ABSTRACT
Concurrently with the specific extension of political power, the production system is disorganized, directly and indirectly. The Civil War had far-reaching consequences in economic life. The “reconstruction” of the South loaded the Southern states with debt contracted by the camp-followers of government by conquest, the carpetbag administration. Repudiation ensued; whether or not the bonds could have been paid, the Southerners felt no moral obligation, and it is not difficult to understand their position. They may have been in error none the less; repudiation of debt grounds the transmission line of energy, and the South remained economically prostrate while the rest of the nation went ahead.
