Assignment 1
How was the south changed?
The chief accomplishment of the new south was the expansion of textile production, as the number of cotton mills grew from 161 to 400. There was also an increase in the lumber industry, coal production, and tobacco growth. Although, the majority of southern farmers were not flourishing, which caused sharecropping and tendancy to increase between blacks and whites. The bourbons perfected a political alliance with northern conservatives and economic alliance with northern capitalists. They also reduced state expenditures and public debt. Attitudes about race became more strongly felt and the prospect of an electoral alliance between poor whites and blacks that could threaten the power structure became a possibility, so the southern states came up with various ways to disenfranchise blacks. Also, “Jim Crow” laws were enacted to mandate public separation of the races. Legalized segregation reinforced the notions of white racial superiority and African-American inferiority, creating an atmosphere that encouraged violence, and during the 1890s lynching’s of blacks rose significantly.
Define the New West.
After 1865, the federal government encouraged western settlement and economic exploitation. The transcontinental railroads opened the western half of the nation to economic development and created an interconnected national market. Needing rapid communication, companies built telegraph lines along the railroad as the track was laid. Completion of the railroad substantially accelerated populating the West, while contributing to the decline of territory controlled by the Native American’s in these regions. Mining became a mass-production industry that required large scale operations and huge investments. Unfortunately thousands of acres of farmland and orchards were damaged and destroyed by hydraulic mining. The