America's Post-Civil War Growing Pains - Assignment Example

The end of reconstruction where Hayes withdrew the last union troops from the south also took place during this time. The civil war and the reconstruction periods were the major turning points in the history of America (Robert 2008). The civil war was a tragic conflict that made people to turn against each other brother against brother where the generic slaves were acting only as a historical backdrop. The civil war separated people and still united them as a nation. It was fought over the secession of the union.

Some of the causes of the civil war were: slavery, nationalism and honor, the election of Abraham Lincoln, territorial crisis and the constitution among others. The reconstruction period followed the civil war and it disastrous as it was caused by early granting of political and civil rights to the African Americans. The reconstruction period brought about various questions like what would be the place of the freed African Americans in the south? And did the abolition mean that the blacks could have equal opportunities like the whites?

Though the civil war was over reconstruction was also a kind of war. The civil war and reconstruction had an impact on the nationalist collectivism of the Americans as they encouraged the collectivist to promote their visions of reform and devalued the individualism of the American society. Individuality became more of a liability than an asset. Industrial expansion after the civil war made way for changes in urbanization of America. America became more urbanized, there was the growth of cities in size and population and extensive new systems of transportation.

They also led to immigration of new foreign people who posed a threat to the political systems and increased the unemployment rate as they were more than willing to work for lower wages that the native-born Americans refused. The civil war and reconstruction led to problems which affect the integrity of the government, the way industrial workers are treated, the needs of the western farmers and the treatment of the immigrants (Perman 2008). The civil war and reconstruction had an impact on the America’s economy as it imposed substantial costs.

Both civil war and reconstruction had a negative impact on the private investments through the process of range substitution. These wars led to the destruction of economic infrastructure and human lives. They undermined the state legitimacy thus posing a threat to the rule of law and property rights security. These wars created economic uncertainty on America’s economy putting both public and private investments at risk. The civil war and reconstruction had a negative impact on the economic production as it reduced the growth and level of the capital stock and damaging the government’s fiscal balance.

This made the government to move its expenditure from production enhancing services to the conduct of the wars. The destruction of slavery had a negative impact on the cotton production. The civil war and reconstruction era impacted politics in various ways. This era led to a greater political division especially among the southerners and northerners and refused to unite. By allowing the blacks to participate in politics this led to corruption, and poor running of the government (Richard 2008).

The reconstruction led to the development of the south and positive progress for the former slaves and the end of the whites’