The Pre-Civil War Era

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THE PRE-CIVIL WAR ERA

Lisa Navarro

Western Governors University

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The Pre-Civil War Era

It is a fact that over 600,000 people died as a result of a war that lasted over the course of just a few short years, four to be exact, defending the United States of America. What is perhaps more shocking, is the fact that the "people" being referenced to here are solely the collection of our own citizens, including our military forces, at the time. To put in simple laymen's terms: the war in reference here, was our very own nation's Civil War, whose rampant bloodshed lasted from 1861 to 1865. And, despite the facts that the North and the South were both agricultural, both sides profited from the production of cotton, both sides had factories, both sides paid taxes and both sides allowed the newly developed railroad onto their land, many people believe that the main causes of the Civil War were due to some very unique economic features which the Northern and Southern states possessed prior to the actual war.

The three unique economic features that the South possessed were, number one: they profited largely from their plantations of raw cotton, especially with the use of the Cotton Gin, invented by Eli Whitney. By 1810, this cotton seed removing device was responsible for increasing the production of cotton from an estimate of about 500,000 pounds in 1793, when the Cotton Gin was first introduced, to over 93 million pounds by

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1810 (Eli Whitney, 2011). Number two: the South relied heavily on trade, mainly imported goods from Europe, in which they sold for profit; and, number three: they maintained much of their interests in the Confederacy, who supported the preservation of Southern white's rights to own slaves.

The three unique economic features that the North possessed were, number one: they profited largely from their ability to produce finished goods for sale within the United States. For example, they purchased raw cotton from the South and manufactured items such as clothing, blankets, etc. in their own factories, made by their own people. Number two: they relied heavily on the taxation of trade. For instance, they paid a much smaller portion of taxes on the finished goods they sold within the U.S.A. compared to their Southern counterparts who paid higher taxes on the basis of foreign imports. Number three: they maintained much of their interests in the Union, especially for reasons such as the Union's ability