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What if the South won the American Civil War?

  • 10-04-2011 7:18am
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26


    Everyone automatically assumes that it's a good thing that the United States (Union/North) defeated the rebels (Confederacy/South), but are things better off than they would of been? Needless to say, slavery is bad, but slavery wasn't truly the issue behind the civil war to begin with. The primary issue is one would be hard-pressed (or just plain stupid) to disagree with the South over. And that issue is the one of states' rights.

    Constitutionally and morally the South had every right to secede from the Union and the states are meant to be more powerful than the federal government. If the South had won the Civil War, then I think that things may have been better off in the long run. While in the short run it would have had obvious negligible effects such as the continuation of slavery and the fact that our country would be divided in two. The South had effectively no chance of ever annexing the North, due to the North's infrastructure and there was a heavy anti-war sentiment going on in the North as it was towards the end, so a peace treaty would have likely been signed.

    In the long run we would no doubt eventually reunite as a country and if the South had not done so already, slavery would have ended as part of the reunification. We would then still have states' rights and many of the problems we wouldn't have many of the problems we face today. What are your thoughts on the topic at hand? And what do you think would have happened if the South won the Civil War?


Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 18,013 ✭✭✭✭Bass Reeves


    I know this thread is over 9 years old and the OP may not still be active on boards. I watched the PBS American Civil War series on Netflix's over the last week. First off the South would never have won the Civil War IMO. As Shelby Foote said the North fought most of the war with one hand tied behind its back.

    The two times it might have got a peace deal was if Lee had won at Gettysburg or if McCelland had won the 1864 election. The term's would have been totally different in each occasion. After Gettysburg they might have been able to dictate terms, however by the time McCelland would have taken power in 1865 they were a beaten ticket anyway.

    In any peace deal in 1865 I think the South would have had to end slavery within 10 years and would have shrinked in size do no point in looking at that.

    If Lee had won at Gettysburg and the North sued for peace(not a given by the way unless maybe that the British got involved). The South might have managed to get a peace deal that would have allowed slavery to continue into the 20th century. However it neither had the industry or the means to become a world power. Would it have developed as a military and navel power with UK assistance. If it did would the North have rearmed a bit like Germany after WW1 and developed closer ties with countries other than Great Britain....mainly Germany and other Asian countries.

    Would the rift have continued into the 20th century and lead to part of WW1 being fought in what we call the US now. Would a resurgent Northern military have attacked into Canada and a North South war started again. Maybe Mexico involved as an ally of one or the other. Japan with maybe closer ties to yhe North siding with it rather than the Allied in WW1

    Slava Ukrainii



  • Registered Users Posts: 5,504 ✭✭✭tac foley


    Read Harry Turtledoves 'Guns of the South'.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,832 ✭✭✭sparky42


    Meh, can't really stand Turtledoves writing tbh.


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