By the eve of the Civil War, the American economy was still transitioning. In the 1800s, what was considered a purely agricultural economy was still in its initial stages, courtesy of the industrial revolution. With the industrial revolution, the United States quickly became one of the forces to be reckoned with in industrial power. However, there was significantly limited cohesion between the North and the Southern States at the start of the Industrial Revolution and in the years leading to the Civil War. The significant differences between the North and the South were highly associated with industrialization, the free states, and the economic situation.
As the end of the 1860s approached, the Southern states were still majorly agricultural. The South was highly dependent on the sales of staples in the international market, and cotton was a significant contributor to its revenue. It was the most valuable export product in the U.S. by 1815 (Fredette, 2020). By the end of 1840, cotton was worth more than all other major exported products combined. Inability to manufacture in the South meant despite more than two-thirds of the world’s cotton being produced there, it was only accessed by 13 and 29 percent of national banks and railroads, respectively (Phillips, 2016, p. 93). The South had experimented with manufacturing through slavery, and most of the states were satisfied with the agricultural economy in the region.
In contrast, the North relied almost entirely on the manufacturing and commercial economy. The reliance meant the region directly influenced its ability to make war. By 1860, Hess (2020) shows the northern states would manufacture almost 90 percent of the manufacturing outputs in the country. Compared to the South, Huebner (2017, p. 105) shows the North could produce more than 17 times the cotton, 20 times more pig iron, and 30 times more leather products. Further, the North could produce 32 times more firearms than those in the Southern region (Huebner, 2017, p. 106). During the same time, northern states’ industrialization highly influenced immigration and urbanization in the region.
More than 26 percent of the people in the region lived in urban areas, resulting in the remarkable growth of cities like Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Chicago (Hess, 2020, p.78). Compared to the Southern part, which had only one-tenth of its population living in urban areas, the Northern region’s urban population was highly involved in railroad equipment, food processing, and farm machinery factories (Hess, 2020, p.79). Further, Free states attracted many immigrants throughout the nineteenth century. Goldfield et al. show that the immigrants fully occupied seven-eighths of the Free states, which meant the number of people staying in the states also remained in the Union, 23 million people. The Southern states only had 9 million people living in the Free states and the Union (Phillips, 2016, p. 127). When the time came for the North and the South to contribute to the Civil War, the Northern Union contributed 3.5 million compared to 1 million men aged between 18 and 45 (Fredette, 2020, p. 66). The number difference in the contributions shows another significant difference between the North and the South.
The rate of industrial development in the South was slow, resulting in no inherent economic advantages. While there was great wealth in the South, it was associated with the slave economy. The leaders in the Confederate were confident the importance attributed to cotton’s value on the international market, specifically in France and England, could offer both military and diplomatic assistance essential for the victory. The Southern economy, however, remarkably declined in the following years as the war progressed. The North improved in the next years due to the manufacturing and commercial industry. Hess (2020) shows two significant disadvantages that challenged the development of the Southern region compared to the Northern counterpart. One, the industrial economy in the South was smaller, and two, the war was fought in the South, and this majorly hampered the South (Hess, 2020). When combined, these disadvantages made it impossible for the Southern states to sell their cotton in the international market because of the naval blockades by the Union.
The industrial revolution in the U.S. leading to the Civil War saw a significant difference between the North and the South. As explained, the inability of the Southern economy due to naval blockades rendered the South incapable of having the same ability to effectively take part in the Civil War. In contrast to the North, the reliance on cotton and slavery played a significant downfall in the South.
References
Fredette, A. D. (2020). Marriage on the border: Love, mutuality, and divorce in the Upper South during the Civil War. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky.
Goldfield, D. R., & Slap, A. L., Towers, F. (2016). Confederate Cities: The Urban South during the Civil War era. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Hess, E. J. (2020). Civil War supply and strategy: Feeding men and moving armies. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
Huebner, T. (2017). Liberty and union: The civil war era and American constitutionalism. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.
Phillips, C. (2016). The rivers ran backward: The Civil War and the remaking of the American middle border. England: Oxford University Press.