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I saw this question posed over at AHF and decide to pose it here because it's a good question. What changed society more in 19th Century America – the Civil War and Reconstruction or the Industrial Revolution?
.... What changed society more in 19th Century America - the Civil War and Reconstruction or the Industrial Revolution?
I/R. As it helped drive the mechanism that made the Civil War impossible to escape. As I see it, without it the north would have been an agrarian society like the south only based on staple, rather than cash, crops. Wally
I put my .02 cents in over there.....let me know if anyone responds six months from now. 😀
I like it!
Let me mention what I mentioned over there. The Civil War and Reconstruction likely had a larger social effect on parts of the South than the Industrial Revolution. In this sense, it is the thing that was more influential. At a localized level the CW/Recon. was a shift in political, economic, and cultural norms. In rural or agrarian areas the Industrial Revolution would have been less pronounced than in other, more urbanized areas. However, I do think that overall the Industrial Revolution led to greater social change in America. It also led to significant changes across the spectrum in economics, politics, and culture, as likely in religion as well. Trade was made more efficient by the changes brought from the IR, America as a nation was able to prosper, and militarily it developed to the strong point it was at by the time of the Spanish American War. Simply put, I don't think that the Civil War/Reconstruction affected the entire nation in the same way that the Industrial Revolution did.
.... However, I do think that overall the Industrial Revolution led to greater social change in America. It also led to significant changes across the spectrum in economics, politics, and culture, as likely in religion as well. .... I don't think that the Civil War/Reconstruction affected the entire nation in the same way that the Industrial Revolution did.
Nor the world. In a nut shell the I/R makes us the consumer society we are today and gives us a true middle class with discretionary income and the leisure time to spend it. Marx' communist revolutions never worked in industrialized nations because the upward mobility that was present in them took the impetus, that is, the need to artificially redistribute wealth (the land in feudal or semi-feudal agrarian societies) away.Wally
As a whole My vote goes for the I/R. Like wally said it made us what we are today and I beleive it's effects are more apparent then what was left behind by the Civil War. Not Belittling the war at all, it certainly had it's effect and even so today it had changed who we are and the very course of this nation.
I think it's clear that the Industrial Revolution has changed society more if we look at all of history, but the original question dealt with change of 19th Century America only. So separating the effects of the IR from the 20th Century (e.g. no internet, no planes, largely no automobiles, etc) from the effects that were experienced during the 19th Century, the answer is different. In other words, if you were a commoner living from 1830 to 1890, what would have had a bigger change on society from your perspective? As I mentioned previously, I think the answer would depend on where you lived in America.
Well if your family had participated in the war (and especially if someone died during the war) Then one might say it was the civil war.
Excellent question. The Industrial Revolution had a more significant social change and, as we know, led to many social reform movements. But as was said previously, it can also depend on where you lived at the time.
You can't really separate the two like that. The Industrial Revolution drove the Civil War; the Civil War helped spread the Industrial Revolution throughout the country.After all, a Southern victory in the Civil War meant that the agrarian society of the South would have still been profitable for another generation or so. That would significantly delay the industrial revolution in the South, and it would have a radically different character (being manned by slaves or slaves-in-all-but-name) when it happened.
