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| Joined: | Sat Jul 28th, 2007 |
| Location: | Oklahoma USA |
| Posts: | 97 |
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The Confederacy would have needed a massive industrial revolution to become a long lasting power. They experienced a good deal of industrial expansion during the war but much more was needed. Plus, the south didn't have a strong tradition of a merchant marine. Without this they would have never been able to compete with the trade of the remaining United States, Britain, France, or Germany. Jefferson's vision of the noble yeoman farmer was steadily becoming an outdated concept.
However, based upon their ingenuity and flexibility shown during the war, I do believe the Confederacy had the capacity to become a strong industrial power.
As a final thought, I don't really buy into this domino theory that if the south leaves then the entire country ruptures apart into 20 pieces.
Well, aside from whether anyone "buys into" the idea that the two countries would have fractured even more after the war, secession would have created the precedent. Plus, I think the image of a united Confederacy, possessing an all-for-one-and-one-for-all mentality, has been shattered by scholarship in recent years. There were some serious internal divisions within the Confederacy. I have no idea if, assuming they win the war, the result would have been 20 new countries at some point or some other number. But I do think it would have been more than one or two. The odds of the original Confederacy holding together for 150 years simply doesn't strike me as realistic. Again, it's possible. But I do not think it's probable.
Perry