The Civil War

Almost from its inception as a new nation, it became apparent that the United States was becoming two very different nations. In the North, a seemingly endless influx of cheap immigrant labor combined with the new machines of the Industrial Age to produce a growing economic superpower.

In the South, agriculture remained the life blood, "King Cotton" reigned on his throne, and the Southern agrarian system was supported by Eli Whitney's ingenious cotton gin and by the sweat and toil of African...