APUSH, Period: 2
Ms. Check
14 January 2013
Chapter 16: Conquering a Continent, 1861-1877:
* Essential Question: What factors helped advance the integration of the national economy after the Civil War?
Section 1: The Republican Vision: * Integrating the National Economy: * Reshaping the former Confederacy after the Civil War supplemented a Republican drive to strengthen the national economy to overcome limitations of market variations that took place under previous Democratic commands. * Failure to fund internal improvements left different regions of the country disconnected, producing the Civil War, Republicans argued. * During the Civil War and after, the Republican-dominated Congress made strong use of federal power, passing protective tariffs that gave U.S. manufacturers a competitive advantage against foreign firms. * Republican administrations would strengthen the economy through a massive public-private partnership that modern historians argue represents a turn away from a laissez-faire or “hands off” approach of previous administrations towards the economy. * Railroad developments in the United States began well before the Civil War but peaked after the Civil War. By 1900, virtually no corner of the country lacked rail service. * Railroads transformed American capitalism by adopting a legal form of organization, the corporation, enabling them to raise private capital in large amounts. * Along with the transformative power of railroads, Republicans’ protective tariffs also helped build thriving U.S. industries. A Civil War debt of $2.8 billion was erased during the 1880s by a $2.1-billion-dollar income from tariffs. * Fierce tariff debates marked American politics in the 1880s and 1890s. Democrats argued that the tariff had not slowed poverty in the United States. * Protective tariffs had also helped to foster the growth of trusts, giant corporations that dominated whole sectors of the economy