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The different economies that started the civil war
Railroads in the late 1800s
American industrialization and the expansion of railroads
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Recommended: The different economies that started the civil war
The Appalachian South was used for its resources. Very few people lived there, therefore it was difficult to maintain, or as the book states, “...little to reinvest in its physical or human resources.” Also the textbook mentioned the working conditions. For example: employees viewed as cheap labor, requirements to buy from company stores, and low life expectancy rates.
I find it very interesting that the southern colonies distinguished themselves from the New England colonies so early on. I never realized that the slave trade and the plantation class developed so early in American history and it’s fascinating that these differences eventually became large factors in the outbreak of the Civil War. The South’s cash crops required vast amounts of human labor and slavery was essential for the economic health of the southern colonies. Furthermore, this gives insight to the reason pre-Civil War era southern elites were so adamant that the South remain a slave society.
The US went through revolutionary advancements in transportation from 1800 to 1840. The transportation improvements had substantial effects on the economy and also individual development. People could now buy goods that were made in places faraway because access was easier to towns and cities and people’s experiences grew as they were able to be more mobile (309). The roads were inadequate in 1800, so the federal government funded the National Road in 1808 to establish its dedication to improve the roads in the nation and so then by 1839 the East and West would be tied together (309). Commerce was still inadequate even with the National Road funded which improved transportation.
Following the great explorative successes, some Americans would soon venture westwards which was largely supported by rhetoric, law and the vision of the founding fathers to have a far-reaching territory. As the manufacturing industry rose in New England, the westward expansion was both timely and economically viable. The American settlers were moving rapidly to what is referred to as the Midwest today and this necessitated the development of infrastructure through the development of canals, roads, and railroads. The rapid expansion of infrastructure, more specifically the railroads, would then purge the country into a new era of medicine, manufacture, and agricultural inventions (Neil, 1964). The Midwest became an inspiration that saw the symbolic development of the American identity in the 19th century with development of acting, painting, and writing.
As the antebellum Americans made several advancements in technological innovations, this helped the North overcome the South agriculturally. With the new inventions such as the cotton gin, the reaper, the steel tipped plow, and new ways to revive unfertile soil, the North had many advantages to aid them while they were gone to war. As these new inventions were created each had an impact on how and why the differences between the North and South came to be. Although the creation of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney improved the South’s economy it also made the South more dependent on slaves.
However, during this time, sectional differences, such as slavery, population, and transportation infrastructure, divided the country, shaping its regions to be quite different from each other. Industry in America initially could not support
Railroads carried new and expensive machinery from factories in the East and Midwest to Oregon farmers who in turn became more specialized and profit oriented.” Railroads boosted trade and production by massive numbers. Without railroads, trade would not have been as advanced and farmers would have no way to deliver crops in a quick manner that would provide fresh produce to consumers. One major railroad that is talked about today is the Richmond and Alleghany Railroad. During the building of this railroad, many complications occurred, but no matter the dilemma, they always approached and attempted to fix it, as said in Richmond
The Transcontinental Railroad played a significant role in the settlement of the American West. As of May 10th, 1869, this railroad became the area’s newest and fastest mode of transportation. Its first obligation was to bring settlers in at very low cost, and, sometimes, even free of charge. The types of people that began to migrate West were those who were searching for a better life. One which contains less poverty and more opportunities.
Because of the rapid settlement of the western land in the 1850s, Congress wanted to enforce a transcontinental railroad to replace America’s current weak transportation system—horse-drawn carriages were still used and soldiers often had to walk. But due to the constant competition between the Northern members and the Southern
The greatest cultural conflict between the years 1865 and 1898 was the Transcontinental Railroad. The Transcontinental Railroad was a railway stretching from “sea to shining sea”. It was built by two teams of workers, the Central Pacific Railroad Company starting in Sacramento and the Union Pacific Railroad building west from the Missouri River. The teams worked day and night to connect the two ends in Promontory Summit, Utah. The Transcontinental Railroad was a major breakthrough in the connection of markets and the transportation of goods and people from coast to coast.
The innovation of railroads, in particular, “helped to create new economic methods and institutions that were essential in guiding and shaping the American drive to industrialism” (Chandler 1965, 5). Chandler describes the railroads’ important impact on the “the expansion of wheat and cattle production, the coming of new commercial routes, and the adoption of mass-production methods in the manufacture of iron and consumer durables” (Chandler 1965, 23). These impacts all aided in the Westward movement. As Chandler recounts, “The railroad brought as significant changes to America’s industries as it did to its agriculture and commerce” (Chandler 1965, 22). The railroad revolutionized the transport of supplies that were necessary to industrial growth.
The Gilded Age was an age that was directly dependent on the end of the Civil War. Jazz was a major parts of what the 1920s and it helped African Americans realize the where they are at that moment was not what they had to stay at. The end of the Civil War made most of the American populace believe that the lives of slaves would change drastically. American slaves were granted freedom by order of the President and the Congress.
Before the 1800s, there were two early roads, Forbes and Wilderness Road. In 1811, the National Road known as Cumberland Road was built to reach Western settlements, because they needed a road to ship farm products that connect East and West. The National Road passed thousand of wagons and coaches. John F. Stover states in American Railroads, “The rich agricultural production of the country, the small but expanding factories of eastern cities, and the largely untapped natural resources of the nation-all of these called for improvements in transport. ”(Stover1)
“The South grew, but it did not develop,” is the way one historian described the South during the beginning of the nineteenth century because it failed to move from an agrarian to an industrial economy. This was primarily due to the fact that the South’s agricultural economy was skyrocketing, which caused little incentive for ambitious capitalists to look elsewhere for profit. Slavery played a major role in the prosperity of the South’s economy, as well as impacting it politically and socially. However, despite the common assumption that the majority of whites in the South were slave owners, in actuality only a small minority of southern whites did in fact own slaves. With a population of just above 8 million, the number of slaveholders was only 383,637.
The North and South emerged as two differences because they had various differences. These differences included the geography,the economy,societal,and differences in the transportation systems. One of the most strong differences between the North and the South was the Climate and geography. In the North The climate is very different from the south. North has warm summers and snowy, cold winters like wise the south has warm,sunny,hot,humid summers ;and mild winters ,and heavy rainfall.
