This week's blog topic is the economic growth of two specific
territories of post-Civil War America from 1865 to 1900. For this blog, I
decided to compare the Southern agriculture economy to the Northern textile
economy. While the directions called for two datasets, I was able to find three
that would benefit my discussion. The three
datasets that I chose to validate my discussion are the U.S. Census of Manufactures, The National Bureau of Economic Research
(NBER), and the Historical Statistics of the United States, 1789 – 1945.
Information found in these databases is as follows:
1.
The U.S. Census of
Manufactures provides information about the analytic statistics for States and
counties which includes:
a. Principal
industry in each county with a number of establishments, capital invested, cost
of raw material, the number employed by sex, the annual cost of labor, and the annual
value of products;
b. Recapitulation
by counties;
c. Recapitulation
by industry.[1]
2.
The National Bureau of
Economic Research (NBER) is an organization that prides itself on evaluating economic
research to educate policymakers, business owners, and economic academics.[2]
3.
Historical Statistics of
the United States, 1789 – 1945.[3]
These datasets provide valuable information on the
economic situation in the United States during the post-Civil
War, also known as Reconstruction.
In the wake of the
Civil War, many things changed economically. For example, Southern workers' income
decreased after the war due in part to losing its main source of labor after
the Emancipation Proclamation. Prior to the war, Southern workers made more
than the Midwest workers by roughly ten percent. After the war, Southern
workers' pay dropped to seventy percent of that of Midwesterners. By 1900, Southerners'
pay increased and was now fifty percent lower than that of Midwesterners.
In the
early years after the Civil War, the South sought to rebuild after the
devastation that was left behind by the war. There were conflicts over how to
create a new South while upholding the rights of African Americans that the
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments enabled.
In an
effort to "help" African Americans, sharecropping was introduced in
the South. Initially seen as a positive, it was quickly recognized as a way to
keep African Americans from doing more than living hand to mouth. The newly
freed slaves were entitled to hand over much of their harvested crops to the
landowner as rent for their lands. The sharecroppers were, however, allowed to
sell their surplus crops for their personal benefit.
Regarding the
South's relationship with the North, they were also behind the North in
development. Part of the problem with the South's inability to rebuild and be
on par with the North was partly due to the fact that the North was
environmentally equipped to succeed in textiles. The South was never capable of
having factories like the North due to its lack of coal and other natural
resources the North had. The South was great at agriculture, but with the loss
of "free" labor after the war, the South was not able to keep up.
In the North,
industries expanded, and new ones emerged. The Second Industrial Revolution saw
an increase in steel manufacturing, electrical power harnessing, and petroleum refining.
In addition, the railroads expanded to remote parts of the country, which would
create a national market economy. The industrial growth in the North changed
the country.
With this change came
a new class of rich industrialists and, as a byproduct, the growth of an affluent
middle class. The "blue collar" class of workers is also created. Many
of these workers were immigrants from other countries or migrant workers
arriving in urban areas from the countryside.
Despite the upturn
in prosperity, many in America suffered. The new class of blue-collar workers was
not employed year-round. Many were employed only employed during certain times
of the year. No matter how long one was employed, their wages were low. This
led to the creation of labor unions that helped regulate worker opportunities.
While urban workers
were struggling, their contemporaries on farms also faced hard times. With the
rise in better technology, production increased, and increased competition
between farmers led to lagging food prices on cultivated goods. With increased
competition, many left the farm and moved to the city to gain employment in
factories. Despite the low wages paid to factory workers, it was seemingly better
than those on the farm.
Despite the harshness
of urban America, the industrialists ruled the American economy. Now legendary names
such as Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, and Carnegie carved America out of the raw
materials that had been part of the ecosystem but were untouched because they
had no means to harvest them. The Second Industrial Revolution enabled these
men and their families to drag America to the world's economic forefront. Long
before America was a leading military or political force, it was an economic
leader in the late nineteenth century. America's money spoke volumes before its
military might did. This strength would enable America to enter the twentieth century
and become an international player.
Reference
Davis, Lance E., Jonathan RT Hughes, and Stanley Reiter. "Aspects of quantitative research in economic history." The Journal of Economic History 20, no. 4 (1960): 539-547.
Popp, Andrew, and Susanna Fellman. "Writing business history: Creating narratives." Business History 59, no. 8 (2017): 1242-1260.
Woodward, C. Vann. Origins of the New South 1877-1913. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1951.
