Evaluating the Adverse Economic Impacts of the Civil War (1865-1940)

This essay examines the adverse economic effects of the American Civil War on the United States between 1865 and 1940. It argues that the war significantly damaged the Southern economy, hindered its recovery, and exacerbated racial inequalities. The essay highlights key events such as the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the violence during the Reconstruction era, the rise of Jim Crow laws, and the onset of the Great Depression, all of which contributed to economic instability and hardship, particularly for African Americans. While the North experienced industrial growth, the South struggled with limited resources and discriminatory practices, leading to lasting economic disparities. The essay concludes that the Civil War, despite some benefits to the North, largely resulted in economic disadvantages for the South and perpetuated systemic inequalities.

Running Head : ANCIENT HISTORY
Ancient History
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

ANCIENT HISTORY
Introduction
The era of the civil war was the period that consisted of great economic, social and
political uphea in the history of the United States. The war destroyed the economic structure
of the south changing the whole of the land including the Tennessee, Georgia, Mississipi and
the south cerolina which got devastated resulting is furthermore damage in the agricultural
sector. Though the northern part of the land witnessed rapid rate of industrialization, the
southern parts found it hard to mobilize their range of resources where the slavery was an
outlawed option (Mussagy and BigramoAllaro 2016). The thesis statement of the essay
argues with the fact that the effects of the civil war had an adverse effect on the economical
condition of the United States. This essay will thus illustrate the cons of the impacts of the
civil war on the dramatic economic changes that spread rapidly and altered the society.
The progressive era of the late 1800 wittnessed the increased rate of the intervention
by the government that both helped the overall economy challenging the position of the
common workers. Some of the notable incidents within the decade that can be highlighted to
support the adverse effects or the cons of the civil war in the United States among the year
1865 and 1940 are as follows.
One of the first example is the assaination of Abrahim Lincoln after the scenario of
the surrender of Robert E Lee towards Ulysses Grant in the court on the date 9th April, 1865.
The president was assassined in a plan where John Wilkes Booth being the native of
Maryland remained in the northern part during the time of the civil war. Being one of the
prominent stage actors and sympathizer, he viewed the president to be a tyrant (Peterson del
Mar 1998). After the fail pf several plan sof abduction and killing of Union leaders, the
desperate leader was unwilling for surrender and was shot to death on April 26 together with
the execution of his fellow conspirators who were convicted.

ANCIENT HISTORY
Next example, is the violence and the politics of the reconsruction era. Ranging of the
period mostly from 1865 to 1877, the reconstruction era generally referred to the period that
follows the American Civil War. There were many bills and laws that were passed during the
era of the reconstruction in the target of reintegration of the south in the federal structures.
There was a rampant rise of riots and violence against the black communities together with
the development of the many of the racist groups who propgated more violence among the
common people. These included Red Shirts in Mississipi and the White League in Lousiana
(Jacoby 1983). The effect of the civil war fueled up the system of racism that disenfranchise
the black voters making them to remain tied to employment including lower rate of wages in
he domain of hoseholds and agriculture.
Next is the example of cruelty and the practsie of the racism that flourished after the
period of reconstruction in 1877. The whites of the society tarted to gai morepower and
developed certain methods to bypass and subjugate the black people and the laws related to
their laws (Chen, Loayza and Reynal-Querol 2008). The Jim Crow Laws of 1877 which
continued till 1965 aimed to take away the civil rights f the black people of the community by
strategically twisting the existing. Termed as Redeemers, the law was developed after the
strip of racist cartoon regarding a poor and illeterate black man Inhu,am practices like forcing
the black community people to sit in the back of public transport, to force the black people to
pay poll taxes forqualifying to vote and more (Rauchway 2008). These practices were
prevelant among the americans after the civilwar adevesrely affecting the economy and the
people of the community.
Finally the example regarding the era of 1930 which witnessed some of the dramatic
changes in the economies of the United States including the great depression which too a toll
of the employment sector of the United States (Goldin and Lewis 1975). The year witnessed
the unemployment status of more than 15 million americans party due to the result of the

ANCIENT HISTORY
crash of the stock market in the year 1929 of October 29 that fueled the dramatic disaster of
the economy targeting the crisis of the increased uneven distribution of the wealth.
Conclusion
Thus it can be concluded that though the civil war benifited the noth’s economy to
ssome extent, the southern part got destroyed and caused various economic disavatages for
the community pele and the black americans after the industrialization.

ANCIENT HISTORY
References
Chen, S., Loayza, N.V. and Reynal-Querol, M., 2008. The aftermath of civil war. The World
Bank Economic Review, 22(1), pp.63-85.
Goldin, C.D. and Lewis, F.D., 1975. The economic cost of the American Civil War:
Estimates and implications. The Journal of Economic History, 35(2), pp.299-326.
Jacoby, S.M., 1983. Union-management cooperation in the United States: Lessons from the
1920s. ILR Review, 37(1), pp.18-33.
Mussagy, I.H. and BigramoAllaro, H., 2016. Structural Change in Mozambique: Economic
Performance Before and After the Civil War. Journal of Economics and Sustainable
Development, 7(11), pp.119-125.
Peterson del Mar, D., 1998. Region and Nation: New Studies in Western US
History. Canadian Review of American Studies, 28(1), pp.121-128.
Rauchway, E., 2008. The Great Depression and the New Deal: A Very Short Introduction.
Oxford University Press.