Questions of the American Reconstruction Period (1864-1877), American history experts have discussed.

The American Civil War and Reconstruction

The impact of the war on the Northern eco

Questions of the American Reconstruction Period (1864-1877), American history experts have discussed.

The American Civil War and Reconstruction

The impact of the war on the Northern economy

In 1863, with the military and diplomatic victory, the Union ushered in an economic crisis At an all-time high, the North grew stronger, encouraged by the stimulation of munitions production and military victory. At the same time, the South was weakened by invasion and destruction. The New York Sun commented on the war that was about to end: At the beginning of the rebellion, the rebel leadership The most popular argument was that if the South ceased commerce with the North, the streets of New York would be overgrown with weeds [Note: This was indeed a Southern argument, and was reproduced in several Southern newspapers in June 1861 In an article in the Louisville Courier-Journal titled Weeds on Their Streets, some claimed to have actually seen weeds growing on bustling New York streets. Others described sleepy streets in New York where unoccupied hotels had attracted attention. The prosperity of the proud metropolis had disappeared, for southern trade could never be restored; New York was bound to decline] But in fact the surge in northern trade and the arms trade more than made up for the losses caused by the interruption of north-south trade. As far as New York was concerned, the recent The general prosperity in commerce within two or three years was unprecedented in history

Agriculture

Particularly impressive are the wartime records of northern agriculture from 1849-1859. In ten years, U.S. wheat production increased by 73%. Despite the impact of southern secession and unrest in the border states, U.S. wheat production in 1862 and 1863 exceeded the prewar national record of 1859. Corn production in the northern states also exceeded From 1860 to 1862, due to poor grain harvests in Western Europe, U.S. exports of wheat, corn, pork, and beef actually doubled during the war, and even the per capita consumption of food by the Union Army exceeded historical levels. consumption by any military force

Although approximately one-third of the U.S. regular agricultural labor force was drafted into the Army during the Civil War, the United States still made great achievements in increasing exports, and the North invested heavily in agricultural production. This achievement was made possible by the use of mechanical farming. The 1850s were a decade of rapid mechanization of farmland in the United States. The production of harvesters and lawnmowers tripled. Automatic rakes installed on many harvesters symbolized the labor-saving revolution. Further developed, the use of reapers, lawnmowers, and other agricultural implements allowed women and children to make up for the lack of manpower caused by men fighting on the front lines. In 1863, an Illinois priest wrote: Yesterday I saw a The resident's wife sat on the reaper, driving the draft animals, and her husband. Another witness in Vicksburg wrote:

The machinery is so perfect that it seems that there is little need for human power. Over the past few weeks, we have seen a sturdy woman whose son is in the military driving her animals to mow the grass. She leisurely sat on the mower, easily mowing seven acres a day. Marking a great revolution in the application of machines to production

Revolution is not quite appropriate to describe agricultural mechanization. Rather, the war accelerated the trend of modernization that emerged before the war in food production and processing. Similar changes occurred in the field of canned fruits, vegetables and condensed milk before the war, but the needs of the federal army played a decisive role in promoting these industries. In the 1860s, the output of canned fruits and vegetables increased from 5 million to It grew to 30 million cans. In 1859 Gail Borden built the first condensed milk factory. By the summer of 1862, a contract with the army allowed him to expand production to 17,000 quarts per month. One quarter of a gallon, approximately equal to 1.14 liters] A year later, the daily output of his factory reached this indicator

Transportation industry

The transportation sector of the economy developed almost as much as agriculture It went very smoothly. Although the Mississippi River was closed at the beginning of the war, the total volume of all transportation on the inland waterways increased. In order to support the Union Army's western battlefield, the river network upstream of Vicksburg carried a large amount of military supplies to the East and West Great Lakes. and waterway traffic continued to grow, especially the large shipments of grain shipped to armies in the Eastern Front and for export. During the war, the Erie Canal transported 54 percent more tons per year than in the 1850s, despite Confederate plundering merchant ships. The armed cutters drove most of the merchant fleet off the high seas, but the growth of inland water trade combined with the needs of the Union navy brought a boom in shipbuilding. The United States built a wartime tonnage of merchant ships in four years. Twice the total tonnage built during pre-peace times in 1864 to 1

It was not surpassed until 908.

