Samantha Alvarez Gail Trahan English 8 17 March 2017 Strengths and Weaknesses of the North and South Have you ever experienced the hardships of slavery? During the Civil War the North and South had to use their strengths and weaknesses to fight against each other. The Civil War raged on from 1861 until 1865. It was an extremely violent and bloody war that no one expected to last very long. In the end, it lasted four whole years. That’s way more than anyone had expected. It also would benefit the south with a shorter war which just didn’t happen where it wouldn’t have been as good for the north to have a shorter war compared to having a longer war. In order to learn more about the war I continued my research and went on to learn about …show more content…
The North, given their amount of factories, was able to produce a much larger amount of goods, weapons, and other things of need. The South had a very small amount of factories therefore they were not able to produce as much as the North which would be a great disadvantage in a long war. The North’s greatest resource, by far, was its industry which would be an advantage in a short war. The transportation in the north was much more advanced than the South. The North had twice the density of railroads per every square mile compared to the south. The South also had very few railroads and factories, so the transportation was much weaker. They also were not able to transport their goods as easily north could (“Strengths and Weaknesses: North and …show more content…
About 20,000 blacks had also served in the Union’s Navy which also had been open since before the war. The Confederacy had completely objected to this advantage for the north. They threatened to kill and enslave black regiments. But by the end the success of the north using black soldiers led to the south doing the same (Guelzo). Since only about one-tenth of all southerners lived in urban areas therefore since there weren’t many railroads like the north transportation was difficult unless by water. Also during the 1860’s the south was experiencing an agricultural stall, but for the north they were experiencing and agricultural boom (North and South: Different Cultures, Same Country). In the south there was a smaller percent of literate whites than in their northern counterparts. Northern children were also a lot more likely to go to school, where in the south it wasn’t very likely for children to go to school. Being able to read was going to be a great advantage later on in the war (North and South: Different Cultures, Same Country). The south also had great political problems. Since the confederate constitution favored states’ rights and limited the authority of the central government they often had trouble getting many things done (Davidson and
There were numerous key roles that played victory in the northern military’s success. Some included the railroad links, the monopoly in shipping, and the industrialized economy. The most important thing the North had was the more commercialized economy system, whereas the south invested in land and slaves. One thing that stood out the most in the North’s victory was the fact that they were superior in numbers. The ten times more manpower than the south had. Not only did thousands of European immigrants join the Union but also those who joined were freed and escaped slaves that joined the Union after the Emancipation Proclamation happened.
The ratio in manpower made a big difference, the north had a population of 21 million while the south had slightly over 7 million and only 5.5 million of that were whites. The slaves in the south were clearly no help for the South. To add to that many escaped or freed slaves were able to join the Union army, after Lincoln declared slaves in the southern states “forever free” in 1863.
However this effected the South because they failed to grow their industrial platform. The North had 66% of railroad mileage when the South had only 34%. This shows by far that the North was more industrialized than the South. Since the Union had more mileage of railroad they were able to have their men, food, and materials transported for a long distance in a short period of time. Unlike the North the South was unfortunate to not have such an advanced railroad. The South was able to transport some distance but not nearly the amount of mileage the North could cover. This shows very clearly the South simply lost the war due to their lack of interest in improving their resource industry and industrial
What were the advantages and disadvantages that the north and south had against each other during the civil war ? “There were twelve million more people living in the north than the south at the time of the civil war. The south had only nine million people living in the confederate states along with three and a half million slaves.” Strengths and Weaknesses: North vs. South, ushistory.org. The Union insisted that they would attack the south. The south only had to play defense most of the war. “Union states had a very big industrial advantage over the Confederate states”. Strengths and Weaknesses: North vs. South, ushistory.org. “The north controlled the seas.” Strengths and Weaknesses: North vs. South, ushistory.org. The south had a very big disadvantage when it came to fighting in the water. “The south didn't get any food, gunpowder and ammo from there old ports they had to melt down crosses from churches and belt buckles to get bullets while the north was taking their railroad tracks to make bullets from.” Strengths and Weaknesses: North vs. South, ushistory.org
The Southern states thought that seceding from the North was the only solution to their problems. Lincoln said, “I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free,” and he was right about that. The north wanting to get rid of slaves and the south wanting to keep them caused many problems between the two. Their disagreement on slaves made their lives living together very
There were various reasons as to why the South suffered a major downfall, and loss in the American Civil War. The South did have several advantages from its vast amount of land, to its trained soldiers who possessed many skills, to its knowledge of the land since it was familiar land to them. However, the North had various advantages from it advantages in both their amount in soldiers and resources, to the having great financial resources, to being higher than the South industrially, to having a strong navy, and to having more railroad systems and a greater leader. Both also had disadvantages, from the South having fewer factories, to having a smaller population compared to the North because almost one-third of the population was made up
The North had a higher population than the South, more ports, and stronger industries such as factory and railroad industries. The North was consequently more industrialized than the South. As a result to this, the South had to rely on the North. The North had to rely on the South as well because the South produced most of the cotton, which was in high demand in the North. The two opposing sides had to rely on each other economically.
