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Hey Guys,

One idea that's batted around for a Confederate victory timeline is to have Britain and France declare war on the United States after the Trent affair. This most likely will inevitably lead to a Confederate victory, but what would the effects on New England be? One of the areas that trades most with Britain (and France) on the Atlantic seaboard, it previously discussed secession in the War of 1812.

What would New England do now? The war would probably only last a year or two I expect now with the Union being hemmed in from both the North and South, alongside this trade will virtually be halted to New England. I expect Britain would probably set up its own blockade of New England, thus making it much worse.

While during the war I expect Lincoln would do nearly everything he could to keep the states of New England in the Union even with these stresses being placed on them, what would happen after the Union is beaten? The US has lost huge swathes of populated land, of which most were involved in the cotton industry. Lincoln had been shown to have lost a war against the Southerners, while also causing the British blockade of New England. Alongside this, if Britain takes the northern section of Maine in the peace then it's even more humiliating for New England.

Thus, taking all this into account might we see the states of New England voting to secede very much in the way the Confederate states had? What could the Union do to try and keep these states in if they did try and leave? Could they even try and war with them, or might Britain support their independence as well with the possibility of a weaker Union and to have a nation that isn't likely to war with them that's also going to trade a lot?

If this isn't plausible in a scenario with just the CSA winning the war with Anglo-French support, then what may have to happen in the war/post war in order for the New English states to feel they should leave the Union? Possibly have the Union start the war, and thus seeming much more aggressive? This would also allow a lot more of the blame of lost trade to be placed on the US.
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