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History of the world economy - Polyak GB

23.4. Civil war and its consequences

Causes of the Civil War

Despite rapid economic development in the first half of the XIX century. In the social and economic system of the United States, a number of contradictions deepened. These were problems of choosing the option of economic development of the newly developed areas. The persistence of slavery and forced labor in the conditions of capitalist evolution, the raw material orientation of exports and dependence on the importation of equipment from England exacerbated the problem of customs tariffs.

The positions of the northern and southern states on the system of economic development of the assimilated West were the opposite. The northern states defended the farmer's way, the southern states - plantation. The spread of farming in the new territories made it possible to satisfy a large number of settlers and increase the volume of marketable produce. Already in the 20's and 30's of the XIX century. Farms became the main producers of agricultural products in the country, which was especially important in the production of grain needed for the industrial North. In addition, intensive breeding of cattle of improved European breeds was developed in the western states. It was noted above that the lack of workers' hands stimulated the widespread use of machines. Farmers have become an influential force in the social and economic life of the United States. Due to historical and natural conditions, the provision of land for settlers was higher here than in Europe.

Planters of the South wanted to buy up lands in the West to expand their latifundia. The economy in the southern states, as noted, was conducted in a primitive and extensive way, which led to a rapid depletion of cultivated land. Therefore, the use of slave labor justified itself only with a systematic transition to new unexhausted lands. Thus, the interests of planters and farmers, formed from immigrants, were crossed here. In addition, the contradictions between the planters of the South and the industrialists of the North deepened, since the capitalist manufacturers were interested in developing the economy of the South as a raw material base of the textile industry, which provided the accumulation of capital for the construction of new enterprises. At the same time, for the successful development of industrial production in the North, the expansion of the domestic market-the labor market and the commodity market-was required. And this was impossible with the preservation of slavery. Therefore, historically, the inviolability of the slave system in the agrarian sector condemned the United States to the role of a raw material appendage of industrial England. Slavery became a brake on the country's economic development.

Thus, the central problem for the United States in the XIX century. Slavery remained. Forced labor undermined the foundations of agriculture, as it conditioned its technical stagnation and low productivity. And in order to eradicate the slave system, revolutionary measures were required, i.e. Violent, because by itself this system could not leave the historical arena.

Different positions were occupied by the northern and southern states and on trade policy issues. Since southerners exported cotton extensively abroad and imported the necessary industrial goods (primarily from England) on preferential terms, they upheld the principle of free trade. This was contrary to the interests of the industrial North, as it needed to protect its young industry with high import duties.

These contradictions resulted in the Civil War of 1861-1865. The ratio of material and human resources of the North and South was not in favor of the southern states.

The economic policy of the second bourgeois-democratic revolution

There was a smaller population (12.2 and 19.2 million respectively). The north had a stronger army, it had an overwhelming superiority in the metallurgical, arms and textile industries, in the density of railways, in the tonnage of the merchant fleet.

At the same time, most of the officers and generals were on the side of the Confederation (southern states), there were many weapons brought from military depots. The slave owners relied on the aid of Britain, France and Spain, since the disintegration of the United States into two states retained the role of the cotton supplier behind the South, which was beneficial to the British and French bourgeoisie.

Demonstrating at first hesitancy, the government of Abraham Lincoln under the pressure of the masses and by understanding the need to preserve a single state in 1862 began to move to revolutionary measures that went beyond the US Constitution.

The economic policy of the second bourgeois revolution included the introduction of new taxes on the rich, the law on the confiscation of the property of the rebels, the adoption of the law on homesteads (land allotments), the publication on September 22, 1862, of a proclamation on the abolition from January 1, 1863 of slavery without any ransom, Negroes in the army of the North.

The homestead law gave every citizen of the United States the right to purchase a land plot of 160 acres (65 hectares) in the West for a meager fee of $ 10. The conditions for obtaining land included the indispensable residence on this site and its processing; At the end of five years he became private property of the person who bought this plot, which could not be taken away even for debts. Such a democratic solution to the agrarian question attracted a large number of Americans to President Lincoln.

These measures in their socio-economic results are equivalent to the victory of the bourgeois-democratic revolution, so the Civil War entered the history of the United States as the second bourgeois-democratic revolution . And such major social gains, like the homestead act and the abolition of slavery in the United States, place Lincoln among the most prominent and progressive bourgeois-democratic figures of the nineteenth century.

Consequences of the Civil War

The consequence of the Civil War was the final victory in the country of the farming, American way of agricultural development. Its main characteristics are the revolutionary abolition of large landed property, mass sale of land by the state at a low price, the formation of farms. During the 1860-1880's. In the hands of farmers passed 65 million. Acres of free land. This became an incentive for the rapid development of agricultural production and the formation of a large solvent domestic market. The development of the agrarian sector in the countries of immigrant capitalism - Canada, Australia, New Zealand, will also go along this path.

The Civil War cleared the way for the rapid development of capitalism in the US in all spheres of the economy: industry, agriculture, trade. It has preserved the national unity of the country.

However, the victory was not complete. The latifundia was partially confiscated, with the majority of the slave owners remaining large estates. Negroes were freed from slavery without the provision of land, so they had to borrow from the former planters land for lease in small plots. Indians remained lawless, they continued to be pushed aside and exterminated.

In the post-war period, the economic development of the United States is on the rise. During the 1860-1870's. Coal mining increased five-fold, cast iron - three times, the length of railways - six times. And by 1870, the US in the development of industry came in second place in the world. Quantitative growth was accompanied by significant qualitative changes: the process of concentration of production intensively went on, the structure of industry changed, and new branches emerged. Giant enterprises were created. Their equipment corresponded to the latest achievements of science and technology. The most significant shifts occurred in engineering. There were new models of metal-cutting machines - revolver, milling. The US machine fleet has overtaken the European in quantity and quality. This determined the complete independence of American industry from England. The World Exhibition in Vienna in 1873 visually and clearly demonstrated the advantage of the United States.

One of the leading industries in the United States is oil production and oil refining based on deposits discovered in Pennsylvania and other states. The invention of the vulcanization method of rubber served as the impetus for the emergence and development of the rubber industry in the US. .

If in the 50 years of the XIX century. The US remained an agricultural country, then in 1880 industrial output at a cost 2.5 times higher than the cost of agricultural products.

Questions for repetition

1. Describe the features of the genesis of capitalism in North America.

2. Tell us about the reasons for the War of Independence.

3. What are the main features of the industrial revolution in the United States? Give a brief description of its stages and results. Recollect, what important inventions did this country give to the world?

4. Explain why the Civil War in the US is considered a bourgeois revolution? What consequences did it have for the social and economic development of the United States?

5. What were the main factors that determined the rapid economic development of the United States in the nineteenth century?