Author Introduction

Transcript

Obviously the Civil War was a defining event in the development of American history. After the war, the three dominant regions of the country had very different dynamics affecting them. The north and northeast were very much embroiled in a profound urban industrial revolution. One of the most important effects of the Civil War was that, with the departure of the southern delegation from the United States Congress, the Republicans controlling that Congress during the Civil War were able to pass an array of new legislation that had long been thwarted by the southern delegation. With those southerners gone the Republicans were able to push through a significant amount of new legislation affecting national economic development. This included a new tariff, a new banking act, a new national currency, and the development of the first transcontinental railroad. It was called the Pacific Railway Act of 1862.

Those major pieces of legislation helped facilitate an ongoing transformation of the northeast and the Midwest by allowing for dramatic urban industrial growth. The fastest rate of economic growth in American history occurred after the Civil War.

In the west it was a very different situation. The construction of the first transcontinental railroad in the 1860’s enabled the west to be literally connected to the east coast for the first time. That greatly facilitated the continued economic development of the far west as a major region in the United States.

At the same time, in the south the former Confederate states were struggling to rebuild their economy, society, and political structure. That took time and the south continued to lag behind the north and Midwest in terms of its economic development during the late 19th century.

These developments – rapid urban industrial development, the settlement of the west, the displacement of the Indians, and the efforts of the south to rebuild its economy and society during the last half of the 19th century – all created tremendous tensions because change was so dramatic and rapid.

One of those tensions was a growing split between rural America and urban America. That split became symbolized in the dramatic election of 1896 when the two candidates, Republican William McKinley and Democrat William Jennings Bryan, squared off in perhaps the most dramatic election in American history. The election pitted these two symbolic candidates, one representing the urban industrial north and the other representing the agricultural Midwest and south, against one another. The fact that McKinley won also symbolized the fact that the urban industrial forces in American life were winning out over the agricultural traditions of American life.