A Different America?

[Reisen Storm]

Assuming the CSA survived the war as an independent entity, how would it develop? I assume its economy would be on the brink of collapse, so they'd have to do something fast before the whole endeavor fell apart. Would they emancipate the slaves? If so, when? Culturally and militarily, would they take after the Union, Great Britain (who would almost certainly have had to come to the rescue and meditate an end to the war), or someone else?

I thought of a Scenario but I don't know how it would affect the rest of the world What's your take on this?

 

[BELFAST]

A lot depends how how long the war went on and how much damage is done to both sides.
Hard to say without knowing knowing how different the war was to OTL. and how different relations with Britain and France were.
Surviving the war as independent entity does not mean the the USA will recognise the as an independent country.
As regards slavery I think that would be handled at a state level.
Slaves escaping to the USA possible with help for outside the CSA might make slavery more expensive to maintain.
I could see states in the CSA trying to to keep the Federal government small.
I suspect the Union would go for a more powerful federal government.
CSA I think would spend a lot of money on coastal defences and the navy to prevent any future blockade.
Culturally it depend on how many immigrants the CSA can attract and where they come from.
While slavery is still in place this could limit immigration. I imagine immigration at first might be from people who already had family in the CSA.
I imagine the USA would be very different to OTl in this scenario.
Without a more detail POD and an account of what happen in the war and the final size of the CSA it is very hard to say what might happen.

 

[Scott Washburn]

As Belfast notes, a lot will depend on how the South gets its independence. If the North just lets it go in 1861 and there is no war, then a possible reunion could happen later and slavery might eventually die out on its own. If they get their independence after years of war and hundreds of thousands of dead, then it is a whole different ball game. Reunion is very unlikely and the South will cling to slavery as long as it possibly can out of sheer spite for the North.

And, of course, there will be war after war over the western territories. Legally, when the South secedes it also gives up all claim on the western territories because those were acquired by the United States and the United States still exists. But the South is not going to see it that way. Conflicts will erupt almost immediately and they may become major wars. The North and South would hammer away at each other forever after, wearing themselves down so that America never becomes a Great Power.