What+if+the+South+Won?

What do you think life would be like if the Confederacy won the war? I think things would be most definetly be different all over the world. For one thing, I think that African Americans could very possibly still be enslaved and forced to work for still "superior" white people. This would effect the whole world- expecially Africa because that's where America was taking the slaves from. I believe that, as a result, Africa's population would decrease and its own economy would decline. This would also be bad for other countries with relations to Africa. In conclusion, I think that if the Confederacy won, the whole world would be in deep trouble! 1204850705

Well i really only happen to think that the only difference it would really make would be the fact that Confederacy would be its own country. If you look at the way the world started to shift right after the Civil War you will see that the industrial revolution begins and the use for slaves would go directly out of use because farming technology immediately improves to the point where the use for slaves is no longer needed. They can use machines to farm and not have to pay or feed anyone. So it really wouldn't have changed anything except that the Confederacy would be all by itself. And even if slavery was kept instituted it wouldn't have affected the African population because America out lawed the slave trade years before. And since America was the last big world power using slaves there probably no where for the South to get slaves from even if they wanted to. 1204856691

I couldn't agree more andy. The South was not trying to take over the country, they wanted to be their own country. So in reality things in the north wouldn't have changed very much. The biggest issue would have been the strength of the country. Had the south succeeded in seceding neither country (CSA or USA) would have been very strong and we wouldnt have developed into the world power that we are today. Slavery wouldn't have totally been useless after the industrial revolution, but it wasn't nearly as needed. One issue to consider is that had slavery survived the advances in mechanized agriculture wouldnt have been neccesary. Therefore, without the abolition of slavery the world probably wouldnt have seen a need to make the advances and slave labor would have been the ONLY way. this is a perfect example that "necessity is the mother of invention." mme

Andy is completely right because the south would have their own president and would be a separate country that may just screw up the way that we live our lives. The USA would have never developed and we would be living in a country were we would probably be considered a third world country and would have never been through the industrialization revolution which makes the USA one of the most powerful country in the world. And I also think that the British would have probably taken a stab at trying to recover land that they lost in the American Revolution, they would probably have gone for the union because it had many states with great industry level and they know that they are completely open to an attack. I think that the world would be a bit better because the US consumes so much of the worlds resources but then maybe there would be some pretty messed up people that would still be alive like Hitler and the good things that the USA have done would have never been like helping other countries and coming up with new technologies. 1205007912hre

I do not think that we would still have slavery if the south won the civil war. Slavery was already widely becoming abolished around the world (The US was one of the last). Not only was it becoming abolished, but there were many abolishonists. It was inevitable for things to change, and it's not like the North winning and the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation was for the interests of the abused blacks, but for the white northerners. 1205116416

I think history would have been so different if the South had won the Civil War. I don't think that slavery would be still going on today because someone in history would've stepped up and demanded for a change. Martin Luther King Jr. tried to change society bewtween the blacks and whites. Unfortounatly for him, he risked his life and was shot. If the Civil War hadn't happened before that time, it would've been much harder on King to deliver his message. People wouldn't have the same mind frame and most whites in the South would be against him because of his skin color. The Civil war gave him a great boost so the racial tension wasn't as harsh. If our country split into two new countries, it would be a reality shock to everyone. It is so much better to have one strong army joined together rather than two semi-strong countries going against each other. At some point in history, i think the US would have come together as one nation.1205183774ape2

If the south won the war I don’t think things would have been very different, sure history would have been changed, maybe slowed but I don’t think things today would have been very different. The thing is the south would have never won in the end. If the south one the war there would be another and another until the north put the south down. As time went on other courtiers would have gotten involved and the ending could have been even more catastrophic. Just like how we helped out countries in need from bad people like Iraq and their problems with terrorist. The USA was a growing, developing country and with that comes problems until a system of organization is set in place. The development of government was the solution to this problem. It took a President to address the problem and without such a powerful individual it wouldn’t have been possible to stop the south. Its too bad the Government isn’t like what it was back then, full of genius individuals and not over the roof with one objective to make money like crooks.1205195513

