Modern Imperialism
Banned
Yea I could see former slaves and later blacks in the confederate states thinking Appalachia is a good place to flee to but quickly figuring out that is the opposite from true once there. I also see the United States being opposed to fleeing slaves and later for immigrating blacks from the confederacy. Even if they hate the south after the war they might work with them on that. I could see people in the union openly blaming blacks for the war afterwards and the US wanting to enforce strict border control much earlier on to prevent blacks from coming in and maybe even poor whites. The US most likely don’t want them coming there and also wants them in the confederate states in hopes they cause a rebellion. But I do think the US might have mix feelings or be cautious about supporting rebellion. They don’t want that spreading to there lands or have the confederates doing the same. I see the confederacy actually treating natives better so they can use them as leverage against the United States. Same with maybe the Mormons out west. I think if one state or region leaves the union more will follow in the United States and even some of there break away countries too. For the Confederates this is most likely being Texas(probably tries to claim its past republic claims), French Louisiana, Indian territory(Oklahoma minus handle but probably a puppet of someone), and Appalachia. The United States would be New England, Deseret, and California(if Deseret gets free). America losing the civil war or to any secessionist is a big lost of face and public image that hurts the stability of the union. Many in the north during the time understood this and that’s why some of them supported the war. You had industrialist who before the war did not care about or oppose slavery in the south support the union war effort due to them possibly losing out on raw materials and for fear of the after effectsYou could probably manage it with a range of circumstances. My thought was just a pissed off US- I see no reason why corruption should increase, necessarily. Starts doing the unavoidable psychological work of moving forward as a loser, convincing itself it's well-rid of the Confederacy (in so many ways it is). When internal rebellions start, why not support them? When the dust settles, that psychological shift means the people really don't want to play the annexation game, so you set up something between a puppet (if they helped a lot) and a friendly buffer.
US continues to thrive, Confederacy continues to circle the toilet, Appalachia actually somewhere in the middle for a while, though economically handcuffed to the US and its needs. Probably doesn't ever get as bad as Afghanistan or even Haiti, but certainly something like Bolivia is well within reach.
Definitely not a good final destination for African Americans. It might look like a good place to run to on the way to the US or Canada, but I don't see anything (beyond pressure from the US) stopping Appalachians from cooperating with Confederates on a Fugitive Slave Act style retrieval system. Probably be quite in favor of it if there was a bounty system still in place.