Southern economy faced problems from the outset Flashcards
(5 cards)
topic sentence
Some historians such as James McPherson argue that the Southern economy faced problems from the outset.
evidence 1 - less industrial
Presidentially, the South had always been significantly less industrial than the Norths, as they heavily relied on slave labour to run their economy. For example, by 1860, the South, despite having 35% of the US population produced only 10% of the country’s manufactured goods, meaning that they had far less money to fund the need for weapons, armies etc. This not only emphasises how the South was much less industrial than the North, but it also suggests that their economy was not equipped to come into conflict with a nation with a significantly more stable economy than them (the North)
evidence 2 - few gold reserves
Additionally, the Confederacy only had few gold reserves and most of its wealth was in land and enslaved people. Only 12% of their national wealth was in the form of circulating currency, which proved a problem to the Confederacy as without large amounts of money circulating, modern economies can’t run. This meant that it was more difficult for them to access money to fund the armies, making of weapons and essentially the Southern wartime economy, which evidently resulted in several Union victories in battles such as the Seven Day Battle, June 25th – July 1st, 1862.
counter analysis
However, it can be argued that the production of cotton did highly benefit Southern economy before the war as cotton sales made up 50% of the USA’s total exports, meaning that the South were accessing large volumes of money from these exports which would put them in a good starting place for the beginning of the Civil War. Indeed, Alan Farmer argues, “Cotton ensured that white Southern society was fluid, mobile and enterprising.”
evaluation
To evaluate, the South were not in a strong economic position at the beginning of the war, as they had no established financial system to help them fund the maintenance of wartime necessities. James McPherson argues, “the Souths unbalanced agrarian economy simply couldn’t produce both guns and butter”.
