Civil War

America had been an agricultural society from the colonial days. Increasingly, industrialization in the North changed the focus in the Northern society. Northern states sought growth, change, the interchange of products, ideas, even peoples, all things abhorrent to the static, structured south. Indeed, in time, the South concluded that the national legislature merely reflected the moneyed interests of the North. Secession under these conditions seemed just.
The North, unlike the South had many advantages previous to the Civil War. The North had an expansive population, railroads, and a sense of the more modern world. On the other hand, the South had about one-third the North’s population and not even a quarter of the new industries and more modern way of living.
The years leading up to the Civil War were not easy, yet they were a time of growth for the United States. In 1800, only eight million people lived in America. By 1860, the population was almost 4 times the ...