Most war literature focuses on battles, armies, navies, soldiers, sailors, ships, planes or ordinance. War History Network members know there is much more. “Ways and Means” documents the crucial role economics played in the Civil War, particularly for the Confederacy.
The strong economy on which the Union could draw is contrasted with the Confederacy’s, based on agriculture, and heavily invested in slaves. Though the Union’s tax revenues were a fraction of its monetary requirements, it did have sufficient credit to keep its forces supplied. The Confederacy’s states’ rights principles on which it was founded limited its ability to tax and forced it to rely, effectively, on confiscation keep its armies in the field.
For a more detailed view of the Confederate challenges, I recommend “Confederate Financing of the Civil War” by Henry M. Rivera in the The American Civil War section of War History Network:
Massive inflation plagued both sides. In the North, it took the form of a deep discount of greenbacks in relation to paper money, reaching the point at which $180 in greenbacks would be traded for only $100 in gold. Despite this, inflation did not compare unfavorably with that in later wars. In the South, drove currency into near worthlessness, with inflation reaching 9,000%, and traders into barter.
The leading figure in the story is Union Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase. A defeated contestant for the 1860 Republican nomination won by Lincoln and a continuing rival as 1864 approached, he was tasked with the challenge of keeping the U. S. Treasury afloat through a series of tax increases, public and private bonds and currency releases. The description of offerings generates admiration for their creativeness and ingenuity. Establishment of National Banks ,in addition to state chartered banks, broadened borrowing ability and resulted in increased concentration of banking power in the North East.
Author Roger Lowenstein has skillfully woven chronicles of battles, analysis of economic developments, foreign interest in the War, social developments and the implementation of traditional Whig policy long advanced by Lincoln and others. The interactions were multifaceted. Marketing of southern cotton was touched all players. Confederates withheld it in an attempt to draw European intervention to enable its export. While in storage, it provided basis for Confederate currency and bonds. As Union armies advanced, it generated a tempting opportunity for private and public profit at the cost of financing the Southern enemy. Sales of bonds in Europe created incentives for governments to ensure repayment while, even during layoffs by cotton starved industries, working classes opposed slavery. Citizens struggled to to earn a living and pay their bills amidst currency chaos. Pre-war Whigs, including Lincoln and Chase, had long been proponents of federal support of internal improvements. Withdrawal of southern congressmen enable the enactment of the platform of the by--then-defunct Whig party. The Morrell Act of 1862 contributed public lands in support of “Land Grant Colleges” from Cornell to Oregon State Universities that opened the doors of higher education to the non-affluent. The Homestead Act spurred development by offering land to prospective settlers. The Transcontinental Railroad and its spurs united the continent.
I evaluate a book by its impact on my views. Does it introduce new ideas? Does it broaden my understanding of its subject? Does it whet my appetite to learn more? “Ways and Means” succeeds on all tests. I now know much more about the role of economics in the Civil War and will be more attuned to its influence in other historic events. For so long, I have viewed the ebb and flow of battlelines as determining victory and defeat. I will now view it as just one factor in a complex contest. Henceforth, whenever I read tales of war, I will want “The Rest of the Story.:” A book that can achieve that is a great read.
Replies