Answer:
the cost of food and other items skyrocketed
Step-by-step explanation:
During the Civil War the economy of the North was not at its best. The reason for this was that it was spending lot of money on the war, the military, in order to be able to win against the South. Also, lot of men were engaged into the war, so there was a lack of workers in certain sectors for some time. This led to lack of some products on the market, but also in a sharply rising inflation. The inflation led to the cost of living to skyrocket, and the prices of the food were especially affected by it as they increased by a lot, leaving large portion of people on the verge of existence for some time.