Re:North Korea’s tablet comes pre-loaded with ‘Gone with the...
by AnIrishDuck on Monday November 04, 2013 @03:28PM
(#6670959)
The southern economy did practically collapse after the Civil War.
Slaves were freed. Infrastructure was destroyed. A quarter of the white male population was dead. These factors together led to a large drop in per capita income, but it's impossible to try and assign levels of responsibility to each one. [1]
It's also worth noting that the formalized system of slavery was replaced with a de-facto slavery system called sharecropping [2]. Sharecropping involved forced borrowing of work necessities at a high interest rates. It led many farmers, both black and white, into the grip of wage slavery [3].
Slaves were freed. Infrastructure was destroyed. A quarter of the white male population was dead. These factors together led to a large drop in per capita income, but it's impossible to try and assign levels of responsibility to each one. [1]
It's also worth noting that the formalized system of slavery was replaced with a de-facto slavery system called sharecropping [2]. Sharecropping involved forced borrowing of work necessities at a high interest rates. It led many farmers, both black and white, into the grip of wage slavery [3].
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_Era#Material_dev... 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharecropping#United_States 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wage_slavery