There was great wealth in the South, but it was primarily tied up in the slave economy. In 1860, the economic value of slaves in the United States exceeded the invested value of all of the nation's railroads, factories, and banks combined. On the eve of the Civil War, cotton prices were at an all-time high.
Explanation:
The Civil War benefited the Northern economy, but it left the Southern economy in absolutely terrible condition. ... The North had a more industrialized economy and therefore benefited from the railroad boom and the manufacturing of wartime products.
