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The Economic Causes of the Civil War
David A. Beirne
1. Beckert, Sven and Seth Rockman, eds. Slavery’s Capitalism: A New History of American Economic Development. Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016.
*Featuring some of the most up-to-date interpretations of slavery’s importance to the economics of North and South, I look to employ the variety of research to see if the North’s interest in the slavery economy at the time of secession had anything to do with the war.
2. Bensel, Richard Franklin. Yankee Leviathan: The Origins of Central State Authority in America, 1859-1877. Cambridge University Press, 1995.
*This work analyzes the divergent developments of the relationships between the state and economies that existed in the North and South.
3. Chavez, Ernesto. The U.S. War with Mexico: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008.
*I am going to use this handy book for over fifty primary sources related to the war that took place a decade prior to the Civil War to see if there’s any economic or expansionist themes I can use to make my case that the Civil War fits into the general mindset of the times.
4. Collier, Paul. “On Economic Causes and Civil War.” Oxford Economic Papers 50 (1998), 563-573.
*This is a paper about civil wars and their economic factors, generally, so I will see if any frameworks work for understanding the the U.S. Civil War, where one side thought they were leaving the Union and the other side thought they were rebelling.
5. Egnal, Marc. Clash of Extremes: The Economic Causes of the Civil War. New York: Hill and Wang, 2009.
*This book makes the case that economics caused the Civil War. While studies address how the North and South grew apart in the decades leading up to war, Egnal’s study examines how decades of economic connections between the North and South began to disintegrate, with the result being secession.
6. Finkelman, Paul. Defending Slavery: Proslavery Thought in the Old South, A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003.
*Another book in the great Bedford/St.Martin’s series of collections of commentary and primary resources, this time pertaining to those in the North and South who defended slavery, including for economic reasons.
7. Huston, James L. Calculating the Value of the Union: Slavery, Property Rights, and the Economic Origins of the Civil War. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2003.
*Another foundational book for my study, this book looks at the economic origins of the civil war from the perspective of the law and financial implications of the institution of slavery.
8. Johnson, Walter. River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom. Cambridge: Belknap Press, 2013.
*This book really paints a vibrant picture of the economic powerhouse that was the Old South, in addition to the interconnectedness with Northern interests.
9. Lawson, Melinda. Patriot Fires: Forgin a New American Nationalism in the Civil War North.
*Nationalism and economic expansionism sometimes gave a mutual dependency, so Lawson’s book may indicate how the interests of the federal government business communities contributed to redefining American identity. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002.
10. Majewski, John. Modernizing a Slaver Economy: The Economic Vision of the Confederate Nation. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2009.
*Majewski is an author I found in Slavery’s Capitalism, and like that edited book and Johnson’s River of Dark Dreams, I will use it to paint a picture of what the South’s ideal vision of its economic future looked like to understand why secession made sense.
11. Montgomery, David. Labor and the Radical Republicans, 1862-1872. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1967.
*I am using this book to understand the vision that the Republican Party and labor organizations had prior to the Civil War, and how the war and its aftermath may have been supported and shaped with some of these goals in mind.
12. Stampp, Kenneth M., ed. The Causes of the Civil War, 3rd revised edition. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1991.
*This is a classic work that contains a number of primary sources pertaining to the myriad of causes of the Civil War, including economic ones.
13. Thornton, Mark and Robert B. Ekelund, Jr. Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation: The Economics of the Civil War. Wilmington: Scholarly Resources Inc., 2004.
*Thornton and Ekelund Jr.’s work discusses how Northern government and industry united to fight the Civil War, research I will examine to see what interests were at play during the war that may have also contributed to its lead-up.