying factor in the economics of slavery. Initially, Southern slave owners thought that the slaves were "too stupid" to understand the machinery, so they would not work well in urban areas. They were also believed to be "too careless" to use complex tools in the factories. As a result of this thinking, it impeded the growth of industrialization in the South and maintained the chains of slavery.

To understand the present and the future one must understand the past.  The book Civilities and Civil Rights by William Chafe provided a detailed look at North Carolina, specifically Greensboro between the years of the 1930s through the 1960’s. The state of events that occur can be linked to many of the events that one sees today due to the fact that the foundation and structure of the south was built on racism. No one came straight out and said they were racist, instead the problem was covered up with civilities. Few leaders wanted to rock the boat or change things that would allow African Americans rights. This report will show how the civilities during this time hindered the success of civil rights in Greensboro, and also how it was harder for activists in Greensboro to win support and accomplish their goals.

agriculture. The industrial revolution in the North, during the first few decades of the 19th century, brought about a machine age economy that relied on wage laborers, not slaves. In addition, At the same time the warmer Southern states continued to rely on slaves for their farming economy and cotton production. Southerners made huge profits from cotton and slaves and fought a war to maintain them. Northerners did not need slaves for their economy and fought a war to free them. For instance, James Henry Hammond announces that the slaves hired in the South are hired for life and compensated while in the North their manual laborers are not cared about and are essentially “slaves”. (Doc L.) Essentially, Hammond felt that people are better off in the South because they are treated much better and they have a prime purpose unlike the North who call the hired “manual laborers” but are just slaves, who are one day working then suddenly ‘beggars “on the street. Another example of the Industry vs. Agriculture being a cause of the Civil War was South Carolina Threatening Secession, with all its pecuniary bounties to the Northern states, and its pecuniary burdens upon the Southern states, would be utterly “overthrown and demolished”. (Doc A.) This would develop in the ruin of thousands and hundreds of thousands in the manufacturing

Factories in the North attracted former subsistence farmers because it was more efficient to buy food rather than to grow it. Systems like the Lowell System employed young women, provided them with room and board, and paid the women for their work in the factory. With the rise of numerous new American inventions, machines became more efficient and the United States had soon developed one of the best industrial economies in the world. Because of the need for effective transportation to distribute goods, new forms of transportation such as elaborate railroad and canal systems emerged. The south, on the other hand, clung to the slave-based plantation system. The economy was based largely on the production of raw materials, mainly cotton. Eli Whitney’s cotton gin allowed the cultivation of short staple cotton to bring Southern planters great success. Because the cotton industry was so lucrative, Southerners had no reason to become industrialized. However, the industrial economy of the North and the agrarian economy of the South led to a colonial relationship between the two, meaning that the South sold raw materials to the North in exchange for manufactured goods. The system put the South in an inferior position to the North, which obviously upset Southerners and led to greater tension between the two regions.

Judkin Browning’s book, Shifting Loyalties: The Union Occupation of Eastern North Carolina, is about the effects the Union Army’s occupation of the cities of New Bern and Beaufort, North Carolina had on its citizens. His purpose is to explain why some North Carolinian’s in this area sided with the Union or why their loyalties shifted back and forth between the Confederacy and the Union. Browning argues that one’s racial and class status influenced the reason for siding with or against the Union while it occupied Southeastern North Carolina. He also examines how their choice of sides helped shape the economic, social, political, and cultural dynamics of the region.(2)

South Carolina owned more black slaves than other places. South Carolina was called “Negro country”. Children slaves of South Carolina died before reaching the age of 16. White owners would try to erase their black slaves identities so, they would be more productive. Little did we forget we as African-Americans built this country by providing (roads, bridges, factories, farms, towns, and cities). We as blacks even created our own culture that whites could never touch nor take away. Our African-American food created a big influence on food which made food better and flowed through the Atlantic world. Not only food were being spreaded but, ideas about music, dance, religion, and freedom.

During the early 19th century, especially before the American Revolution and after the War of 1812, American society has changed greatly. The North and the South followed different paths, gradually developing into two distinct and very different regions. And in the 1800s, the disparities between the two regions because of the difference in economic, social and political structure, continued to widen leading up to the Civil War that raged across the nation from 1861 to 1865 which concluded the decades of diverse ideas and culture between the two regions. The South’s economic were known vastly for its agriculture and farming. Its fertile soil and warm climate were ideal for large-scale farms and crops like tobacco and cotton.

Most of the work was for the textile business using the raw materials given to the North from the South (“Compare Two Worlds: North vs South”). These materials allowed for industrialization in the North which also resulted in the creation of more jobs in the Northern states. The South had free labor which allowed a lot of the profit to be put toward other projects, while the North had to pay for wages. The increase in employment affected industrialization in the South also resulting in an increase in export and

The North and South had almost opposite economic systems. The North was industrialized, with factories and sweatshops, whereas the South had an agricultural society, with farming and plantations, with cotton as their main crop. To further exacerbate this divide, in the 1830’s and 40’s, the North experienced the Industrial Revolution, a breakthrough of power-driven machinery. The Industrial Revolution quickened the pace of manufacturing and transportation. Faster production led to an increase in capital. As Document 1a proves, by 1860, most Northern states had a much higher value of manufacturing than the South.

Freight from other parts of the nation often had much cheaper transportation costs than southern goods, even when the shipments were closer to southern locations. The South did best when recruiting industries such as saw and paper mills that took advantage of existing extractive industries. Those employers would seek to hire people from outside of the local community for factory jobs. Having workers travel over 20 miles to work in a factory meant that local leaders had less influence on operations once they were established. It is also reasonable to believe that someone traveling that far has fewer job options so they are less likely to organize and strike. Still, southern communities fought to get factories. If they heard that the executives looking for a location to build a new plant had visited a rival town’s golf course, they would find the means to have a new golf course so that they could stay competitive in the bidding process. States promised potential employers that taxes would stay low and labor would stay cheap. Over the years, this notion of development shifted from a southern one to a Republican one. This happened first in the Peripheral South and then later in the Deep South (Black 1976). The Democrats developed a mindset that instead placed an emphasis on education and organizing labor. The Republican Party remained focused primarily on providing the tax

2003 the triad area of North Carolina’s economic growth was startled. The majority of jobs here were furniture and tobacco. The furniture jobs were sent across seas, and one of the world largest tobacco companies