Historian McPherson argues that “Norther superiority in numbers and resources was a necessary condition for Union victory”. This shows that the North had a major advantage through their larger population, which helped them win the Civil War. The North also had a better industry. In 1860, the North had 6 times as many factories as the South, 10 times the industrial productive capacity and twice as many miles of railway. This proves that the North had an industrial advantage as everything would run normally during the war and supplies would still be produced at high rates.
Both the North and the South had advantages that would help them win battles in the Civil War. The North and the South had political, social, economic, and demographic properties that would either assist or weaken their ability to win the war.
One of the main differences of the economy were the railroads. The North had more railroads than the South because they used the railroads to transport medicines,soldiers,clothes,utilities,weapons, and foods during the war. In Document 1, the top map shows how the north had railroads going from different states and extending more. While, the South had a few railroads. In Document 2, the North’s railroad mileage was better since they did rely mostly on public transportation than the south did. Another difference was that the North was based on industrialization while the South was based on agriculture. In Document 1, the map on the bottom shows that the south’s main production was cotton. In Document 2, the graphs show that the North had 73% more population than the South who only had 27% of the population. The south had 88% more of slaves while the North had only had 12% of slaves. The North 1,300,000 industrial workers while the south only had 110.00 industrial workers. The North’s value of manufacturing goods yearly was over the south’s yearly value. The south instead relied on produce such as cotton while the north did not. Both used corn but the north produced it more than the south. These events caused the civil war to start because both had different economic
One of the biggest advantages the North had was the railroad system. The North had a lot more railroad on its side, which could move anything from soldiers to supplies to weapons. The South’s economy had gone downhill due to blockades on southern exports. No foreign country would ever have loaned money to the south because nobody had any idea if the south would make it through the war. At the end of the war, the southern economy was completely destroyed after making so many economical mistakes and having so much of their property destroyed.
Even though the United States was a joint country, there were many social, economic, and political differences that occurred between the North and South before the Civil War. The North always had more than the South. Some kids in the South had little to no education. The South had very little things. They lived in the same country but the way they did things were different.
The main difference between the Northern and Southern states was that the North was mostly populated by small farms and larger towns and cities with mercantile and factory-based economies, in contrast the South was populated by large plantations and had relatively fewer large cities and few factories. Since the north had significantly more factories, they tended to trade more manufactured goods instead of raw materials like the south. The south’s economy was heavily reliant on the labor of slaves, the north had slaves as well but it did not really compare to that of the
The Civil War was a very gruesome war. The war had become the Union (North) and the Confederacy (South). During the war the union and confederacy had many weaknesses and strengths. Some of them are technology, army/military and government.
While both the North and the South had stable and confident economic systems, the North was much more industrialized and diversified and with a better transportation system they not only had the ability for mass production but also the means for speedy and