A House Dividing: Economic Development in Pennsylvania and Virginia Before the Civil War (Studies in Economic History and Policy)

Professor Majewski compares Virginia and Pennsylvania to explain how slavery undermined the development of the southern economy. In the beginning of the nineteenth century, residents in each state financed transportation improvements to raise land values and spur commercial growth. However, by the 1830s, Philadelphia capitalists began financing Pennsylvania's railroad network, building integrated systems that reached the Midwest. Virginia's railroads remained a collection of lines without western connections. The lack of a major city that could provide capital and traffic for large-scale railroads was the weakness of Virginia's slave economy. Comparing The Economic And Social Development Of Virginia And Pennsylvania, John Majewski Shows How These Two States Exemplified The Remarkable Regional Divergence Between North And South On The Eve Of The Civil War. New Archival Research Reveals That A Broad Spectrum Of Residents In Both States Embraced Canals, Railroads, And Other Commercial Projects To Hold Their Communities Together In America's Mobile Society. Virginia's Commitment To Slavery, However, Undercut The State's Aggressive Efforts To Keep Pace With Its Northern Neighbors. While Philadelphia Capitalists Financed Trunk Railroads That Opened New Markets For Pennsylvania Manufacturers, Virginia's Railroads Remained A Collection Of Local Lines Serving Market Towns And Slave Plantations. The Chains Of Slavery, Virginians Learned To Their Dismay, Also Shackled The Invisible Hand Of The Market.--book Jacket. Introduction: Regional Development In Comparative Perspective -- 1. Developmental Corporations In A Slave-labor Society -- 2. Developmental Corporations In A Free-labor Society -- 3. Railroads And Local Development -- 4. The Local Politics Of Market Development -- 5. Urban Capital And The Superiority Of Pennsylvania's Transportation Network -- 6. Why Antebellum Virginians Never Developed A Big City: Comparative Urban Development In Philadelphia And Eastern Virginia -- Epilogue: Railroad Networks And The Civil War. John Majewski. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 184-208) And Index. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 10 List of Tables......Page 12 List of Abbreviations......Page 14 Acknowledgments......Page 16 Maps......Page 19 Introduction: Regional Development in Comparative Perspective......Page 22 1 Developmental Corporations in a Slave-Labor Society......Page 33 2 Developmental Corporations in a Free-Labor Society......Page 58 3 Railroads and Local Development......Page 80 4 The Local Politics of Market Development......Page 106 5 Urban Capital and the Superiority of Pennsylvania's Transportation Network......Page 132 6 Why Antebellum Virginians Never Developed a Big City: Comparative Urban Development in Philadelphia and Eastern Virginia......Page 162 Epilogue: Railroad Networks and the Civil War......Page 189 Appendix on Sources and Methods......Page 194 Bibliography......Page 205 Index......Page 230 The Rivanna was hardly the most impressive of Virginia's many rivers, nor the most commercially viable.