The Civil War was a significant American historical event. In the North, social conflict arose between the rich and the poor. In the South, slavery was abolished after Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves were to be free. The war shattered the bonds that society held together between the different classes of the whites. The Civil War was considered a Rich mans war and a poor mans fight. This idea was the result of the rich men supporting and directly benefiting the war but not fighting in it, while the poor man was enlisted in the armies to fight the war, growing a large resentment for both the war and the upper class.The Civil War destroyed the cotton industry. The North blockaded theSouthern coasts, preventing the South from finding a market for its cotton. The demands of war also require slaves to support troops, to feed the soldiers and carry supplies to them, also helping the cotton production to decline.A few ironies were brought about from the Civil War. The Confederate government granted slaves their freedom in return for fighting in the war. The irony was that a war fought to preserve slavery was to be won by abolishing slavery. Another irony was that the Confederate states were forced to create a more powerful government than the one they had rebelled against. The Civil War transformed American society in many ways. The most important was the abolition of slavery. In 1861, Congress passed a series of tariffs that increased the western markets for manufactured goods. They also passed the Homestead Act of 1862, which provided federal land for settlers in the West. To transport manufactured goods to the West, legislators provided the transcontinental railroad. The National Banking Acts of 1863 and 1864 allowed banks to apply for federal charters to become national banks. Industrialization had been rapidly increasing. Railroads use coal for fuel and so the coal industry grows with the res...
