Speculation, which involved raising prices on desperately needed consumer goods, was both endemic and roundly condemned in the Confederacy during the American Civil War (1861–1865). Along with conscription, the so-called Twenty Slave Act, and printing, speculation helped undermine support for the war among the less wealthy, in particular. Dismayed by the soaring prices, Virginians sought explanations. The Union blockade of the Atlantic coast was partly responsible, as was the Confederate Congress. True to the philosophy of states' rights and distrustful of a strong federal government, lawmakers refused to raise the taxes needed to finance the war, thereby ensuring high inflation. The victims of this inflation, however, preferred to point the finger at greedy speculators, or “extortionists”. Such individuals certainly existed, but government attempts to regulate or punish them were unsuccessful or proved ineffective. Accusations of speculation, meanwhile, were sometimes accompanied by anti-Semitism, defiance of patriotism and, in one case, arson. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The Confederacy suffered uncontrolled and uncontrolled inflation that exceeded 9,000 percent. The fundamental causes of this profound economic illness were structural and national in scope. To the extent that individuals were responsible, members of the Confederate Congress deserved the most blame. Ignoring the recommendations of Treasury Secretary Christopher G. Memminger, members of Congress refused in 1861 to raise taxes to meet government spending. Subsequent legislation did little to remedy the situation and the Confederation ultimately collected only a few percentage points of its revenue through taxation. This was a public policy that guaranteed ruinous inflation. Furthermore, the South had never been economically independent, and during wartime the growing Union blockade on the Atlantic coast and, ultimately, the Mississippi River, produced painful shortages of many goods. These shortages contributed to the rise in prices, as did the material destruction caused by the war. There have certainly been many cases of individuals attempting to take advantage of the economic situation. The Richmond Enquirer reported the story of a man who bought and stored 700 barrels of flour, and the paper criticized another planter who stockpiled supplies until "the lawn and paths looked like a dock covered with loads of a ship”. In Augusta County, a community leader named John Marshall McCue criticized the "Hell Cormorants" as a shady operator who became prosperous as a Confederate purchasing agent, "buying horses, cattle and fleecing the government." Some Virginians made large profits speculating in tobacco, and powerful planters looked out for their own interests whenever the government became involved in price regulation. Such examples of individual greed contributed to the problem of inflation, but they were not the root cause. The suffering caused by inflation has given rise to abundant protests and a rich vocabulary of denunciation. “This readiness to speculate on the nobility of the country,” declared the Richmond Examiner, “is the most mortifying feature of the war.” The editor of the Lynchburg Virginian accused prosperous farmers of “grinding the faces of the poor and destroying the cause of their country.” A former officer of.