Durante su primer medio siglo de existencia, los Estados Unidos de America sufrieron un espectacular desarrollo que convirtio a la joven republica en una de las naciones mas poderosas del mundo. El Norte, industrial, en crecimiento, que se convertia en un iman para miles de emigrantes de todo el mundo. Y el Sur, rural, agrario, apegado a sus tradiciones y costumbres, con una economia orientada a la exportacion de algodon y tabaco. Las tensiones entre los dos modos de vida se fueron agravando rapidamente, lo que genero finalmente una crisis en noviembre de 1860. Se habia prendido la chispa que los llevaria a la guerra. En el conflicto -el mas duro del siglo XIX, si exceptuamos las Guerras Napoleonicas, y el mayor jamas librado en el continente americano-, combatieron casi tres millones de hombres. Cerca de 620 000 moririan, mas de 412 000 volverian heridos, y amplias zonas del Sur quedarian completamente devastadas, lo que generaria una brecha en el pais que tardaria decadas en cerrarse. / During its first half century of existence, the United States suffered dramatic transformations. The young republic became one of the most powerful nations in the world. The North, with its industrial growth, became a magnet for thousands of migrants worldwide. While the rural South remained attached to its traditions and customs, with its export-oriented economy of cotton and tobacco. Tensions between these two ways of life were mounting rapidly and ultimately led to war. This conflict was the toughest of the nineteenth century, except for the Napoleonic Wars, and the largest ever fought in the American continent. With three million contenders, nearly 620 000 died, more than 412 000 were wounded, and large areas of the South were devastated. All these created a gap in the country that it would take decades to close