How Did The Civil War Affect The Economy

In the years leading up to the Civil War, the United States began to undergo significant changes, changes that would eventually lead to the secession of southern states, creation of the confederacy and the beginning of the Civil War. During these years, the nation was in the midst of a transformation from an underdeveloped nation of farmers and frontiersmen into an urbanized economic powerhouse. As the industrialized North and the agricultural South grew apart, acute differences in political, economic and social views proved to further divide an already divided nation. Though both political and social views had significant roles in bringing about of the Civil War, I believe that economic issues proved to be the major factor in the foundation
Although the Civil War itself was caused by a number of different factors, the divergent paths taken in the economic development of the North and the South contributed to the animosity between the regions, the development of the Confederacy and, ultimately, the victory of the Union. As a nation, the United States was primarily agricultural in the years before, during and immediately after the Civil War. About three-quarters of the population lived in rural areas, including farms and small towns. Nevertheless, the Industrial Revolution that had hit England decades before gradually established itself in northern states. While factories were built all over the North and South, the vast majority of industrial manufacturing was taking place in the North. The South had almost 25 percent of the country's free population, but only 10 percent of the country's capital in 1860. The North had five times the number of factories as the South, over ten times the number of factory workers, the North also accounted for 90 percent of the nation's skilled workers. Tariffs created to protect northern industries began to take effect, causing southern product taxes to rise; this caused deep animosity between