Despite such great development, the development of railway transportation during the war exceeded that of water transportation. Railway construction developed rapidly in the 1850s, and transportation capacity was already excessive, especially in Aare. to the west of the Gurney River; but the needs of the war soon caused railway transportation to reach and exceed its carrying capacity. From 1860 to 1865, the transportation volume of several northern railways doubled, and their profits also doubled. Of most of the Northern railroad lines, only the Baltimore and Ohio line was vulnerable to enemy sabotage, but even then these two railroads reaped profits from increased traffic during the war

The massive wartime shipments of munitions required the double-tracking of busy railway lines and the construction of new railway bridges over several rivers; the standardization of track gauges or the addition of a third rail or the preparation of extra wheels so that goods could be transported without switching vehicles. Transport on lines of different gauges; build joint terminals to avoid delays caused by transferring goods or passengers from one line to another when transiting through one city. Most of these improvements came from government pressure in 1862 In January, Congress authorized the president to impose controls on any railroad when he deemed the safety of the public might require it. Although Lincoln rarely exercised this power, such authority would have allowed the railroads to cede priority to military transportation. The government's response to Washington The four different railroad lines between New York and New York made a lot of demands. Most of these railroad companies doubled the tracks and connected their tracks through Philadelphia in 1863. However, rail transportation from New York to Washington remained easy throughout the war. A choked pass, although several northern officials had talked about building a government-owned railroad there, this never materialized

However, in the captured south, the War Department was heavily involved Railroad construction, the United States Military Railroad (USMRR) was established in February 1862 to begin its work by laying several miles of line in northern Virginia. As Union troops advancing south extended their supply lines, the USMRR took over the conquest. Southern Railway and built new lines. By the end of the war, the U.S. Military Railroad Administration managed 2,105 miles of railroad lines and owned 419 locomotives and 6,330 railroad cars, making it the largest railroad department in the world at that time

< p>Industry

While the war boosted the transport sector of the economy, the impact on northern industry was also unusual. As the war caused cotton shortages, output of cotton textiles, the premier industry, fell by 74%; however, wool production fell by 74%. Losses in this area were partly offset by a doubling of textile production. Footwear, the second largest consumer goods industry, was hit hard by the loss of southern markets, although contracts for the army were largely filled quickly. In addition to this loss, the loss of the southern market in the first year or two of the war also hurt other industries; by 1863-1864, military production began to rise. Iron production fell by 14% in the first two years of the war, but By 1864, iron production in the federal states alone was 29% higher than the previous national record in 1856. Coal production fell in 1861, then rose to new heights in the following years; from 1861 to 1865, alone The coal output in the north was 21% higher than the total coal output in the north and south from 1856 to 1860. Other war-related industries: guns, gunpowder, leather (used for horse harness and mule gear), copper (used for rifle bullets, flash caps), and wagons Wait, these industries developed rapidly from the beginning of the war. By 1864, the production index of the federal states increased by 13% compared with the national production index in 1860.

The war also accelerated mechanization and factory production operations. The expansion of gun production during the war also allowed for rapid development despite the lack of skilled workers, for half a century earlier one of the first industries had adopted the principle of interchangeable parts of the mechanism as experienced by two other northern industries. It also illustrates how the war accelerated the trend toward mechanization. By the 1850s, the invention of the sewing machine had opened up the business of sewing ready-made garments. But the sudden need for military uniforms during the war became a catalyst for further mechanization and standardization of the clothing industry between 1860 and 1865. , the number of sewing machines doubled. The War Department provided clothing manufacturers with series of grade sizes for soldiers. This gave rise to the concept of standard clothing sizes, which became standard sizes for civilian clothing after the war. The war also accelerated the application of new technologies in manufacturing. Shoe Industry About 30 years ago, the shoemaking industry began to develop from small workshops to factory production in the 1850s.

