What if the South had won the 'Civil War'?

Question

What if the South had won the 'Civil War'?

Answer 1

I would be the slave they lynched because I poisoned massah and everyone else in the bighouse.

Answer 2

Aviator: what does "Norther" mean?

> When you started out by calling the civil war the War of Norther Aggression I started to have my doubts<

If you are going to criticize someone else's typo, you should at least spell-check yourself.



As for the question...



Maybe if the South had won, the US wouldn't have a central government which has grown ridiculously powerful far beyond anything the Founding Fathers envisioned. State's rights have been thoroughly trampled.



The Confederates were just dismayed at what they saw as a betrayal of the stated purposes of Founders, who had envisioned a weak central government. You hear many on the Left today who embrace dissent, but many of these same leftys would have denied the Confederacy the right of the people to alter or abolish governments whenever they become destructive of the ends for which they were established.

Answer 3

This would be a third world backwater with a christian theocracy

Answer 4

We would be several smaller countries. No reason for Texas or California or the Northwest to stay in the union if it doesn't exist.

Answer 5

I think that world history in the last 150 years is far too complex to answer this question easily.



I think there'd be inherent problems between states, perhaps even border disputes. We'd have splintered, and we'd probably not have had the industrial revolution when we did.

Answer 6

Interesting question - one of the better one's on Y!A. But I disagree with your connection between Hitler, Communism and the effect the configuration of the United States being one country instead of two, had on Germany and Russia. But I think you are right about gentlemen and ladies, manners and courtesies, and the race issue. Reconstruction, as you correctly point out, was anything but 'reconstruction'. It was a fancy term for solidifying control over the people, culture, economics and dreams of the southerners.



Most of my ancestors fought for the Southern cause, and some were forced to fight for the Union. I will be exploring some of the items you raise, as I write my book about the history of a family and what they had to do during the Civil War, including the stories of those who didn't care for either side and were forced to choose, or simply just 'forced'.

Answer 7

We would be speaking German by now after losing the 1st world war because we lacked the industrial infrastructure

Answer 8

Harry Turtledove has written a whole series of alternative history novels based on the concept of the South winning the war.



Alternate History — The South have won the American Civil War; this posits what would then happen over the next century. (The series consists of several smaller series and has no official title)



How Few Remain (1997)



The Great War Trilogy

American Front (1998)

Walk in Hell (1999)

Breakthroughs (2000)



The American Empire Trilogy

Blood and Iron (2001)

The Center Cannot Hold (2002)

The Victorious Opposition (2003)



The Settling Accounts Tetralogy

Return Engagement (2004)

Drive to the East (2005)

The Grapple (2006)

In at the Death (expected in 2007)

Answer 9

When you started out by calling the civil war the War of Norther Aggression I started to have my doubts. I would quote you calling it that, but you didn't spell in right. Then upon finishing your post, I realized it has nothing intelligent in it.



They didn't win the civil war, and the great United States lives on.

Answer 10

I know one thing. If the Old South would have been attacked by terrorists on 9/11, the terrorists would be no longer. We would go in, and win the war, not pussyfoot around like we are doing now.



The South would be full of ladies, not these women we have nowadays, and would have little need for abortion or same-sex marriage laws.



And I promise you, illegal immigration would have stopped long ago if illegals had to go to a different hospital and school than citizens.



The North would have their high taxes, and abortions, and homosexuals, and illegal immigrants, and no war, and they would be happy. The South would have ladies, and low taxes, and no illegal immigrants, and war and more capitalism, and we would be happy.



In fact, that seems like a pretty good idea.