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Whistlin' Dixie
Apr. 12th, 2010 03:25 pmAs part of the American Civil War unit I’m doing this year, we had a counter-factual ‘convention’ this week, playing out a hypothetical last-ditch peace talks between Union and Confederate factions in the wake of Fort Sumpter. Fortunatly, I ended up in one of the interesting groups – Southern Fire-Eaters!
Unfortunately, our faction ended up isolated and ignored, and our attempts to bring the border states around to the secessionist cause failed miserably after the Jefferson Davis faction agreed to enter negotiations with the Lincoln faction, selling out our interests in the process.
In hindsight, it’s entirely possible our faction’s bellowing “Traitors to the South!” during the Southern Unionist faction’s speech, shouting “Sic Semper Tyrannus!” whenever the Lincoln faction spoke and heckling the Northern Slave-Holders faction with calls of “Pick a side!” may have been a factor in our later inability to find allies. But hey, what’s the point if you don’t get into character?
On the plus side, the eventual agreement the other groups reached – re-entry of the South into the Union, gradual emancipation of slaves on a state level over the next forty years, and economic and industrial compensation of Southern slave-holders – was probably close to the best outcome we could have reasonably negotiated anyway.
As a historical outcome, a total mess of course – extending slavery for another generation or two, and that’s assuming there aren’t efforts to delay further the emancipation date. The negotiators for the other factions seemed unaware the US of 1861 lacked a federal income tax, so where the money to compensate slavers wasn’t discussed, but that would be an issue. The South remains its political influence through the 1860s and 70s, while with control of slavery made a state issue again, one can expect Bleeding Kansas from Delaware to Texas, not to mention the ten new states that entered the union during the period slavery is supposed to be being phased out.
In addition, it occurs to me in a 'no civil war' timeline, the 14th amendment never passes, meaning the Dred Scott decision still stands.
Plus, since our faction, furious at being cut out of the negotiations, ended the Convention shouting “Succession forever!”, one would expect at least low-level anti-Union fighting for years to come.
On the other hand, considering our timeline saw the complete abandonment of Reconstruction by 1877 and Klansmen insurgent activity in the South anyway, maybe our compromise was a better result.
Lot of fun, anyway. I’d love to do something like this covering the Treaty of Versailles or the Treaty of Paris… at the very least because as fun as being a belligerent loud-mouth is, I don’t really enjoy roleplaying slavers.
Unfortunately, our faction ended up isolated and ignored, and our attempts to bring the border states around to the secessionist cause failed miserably after the Jefferson Davis faction agreed to enter negotiations with the Lincoln faction, selling out our interests in the process.
In hindsight, it’s entirely possible our faction’s bellowing “Traitors to the South!” during the Southern Unionist faction’s speech, shouting “Sic Semper Tyrannus!” whenever the Lincoln faction spoke and heckling the Northern Slave-Holders faction with calls of “Pick a side!” may have been a factor in our later inability to find allies. But hey, what’s the point if you don’t get into character?
On the plus side, the eventual agreement the other groups reached – re-entry of the South into the Union, gradual emancipation of slaves on a state level over the next forty years, and economic and industrial compensation of Southern slave-holders – was probably close to the best outcome we could have reasonably negotiated anyway.
As a historical outcome, a total mess of course – extending slavery for another generation or two, and that’s assuming there aren’t efforts to delay further the emancipation date. The negotiators for the other factions seemed unaware the US of 1861 lacked a federal income tax, so where the money to compensate slavers wasn’t discussed, but that would be an issue. The South remains its political influence through the 1860s and 70s, while with control of slavery made a state issue again, one can expect Bleeding Kansas from Delaware to Texas, not to mention the ten new states that entered the union during the period slavery is supposed to be being phased out.
In addition, it occurs to me in a 'no civil war' timeline, the 14th amendment never passes, meaning the Dred Scott decision still stands.
Plus, since our faction, furious at being cut out of the negotiations, ended the Convention shouting “Succession forever!”, one would expect at least low-level anti-Union fighting for years to come.
On the other hand, considering our timeline saw the complete abandonment of Reconstruction by 1877 and Klansmen insurgent activity in the South anyway, maybe our compromise was a better result.
Lot of fun, anyway. I’d love to do something like this covering the Treaty of Versailles or the Treaty of Paris… at the very least because as fun as being a belligerent loud-mouth is, I don’t really enjoy roleplaying slavers.
