The North and The South After the American Civil War
History
After the Civil War industrialization changed the whole nation, but The North changed faster than the South. The thesis is that the North adopted a higher degree of industrialization more quickly than the South because there were cities with a large population and resources did not have to be transferred. Even if the North had lost the war (for example, because resources were blockaded by the South), the North still would have become industrialized.
Johnson (2003) explained how northern soldiers turned into workers in urban areas. According him to the law to have soldiers from the North was "an element in the raising of the Union army, the Enrollment Act may have indirectly promoted urbanization and industrialization by mobilizing a workforce of rural to-urban migrants." (Johnson, 2003, p. 99)
Even though South Carolina contained factories for making textiles and was becoming industrialized, the money to run the factories was invested from New England. So “the southern dependence on the northern industry for final processing of coarse goods, capital investments, and marketing outlets still made the southern textile industry part of New England's southern colonial empire." (Edwards, 2004).
The South as a whole relied too heavily on agriculture even though the old plantation system had broken down. While the North was experiencing different world cultures and becoming more cosmopolitan, due to industrialization, the South kept farming practices as the main source of income. Fewer Europeans immigrated to the South. Immigrants were drawn to urban manufacturing centers in the North. Manganiello (2012, p. 255) cited research that did not predict much change for the South even though the south was considered as the inheritor of ties with Europe because it was a “colonial outpost.” The author of the research the assumptions about the benefits of being a colonial outpost; instead concluding that the South would always be “bedeviled by race relations and that it could be nothing more than a poor land inhabited by poor people.” (Manganiello, 2012)
A. Economy
1. Changing jobs from farming to factories in the city
B. War production
1. Industrialization was increased making guns and equipment for the Civil War
C. The North blockaded the South
1. The South did not have access to natural resources, they depended on shipping natural resource to factories
II. Groups of society that were affected by the industrialization in the North
A. African-Americans - Former black slaves moving to the North were treated badly and ended up living in ghettos in the cities. The Northerners did not want to live with blacks in their neighborhoods but their labor was needed.
B. Immigrants moving to the U.S. from Europe mad a good labor force. They needed jobs and they did not have any education. So they looked for factory jobs, general construction jobs and building the railroad.
C. The Irish were treated badly due to racism. If the Irish demand better treatment or work conditions they were fired and Chinese were hired. The Chinese suffered from racism even more than the Irish or the African-Americans.
D. Women were needed in the workforce and worked mainly in the textile industry. Sewing at home changed to working in the textile factories.
E. Business needed labor so badly that even children were put to work. Factories were very dangerous and children were hurt badly or even killed. The bosses treated them badly.
III. The influences of industrialization on the average worker
A. Workers had money to spend now that the war was over they could go back to work
B. Families with children had no place for their children when parent were at work all day. Fathers had hard labor jobs and mothers worked in textile mills. So children were taken to work by their mothers who had no child care options. This was a dangerous option because factories were unsafe in general, especially for children.
C. People had to work with immigrants who had different cultures. Many people did not like this because immigrants were different. Even so families were learning about new cultures. The children played together and were more accepting of differences than their parents.
D. Workers had been craftsmen and had worked in shops they owned or in small businesses. Now they were working in big factories and had to travel to work; they left their homes for many hours a day. This changed the routine of families and separated them during long working hours.
E. Single women were needed to work in the textile factories too. So families who usually would have kept daughters at home until they married were now sending their daughters to work.
References
Edwards, P. C. (2004). Southern Industrialization and Northern Industrial Networks: The New South Textile Industry in Columbia and Lyman, South Carolina. South Carolina Historical Magazine, 105(4), 282+. Retrieved from http://www.questia.com
George, M. L. (2010). A Common Thread: Labor, Politics, and Capital Mobility in the Textile Industry. Historical Journal of Massachusetts, 38(2), 165+. Retrieved from http://www.questia.com
Johnson, R. L. (2003). Warriors into Workers: The Civil War and the Formation of Urban-Industrial Society in a Northern City. New York: Fordham University Press. Retrieved from http://www.questia.com
Manganiello, C. J. (2012). Hitching the New South to "White Coal": Water and Power, 1890-1933. The Journal of Southern History, 78(2), 255+. Retrieved from http://www.questia.com
