Virginia, the most industrialized of the Southern states, had invested less than $20 million in manufacturing, and other Southern states had invested less than $5 million apiece in industry. By 1860 northeastern states such as Massachusetts and Pennsylvania had nearly $100 million each invested in manufacturing enterprises. The North had 90 percent of the nation's industrial capacity. During the war the Southerners had problems getting supplies where they were needed and failed to get needed food to the armies in the field. In the North, railroads connected the farming and manufacturing centers, but in the South railroads lacked direct connections between major cities. In 1859 the North had about 21,900 miles of railroads compared to the South's 6,600. The outcome of the Civil War was heavily influenced by the advantages the North gained from its industry. In 1860 the average slave owner had invested almost two-thirds of his wealth in the purchase of slaves. More precisely, they purchased slaves who provided the necessary labor for the cotton business. Southern capitalists (people who invest their money into businesses) invested much more money in cotton than in factories or even land. Not surprisingly, the Southern economy remained overwhelmingly agricultural. Attempts to diversify (give variety to) the Southern economy had nearly ceased in the decade before the war because cotton prices rose more than 50 percent, stimulating even more new cultivation. Southern plantations and farms supplied three-fourths of the world's cotton to textile manufacturers in both the United States and Great Britain. In the period before the American Civil War (1861–65 a war between the Union, who were opposed to slavery, and the Confederacy, who were in favor of slavery), the South had remained a largely rural society, reliant for the most part on one crop, cotton, which was by far the nation's largest export.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |