pre civil war essay 美國內戰(zhàn)小論文.docx

During the antebellum period, 1781 to 1860, the United States was influenced by the Industrial Revolution took place in Britain in 1700s, and the economy of the nation improved in a unimagined high speed, also evolved differently in different regions. In the North, advancing production method and tool and development in transport and communication were springing like mushrooms, bringing modernization; however, in the South, while the invention of Cotton Gin made production of cotton more profitable, the number of slave labor increased and led the economy to be more single. Closely tied to the states right issue, debates began and headed into Nullification Crisis. Gradually more conflicts gathered together, and the war began. In a word, largely influenced by the Industrial Revolution, the economy of the North developed diversely and modernly while the South maintained tradition, and then political conflicts occurred, of which the existence of slavery was the primary cause, foreshadowing the American Civil War. Significantly and rapidly, the Industrial Revolution developed manufacture and farming, which was known as the Market Revolution. In the northeast, industrialization increased rapidly. In 1789, a British inventor called Samuel Slater immigrated to America and reproduced British machinery while the British prohibited the machinery exports to guard their inventions. Soon, textile producers learnt his methods and reproduced many complex machines, so in 1793, the first successful water power textile mill was established. Until 1814, hundreds of textile mills arose mostly in Pennsylvania, New York, and New England, bringing enormous benefits-money, job opportunities. Also, in 1813, Francis Cabot Lowell built the first centralized textile mill in Waltham, Massachusetts. Lowell employed young, unmarried females instead of males, providing income of $3.25 for a 72 hour work week, place to live, as well as the opportunity to socialize with others. He led a group of businessmen in building the first truly centralized textile factory, where all the tasks involved in making a product were carried out. This is a great progress since it not only made a way to gain more profits but also gave women the equal rights to work in factories, while in many countries women were not allowed to work out of home. In the Northwest, farming became more profitable because the application of machinery let it require less labour but produce more. In 1800, a farmer could cut 0.5 acre of wheat a day with a hand sickle; 30 years later, he could cut 2 acres a day with the cradle; in 1840, Cyrus McCormick miraculously cut 5 to 6 acres a day with the machine he invented, and he moved westward to Chicago and set up a reaper factory; in 1860, a quarter of a million reapers had been sold. Plus, the fertile land in the northwest was good for growing corn, wheat, and other grains, which spoiled easily, so people made them into beer or whisky. Many specialized businesses like slaughter houses, distilleries, shipping companies, and banks arose to manage the processing, transport, and sale of products. With the increasing manufactories and farming, there were more demand of transport, and thus transport and communication improved. In 1811, the Cumberland Road, known as U.S. Route 40, connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a gate to the west, was built by the federal government although many roads were built or built by private companies. Opened in 1825, the Erie Canal, connected Albany, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, at Lake Erie, increased the settlement and development of the Great Lakes Region. More efficient than canals, the first American railroad, known as B&O line, was followed by thousands more miles of trail track. Meanwhile, the development of postal system played a crucial for it facilitated expansion into the west by creating an inexpensive, fast, convenient communication system, in which about 3/4 of all federal civilian employees worked. As the transport and communication were improving, a national network of products and information exchange helped tie together different parts of the nation, especially in the North. By the 1840s, the Norths economy became a booming mix of industry and agriculture, and cities and towns characterized the North, bringing the benefits. Hence under the Industrial Revolution, the ways Americans made, bought, and sold goods changed dramaticallythe Market Revolution.Remarkably, the growth of nationalism contributed to the national economy by protecting contracts, supporting the national bank and regulating commerce. Three important cases strengthened the governments role in national economy and the national economy itself. In Dartmouth College v. Woodward in 1819, the Marshall Court ruled that the states cannot interfere with private contract, which protected businesses from regulation, stabilizing the national economy by protecting contracts; the same year in McCulloch v. Maryland, Marshall ruled that congress had the right to charter the Bank of the United States, based his idea on the Elastic Clause in the constitution, also did his state that no state had power to tax it, which supported the national bank; in 1824, in Gibbons v. Ogden the Court claimed that states could not interfere with Congresss right to regulate business on interstate waterways, which increased steamboat competition, but helped open up the west for settlement. Therefore, the economy of the nation, again especially the North, improved greatly with the growing debates on policies that protects business and the growing nationalism.On the contrary, the South did not urbanize or modernize but kept their “tradition”. The reason was that the primary origin of money in the South was cotton instead of factories. After 1793 when Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, a machine that took the seeds apart from the cotton, the massive growth in the production of cotton in the America. It expand from 750000 bales in 1830 to 2.85 million bales in 1850. States in the Cotton Belt, a band starting from South Carolina to Texas, relied mostly on cotton for economies. Consequently, the South were more and more dependent on plantations and slavery. Whats more, the South had troubles developing new businesses because there was no significant capital investment. Things made by machinery were not necessarily demanded in the South than in the North, too. The other thing that it had problems with was transport and communication. Unlike the North, the South relied on the rivers near the plantations. So the economy of the south was more single and easy to collapse. Caused by economic differences, political and social struggles between the North and the South appeared. The main political arguments focused on the rights of the states. The North believed that the federal government had higher authority than states. But the Southern states were ruled by people that defended the rights of states, which meant people who believed the individual states should have higher authority in interpreting the constitution. The argument led to the Nullification Crisis of 1832-1833, which nearly triggered the Civil War. In fact, the debate in politics centered primarily on the westward expansion of slavery, which was important for the South to keep social and economic order since their economy depended on slave labour. Between1820 and 1860, more people from the North realized that slavery was unjust and against their republican value and the Constitution, and they opposed the existence and expansion of slavery. Under the Missouri Compromise devised by Henry Clay in 1820, slavery was regulated in the countrys western territories. But it involved the competition between the South and the North, the division of the country created by the compromise eventually led to destruction of the Union. So the Missouri Compromise helped postpone the Civil War, according to historians. Therefore, each successive debate on slavery and westward expansion drove the regions further apart, and the North and the South were culturally, socially, economically different, which led to war at last.Generally speaking, greatly influenced by the In