What If…The South Had Won The Civil War?

By in And Jerry

In the interest of full disclosure, allow to start by saying I am not a Southerner.  I live in the south, but that doesn’t make me a Southerner.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, or as some here in the south still refer to it, the war of northern aggression.  The History Channel is running a week of specials under the banner Civil War Week.  So far “Gettysburg” and “Grant and Lee” have been very interesting, though some of the experts have leaned a little to the left in their analysis; this is the History Channel after all.

I’ve been thinking about how things may have been different had the south won the Civil War (cause I have that kind of time).  I’ve actually researched this a little bit, but as a history buff I’m entitled to express an opinion without needing to fully support it with the facts.
A couple of interesting opinions I’ve seen include:
  • Our involvement in World War I would have been much more limited, which may have meant that Germany wouldn’t have been so convincingly beaten and the Treaty of Versailles would not have been so harsh.  So Germany would not have fallen onto the desperate times that paved the way for Hitler to come to power, which may have averted World War II, at least the European portion.
  • Slavery would have been abolished in the south anyway.
  • The south (or CSA for Confederate States of America) may very well have established a government much closer to what the authors of the Constitution had in mind, placing much more power in the hands of individual states with a weaker federal government.

If we had become two separate nations, the CSA may have remained more conservative politically.  South of the Mason-Dixon line prayer in schools might have remained a reality.

We’re taking your calls on the air this morning on this topic.  You can also post your feedback in the comments section below, or on our Face Book page.

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