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The Confederate States of America had an agrarian-based economy that relied heavily on slave-worked plantations for the production of cotton for export to Europe and the northern US states. If ranked as an independent nation, it would have been the fourth richest country of the world in 1860.〔Fred Bateman and Thomas Weiss, ''A Deplorable Scarcity: The Failure of Industrialization in the Slave Economy'' Univ. of North Carolina Press. 1981. Page 42〕 When the Union blockaded its ports in summer 1861, exports of cotton fell 95 percent and the South had to restructure itself to emphasize food production and munitions production. After losing control of its main rivers and ports, it had to depend on a weak railroad system that, with few repairs being made, no new equipment, and federal raids, crumbled away. The financial infrastructure collapsed during the war as inflation destroyed banks and forced a move toward a barter economy for civilians. The government seized needed supplies and livestock (paying with certificates that were to be paid off after the war, but never were). By 1865 the economy was in ruins. ==Agriculture== The main prewar agricultural products of the Confederate States were cotton, tobacco, and sugar cane, with hogs, cattle grain and vegetable plots. In 1862, there was a severe drought that, despite efforts to switch from cotton planting to grain farming, caused food shortages and even bread riots in 1863-64.〔James M. McPherson, ''(Cry of Freedom (book)|Battle Cry of Freedom )]'' (1988), p. 612〕 The harvests were fairly abundant after 1862, but often went to waste as they could not be harvested or moved to markets.〔 Corn was raised in large quantities, and, in general, the raising of food products instead of tobacco and cotton was a necessity. The scarcity of food in the armies and cities was due mostly to the shortage of male labor, the disruption of transportation and finance. Compounding the problem was the ever-increasing number of refugees flooding into cities; food distribution became increasingly harder, and at times, impossible.〔Mary Elizabeth Massey, ''Ersatz in the Confederacy,'' (1956) pp. 55-56〕 The progressive destruction of the southern railroad network, along with rapid inflation, affected women in the cities especially hard as they found food prices too high to afford. This could be seen in the infamous Richmond bread riots of April, 1863, when a large mob of starving women in the city looted stores for food, ignoring the pleas of President Jefferson Davis who stood upon a cart to toss coins to the women, who dispersed only after he threatened to order a company of militia to open fire.〔William J. Kimball, "The Bread Riot in Richmond, 1863," ''Civil War History,'' June 1961, Vol. 7 Issue 2, pp 149-154〕 This and other stories of hardship on the home front greatly demoralized Confederate soldiers when they received letters from their wives, and hence "thousands of husbands discharged themselves" to save their families over the course of the war.〔McPherson, ''The Battle Cry of Freedom'' p. 613〕 Despite the Confederacy's strength in cotton production, it produced very little cloth or clothing, and by the end of the first year, its most productive textile manufacturing regions were in the hands of the Union.〔Charles W. Ramsdell, "The Control of Manufacturing by the Confederate Government," ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review,'' Vol. 8, No. 3 (Dec., 1921), p. 240 (in JSTOR )〕 Instead, the South increasingly relied on foreign sources. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Economy of the Confederate States of America」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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