Hello everyone,
Nice to meet you all, and looking forward to getting to know you over the course of this semester.
As one can well imagine, the civil war in the United States created a time of turmoil and unstable dynamics rivaling those that arose from the Revolutionary War. In many regards, the post-Civil War period was a time of more instability and uncertainty than the Revolutionary War.
To begin with, there was the staggering death count of roughly 620,000 soldiers (Burns).
In other words, a sizable portion of fit, able-bodied men (and a small number of women) had perished in the war, leaving hundreds of thousands of jobs and duties that previously were fulfilled by these individuals unmet.
Secondly, the United States was also faced with the problem of allowing states that had seceded to rejoin the Union.
Lastly, and possibly most importantly, the fate of millions of slaves needed to be determined.
From the government's view, there were several issues to deal with on this front.
To begin with, economies (primarily in the South) were driven by slavery. In the Confederacy, enslaved people almost rivaled free people in terms of numbers with 5.5 million free, and 3.5 million enslaved (U.S. National Park Service).
Suddenly, there was a population of suddenly free people who lacked almost any resources.
It's also important to note that the South was not wealthy compared to the North (US National Park Service). The confederacy had only $74,000,000 compared to the North's $234,000,000 (US National Park Service). Given how critical slavery was to their economy, and having less wealth to rest on, the South was in horrific shape after the war.
As a cost of the war, railroads had been destroyed, farms abandoned or destroyed, and major Southern cities had been burned or severely damaged (United States National Park Service).
This massively damaged infrastructure coupled with an uprooted economy placed the South in serious trouble as they scrambled to adjust their way of life to match new-found values and laws spreading throughout America as a result of the Civil War.
Works cited:
Burns, Ken. “The Civil War: Ambrose Burnside Biography.” The Civil War | Ken Burns | PBS, www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-civil-war/civil-war-facts.
“Burning of Chambersburg (U.S. National Park Service).” Www.nps.gov, www.nps.gov/articles/000/mccausland-chambersburg.htm.
“Facts - the Civil War (U.S. National Park Service).” Www.nps.gov, www.nps.gov/civilwar/facts.htm?ref=forwardky.com.
Nice to meet you all, and looking forward to getting to know you over the course of this semester.
As one can well imagine, the civil war in the United States created a time of turmoil and unstable dynamics rivaling those that arose from the Revolutionary War. In many regards, the post-Civil War period was a time of more instability and uncertainty than the Revolutionary War.
To begin with, there was the staggering death count of roughly 620,000 soldiers (Burns).
In other words, a sizable portion of fit, able-bodied men (and a small number of women) had perished in the war, leaving hundreds of thousands of jobs and duties that previously were fulfilled by these individuals unmet.
Secondly, the United States was also faced with the problem of allowing states that had seceded to rejoin the Union.
Lastly, and possibly most importantly, the fate of millions of slaves needed to be determined.
From the government's view, there were several issues to deal with on this front.
To begin with, economies (primarily in the South) were driven by slavery. In the Confederacy, enslaved people almost rivaled free people in terms of numbers with 5.5 million free, and 3.5 million enslaved (U.S. National Park Service).
Suddenly, there was a population of suddenly free people who lacked almost any resources.
It's also important to note that the South was not wealthy compared to the North (US National Park Service). The confederacy had only $74,000,000 compared to the North's $234,000,000 (US National Park Service). Given how critical slavery was to their economy, and having less wealth to rest on, the South was in horrific shape after the war.
As a cost of the war, railroads had been destroyed, farms abandoned or destroyed, and major Southern cities had been burned or severely damaged (United States National Park Service).
This massively damaged infrastructure coupled with an uprooted economy placed the South in serious trouble as they scrambled to adjust their way of life to match new-found values and laws spreading throughout America as a result of the Civil War.
Works cited:
Burns, Ken. “The Civil War: Ambrose Burnside Biography.” The Civil War | Ken Burns | PBS, www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-civil-war/civil-war-facts.
“Burning of Chambersburg (U.S. National Park Service).” Www.nps.gov, www.nps.gov/articles/000/mccausland-chambersburg.htm.
“Facts - the Civil War (U.S. National Park Service).” Www.nps.gov, www.nps.gov/civilwar/facts.htm?ref=forwardky.com.