What if the South had won? What a question to comprehend…I think that if the south had won, some parts f this country would be better and some parts worse. One worse thing would be the slavery, that’s a no brainier, but think about the things that would have been better. I think that our country would be focused more on ourselves than every other country on the Globe and maybe we wouldn’t get in so many wars if we weren’t digging in other peoples business. This logic comes from, everyone has enemies…even Jesus had enemies. So when you start to help a country, even though you gain a friend you also gain an enemy, because the enemy of the person you are helping gets mad because they just like the person you’re helping. So, guilty by association. This is kind of why we are in the Iraq war today. The southerners are definitely more patriotic and love our country a bit more than we here in the north, and they wouldn’t let other countries use us so their people can go there and make money to send back to there family and Mexico. All in all our countryto be honest with you would probably not be much different but we migh be a little more proud of our country if the Confederates won.

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I think that if the south won what would happen would be that America would be a split country, there would be the Union and the Confederacy too. I also think that there may still have been slaves working in the south and there would be nothing we could do about it. I also think that many other states might become slave states if the south won. Lets just say that we are very lucky that the Union won because we would have one messed up country if the south actually won. 1205285348

Well its kind of of ovious what would happen if the south did win. Lets see there would be slaves, and there would be no 50 states. But honestly that would have never happened in real life. Someone like England or something would step in. Plus the north messed around with the souths transportation. There would be no way for the south to get there supplies becuase right from the very beging the north tried to shut down everything that was run by the south. We even read it in the Owl Creek bridge, so there is plenty of examples of what the north did. Another one was they did bowties they took the railways and bent them and twisted them all up. But just thinking Would there ever be a Golf War? Would we had many disputes with Cuba? Who knows im just happy that the south never own. I think everyone reliazied that the north wining was the way to go. 1205290095Ale2

If the Confederates won, I still think slavery would've ended regardless. There were too many people who disagreed with the whole slavery issue overall, and in the U.S it would only seem fair if everyone had their freedom - even the slaves. Whether it be the Union or the Confederacy that won, either way racism would still exist. African Americans would still deal with prejudice people (and still do). So, I guess it's easy to say that the Civil War itself was not only pointless but in fact stupid. A vast amount of people died over something that should've have started to begin with. This is just a prime example of how truly messed up and ruined our country really is. It's sad knowing our country was split into two just based on the thought that one side wanted slavery and the other side didn't. That's pretty much saying that half of the U.S, being the south, wanted slavery. That's a lot of people, and it's never a proud feeling knowing that we're part of a country or place that went through so much pointless turmoil. 1205293916

I think that if the south had won over the union America would be split in two and would be completely different that it is today. There would be the union and the confederacy and the confederacy would still be slave owning and it would be completely different than it is today. Plus if the south won they might have just taken over the union and made those states slave owning and completely change the history of the United States. I'm just thankful that the north won because if the south won this would be one messed up country that I would not like to live in. 1205368461

I believe that if the South had won, slavery would gotten wworse and it would've become more harsh. I also think that it would get to a point where it wouldn't just be colored people working for white people, i think it would reach to the level of white peopel working for superior white people. I think that eventually slavery would be erased because as i said that i learned before, the reason taht people felt superior to peopel of color was because, back then, it was a scientific fact that people of color was less intellegent then white people.

I think becuase of this mistake in scientific assumption, later in time if slavery hadn't already been resolved, someone would figure out that people that are white are not any more intellegent then people of color. when people figured this fact out, brave people who knew what was right (like Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln) would eventually take a stand and make known that the treatment of slavery was unethical and wrong.

I also find it funny that with our human behavior and the need to always have someone in charge has formed our society in to divisions kind of how they were back in the time before the civil war. There is always a boss, or cooperative leaders, who manage some form of a company. Under them are the people most capable other than the boss(es). And below them are the people of lower and lower authority. Also, everyone works for someone!!! Even if you are self-employed, there is still some authority that is above you that you need to pay to or obey to. Although the way in which we work for people in present day is obviously more fair and clearly not abusive (well, maybe not phsyically absusive ha), there is still the structure of people being superior to other people.

