Greetings fellow historians, for this courses research topic, I have My chosen to explore how the digital revolution impacted the modern American economy. I wanted to explore this topic because there is a school of thought that asserts that the digital revolution would not have been able to occur if it were not for the freedoms that Americans enjoy. I also find it interesting to explore this topic because my husband currently works fulltime as a social media developer and YouTube content creator. In recent years, this has become an extremely important part of the American economy that would not be possible without the digital revolution. This portion of the American economy, of course, has also become extremely profitable and changed the way the average American buys and sells goods as well as how products are advertised.
Postbellum Economy Blog Post
There was a macroeconomic impact of the American Civil War that was seen in the post-bellum period. During the period of Reconstruction, industrial growth and production recovered at a rate of about half of what it had been during the antebellum period. Industrial production during the Reconstruction period where the Union occupied the former Confederate states, industrial production was roughly only five percent. For the methodology for this assignment, a qualitative approach was used with primary sources from the Reconstruction period primarily used to ascertain important information related to the economic conditions of the Reconstruction era. A quantitative data analysis was conducted to explore the economic growth of the Reconstruction era immediately following the Civil War, as well as the bigger picture of the economic growth of the larger post-bellum period from 1865-1900. The primary sources used for the qualitative data analysis are from archives located at the University of Alabama and the Library of Congress. One of the sources was the the Bailey papers. These are a collection of letters received and collected by multiple family members in a family in Alabama that experienced economic hardships during the Reconstruction era. These letters are contained in the Alabama special collections and provide insight into the economic conditions of the American South in the Reconstruction era. Additional primary sources from the time period were also examined and were from the University of Alabama's special collections as well and were from a collection entitle the Berry Family Papers. These papers outline a detailed description of what life was like for the average farmer in the American south during the time immediately following the Civil War. As can be seen by the letters examined as well as the additional research that was conducted on the time period, economic growth significantly slowed in the period immediately following the Civil War, especially in the South. However, when examining the post-bellum period as a whole, the data indicates that the overall picture of economic growth was 103% during the time period of 1865-1900. This likely indicates that the economic growth struggled to recover after the Civil War in the Reconstruction era, but upon the commencement of the second industrial revolution, economic growth in the post-bellum period skyrocketed. The sources used for the quantitative analysis also were from the Library of Congress as well as the University of Alabama's special collections. Additional secondary sources were also used to reinforce the primary source findings. The manufacturing sectors as well as the Agricultural Sectors of the American economy in the postbellum era are examined from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective. Consideration of overall trends in economic growth in the postbellum period were also considered.
Economic growth, of course, is a vital component of any nation or territory. Measuring the rate at which the economy grows as well as examining individual's financial circumstances can provide both a snapshot of economic conditions during any given time in American history as well as provide the bigger picture of economic trends within a country's economy. Therefore, for this week's discussion I examined both individual American's from the postbellum period's financial situations based upon their own personal correspondence as well as examined data from several data sets in regards to economic trends in the postbellum era to get a deeper understanding of economic trends in the American economy from 1865-1900. What I found from examining the Bailey and Berry papers in the University of Alabama's archives is that farmers, specifically in the American South, struggled financially and economically to recover during the period of Reconstruction. Small farmers in the American South would continue to struggle for much of the postbellum period and well into the 20th century with few exceptions. One only has to look to the rise of Populist movement in the late 1890's in response to astronomical freight and rail prices as well as the plight of the rural and midwestern farmers in the Great Depression to see the constant economic struggles of individuals that represented a struggling sector of the American economy; small farmers. However, GDP, a great indicator of economic well-being overall, rose throughout the postbellum period. Thus, the larger picture of the American economy is one that tells a different story than the one perhaps experienced by certain individuals or sectors. In other words, in the postbellum American economy, some sectors of the economy thrived and others did not. Gross Domestic product which is a measure of economic growth used by many economists. Thus, GDP was analyzed in the postbellum period to determine how well overall the American economy did in the postbellum era as well as how certain sectors feared. The personal accounts from primary sources add a personal face and narrative to the picture portrayed by the data contained in our country's GDP reports as well as Census reports that detail personal incomes of a wide variety of Americans.
Therefore, upon examining both primary sources of personal correspondence of several farmers from the Reconstruction era as well as larger data sets from various sectors of the American economy as well as the overall GDP from 1865-1900, it is apparent that America in the postbellum period was experiencing a time of great upheaval and change. Economically and politically, the country in the postbellum period was in shambles and needed to rebuild its infrastructure at the conclusion of the Civil War. Initiatives were put into place in order to stimulate economic growth. Yet, this economic growth varied from various sectors. For example, the GDP of the American economy overall expanded drastically during the postbellum period. However, this was largely due to growth in the manufacturing sector that saw even larger booms in economic growth spurned by the Second Industrial Revolution. According to data from the U.S. Government, the national GDP during the postbellum period grew steadily from 6.39 billion in 1865 to 13.08 billion in 1900. The growth, again, was largely in the manufacturing sectors due to increased technology and the increased production of goods. This was only aided dramatically by the expansion of the railway lines. The introduction of the Bessemer process only added to this boom as steel became a literal billion dollar industry. Yet, while the GDP of the overall American economy boomed in the postbellum period. As demonstrated by the woes described in the Bailey and Berry family papers during the Reconstruction era and beyond, the agriculture sector of the American economy grew much slower during the post bellum period. The growth rate was only around 21 percent for the agricultural section as opposed to 103 percent for the manufacturing sector. This slower rate of growth was largely due to falling farm prices and drought. The postbellum period certainly saw an expansion of the agricultural sector as many people moved west in search of fertile land, but also faced extreme hardships in the postbellum era. The postbellum period experienced frequent droughts that drove down farm prices and as discussed by the patriarch of the Berry family, caused extreme financial hardships for rural farmers during this period. The decrease in profits led to a decrease in farm prices and a decline in the agricultural sector's GDP.
Therefore, it can be concluded that while the overall postbellum economy boomed if we measure economic success through GDP levels, sectors of the American economy continued to struggle, notably the Agricultural sectors. There were many reasons for this of course. But, notably the Second Industrial Revolution took off and the manufacturing sector of the American economy continued to grow at an astronomical rate. The agricultural sector still grew when we examine its GDP, but at a much slower rate due to high rail rates and drought.
Bibliography
Bailey Family Papers, The University of Alabama Libraries Special Collections http://archives.lib.ua.edu/repositories/3/resources/4914 Accessed March 27, 2024.
Berry Family Papers, The University of Alabama Libraries Special Collections http://archives.lib.ua.edu/repositories/3/resources/4811 Accessed March 27, 2024.
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