Civil War History - Secession and PoliticsWas it Slavery, or was it States Rights? Perhaps it was the election of Lincoln? What were the real reasons for Southern Secession and what were the political issues in this time of war? Find your answers here in the Secession and Politics Disussion.
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I think the complaints about federal expenditures on internal improvements is all hot air. Obviously, as the economic developement and population patterns changed, concentrations of improvements will have appeared to favor a particular region at a given time, but thats a little like complaining that a disproportionate amount of money was spent on the Gulf Coast after Katrina hit, and California, Michigan and Pennsylvania didn't get their fair share. For instance, its sensible that along with a boom in commerce accross the Great Lakes, expenditures on lighthouses, breakwalls and wharves would be accelerated for a time to match the growth. The same was true for California. The South had never experienced the rapid growth rate of, say, a Chicago or Buffalo, or San Francisco.
Cedarstripper
One of the things we need to be aware of is that the geography of the South did not favor canals, inland water transport, or water powered industry. Rivers tended to be slow-moving and shallow. They meandered about, carried a lot of mud, and did not generally run in the right directions or allow deep-draft vessels access.
Similar issues also got in the way of Baltimore and Philadelphia attempts to compete with the Erie Canal -- making New York the runaway #1 port in the US.
Tim
__________________ "Let us, then, consider all attempts to weaken this Union, by maintaining that each state is separately and individually independent, as a species of political heresy, which can never benefit us, but may bring on us the most serious distresses."
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina, 1740-1824, Revolutionary War soldier, one of the authors of the US Constitution in 1787, speaking at the South Carolina Ratifying Convention in 1788.
One of the things we need to be aware of is that the geography of the South did not favor canals, inland water transport, or water powered industry. Rivers tended to be slow-moving and shallow. They meandered about, carried a lot of mud, and did not generally run in the right directions or allow deep-draft vessels access.
Canals projects were typically intra-state and did not stand a prayer in Congress of receiving any funds. Though the South may have had little desire to build canals, I don't see it as a genuine issue, as canals weren't financed anywhere.
A harbor and river improvement bill from 1846 apportioned funds: $234,450 to the Northeast; $155,000 to the Northwest; $545,000 to the Great Lakes; and $415,000 to the South. Whether this is an equitable devision depends on your point of view. While 2/3 of the coastline and lands were south of the Mason Dixon line, the majority of shipping tonnage was handled in the north. And while the Atlantic Coast and Gulf had had decades to build their ports, the Great Lakes and West Coast then required work. We are all aware of the duties collected in these northern ports compared to southern ones, so the stage is set for sectional division on whether the expenditures favor one section over another. Anyone wanting to complain can easily find their slant.
But for me, at the end of the day, while opposing speeches can be found from both sections, the appropriations were made by the Committee of Ways and Means, and had to get past Congresses generally controlled by the South and Presidents carried into office with Southern approval, so I fail to see the cause for bellyaching.
Canals projects were typically intra-state and did not stand a prayer in Congress of receiving any funds. Though the South may have had little desire to build canals, I don't see it as a genuine issue, as canals weren't financed anywhere.
The Erie Canal was originally voted funding through Congress. President Madison vetoed it (he thought it unconstitutional). Once New York paid for the Erie Canal itself, I doubt you could get any NY Congressman or Senator to support any other state's canal project, particularly if it would compete with the Erie in any way. That would make it real tough for any Southern state to get one through.
Philadelphia's canal efforts essentially failed because the Susquehanna was too shallow and ran in the wrong direction. Nothing South of there can really get to the goal of the old Northwest because of the Apalachian Mountains.
Andrew Jackson killed the Mayville Road because it was confined to a single state, one of the key moments in the "internal improvements" battle. The Mayville Road was in KY (what we'd consider a "Southern" state) and was an extension of the National Road coming through the Cumberland Gap.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cedarstripper
A harbor and river improvement bill from 1846 apportioned funds: $234,450 to the Northeast; $155,000 to the Northwest; $545,000 to the Great Lakes; and $415,000 to the South. Whether this is an equitable devision depends on your point of view. While 2/3 of the coastline and lands were south of the Mason Dixon line, the majority of shipping tonnage was handled in the north. And while the Atlantic Coast and Gulf had had decades to build their ports, the Great Lakes and West Coast then required work. We are all aware of the duties collected in these northern ports compared to southern ones, so the stage is set for sectional division on whether the expenditures favor one section over another. Anyone wanting to complain can easily find their slant.
The Mississippi Valley was a ripe area for "internal improvements" in the days before the Civil War. Somehow, the US Congress funded a Navy Yard in Memphis with a ropewalk factory (to buy hemp from KY-MO-AR farmers) at a cost of $1 million. The Navy was opposed to building it, being perfectly happy with Pensacola. To put this in perspective, the Congress also voted funding for another Naval Yard the Department of the Navy did not want in New Orleans. The New Orleans Yard was only $100,000. The Memphis facility was a complete boondoggle, a failure in operation, and closed shortly after opening.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cedarstripper
But for me, at the end of the day, while opposing speeches can be found from both sections, the appropriations were made by the Committee of Ways and Means, and had to get past Congresses generally controlled by the South and Presidents carried into office with Southern approval, so I fail to see the cause for bellyaching.
Yes. Think flood control in the Mississippi Valley, where Robert E. Lee had worked on the Mississippi and Missouri River projects as well as improving the harbor at St. Louis. In 1861, the Navy was finishing up a multi-year survey of the Mississippi to make recommendations for the next massive attempt to control the Mississippi. The South had no problem with "internal improvements" that aided Southerners.
Tim
__________________ "Let us, then, consider all attempts to weaken this Union, by maintaining that each state is separately and individually independent, as a species of political heresy, which can never benefit us, but may bring on us the most serious distresses."
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina, 1740-1824, Revolutionary War soldier, one of the authors of the US Constitution in 1787, speaking at the South Carolina Ratifying Convention in 1788.
I think in order to determine if the appropriations for improvements were "fair" you would have to look at economic and population growth in the regions and see if monies were allocated in accordance with this growth. More growth = more need for improved infrastructure. Hopefully, this will increase the tax base and result in more revenue from those areas. In a perfect world, infrastructure improvements are an investment which pays off in the long run through increased revenues.
__________________ "There must be more historians of the Civil War than there were generals figthing in it... Of the two groups, the historians are the more belligerent." David Donald, Lincoln Reconsidered (1961)
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