AHC: 2nd Constitutional Convention

How about this: Earlier Dred Scott, slavery spreads to more territories, Texas splits into three states, and US filibusters bring Sonora, South California, and Cuba into the US as slave states. By the later years of the 19th Century, slavery is used widely in industrial labor, especially in southern industrial centers like Birmingham. Populist Labor parties like the Greenbacks and People's Party are more popular both because of the worse economic opportunities for the free worker, and because without the issue of admitting free blacks (which was always divisive in OTL progressive movements) the Democrats can't use it as a wedge to break up southern progressive parties. When the Senate won't even consider basic things like the direct election of Senators, let alone a Constitutional right to a fair wage and workday or a different monetary standard, let alone AGAIN more radical proposals like abolishing the Senate and slavery, and a national popular vote for President, the rising tide of populism culminates in the Constitutional Convention of 1876. But when Congress and the President declare the Convention illegitimate and send out the troops...
 
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