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A large factor leading up to the Civil War that Wilentz discusses in the reading is the panic of 1857. This panic occurred due to the combination of vast construction and industrial development that was funded by foreign investors, sudden sell-off of American securities caused by rising interest rates, and the the expectations of western lands. All of these factors lead to a bank panic where deposits were withdrawn, loans called in, and businesses went under, causing a depression that demanded a different solution because than that of 1837.
This depression demanded a different solution because of the spike in population during the 40’s because of immigrants who filled in the labor-intensive jobs in large cities. Now that immigrants made up a large portion of the working class, it was harder for current American citizens to find jobs. This labor reform spreading throughout the North was headed by George Henry Evans, who basically said that a wage slave would be free if he could own a portion of land. The slogan “Vote Yourself A Farm!” encouraged movement out west where there was more available land than in the highly populated cities on the East coast. These reformations represented the foundation for an America of free and independent labor.
As Emma talks about in her blog post, the North and the South each had their opinions that their way of life and production was better, but the growing idea that free and independent labor was the way to go pressured the South even more. This pressure simply added to the other factors to make the South secede.
This was again a very interesting reading, where Wilentz described the economic aspects that had a big impact on the nation’s future, in combination with several other factors, and could link it to the North vs the South leading up to the Civil War.