A Short History of Reconstruction [Updated Edition]

by Eric Foner

Deep structural changes accompanied the North’s wartime boom. Accelerating the emergence of an American industrial bourgeoisie, the war tied the fortunes of this class to the Republican party and the national state. More was involved than profits wrung from government contracts, for faced with the war’s unprecedented financial demands, Congress adopted economic policies that promoted further industrial expansion and permanently altered the conditions of capital accumulation.