During the American Civil War, some Radical Republicans, Charles Sumner being prominent among them, proposed that the States of the CSA, by seceding, had essentially "committed suicide" and could now be governed- and redrawn- as territories. This was generally proposed as a way to abolish slavery without a new amendment. The idea never had much support outside of radical Republicans, and OTL did not really come close to passing into law.
But let's say the Civil War gets more radical, events change, and for one reason or another the Northern Congress is now willing to go along with this idea. They still win the war, and afterwards they now have a bunch of territories in the former Southern United States to redraw as they like. Obviously, they are going to redraw them in their political favor, as free states. They're also going to attempt to gerrymander to be as pro-Republican as possible, probably making a few African-American majority and Appalachian states and then lumping the rest of the South into 1-2 big states that are overwhelmingly full of former secessionists.
What would this map actually look like? How could Republicans draw things up to make as many states out of the Black Belt as possible, while also creating zones in Appalachia that they can at least compete in?
But let's say the Civil War gets more radical, events change, and for one reason or another the Northern Congress is now willing to go along with this idea. They still win the war, and afterwards they now have a bunch of territories in the former Southern United States to redraw as they like. Obviously, they are going to redraw them in their political favor, as free states. They're also going to attempt to gerrymander to be as pro-Republican as possible, probably making a few African-American majority and Appalachian states and then lumping the rest of the South into 1-2 big states that are overwhelmingly full of former secessionists.
What would this map actually look like? How could Republicans draw things up to make as many states out of the Black Belt as possible, while also creating zones in Appalachia that they can at least compete in?