ECONOMIC EFFECTS
Kassidy, Kailey, Kelley, Mary Taylor, Rachel, Matthew
African Americans
- After the war was over, African Americans gained the freedom to own land.
- Not all blacks left their plantations though, the Freedman's Bureau established a system of wage labor that allowed blacks to break their contracts and move if they wished.
Native Americans
- Most Native Americans resided in the western part of the United States. Therefore, their territories as effected as much as the North and the South.
- However, some Native Americans got involved to help aid in the Confederate and Union armies.
- Most were used as slaveholders and found economic commonality with the Confederacy
Women and Children
- Women's jobs turned away from being strictly bound to household to being used as volunteer brigades and nurses.
- Women found themselves making a living by taking over the role for the men as farmers of the agriculture such as picking cotton, wheat, and tobacco.
- Women's occupations were mostly volunteer based.
- National relief societies such as the United States Sanitary Commission and the United States Christian Commission were upheld by women.
- Women sewed and filled baskets with food and books.
- They paid for these supplies by making homemade food and clothes and selling them at sanitary fairs.
- If children were not enlisted into the military, they were forced to take on the role of the male figure while he was away at war.
- They were used basically in the same ways that women were in regards to the household essentials.
People From The North
Boom in industry
Inflation due to paper money
Weapons manufacturing, leather goods, iron production and textiles were enhanced as the war was progressing
Congress created a National Bank to help manage the excessive amount of revenue that had been added due to the war and the increasing inflation occurring
Borrowed roughly $2.6 billion through the sale of government bonds, however, this was still not enough.
Taxes aroused
The war sped up the consolidation of the North's businesses in manufacturing due to premium placed on mass production.
The Republican party was most influential in stimulating the economic growth of the North.
People From The South
The South’s economy took a great hit from the Civil War
The South could no longer supply the North with cotton, which was its main cash crop
It became increasingly difficult to export goods due to the naval blockade imposed by the north
Very small amounts of hard currency only have what had been taken from the union treasuries
Huge amounts of inflation due to large amounts of worthless paper currency printed to finance the war
- Having so much of the war fought in the South hampered Confederate growth and development. Southern farmers (including cotton growers) were hampered in their ability to sell their goods overseas due to Union naval blockades. Union invasions into the South resulted in the capture of Southern transportation and manufacturing facilities.