The natural consequence was immense
inflation of the currency, or circulating medium, and the rapid
appreciation of every species of property in price. Everybody and every
interest flourished most prosperously--gaunt poverty had fled the land,
and bloated abundance laughed in every home. Suddenly men sprang into
importance who a little while before were humble artizans or employed
in the meanest capacities. A new El Dorado had been discovered;
fortunes were made in a day, without enterprise or work; and unexampled
prosperity seemed to cover the land as with a golden canopy--forests
were swept away in a week; labor came in crowds to the South to produce
cotton; and where yesterday the wilderness darkened over the land with
her wild forests, to-day the cotton plantation whitened the
earth--production was quadrupled--labor doubled in value, land rose to
fearful prices, the wildest extravagance obtained; costly furniture,
expensive equipages, ostentatious display--all were contributing to
hasten the catastrophe. The wise saw what was impending, and the
foolish thought it impossible.
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