Today the Deep South south of the 36-30 line is the second-most progressive region of the United States whereas the Northeast is one of the most conservative.
How could the reverse be true?
While folks usually look for commonalities in the region as a whole, I think it might actually be wiser to look at things state-by-state.
South Carolina's Red Shirt insurgency came quite close to succeeding and installing white-only government in South Carolina, but it ultimately was put down historically resulting in SC remaining the most racially progressive state in the country and Charleston becoming the cultural capital of Black America.
The shifting of the Mississippi River's mouth to the Atchafalaya basin resulted in the emergence of a massive new urban-sprawl from Lafayette to Baton Rouge and resulted in much immigration. The later construction of the
The emergence of Birmingham as America's steel capital and the associated industries that emerged in Mobile, Montgomery, and Chatanooga shifted the politics of Alabama and Tennessee progressive.
The fusion governments of North Carolina resulted in progressive governance and dominance in that state.
Meanwhile with the exception of Moderate Massachusetts, the northeast is the most politically conservative region of the United States. If steel were centered in Pittsburgh instead of Alabama I could perhaps see that state being more progressive. Maybe if the capital hadn't been relocated following the civil war the emerging political sprawl could have transformed Virginia and Maryland the way it did historically in the surrounding western states.
New Jersey, Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire are just so very rural though. It's hard to see them becoming progressive without affecting that.
How could the reverse be true?
While folks usually look for commonalities in the region as a whole, I think it might actually be wiser to look at things state-by-state.
South Carolina's Red Shirt insurgency came quite close to succeeding and installing white-only government in South Carolina, but it ultimately was put down historically resulting in SC remaining the most racially progressive state in the country and Charleston becoming the cultural capital of Black America.
The shifting of the Mississippi River's mouth to the Atchafalaya basin resulted in the emergence of a massive new urban-sprawl from Lafayette to Baton Rouge and resulted in much immigration. The later construction of the
The emergence of Birmingham as America's steel capital and the associated industries that emerged in Mobile, Montgomery, and Chatanooga shifted the politics of Alabama and Tennessee progressive.
The fusion governments of North Carolina resulted in progressive governance and dominance in that state.
Meanwhile with the exception of Moderate Massachusetts, the northeast is the most politically conservative region of the United States. If steel were centered in Pittsburgh instead of Alabama I could perhaps see that state being more progressive. Maybe if the capital hadn't been relocated following the civil war the emerging political sprawl could have transformed Virginia and Maryland the way it did historically in the surrounding western states.
New Jersey, Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire are just so very rural though. It's hard to see them becoming progressive without affecting that.