Impacts of the American Civil War in the North and South

Impacts of the American Civil War in the North and South

Introduction

American civil war impacted both North and South differently. The South had more positive impacts in terms of development and social change after the war as compared to the North. Although North’s war agenda carried the day, civil war shaped the current America today.

Facts about the Civil war

The American civil war began in 1861 and ended in the year 1865. The war was between the South and North parts of the continent, due to extreme differences on the view of slaves and how national government was planning to abolish slavery in all the US territories that had not become states. Although it lasted for only four years, its effects were numerous and some are felt up to date. The immediate negative effect was the largest number of casualties; there were more than 750,000 soldiers who died in the combat, the number surpassed documented military deaths in all American wars combined together. More than 130, 000 civilians died, of which about 80,000 were salves. The war affected the two regions politically, socially and economically differently. The war shaped the current America (Catton & Bruce et al, pg. 273)

Before the Civil war

The South was virtually different from the North. Starting from an environment to the ideologies. Environment dictated economic activities of the region. South has favourable climatic conditions for agricultural activities. Very fertile soil coupled with warm and wet climate made the Southerners to embrace farming. They also had large tracts of land where they practiced large-scale farming of cotton and tobacco as their economic activities. Whites were the majority although their population might be almost equalled by the blacks. The total population of white was almost 5.5 million whereas blacks were only 1.5 million less. Due to its agricultural activities, very small population lived in urban centres, only 10% while the majority, 90%, were rural dwellers. In terms of infrastructure, the South had less than 35% of train track (Catton & Bruce et al, pg. 273). Literacy level was low where agricultural and the military was only famous careers for the Southern children. Politically, they were Democrats. Northern states, on the other hand, was more industrial as compared to the South. Majority of the population lived in urban centres. There were less agricultural labourers, less than 40%. Many immigrants favoured settling in the North was more advanced in terms of financial systems, industrialization and the most of them were against the idea of slavery.

Beginning with the war

There were many casualties in both Northern and the Southern States. For example, more than 10% of males aged between 20-40 years old were killed during the war. Southern counterparts reported a bigger loss, more than 30% of white males of the same age group (Catton & Bruce et al, pg. 273)

Post-war

Economic Impacts

During the war, North blocked the supply of cotton from the South. Cotton was the major cash crop that south depended on economically. This grounded their economy. There was high inflation as a lot of worthless paper currencies were printed to support the war. Due to the abolition of slavery, the agrarian economy began to collapse. Free labour became a thing of the past. The Southern economy collapsed further when the great migration of the blacks to the North took place after Jim Crow Laws and post-war reconstruction programmes scared the blacks from the impending slavery. The Southern economy was also affected (Blackett, pg. 202).

The Northern economy was affected, but not as Southern. Due to its industrialization, and established financial systems, it remained largely stable.

Social Impacts

In the Southern part, slavery was abandoned after the war. Children began to attend schools and diversified their careers to include teachers and nurses, from the predominantly military career. There was women empowerment in the process where they started to control businesses and farms. Apart from former slaves’ migration, also the white and the brightest moved to the North. They feared the backlash of racial discrimination.  The Northern part African Americans, who were formerly slaves began to face the hostile environment, as some blamed them for the war. Slaves who had escaped from the South were only freed when joined the Army. The racial violence began to increase in the South, because of the past social injustices (Blackett, pg. 201).

Political Impacts

Because of the Lincoln stance of slavery, the South felt that if Lincoln won the election, they will secede owing to the effective abolition of slavery had on their economy. Confederate States of America (CSA) also known as south had their constitution similar to the United States of America but there was an element of making state more sovereign than confederacy. They felt betrayed by the North who wanted slavery to be abolished in all states. This is because North had their federal government having superior powers as compared to the South. This was displayed during the war where each state had their own army with their own commandant (Catton & Bruce et al, pg. 273). In this case, South felt that their economy will fail if they didn’t protect their own rights of having slaves on their farms. The North, on the other hand, had abolished slavery and was hiring labours in their farms that were not as large as for the South. This made the South incline to Democratic whereas the North who referred themselves as the conscience to incline to Republican parties (Blackett, pg. 201).

Conclusion

American civil war began mainly due to opposing views on the slavery. Deeper analysis shows that it was more than slavery, it was the issue of sovereignty. North was pro full sovereignty while South was for the idea that every state is sovereign over the confederacy. The war had negative impacts on both sides but it yielded more positives. Before the war, there was a wider gap between North and the South as far as culture, federalism, social and economy is concerned. After the war, abolition of slavery was the first effect. It unified Americans to be the way they are now. The spirit of federalism grew stronger. Less developed South gained economic momentum where agrarian agriculture was replaced with industrialization. The civil war closed the wider economic and social gap between South and North where today, there is no much difference between the two.

Works Cited

Blackett, R. J. M. “The Alabama, British Neutrality, and the American Civil War.” Civil War History 52.2 (2006): 201-202

Catton, Bruce et al. “British Official Reports.” Heart Beats: Everyday Life and the Memorized Poem 47 (2012): 273.