Additionally, I'd imagine that North Texas is less Dallas-focused and more focused on including eastern Texas (excluding parts of the coast) and central Texas, particularly parts where German settlers predominated. The backcountry plus the Germans plus some Tejanos (since the Germans are around San Antonio any way, the Tejanos there and further south in the Rio Grande valley might come too) as the backbone for a secessionist movement from the Confederate state of Texas.
From what I understand, there were two main regions that had counter-secessionary movements: Dallas and Texas Hill Country or something (don't remember the exact name, it was something like that). I think I have the latter pretty misplaced (that's the somewhat bulbuous region in the southwest of North Texas), but I did the best I can. I haven't heard much about other regions that were pro-counter secession...
Of course, getting Houston as governor of this entity will be difficult, since his OTL actions during the Civil War centered on the goal of keeping the war from coming to Texas, no matter what side she was on. However, if someone else starts the movement going and there's nothing he can do to stop the fighting, he might get involved.
True, true. I don't know that much about Houston, so I was thinking something along the lines of North Texas just thinking of itself as the legitimate successor to Texas, and keep as much of the state government as it can.
At its most extreme, this may even mean that abolition as such isn't imposed on a Reconstructed South, leaving abolitionist New Englanders very upset.
Eh. Part of the reason Appalachia was against the war was because they were too poor. Slavery really wasn't an issue. In any case, I see the Civil War amendments flying through Congress anyway. With the southern nations not really having a say, they'd easily get the majority necessary, just like OTL, .
'course, I think even if Nickajack
did support slavery, Lincoln still would've gone through with it. There were a lot of huge benefits to the Emancipation Proclamation, and destroying international support for the CSA would've been worth risking Nickajack's ire. Nickajack was poor, had a relatively small population, and by that point would've been solidly in the war.
Incidentally, Nickajack was supposed to be a neutral territory, not taking sides with the rebels, but not fighting directly against them, either. I think this would just turn out how it did with Kentucky, though. The CS attacks, and drives them straight into the Union camp.