Speculation, which involved raising the prices of desperately needed consumer goods, was rampant and strongly condemned in the Confederacy during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Along with compulsory conscription, the so-called Twenty Slave Law, and arrest, speculation helped undermine support for the war, particularly among the less wealthy. Horrified by the price spike, Virginians searched for explanations. The Atlantic Coast Union bloc was partly to blame, as was the Confederate Congress. Faithful to the philosophy of states' rights and suspicious of a strong federal government, lawmakers refused to impose the taxes necessary to finance the war, thus ensuring high inflation. The victims of that 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 not forthcoming or proved ineffective. Accusations of profiteering, meanwhile, have sometimes been accompanied by anti-Semitism, challenges to patriotism and, in one case, arson. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The Confederacy suffered runaway, runaway inflation that topped 9,000%. The fundamental causes of this profound economic disease 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 the Secretary of the Treasury, Christopher G. Memminger, members of Congress refused in 1861 to impose taxes to meet government expenses. Subsequent legislation did little to resolve the situation, and the Confederacy ultimately raised only a few percentage points of its revenue through taxation. It was a public policy that guaranteed ruinous inflation. Furthermore, the South had never been economically independent, and during the war the increasing Union blockade of the Atlantic coast and, eventually, the Mississippi River, produced painful shortages of many goods. Such shortages contributed to rising prices, as did the physical destruction brought by the war. Of course, there have been numerous cases of individuals trying to take advantage of the economic situation. The Richmond Enquirer reported a man who bought and stockpiled 700 barrels of flour, and the paper criticized another planter who had stockpiled supplies until "the meadow and paths looked like a dock covered with ship's cargoes." In Augusta County, a community leader named John Marshall McCue criticized the "Hell Cormorants" as a shady operator who had become prosperous as a Confederate purchasing agent, "purchasing horses, cattle, and defrauding the government." Some Virginians made large profits by speculating in tobacco, and powerful growers looked out for their own interests whenever the government became involved in regulating prices. Such examples of individual greed contributed to the problem of inflation, but were not the fundamental cause. The suffering of inflation produced abundant protests and a rich vocabulary of denunciation. “This disposition to speculate on the yeomanry of the country,” declared the Richmond Examiner, “is the most mortifying feature of the war.” The editor of the Lynchburg Virginian accused wealthy farmers "of grinding the faces of the poor and destroying the cause of their country." A former Army officer observed the speculation and fortunes being made from tobacco and wrote: "Lynchburg has gone mad, completely mad, men, women and children... all.