The Impact of the Civil War on the Economy of the USA

The aim of this study is to analyze the economy of the United States before, but mainly after the American Civil War. The first part of the thesis is aimed at the comparison of antebellum economies of Southern and Northern American States and the causes which led to the outbreak of the military conflict. The issues of slavery, different economic development or tense political situation are discussed. The second part deals with the economic impact of the Civil War and with the subsequent post-bellum economic development in the United States. On the basis of such evaluated data, the hypothesis, claiming that the Civil War represented the revolution in the development of the American economy, which we would not have experienced without the military conflict, is tested. I conclude that the war cannot be seen as a watershed in neither American economic development - nor in the North, where transformation into the industrial society had already begun before the war, or in the Southern states, where the emancipation of slaves caused diminution in agriculture productivity which contributed to the economic backwardness of the South.