The Confederate aristocracy used to say that they won the War of Succession because God was on their side; that is as good an explanation for how they won as any. It is not (much) of an exaggeration to say that President Davis' generals (esp. the undoubted genius of Gerald Martin Stewart) did everything right while President Simpson's generals, and indeed his government, did everything wrong. Confederacy propaganda was masterful in convincing the average Union citizen that they were perpetually days away from defeat--which became a self-fulfilling prophecy. On top of that, if the Confederacy did not have the greatest lucky streak in history, Cracked would definitely list it in the top five. And even so, they barely squeaked by; if they'd had a little worse luck, if the Union was a little more competent, if the Union's populace was a little more willing to keep on fighting, if the Confederacy's generals a little less bold, we'd be looking at a very different North America.
But if God gave the Confederacy victory, it was the God of wrath from the Old Testament, and He did it only because He had something much worse planned for them...
~~~~~
The title works on so many levels. First, the Confederate constitution was specifically and intentionally written in such a way as to make modernization and liberalization impossible (after all, the entire point was that the aristocrats were afraid of losing their power), which of course means that it'll never be much more than a backwater (unless, of course, something were to change--violently). Second, it meshes real well with the Biblical imagery of the intro (those two paragraphs you just read). Third, the TL itself doesn't so much have a POD as a starting condition (the South wins the Civil War...somehow). (This is because, quite frankly, I view a Southern Victory itself as being ASB; notice how I set things up so that, if necessary, I can go back decades to set up a justification for Confederate victory.) Fourthly, I only really have a vague idea what I'm doing here (quite frankly, this TL's free to a good home; just remember that the whole point is to hoist the Confederacy by its own petard); the Civil War is not my strong suit.
But if God gave the Confederacy victory, it was the God of wrath from the Old Testament, and He did it only because He had something much worse planned for them...
~~~~~
The title works on so many levels. First, the Confederate constitution was specifically and intentionally written in such a way as to make modernization and liberalization impossible (after all, the entire point was that the aristocrats were afraid of losing their power), which of course means that it'll never be much more than a backwater (unless, of course, something were to change--violently). Second, it meshes real well with the Biblical imagery of the intro (those two paragraphs you just read). Third, the TL itself doesn't so much have a POD as a starting condition (the South wins the Civil War...somehow). (This is because, quite frankly, I view a Southern Victory itself as being ASB; notice how I set things up so that, if necessary, I can go back decades to set up a justification for Confederate victory.) Fourthly, I only really have a vague idea what I'm doing here (quite frankly, this TL's free to a good home; just remember that the whole point is to hoist the Confederacy by its own petard); the Civil War is not my strong suit.