The Radical Republic wanted to punish the South.
I'd say the combustion engine, even though it was toyed with in the mid-west during the cowboy era, it wasn't until after the Civil War in which it was a fully effective gasoline powered engine.
In the nineteenth century, imperial powers such as France wanted to increase the number of colonies they controlled. They wanted to gain better and cheaper access to natural tesources as well as labor.
I am pretty sure it's Great Britain.