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I dont get the idea of a white man throwing a white man for granted. Just so you know mdo it was WHITE VS. BLACK! It would never come down for a supeir white man to take possesion of a poor white man. Everyone knew the social class but it didnt come down to social class in the south it was eaither your black or your white. It's as simple as that there was no Supeir white man taking possesion of antoher white man it would be like a stab in the back if he did. I think that there would be such a demand for slaves that they eventually would be soo much slaves that the white couldnt handle them anymore and it would be a rebelion other than south against the north. Hello MDO! Lincoln did take a stand wow have you been sleeping all of english class. Lincoln pushed and pushed he was a huge contributer to the whole slavery movement he knew it was unethical and wrong so right away he took a stand and said it was wrong. 1205379793Ale2

I think that if the south won what would happen would be that America would be a split country, there would be the Union and the Confederacy too. I also think that there may still have been slaves working in the south and there would be nothing we could do about it. I also think that many other states might become slave states if the south won. Lets just say that we are very lucky that the Union won because we would have one messed up country if the south actually won. I also think that the country would be governed differently. It is possible that we could be ran by a complete dictator. Maybe even started more wars. 1205391478

If the south won the war I believe not too many things would be different. I agree with some of the responses i saw scrolling down the page in that we wouldn't have slavery anymore, alot of things would be similar but its true it would of taken longer for those things to happen. Maybe slavery wouldn't have been abolished till the 1900's? Who know's? Although it is extremely interesting to discuss the possibilites if the south won the war. However you can argue things would be WAY different, its just really tough to decide which I believe but I would have to go with this country not being that much different, if anything just a few little things affecting America in general. Thanks for posting this topic it gave me a great chance to think about this in-depth and also see what other people's opinions were! 1205446766

If the south won, things would have been very different. First of all, the slavery would have continued, along with the movement of abolitionism. But instead of running away to northern states, now the slaves would have to reach Canada to be safe. The number of abolitionists would have increased and possibly, another war would have happend. Also, if the south won, the nation would have been in a chaos because southern states' leaders lacked the skills to rule efficiently. But there also would have been positive things if the south won. For example, the nation would have been wealthier because of the growing economy of cotton and maybe, Lincoln would not have gotten shot. Personally, im glad the Union won, though i strongly believe that the war should have never happend in the first place. 1205455183

The question what if the south had won, allways crosses through my mind. Things would be so different in our world today. Slavery would still be here which would be very difficult to cope with. It was hard enough for African Americans to deal with racism and segregation during the time of Martin Luther King Jr. And I stongly agree with npa, that slaves would have to run all the way to Canada because of the possibility that the northern people would change and also become slave owners. And the south would have had to rely on the northern people who were a little more educated, to run a new type of slavery maybe. This would allow much more money to be made. Its all just kind of weird when you think about all the situations that would have been present today in our society. Im curious as to how the world would handle it. 1205458474

I do think the U.S. would be very different today if the south had won instead of the north. I wonder if slavery would still be going on to this day if the south had won. I have a hard time beleiving that slavery would still be going on just because i think they would have realized by now that slavery was VERY VERY bad. I think the north would have kept fighting for what was right until they did manage to win. I do not think the south's leaders could have the ability to rule and i think they would eventually crumble and they would be forced to join back up with us. That would have been the worste case scenario for the slaves because now they would have to r=travel twice the distance and not get caught, when they were having trouble escaping into the north so that would have really sucked for the slaves. Put it this way the U.S. would be horrible if they won. It would really suck for us and maybe i would not even be here right now if they had won the war. 1205466067

If the south had won the civil war the world would be a vary different place then it is today. Today, we would still have slavery and blacks would be treated unequal to whites. I think that if the south had won, us as americans would not have the freedom that we have today. Thinking about all the freedoms that we have today, the captivity that we would be under would not please anyone. The southerners back then treated people unfairly and i dont think it was right. Reading about how terrible the conditions were, the people in the world wouldn't stand for it and i think that many would rebel against it. So I think if the south had won the war, people in the world today may have had a chance to fight back and throw out the idea of slavery all together. 1205471236