differences in agriculture Flashcards
(5 cards)
topic sentence
Some historians such as Robert Cook argue that the war had different impacts on Confederate women to Union women as they experienced different hardships
evidence 1 - southern women food shortages
For example, there was rampant inflation in the South which led to significant food shortages, indeed the most frequent complaints by Southern women were FOOD SHORTAGES. The Union blockade, a Union attempt to prevent the South from exporting cotton or accessing any support from foreign powers contributed to these hardships which meant that by the end of the war, many staples had permanently disappeared from the southern diet. The negative effect that this had on Southern women’s morale led to them taking lead roles in food riots, which occurred in cities such as Atlanta, Richmond, etc in 1862. This highlights how badly affected Southern women were by food shortages, as they had to resort to protesting to bring their issues to light.
evidence 2 - northern women
On the other hand, however, Northern women weren’t as badly impacted by food shortages as Northern inflation was much lower than that of the Confederacy’s, it was 80% by the end of the war compared to 9000% in the Confederacy. Therefore, instead of resorting to rioting due to food shortages, Northern women were able to focus their needs in sustaining the Unions agriculture industry. An increased use of farm machinery enabled women to fill much of the gap left by the enlistment of nearly a million Northern farmers and farm laborers in the army, and by the end of the war women managed to increased their proportion of the manufacturing labor force from a quarter to a third, This highlights the difference in impacts that the war had on Southern and Northern women as Northern women didn’t experience agriculture hardships like their Southern counterparts, meaning that their morale remained more constant throughout the war. They were able to contribute to the war effort, instead of fighting for survival.
counter analysis
However, Southern women kept Southern plantation going, which could suggest that the agriculture differences weren’t as significant because both Southern women were able to contribute to their war effort too, despite the food shortages.
evaluation
To evaluate, the Civil War impacted Northerners and Southerners in differing ways as Southerners experienced greater hardships e.g. agriculture hardships than that of their Northern counterparts. Indeed, Robert Cook argues that Southern women were impacted more by the war as, “southern white women of all social classes found their lives altered by the ensuing turmoil”, suggesting that Northern and Southern women had different experiences of the war.
