Reconstruction Economics

Remember the history types?

Cultural, social, political, military

Economic and Environmental

In 1865, the South was devastated

Had No Food

Had No Capital

Had no Banking System or Money

Had No Industry

Had No Railroads

7% of Southern Males-Killed or Wounded (North-3%)

4 Million Slaves Had Been Freed with No Support

Every white male between 15 and 50 was either killed or wounded.

The largest budget item in several Southern states in 1866 and 1867 was

artificial limbs.

Many wounds never healed.

Farm Production

YearNumber of Farms (in millions)

Bales of Cotton

Bushels of Corn

Bushels of Wheat

Price Index 1860=100

1860 2 3.8 839 173 100

1870 2.7 4.4 1,124 254 140

1880 4 6.6 1,706 502 100

1890 4.6 8.7 1,650 449 90

1900 5.7 10.1 2,662 599 90

Regional Differences in Urbanization Percent Living in Cities of 2,500 or more

  1860 1900

Northeast 36 66

Midwest 14 39

West 16 41

South 7 15

Regional Differences in Per Capita IncomePer Capita Income as a Percentage of U.S.

Income

  1860 1900

Northeast 139 137

Midwest 68 103

West n.a.

163(This figure reflects high incomes in mining)

South 72 51

Growth of Farm TenancyPercentage of Farms Operated by Tenants

  U.S. South Non-South

1880 26 36 19

1900 35 47 26

Bogart GA, 1882

Sharecropped Land, 1875

Industrialization in the North

Steel Production – 1875-1915

Billionaires - 1895

Industrialization Transforms Business

Cascade Effect of Inventions

Circa 1895, Georgia

The Bimetal Issue – or Free Silver

William Jennings Bryan Tom Watson

The Election of 1896 – Populist Candidates

Eroded Cotton Land

I see one third of the nation ill-housed, ill-clothed and ill-fed.

Franklin D Roosevelt, 1937

Circa 1922

The Story of the Longleaf Pine

Sharecropped Land, 1875

Naval Stores and Turpentine

Savannah Dock – 1893

Each barrel of distilled turpentine contains the lifetime supply of 33 virgin longleaf pine trees – net profit was about

32 cents per barrel.

From 1870 to 1930, nearly 130 Million acres of virgin longleaf forest were clearcut.

Less than a million acres remain today.

Longleaf forests are very difficult to regenerate and grow slowly. No one alive today will ever see a mature longleaf forest.

Longleaf forests shelter one of the most diverse biosystems on earth.

About 25% of the plants and animals on the endangered list are native to the longleaf forest.

Essential question for your students:

What is the worst environmental disaster in the nation’s history?

Cotton – The Sequel

Boll Weevil

Enterprise AL

Question:

What is the only nation in modern times that the United States has conquered but not rebuilt after the war?

Answer:

The American South