Did pre-civil war technology lead to the increase in the practice of slavery which led to the civil war?
The civil war was a unique war in which the united states was split within. The north, which wanted to abolish slavery, and for the nation to remain a whole and the south, which argued that its confederate states had their states rights infringed upon and wanted to remain pro-slavery. The south had a golden cash crop which was cotton. It required manpower which could be gotten through the use of slave work. Inventions such as the cotton gin, which was invented in the 1790s allowed for increased production which thus needed more manpower and increased slavery exponentially. The technology during this period was not all bad in the civil war. Railroads, Airial machines, Submarines, and the Telegraph were also brought to fruition at this time. The north was able to defeat the south after several losses due to the webbed rail line that allowed transport of soldiers and goods quicker and faster to the frontline. Along with the rail line were the long-range weapons and dynamite, which although aided in the bloodshed on a much higher scale, aided the North’s victory over the South. Impact of technology during the Civil War Did the use of technology lead to the civil war or was it inevitable? And how did the use of technology allow the North to win despite several complications and unknown territory? Many northern states during the 1800s had moved away from farming to industry. A lot of people in the North worked and lived in large cities. The southern states had maintained a large farming economy and this economy was based on slave labor. While the cotton gin reduced the labor of removing seeds, it did not reduce the need for slaves to grow and pick the cotton. Cotton growing became extremely profitable for the planters that it greatly increased their demand for both land and slave labor. Since the writing of the Constitution there had been arguments about how much power each of the states should have versus how much power the federal government should have and the southern states felt that the federal government was taking away their rights and powers. Railroads, repeating firearms and cannons were brought into combat in the civil war. Through the use of such technology, a shift in power occurred allowing the north to succeed in winning the war.
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