The answer is natural resources.
Henry Grady was a Georgian journalist who encouraged the industrialization of the South following the model of the North. After the Civil War, the North experienced a period of fast industrialization and a rapid technological advance. All this prosperity was boosted by the Industrial Revolution that affected all over in the world during the 1800s. In contrast, the South was still predominantly agricultural. Its economy was based in a <em>sharecropping model</em>, in which white landlords had their fields worked and tended by farm laborers. Under this system, the landlord would provide the capital (usually obtained by a loan) to buy seeds and equipment, and the laborers would work. The profit would be not equally divided between both parts. Because of the low prices of the products, the farmers often fell in a cycle of indebtedness. This system left both farmers and workers in deep poverty. Grady had a voice. He was not just a journalist, but a newspaper editor with great oratory skills. In a series of public speeches, he envisioned an industrialized South, with manufacturing facilities, commerce and "<em>thrilling with the consciousness of growing power and prosperity</em>", in his words. This remake would be called <u>"New South"</u> and its main feature would be a "<em>diversified industry that meets the complex needs of this (the post-Reconstruction period) complex age</em>". His speeches motivated politics and he gained the empathy of the public in general. The modernization did happen, but it wasn't quite the same as Henry had dreamed. Some success could be seen in the iron and steel manufacturing segments. The textile mills was a great initiative, but it could have had more success if the wages weren't so low. Henry also defended the white supremacy and this idea held back the economic improvement. While landlords and factories prospered, the low-wage factoring work kept many in dire poverty.
Generally speaking, it was "weapons" that was not something that the British wanted to get from the Chinese, since these were easily made in Great Britain so there was no need to import them.
Answer: the Byzantines were able to maintain their main areas. There were no attacks by tribal or pastoral people on Anatolia or Egypt, and just a few in the Black Sea region. For the most part the Byzantine Empire was not an expansionist empire, and this gave it more stability.
The tax system and the bureaucracy were already in place, and the bureaucracy acted as a check on the nobility. It was good way for them to earn reputation by serving in the government. Under Justinian, a law code was created. It came directly from the emperor, establishing him as the ultimate authority on justice. This was an important check on the power of the nobility as well , helping to keep them from growing powerful enough to attempt to take over the central government. It gave the imperial office a lot of authority and prestige.
Outside of Constantinople we see evidence of a strong agricultural economy. Although there were many large urban areas, the vast majority of the empire was made up of agricultural villages. They were the primary tax source and they supplied grain and agricultural products to the urban populations. At the same time, the Byzantines were the best economy in the region. They were the major trading power in the Mediterranean. They produced goods like textiles (especially silk), jewelry, and other crafts, but they also acted as the middleman for trade between east and west.
A growing cultural identity and social unity. The elements of this unity included, first and foremost, a long-lasting Roman identity. Byzantines believed they were keeping in the glorious Roman tradition, and they always presented themselves this way. Constantinople was also an important item of Byzantine unity. It was seen as the greatest city in the Mediterranean world and had overcame dozens of attacks. It was also portrayed as a whole Christian city, even if this wasn't actually true. There were lots of different kinds of Christians, plus Jews and later Muslims.
Federalists were the ones who wanted a strong central government
