If the Confederacy won the American Civil War, what would US be like right now?

Question

If the Confederacy won the American Civil War, what would US be like right now?

Answer 1

Well, you have some answers on what the short term impact would be, but your question is what it would be like today.

Today?  The US would probably be anywhere from 5 to 25 different third world countries.  Once the states had the right to separate from the Union, what would prevent them from leaving over any issue they liked?  Over the years, there have been a rich array of divisive issues tearing this nation in all directions.  We would have splintered into many parts.  Would they all be republics?  Not likely.  I expect several of our pieces would experience military coups or worker rebellions.  Who knows how many of those parts would be dictatorships or  communist states.  

Do you think the confederate states would even hold together as a unit?  Not likely.  Texas would definitely have gone on her own.  Texas and California would be the dominant militray and economic powers in North America.  (Spanish might just be California's national language.)

There would be a complex web of treaties and military threats across North America.  States would have their own armies, and there would have been other wars between them.  Don't you think the Texans would have taken Oklahoma by force for the oil?  I could see the midwest going to war with Louisiana over access to the gulf.  I could see communist revolutions in Ohio and Michigan.  I could see Florida as a colony of some European power.  (Do you think the Monroe Doctrine stood a chance without a united US?)

The map of the whole world would be very different.  Germany would  own Western Europe, in a careful balancing act with Russia in the east and Britain with her global reach.  Japan would have dominion over huge chunks of the Pacific Rim, including Australia and Hawaii, and maybe even Alaska.  Africa may still be colonized.  

All speculative, of course, but that's how I see it unfolding.

Answer 2

Indeed an interesting question.  

Well, let's start with the immediate effects.  

1. the Confederate States of America (CSA) would have become a reality.  It would have consisted of Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Tennesee and Kentucky for sure, and potentially Missouri and part of Illinois.  

2.  Slavery would not be abolished in the South in the 1860's.  

3.  The USA would consist of lesser land mass than te CSA.

Other considerations.  The Articles of Confederation which was the document that the South used in the Civil War would likely have to be amended in some way as it's not a very good document for the long term.  How that would have ended up, is conjecture.  In the short term, though the Articles basically would have given the CSA states far greater self rule than they had under the USA.  This basically means that each state would likely pass a lot of laws independantly of one another.  This would likely end up with some disputes among the states in terms of trade and travel.  When the USA used the Articles, there ended up being a lot of ruckus among the states with larger ro more wealthier states bullying smaller states.  The same would likely be true in the South.  

The west would be in an interesting predictament.  The USA would likely have to contend with the CSA over alliances.  California was already part of the USA, but was largely unpopulated.  However, many of the people who later populated the state were from the South.  This could cause issues if slaves traveled with pioneers.  

If the south won the Civil War, there would likely be more wars:  

The fate of the western territories would likely ended up resulting in another war if not a lot of military squirmishes.  

The issue of slavery would just be delayed and further would fester.  My guess is that justifying slavery in terms of trade with international partners would be greatly affected the closer to the 20th century it remained in place.  Some states of the CSA would likely abolish it or create laws that supported other means to employ rather than own african americans, in order to gain international trade advantages over other CSA states with ports.  However, this would have likely kept a great deal of the negative aspects of slavery in place and would cause violent uprisings from blacks or other racial and/or ethnic groups regarding unfair labor practices.  NOT PRETTY.  

Geographically could of resulted with parts of what we know as the US now part of Mexico and Canada.  

Economically, it really would have slowed the progress of industrial infrastructure like the building of railways, uniform trade laws, tax structures and labor laws.  The stability of the CSA would likely not stand well due to slavery practices over time, and would affect trade.  The south would remain poor or grow to be poorer.

My feeling is that the CSA would likely try to rejoin the Union, or at least parts of it would.  The west would likely be parts Canada and Mexico.  We would be a far less powerful country than we are today.

Answer 3

The US would not include all CSA states. And it would be industrial and rely on the South for cotton and similar raw materials.

The CSA never had any intention of controlling both nations. they fought merely for their own independence.  

Answer 4

To think that the South could have won the war is unrealistic at best. They were a superior force in skill up till about June of 1864. The truth is the North won the war of attrition. All is speculation, if Jackson had lived and been at Gettysburg who can tell. I think that if the South had won it would have been a matter of time before the Union would have either started another war or the Confederacy in such need of Industrial goods would have asked to be annexed back into the Union. Afterall the Industrial Revolution began in the Civil War not in the 1920's and 1930's. It is fun to imagine what would have happened  Who Knows.

Answer 5

You should look at Harry Turtleodove's Settling Accounts series. It shows what happens from the Civil War all the way to WOrld War II

Answer 6

Sucky.

Answer 7

well there would be most defintitly slaves.

the flag would be the confederate flag.

the education might  be a little diferent america might not be the strongest nation in the world. both economicly andmilitary wise.

the immigrants might be different, thus towns and cities could look different. like the town/city layout and the architecture layout. and lastly the presidents would probably be different. plus who knows america could be  conquerd.

Answer 8

It probably wouldn't exist. For one thing, they would have killed each other over the remaining territory in the west. If they survived that, there would have been no one to stop the Germans during WWI. If that were the case, there never would have been a Hitler to try to rid the world of so called "undesireables". Basically, we'd all be speaking  German right now.

If the confederacy had survived, I definitely don't believe that slavery would still exist in the south.  The world would not have tolerated that in modern times.  The US was one of the last nations to outlaw slavery.  World opinion would have turned against them.