Civil war happens 10 years earlier

jahenders

Banned
If it did occur, it would be a very different war, even if all the states broke the same way (not a given).
- Much smaller impact of railroads (railroad mileage tripled from 1850-1860 and was much more spread out)
- Few, if any, repeating rifles
- No ironclads
- Little use of balloons
- Less use of telegraph

So, the war would have been somewhat less centrally directed, less mobile, etc. Results would likely have been the same eventually, but it might have been harder for the Union.
 
Confederacy has a slightly better shot at independence if several things happen.

1) De-mobilization of the United States Army after the Mexican War wraps up.

2) The same Confederate generals take up the mantle of the Confederacy as in OTL.

3) Millard Fillmore is...well...Millard Fillmore. Pierce is kind of a pushover. Fillmore signs the FSA into law. Pierce probably lets the Southern states go.
 
most likely the states of the midwest would have joined with the south, because without the rail network that developed much more between 1850 and 1860 tied them to the east coast, without these rail ties for their economic survival the tie was with the south needing to transport their products via the Mississippi.
 
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