This popped into my mind the other day as I read over some TL-191 thread. Reminded me of how Longstreet, in the novels, began the progressive emancipation of slaves in the 1880s as a means to prepare the CSA for industrialization, and indeed by WWI/WWII the Confederacy seemed to have a decent indsutrial output, though not to the scale of the North.
How likely is that though? Did the CSA have enough resources to pull out of the ground to make it worth their while to build up their own industry? And furthermore would they even want to do that? Besides maintaining slavery, one of the main reasons for secession was to maintain their agrarian lifestyle in the face of growing northern mercantile centralization. Why would they voluntarily bring that upon themselves?