Before we begin our discussion on The Gilded Age, we first need to do a brief overview of the Civil War. Now we will not be doing a dive on the war because there are countless better podcasts, books, documentaries, and films about it, but it is important for our story going forward. The Civil War was certainly the most explosive time in American history. Never before, and never since was the nation split in 2. Much of our story will be dealing with the fallout after the war. Before we really talk about the war, we have to talk about the 84 year lead up to it. And we're going to talk about some really sexy stuff, Tariffs!