ABSTRACT
Between the formation of the American Union and the beginning of the Civil War, the American state was transformed from being a limited state, the institutional capacity of which was restricted by principle, by design, and by a variety of formal and informal mechanisms to a consolidated state controlled by a single section and a single political party. This transformation both reflected and allowed a transformation to the political economy of the nation. This second American Revolution signaled a new dominance of an industrial economy over the older agricultural economy, of the North over the South, and of free labor over slave labor.