In the 19th century, a sewing machine for sewing leather came into use, speeding up the process; in 1858, Lyman Black, a Massachusetts inventor, received a patent for an improved machine that could sew shoe uppers and Especially since many skilled shoemakers joined the army, the old handmade method was too slow to supply the army's orders, so the war created a market for Blake's invention. Massachusetts in 1862 State entrepreneur Gordon McKay purchased and improved Blake's patented products and began selling such machines to shoe manufacturers. By the end of 1863, these machines had sewn 2.5 million pairs of shoes

The Civil War and Economic Growth

According to these and other northern economic changes spurred by the war, historians of the previous generation credited the Civil War with launching the Industrial Revolution in the United States. Charles and Mary Beard called the Civil War the Second This is what the American Revolution refers to. However, in recent decades, economic historians have attacked this argument on two fronts. They argue that (1) from the 1820s to the 1850s, the basic changes that promoted economic modernization occurred. reforms, and the war may have accelerated some of these processes, but did not cause direct fundamental changes; (2) the decade of the 1860s proved that economic growth did slow down, so the war may have hindered rather than promoted Industrialization

The first argument is that the reform of transportation manufacturing industry, the mass production law of the United States, and the technological innovations of industrialization in the 19th century all occurred before the war. Therefore, it is clear that the Civil War did not create the American economy. Modernization war is the victory of modernization, not the cause of modernization

The second argument seems reasonable at first glance. According to a large number of statistics, the growth rate of the U.S. economy in the 1860s was higher than that in 1840 - It was lower than any decade between 1930 and 1930. In the 1840s, U.S. production of goods increased 51%, in the 1950s it increased 62%, in the 1970s it increased 62%, in the 1980s it increased 63%, and in the 1990s it increased 36%. But in the 1990s it increased 62%. The 1960s increased by only 22%. Output per worker actually decreased by 3% in the 1860s, compared with the other five decades, each of which increased by an average of 20%. Manufacturing output increased by 25% in the 1960s. , and after 1839, the remainder of the 19th century increased by an average of 94% per decade. Agricultural output increased by 15% in the 1960s, while in other decades it increased by an average of 35%. From 1850 to 1873, during the war, Only 1,000 miles of new railroads were built, while an average of 3,000 miles were laid annually during the rest of the period. These statistics, taken together, lead to the conclusion, according to one noted economic historian, that the Civil War retarded the growth of American industry

But the statistics in the previous paragraph include the South. Considering the huge damage the war caused to the South's resource production capacity and consumer purchasing power, it is not surprising that the 1860s were a period of low economic growth nationally. Decades: While federal states experienced rapid economic growth during the war, the Confederacy's economic dislocation caused more damage than its economy grew. The postwar acceleration reflected, in part, the reconstruction of the devastated Southern economy. , and showed the process of catching up after stagnation in the 1860s. Between 1840 and 1860, the per capita commodity output of the U.S. economy increased by an average of 1.45% per year. However, after a slight decline in the 1860s, the per capita growth rate between 1870 and 1880 The average annual rate was 2.6%; after 1880, the growth rate dropped to below 2%. Therefore, in 1880, the per capita output of the U.S. economy remained at the original level, just as the economic development rate continued to be stable from 1840 to 1860, and the Civil War seemed to have never happened.

