How Did The Civil War Affect The Economy

The War Between the States was one of America’s greatest wars—it was the fight for freedom, but it also impacted the economy. Because of this, America’s labor and transportation systems both took a significant turn during the Civil War, impacting America’s economy forever. In the end, the American Civil War greatly benefitted our transportation system, but devastated the South’s labor force.

For a war to be fought strategically well, there first must be a form of simple, yet speedy, transportation. That is where the transcontinental railroad came in. Because of the rapid settlement of the western land in the 1850s, Congress wanted to enforce a transcontinental railroad to replace America’s current weak transportation system—horse-drawn carriages were still used and soldiers often had to walk. But due to the constant competition between the Northern members and the Southern

After the attack at Pearl Harbor, the United States was pulled into the Second World War. Similar to the Civil War, men enlisted to fight and left their homes to their wives to run. As in the Civil War, jobs men usually performed were taken over by women. Also, America’s manufacturers in World War II were engaged in a great industrial effort, producing more machines, supplies, and airplanes than ever seen before in United States history. Because of this, the American Civil War and the Second World War are very similar in the economic consequences that came about with the war.

With the Civil war came many changes to America’s economy, specifically to her transportation and labor systems. While the United States’ transportation sector changed positively, the labor system did not, since the loss of slaves took its toll on the South’s economy. Overall, America’s economy changed so much from 1865 to 1880 that the effects can still be seen