The Civil War marked a notable turning point in the economic history of the United States. National development since 1860 has been shaped to a large degree by fundamental political and economic changes that occurred during the war--changes which were for the moat part the effect of various expedients resorted to by the federal government to bring the struggle for the preservation of the Union to a successful issue. To crush the military strength of the South the federal authorities adopted the expedient of the abolition of slavery, and to the surprise of both the North and the South "the cause of the conflict ceased before the conflict itself," and the nation emerged from the war freed of the greatest obstacle to its social homogeneity. To secure revenue for the prosecution of the war, the duties on imports were raised to an unprecedented point, and when Congress failed, after the return of peace, to reduce the tariff schedules to their former level, manufacturing interests found themselves protected by a tariff wall so high that foreign competition was largely eliminated. To secure needed aid in financing the costly struggle, Congress established the national banking system which gave greater uniformity to the currency and brought the financial centers of the country into closer relation. The anxiety to connect the Atlantic and Pacific coasts by rail led the federal government to adopt the practice of granting large subsidies to the builders of great transcontinental railway lines. The stimulation which the war gave to manufacturing and transportation in the North and the shrewd manipulation of the money market during the years of the national crisis made possible the accumulation and concentration of large quantities of capital funds under the control of a small number of persons.