Statistically speaking, however, the war neither accelerated nor hindered long-term growth, but it did fundamentally change the regional distribution of wealth and output. In 1860, southern whites had more wealth per capita than northern whites. 95% higher; by 1870, the North had 44% more wealth per capita than Southern whites. In 1860, North and South production of goods (including agriculture) per capita were roughly equal; by 1870, the North had 56% more wealth per capita than the South. In 1860, the South had The national wealth of the country was 30% of the country; by 1870 it accounted for only 12%

Wartime non-military legislation

The regional transfer of political power was very noticeable. The war not only liberated slaves, and also modernizing

The importance of this liberation of northern capitalism from southern ideological influence had become evident as early as 1862, with wartime fiscal legislation enacting a unified currency (greenback notes and national bank notes) and A national banking organization. Congress in 1862 was only possible in the absence of southern Democratic legislators. Three important bills were passed. These three bills reflected the Whig Party and the modernizing purpose of the party. These three bills were : Homestead Act Land Grant College Act and Pacific Railroad Act

The Homestead Act recognized that after five years of residence, immigrants could obtain title to 160 acres of public land upon request. 1860 *** and Party Platform The most important item in the plan was the liberation of the land. As an issue, this item had long been blocked by southerners in Congress and was vetoed by President Buchanan in 1860. After *** and the party got rid of the nightmare pressure from the south, in 1862 Passed on May 20, approximately 20,000 farmers held 3 million acres of land under this act before the war ended, and the act ultimately dealt with the ownership and ownership of more than 80 million acres of land

Land Grant College The Morrill Act laid the foundation for several famous universities (it was called the Morrill Act after the sponsor of the bill, Vermont Congressman Justin Morrill). The Morrill Act was based on the principle of proportional representation. , 30,000 acres of public land to be allocated to each state for each congressman and senator. The proceeds from the sale of these lands would be used to establish at least one college in each state to carry out education in agriculture and mechanical technology. Educational Reformers For nearly 30 years, we have urged the passage of such a bill to make higher education more relevant to the economic pursuits of most Americans. However, southerners and Democrats had previously blocked it. Buchanan vetoed the bill in 1859, and Lincoln in 1862. The Morrill Act was signed on July 2. The impact of this bill on higher education is the most important example of federal support for education in American history

The Pacific Railroad Act was bipartisan in the 1850s. support, but the bill was deadlocked due to a dispute over whether the railroad should be built along a northern or southern route. The issue was not resolved until after the South seceded from the Union. This bill was passed on July 1, 1862, providing for an eastern terminus. Omaha, the western terminus at San Francisco Bay. The act provided for a minimum of 6,400 acres of public land (later doubled) for each mile of railroad built (later doubled) and a federal loan of $16,000. This act established the Federal Pacific Railroad and The Central Pacific (later changed to the Southern Pacific) Railway Company. In 1869, the two railway companies connected their railways at Promontory, Utah. In 1864, Congress chartered the Northern Pacific Railway Company (Saint Paul to Seattle) and allocated more funds. Much land was successively allocated to other railroad companies, adding up to a total of 120 million acres

In fact, the three acts were sometimes contradictory. Interference came from state land grants, which they held as security for bank loans or sold to the highest bidder. But the Republicans who approved these bills intended them to be complementary measures to promote non-slavery. The cause of regional capitalist modernization: the Homestead Act provides farmers with capital in the form of land; the Morrill Act directs investment in human capital, helping farmers and skilled workers become richer and more productive; giving loans to railroads and allocating land are necessary Absorb a large amount of social indirect capital into economic construction

The Thirty-Seventh Congress (1861-1863) enacted a number of pieces of legislation that forever changed the face of society and the economy. Legal tender laws, national The Bank Act, the Homestead Act, the Morrill Act, the Pacific Railroad Act, the Internal Revenue Act, and the Confiscation Act, all symbolized the triumph of modern capitalism. Convinced of this victory, Northern success in the war produced widespread optimism. In 1865, Senator John Sherman wrote to his brother: The truth is, if the war ends with no loss to our resources, the claims of the leading capitalists will have a high and full opportunity of being carried out. , the extent is much greater than any undertaking our country has undertaken in the past. When they talk about millions of figures, their confidence is the same as when talking about thousands of figures.