In a TL where Virginia doesn't secede, and West Virginia doesn't come to fruition, would Richmond be large, and how could this be possible?
Virginia (along with Tennessee, North Carolina, and Arkansas) only seceded because Lincoln called for a militia to put down the rebellion. If somehow you can get support in those states for the militia, you avoid them seceding.
Richmond's Virginia's capital anyway, so it's going to be the center of government in the state. Richmond wouldn't swell, but it didn't swell after being picked as the Confederate capital anyway.
What would be the capital of the CSA if Virginia didn't break away? Atlanta? Greensboro?
In a TL where Virginia doesn't secede, and West Virginia doesn't come to fruition,
What would be the capital of the CSA if Virginia didn't break away? Atlanta? Greensboro?
The United States will have 49 states. A nice seven by seven square of stars sitting in the top left corner of the US flag.
i know virginia was like the core of the confederacy after they joined in but ive always wondered what made them decide to move the capital there from montgomery after they joined....seems wierd theyd mlove their capital pretty close to the front lines and make it a -easy- target...ie closer
Richmond might have become the lower end of the Bos-Wash metropolis 50 years earlier - also, not having the city mostly bruned to ruin in the war would alter the look of the city greatly. Having it not seen as a 'Southern' city could see it industrialize and grow like much of the other Northern cities, a route Richmond was heading to before the war.
If West Virginia stays part of the state, industry will boom - with the massive iron and coal reverves of West Virginia, the coastal trade networks and the fall-line cities that mark industrial cities (Fredericksberg, Richmond, Petersberg... basically the i95 corridor) Virginia might become a second Pennsylvania in terms of growth during the industrial age, maybe even in terms of the east state/west state rivalry.
In the end, I could see it a large city, about the same size as Baltimore, maybe Philidelphia.
This could very well result in Virginia becoming Northern-ized much earlier than OTL, as in a century or more earlier. More industry probably means more immigration and more labor movement activity in the late 19th-early 20th century. By mid-20th century ITTL, Virginia might not be a recognizably Southern state anymore, just another Mid-Atlantic industrial state with a couple big cities (Richmond, the Hampton Roads area), several medium-sized cities, and a few conservative small towns and rural areas. So, yeah, a lot like Pennsylvania.
Possibly, especially if West Virginia never breaks away AND manages to prosper economically speaking.
A Northernized Virginia....UGH, I shudder at the thought![]()
One could argue that Virginia is slowly "Northernizing" today. They've been leaning Democrat for the past couple of elections and a lot more industry is there today than there ever was.
Well first of all, Industry ≠ Northern states (case in point, Birmingham and much of Tennessee). And speaking from my experience growing up there, Northern Virginia (a.k.a. "NoVA") is considered a totally different animal from the Tidewater (from where I hail) or the Piedmont. And the Democratic leaning isn't anything new in the South; Atlanta and much of Florida and Texas have a tendency to vote Democrat as well. The fact that this last election was as close as it was should indicate that there's an increasing divide between the counties surrounding D.C. and the remainder (I wholeheartedly support a splitting of NoVA away from the "true" Virginia FWIW).
At worst, Virginia could be considered a border state like West Virginia or Missouri, not truly the South but definitely not Northern either.
I was making a generalization. Industry is prevailant in the North(east) rather than, per say, farming, and the North tends to vote Democrat. I'm generalizing way too much, I understand.
(Also, on your Atlanta point - many big cities vote Democrat rather than Republican. Florida is a swing state, so I should have exempted it from the Electoral South, and the last time Texas voted for a Democrat was Carter in '76, though I understand the Democrat influence in Texas is growing).