South faced problems from the outset Flashcards
Topic sentence
Some historians such as Donald, Halt and Baker argue that Southern economy faced problems from the outset.
Evidence 1 - South being less industrial
Presidentially, the South had always been significantly less industrial than the Norths, as they heavily replied on slave labour to run their economy. For example by 1860, the South despite having 35% of the US population produced only 10% of the country’s manufactured goods, meaning that they had far less money to fund the need for weapons, armies etc. This not only emphasised how the South was much less industrial than the North, it also suggests that their economy was not equipped to come into conflict with a nation with a significantly more stable economy than them (the North).
Evidence 2 - few gold reserves
Additionally, the Confederacy only had few gold reserves and most of its wealth was in land and enslaved people. Only 12% of their national wealth was in the form of circulating currency, which proved a problem to the Confederacy as without large amounts of money circulating, modern economy’s can’t run. This meant that it was more difficult for them to access money to fund the armies, making of weapons and essentially the Southern wartime economy as a whole, which evidently resulted in several Union victory’s in battles such as the Seven Day Battle, June 25th – July 1st 1862.
Counter analysis
However, it can be argued that the production of cotton did highly benefit Southern economy before the war as cotton sales made up 50% of the USA’s total exports, meaning that the South were accessing large volumes of money from these exports which would put them in a good starting place for the beginning of the Civil War. Indeed, Alan Farmer argues, “Cotton ensured that white Southern society was fluid, mobile and enterprising.”
Evidence 3 - Memminger
As well as the Confederacy not having an established, strong economy before the beginning of the war, the designation on Christofer Memminger as Treasury in 1861 caused Southern economy to face problems as Memminger had no understanding of economic theory’s or practices. Donald, Holt and Baker argue “Even granted the difficulty of financing the war in a society hostile to taxes, still Memminger mismanaged the Treasury Department”.This meant that throughout the war, the Confederacy were unable to make vital decisions hat would benefit Southern economy and help them grasp the victory.
Evaluation
To evaluate, the South were not in a strong economic position at the beginning of the war, as they had no established financial system to help them fund the maintenance of wartime necessities. However, if the Confederacy had made the correct decisions and managed their economy better, their economy would not have collapsed in the way it did. Indeed, the reason why Confederate wartime economy faced such significant challenges was because of Confederate mismanagement. Robert Cook argues, “the abject failure of Confederate monetary policy – by no means entirely the fault of the finance minister, Christopher Memminger – contributed significantly to the deterioration of morale on the home front and in the army.”
