Economic and Social Foundations of the American Civil War of Independence and Civil War
Westward Expansion and Political Development
While Europe experienced repeated attempts at revolution and repression, the United States continued a process of steady westward expansion.
This expansion involved the formation of new states and their subsequent addition to the union.
Approximately one century following the War of Independence, the nation underwent a bitter civil war between the Northern and Southern states.
Divergent Regional Economies
Two distinct economic systems emerged in North and South America following the American War of Independence.
The Northern Economy:
Characterized by being industrially well-developed.
Supported the implementation of high tariffs to provide protection for their new and growing industries.
The Southern Economy:
Characterized by a plantation-based system.
Relied on the hard labor of slaves transported from Africa.
Opposed new tariffs because such measures increased the cost of goods and made things costlier.
Plantation Agriculture and Slave Labor
Southern plantations were dedicated to the cultivation of specific cash crops, including:
Sugar
Cotton
Tobacco
The institution of slavery in the United States has its origins in Virginia, beginning in the year .
Southern states were extremely reluctant to abandon the economy of slave labor because they felt threatened by any change to the status quo.
Slave labor was a foundational component of Southern life, as households and farms were entirely dependent on it.
Social and Political Conflicts
Over time, a movement grew in the North where people protested against the practice of slavery in the Southern states.
There was a significant disagreement regarding the nature of the United States as a collective entity:
Northern states were in favour of the Union.
Southern states were reluctant to join or remain part of the Union.
Slavery in America, the cotton industry was 1 of the biggest industries of the independent USA. However, while the northern states developed as manufacturing and shipping centers, the southern states grew sugar and cotton on large plantations. As the demand for cotton increased, the southern states began to rely on the slaves they brought from Africa to work in the plantations. These slaves were captured or brought in from Africa on the largest slave labor ships. Many of the slaves on these ships were kept in tight and crowded pens, like captive animals. When they reached America, the Africans would be bought by plantation owners and forced to work on the large cotton plantations. They had no rights, and the American plantation owners did not consider the Africans as humans. They were made to work hard every day and barely received any money. They were forced to live in crowded, poorly ventilated houses on the plantations, with their food and movement restricted. They were also subjected to torture and punishment for not meeting the master's demands. By the mid-19th century, slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire, and the perception of slavery changed in other countries to where it was seen as an evil. The industrialized northern states did not need slave labor and, consequently, disapproved of slavery in America. However, the Southern States, which predominantly focused on cotton and sugar plantations, persisted in seeing slaves as necessary for cheap labor. By 1804, the northern states had abolished slavery, which soon led to slaves escaping to the northern states, especially from border states, to live as freed men.