"In 1843, the Post Office compiled statistics comparing the price paid for the first year of service on all existing rail lines and the last year of coach service on the line before the railroad took over. On average, railroads cost 87 percent more than the coach service they replaced. The increase in costs was highest in the South, where the price rose 181 percent." From the U.S. Congressional Record.
It was an up hill battle for economic equality in the South. I can see being middle class in the South would have been very hard.
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David Upton