So basically if the Union stomped them?
how many got hung in OTL, after 4 years of bloody awful war? Not many. In this ATL, with a much less bloody war, there would likely not be any, unless someone in the south did something really beyond the pale...More traitors hanged but longer existence of slavery
Only so far as it was States' rights to continue slavery. Look at e.g. Virginia's declaration of secession. It explicitly cites slavery.At the time the argument was states rights.
So basically if the Union stomped them?
That said, on the Union side, the issue was holding the Union together. Lincoln himself was prepared to guarantee the status of slavery in existing slave states, and would be quite prepared to make it federal law or even a constitutional amendment if it got the war over more quickly.
Lincoln would live longer though, maybe he would abolish slavery in his second term.
I suspect that the Union would have to win a couple of very bloody battles. Such that the South knows they can't win, but that the North realizes how much it would cost in lives, money and devastation to force a completely military victory.What would it take for this to be offered, and for the South to except it? Possibly if Bull Run ended as a bloody stalemate and all the signs were that the rest of the War would be nasty, brutish snd long?
So basically if the Union stomped them?
Maybe Lee accepts command of the Union army?
If Lee had taken control of the Union army it's actually very likely that he would have washed out in the first 6 month because the army he's commanding just isn't very good, even if he was good officerMaybe Lee accepts command of the Union army?
If Lee had taken control of the Union army it's actually very likely that he would have washed out in the first 6 month because the army he's commanding just isn't very good, even if he was good officer
McClellan was a bad battlefield commander but pretty good at building the army