alternatehistory.com

In a nutshell one of the biggest structural issues that faced the USA was the institution of slavery. In addition to disagreements over the morality of slavery it produced fundamentally different, and antagonistic, political and economic interests between the states that supported it and those opposed to it. Initially the Free and Slave States were largely balanced against each other in terms of political influence, but, over time the balance of power shifted towards the Free States as the issue became more contentious, firstly, as a result of increased migration into the Free States giving them an advantage in the House, and later, as a result of the breakdown in attempts to ensure parity between Free and Slave States allowing Free States to gain control of the Senate. Although the Slave States still had enough power to block constitutional amendments against slavery, the election of Lincoln in 1860 meant that there was now a government committed to stopping the spread of slavery, which would have effectively killed it off in the long-run, had the Slave States not committed suicide by seceding.

The challenge is to prevent this shift in power, either by ensuring that the Slave States maintain a near equal degree of political influence as the Slave States, or, for bonus points, tipping the scales decisively in favour of the Slave States.
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