Why The North Won The Civil Wa
The American antebellum South, though steeped in pride and raised in
military tradition, was to be no match for the burgeoning superiority of
the rapidly developing North in the coming Civil War. The lack of
emphasis on manufacturing and commercial interest, stemming from the
Southern desire to preserve their traditional agrarian society,
surrendered to the North their ability to function independently, much
less to wage war. It was neither Northern troops nor generals that won
the Civil War, rather Northern guns and industry.
From the onset of war, the Union had obvious advantages. Quite simply,
the North had large amounts of just about everything that the South did
not, boasting ...
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had exclusively to its main cash crop: cotton
(Catton, The Coming Fury 38). Raw materials were almost entirely
concentrated in Northern mines and refining industries. Railroads and
telegraph lines, the veritable lifelines of any army, traced paths all
across the Northern countryside but left the South isolated, outdated,
and starving (See Appendices). The final death knell for a modern South
developed in the form of economic colonialism. The Confederates were
all too willing to sell what little raw materials they possessed to
Northern Industry for any profit they could get. Little did they know,
"King Cotton" could buy them time, but not the war. The South had
bartered something that perhaps it had not intended: its independence
(Catton, Reflections 143).
The North's ever-growing industry was an important supplement to its
economical dominance of the South. Between the years of 1840 and 1860,
American industry saw sharp and steady growth. In 1840 the total value
of ...
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and they were anxious to acquaint America with the
new machines (Furnas 303).
And acquaint the Americans they did: more specifically, New England
Americans. It was people like Samuel Slater who can be credited with
beginning the revolution of the textile industry in America. A skilled
mechanic in England, Slater spent long hours studying the schematics for
the spinning jenny until finally he no longer needed them. He emigrated
to Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and there, together with a Quaker merchant
by the name of Moses Brown, he built a spinning jenny from memory
(Furnas 303). This meager mill would later become known as the first
modern factory in America. It would also ...
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"Why The North Won The Civil Wa." Essayworld.com. August 9, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Why-The-North-Won-Civil-Wa/69348.
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