The development of agriculture in the United States after the Civil War

April 1861 to April 1865, the war between the South and the North of the United States. Also known as the American Civil War. It was the bourgeoisie who led the war in the North. In the South, it was only the plantation slave owners who insisted on the war. Their purpose in waging the war was to expand slavery throughout the country, while the purpose of the Northern bourgeoisie was to defeat the South in order to restore national unity.

In the mid-19th century, the contradiction between the free labor system in the north and the slavery system in the south developed to an irreconcilable point. Southern slavery became the main obstacle to the social and economic development of the United States. The struggle between the North and the South began in the western lands. The most intense competition occurred. In the first half of the 19th century, during the westward expansion of the United States territory, new states were established in the west. But whenever a new state was formed, there was a struggle to allow or prohibit slavery in that state. The northern bourgeoisie and farmers advocated the prohibition of slavery in the new state and demanded that the new state be designated as a free state. The southern slave owners tried to expand slavery to the west and advocated establishing the new states as states that allowed slavery. The slave owners used their dominant position in the U.S. Congress and government to win consecutive victories and aroused the indignation of the majority of the people in the north. . The American Democratic Party was established in the north in 1854. In the same year, southern slave owners attempted to use force to expand slavery to Kansas, so an armed struggle broke out in Kansas between western farmers and immigrants from free states against southern slave owners. The struggle lasted until 1856, marking the beginning of the Civil War. In 1857, slave owners attempted to extend slavery to all of the United States. This led to John Brown's Rebellion.

The first stage: In 1860, Republican A. Lincoln was elected president, and the Democratic Party of the United States suffered a disastrous defeat. This became a signal for southern slave owners to secede from the Union and launch a rebellion. The southern slave state South Carolina first seceded from the Union, followed by Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. In February 1861, they announced the establishment of the "Southern Confederacy", under the leadership of J. Weiss as president. On April 12, 1861, rebel government forces began shelling the Union Fort Sumter in South Carolina, which was captured on the 14th. The Lincoln administration issued a crusade order on April 15, and the Civil War broke out. Soon, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas seceded from the Union to join the Confederacy.

At the beginning of the war, the strength of the North greatly exceeded that of the South. The North had a population of 22.34 million, while the South had only 9.1 million, of which more than 3.8 million were black slaves. The north has developed industry, an extensive railway network and abundant food, while the south has almost no industry and very few railways. However, the South has sufficient military preparations and has a relatively well-equipped and well-trained army. Moreover, on the eve of the Civil War, President J. Buchanan managed to send large amounts of weapons and money to the South. The purpose of the Lincoln government's war in the early days of the Civil War was to restore the unity of the North and the South. It was worried that touching the slavery system would push some border slave states to the side of the southern rebels, thereby losing the important strategic area of ??the border states. Because the northern government refused to announce the emancipation of slaves. Therefore, in the first phase of the Civil War, the North suffered successive military defeats. In the Battle of Manassas in July 1861 and the Peninsular Campaign in the summer of 1862, the Union army suffered heavy losses. Although the Northern Army achieved a series of brilliant results on the Western Front and captured several important strategic strongholds from the Southern Army, these results were offset by the disastrous defeat on the Eastern Front.

In the face of repeated military defeats in the North, Mao Zedong, radicals within the party and abolitionists in society proposed the idea of ??liberating slaves and arming blacks. Lincoln also recognized the need to free the slaves.

The second stage: On September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued the preparatory "Emancipation Proclamation". Declared: If the Southern rebels did not lay down their arms before January 1, 1863, slaves in the rebel states would be free from that date. After word reached the South, thousands of slaves fled north. The British working class also launched a movement to support the North, forcing the British government to abandon its original intervention plan.

The Lincoln government also implemented a series of revolutionary measures and policies: from 1862 to 1863, the policy of arming blacks was implemented. Therefore, tens of thousands of blacks signed up to join the Northern Army, mainly fugitive slaves from the South; the "Homestead Act" promulgated in May 1862 stipulated that all adults loyal to the Union, as long as they paid a registration fee of $10, could enter the West After receiving 64.74 hectares of land and cultivating the land for 5 years, you can become the owner of this land. The Lincoln administration severely suppressed counterrevolutionaries and purged southern agents from the army. In 1863, the conscription law was implemented to replace the recruitment system, thus strengthening the military strength of the north. At the same time, Lincoln adjusted the military leadership structure, implemented unified command, and appointed U.S. Grant, who had outstanding military talents, as commander-in-chief of the entire army.

In 1863, the North experienced a turn for the better militarily. The Battle of Gettysburg on July 1 of the same year saw the annihilation of 28,000 Confederate troops, becoming a turning point in the Civil War. The initiative on the battlefield passed to the Northern Army. In 1864, the Northern Supreme Commander adopted a new strategic approach: launching powerful offensives on both the east and west fronts at the same time. On the eastern front, the main goal is to consume the enemy's strength; on the western front, powerful forces are used to penetrate into the enemy's hinterland and cut off the connection between the northeast and southwest of the "Southern Alliance". In September 1864, the Northern Army under General W.T. Sherman captured Atlanta in one fell swoop. Two months later, they began the famous "March to the Sea." During the march, they completely destroyed various enemy military facilities and paralyzed the southern economy. . On the eastern front, General Grant led the Northern Army to drive the enemy troops near Richmond, the "capital" of the rebellion. In early 1865, slaves fled one after another, and the plantation economy was on the verge of collapse. The naval blockade implemented by the Northern Navy almost cut off the trade between the South and Europe. At the same time, opposition also emerged within the South, and many small farmers joined the federalists to engage in anti-war activities. Desertions from the South were increasing day by day. Food and daily necessities are scarce. On April 9, 1865, R.E. Lee's troops were trapped by the Northern Army and were forced to surrender to Grant. The American Civil War ends. America is reunited.

The significance of the civil war. During the civil war, both sides spent US$15 billion on war. The Union Army suffered 630,000 casualties and the Confederate Army suffered 480,000 casualties. The war demonstrated the power of modern industry. Both sides were equipped with a large number of new rifled weapons, which promoted the use and development of spread formations, field fortifications and infantry close operations. Railways and telegraphs played a major role, and for the first time in the history of warfare armored ships, mines, mines and submarines were used.

The victory of the North in the war established the dominance of the northern big bourgeoisie in the country. The Civil War eliminated slavery, thus clearing the way for the rapid development of capitalism in the United States. The implementation of the "Homestead Act" accelerated the development of the west and promoted the victory of the American path in the development of agricultural capitalism. Therefore, at the end of the 19th century, the United States suddenly became the most advanced industrial and agricultural capitalist country in the world. During the Reconstruction period after the Civil War, black people still suffered from many aspects of discrimination and exploitation by plantation owners, but they gained political citizenship and voting rights, and were liberated from the yoke of slavery. Therefore, the American Civil War was of epoch-making and progressive significance in the development of American history.