Southern Economy After The Civil War

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

The Northern states had the pleasure of discovering abundant resources of coal. In addition, Richmond faced difficulties because of their existence on the margins of a plantation economy. Even though this was the nation’s first mine, it had various disadvantages that would not let it compete on an industrious scale. In the following paragraph, I will discuss how the South had a secret hand in textile mills within the United States.

By 1863 both sides were experiencing labor shortages, inflation, and dissension. With its superior resources, the Union met the challenge more effectively. Although the cotton-textile industry in the North was hurt, industries directly related to the war effort--arms manufacture, ready-made clothing, and railroads--flourished. The Republicans in Congress were able to act on their idea of "free soil, free labor, free men" and passed the Homestead Act and the Morrill Land Grant Act. Nevertheless, workers suffered during the war as wages lagged 20 percent or more behind price increases. The Southern economy was totally shattered by the war, as railroads were torn up, food-growing regions were occupied by Union troops, and planters continued to try to raise cotton crops. Southern women were forced to revive home production of goods in short supply, but even that was hard to do as Union invasions turned women and children into refugees.

Economic conflict became a major cause of the Civil War because the South objected to unfair tariff levels. With tariffs in place that caused taxes on goods brought into the country, the South started to feel as though this was very unfair to them since they didn’t have as many industries as the North and were more dependent goods imported from Europe. As the taxes went up, so did the price of the items and resulting in every day, normal priced items becoming overpriced for people who couldn't afford the higher prices. This anger among the people of the south caused by this inflation was the source of economic conflict. John Calhoun of South Carolina claimed that he was going to end this practice,

For example, farming was the main source of income for the Confederate states. The main southern chief crop which came to be known as King Cotton, accounted for 57% of all U.S. exports (“Civil War”). However, in order to produce these large amounts of cotton, the southern Confederate states depended heavily on slave labor. Since cotton production began to dominate and fuel the southern economy, the South felt that they did not need to industrialize like their northern neighbors did. This caused the South to manufacture very little goods and caused them to purchase manufactured goods from the industrialized North or to purchase imported goods from overseas.

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

The Union blockade did not take full effect for many months, allowing the Southerners time to export their cotton harvest, and reap the financial benefits. Alexander Stephens had a plan at the start of the war that he estimated would net around $800M for the Confederacy, providing a sound financial base for the war effort. Although somewhat optimistic, and affected by practical difficulties, it is fair to say that the cotton crop would have been far better exported than stockpiled or burnt. Secondly, the Confederate government displayed an unwillingness to tax her citizens, preferring instead to print money, and suffer the rampant inflation that resulted. The Union financed its war effort mainly from taxation and bonds, while 60% of Southern funds came from unbacked paper money. The problems associated with this are clear to see: prices rose 100-fold over the four years of war, wiping out southerners' savings, and devastating the economy. The government's reaction to this, the third mistake, was to impress public goods for military use. However, rather than curbing inflation, this merely acted as a disincentive to supply, making essential items increasingly scarce. This, coupled with the poor infrastructure and parochialism of some State governors, meant that the army went hungry in a nation with the capacity to produce plenty of food. Finally, it is argued that the Confederate government should have done more to improve infrastructure and

Furthermore, the South had little preexisting industry and lacked an infrastructure for dispersing goods (Perman, 14). From an early point in the war the Union army cut off railways and blockaded Southern ports, and roads in the South were primitive. Farmers were forced to contend with government controls on production and marauding thieves who would take whatever they could from them. With no means of transporting goods and no slave labor, Southerners could barely produce enough to feed their families and even if they were

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”).

Seeing that the United States' original plan for reconstruction would have been theoretically more effective; the reconstruction that occurred had it's good and flawed impacts on the country. As said before this reconstruction was good, to an extent, but it was flawed in many ways, and it led to further conflict and tension throughout the country even until today. Reconstruction is the root of many problems including the industrial bust, and the future of a divided nation; parts of America that prove reconstruction to have been ineffective. Shortly after the Civil War came the beginning of an industrial boom, it marked the transformation of the United States into a modern era. This period of time was essential for the socio-economic change occurring in the United States because of the industrial boom.

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.

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.

Numerous disadvantages plagued the South during the Civil War including a lack of supplies and proper funding. The absence of supplies for the soldiers in the war were caused by lack of transportation, an economy with an unhelpful focus, and no agricultural or livestock production (Boyer 434). The problems with transportation and agricultural production were a result from the Union army sabotaging what little the South had previous to the war. Furthermore, the focus of the southern economy was on tobacco and cotton which were not beneficial during the war. The Confederate Army lacked food, proper hygiene, clothes, and more, all of which lead to the death of many soldiers. Improper funds also harmed the South during the Civil War. In response to the absence of money, the Confederate Army created paper currency to help the economy during the war but ended up only creating a large amount of inflation. After printing one billion dollars, the Confederacy suffered an inflation rate of over 9,000 percent (Boyer 435). Not only did the South lack basic supplies, they lacked funding leading them to be at a disadvantage to the North.

and in reality it was a demonstration of the failure to make a dependable political

The Sudanese war is often characterized as a fight between the central government expanding and dominating peoples of the periphery, raising allegations of marginalization. Kingdoms and great powers based along the Nile River have fought against the people of inland Sudan for centuries. Since at least the 17th century, central governments