Question

How did other countries respond to the American Civil War’s economic changes?
A. They sought new sources of cotton and other valuable raw materials.
B. They generally ignored these changes and waited for the war to end.
C. Foreign factories decided to boycott Southern raw materials such as cotton.
D. They found ways to continue to obtain Southern cotton and other crops.

Answer 1

A. They sought new sources of cotton and other valuable raw materials.

Explanation: The Union blockade and the collapse of Confederate cotton exports (the “cotton famine” in Britain) pushed European manufacturers to turn to alternative suppliers such as Egypt and India and to diversify their raw‑material sources (even while some merchants also used blockade runners to obtain Southern cotton).