The Curse of Cotton

The Curse of Cotton​


Chapter 1: Shattering


“A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become lawful in all the States, old as well as new — North as well as South.”

Future President Abraham Lincoln in a speech accepting the nomination by the Republican Party for the Illinois senatorial race in 1858​

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From: “A History of North America: 1777-1990” by James Langdon (1990) —

The Confederate War of Independence(1) remains a polarizing conflict and a point of disagreement for North Americans. Confederate rightists(2) see the war as fundamental to the survival of the Southern way of life, of course without admitting that the mentioned way of life was slavery and with all but the fringe right(3) believing that racism was not a part of the conflict, while Confederate centrists see the war as a result of North/South tensions that merely manifested itself as slavery and that such tensions would have resulted in secession even if slavery was never part of the south with only the fringe left believing it to be over slavery, with only Confederate leftists seeing it as a war against slavery. They believe that a war of independence could have occurred over tariffs or merely the domination of the former Southern American region by the rest of the US. Most Americans(4) see it as the secession of an American backwater built upon slavery that should have left without a fight, with only the extreme rightists stating that the Confederacy should have remained American, and many leftists having the opinion that it should have remained under American control in order to eradicate the evils of slavery.

Suffice to say, the mainstream American opinion that the CSA should have been allowed to peacefully secede holds merit in that the US is the proud hegemon of the Americas, whereas, the CS is a poor, albeit rapidly developing, state overshadowed by the US both internationally and in continental affairs. The US has one of the worlds strongest economies, while the CS has a far weaker economy. The US has only ever lost one war, while the CS has only ever won one war. While the CS may have won the (first) war, the US won the peace. The reason why the United States became an international power whereas the Confederate States became a backwater is rooted not in the great Confederate defeats and American victories of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but in the slave-based nature of the southern American and later Confederate economy.

Since first being colonized by Britain, what would later become the Confederacy was largely agrarian, especially in an era of increasing urbanization. As a result, slaves and indentured servants were imported from Africa and they would be traded amongst plantation holders concentrated in the south of the Thirteen Colonies. However, in the northern colonies, slavery was increasingly looked down upon due to moral concerns that arose because unlike in the south, slavery was never an economic necessity.

By 1770, slavery became an integral part of the economy of the Thirteen Colonies, or more accurately integral in a band extending from Delaware to Georgia. It should come to no surprise that many well-known American revolutionaries owned slaves. Indeed, even most of the Founding Fathers such as George Washington were slaveholders, despite “all men created equal” being part of the constitution. As the American Revolution progressed, the increasingly desperate royal governor of Georgia, Lord Dunmore, passed a proclamation that emancipated slaves of Georgian patriots. However, although thirty percent of all Georgian slaves would escape the hands of colonists, this proclamation had little to no impact on slavery in the United States.

After the American Revolution, several more northerly states decided to ban slavery within their borders. By 1800, all states north of the Mason-Dixon Line banned slavery. Ultimately cruel practices in the international slave trade led to its banning in 1808 by a part of the Constitution that did so, and in the two decades from independence to 1808, more slaves were imported than from any decade in history. However, nothing was done about the domestic slave trade in the American south and the great American hypocrisy of slavery continued scarcely perturbed.

The Founding Fathers and many Americans in the eighteenth century saw slavery as a dying industry, which was on the cusp of being rendered obsolete. However, the invention of the cotton gin in 1793 made cotton far easier to grow and produce. It increased the efficiency by which cotton could be created, but it also entrenched slavery in the southern states, making it a necessary evil or a positive good, depending on who was asked. It also made cotton an integral part of the southern economy and by 1860, the south provided a quarter of the world’s cotton.

As the US expanded beyond the former Thirteen Colonies and into the Midwestern Territory and the recently purchased lands of Louisiana, the question of whether slavery would be allowed in those lands would be asked. In the lands north of the Ohio River, as northerners from free states settled those lands, slavery would not be allowed, whereas in the lands south of the Ohio River, slavery would be allowed.

By 1820, there were an equal number of slave and free states, with both houses of Congress made up of half free and half slave states. As a result, no laws could be made pertaining to slavery. In that same year, the question of whether or not the territory of Missouri should join as a slave state was asked. If it were to be accepted as a state alone, it would tip the balance of power between slave and free states in the favour of slavery. Ultimately, in the Missouri Compromise, it would be accepted as a slave state, but with Maine being broken off of Massachusetts and being made into a free state, temporarily resolving the question of slavery.

After the Mexican-American War, the US gaining vast territories and nearly doubled its size. However, the big question of how to balance the recently annexed independent state of Texas with the other states. Its incorporation as a slave state tipped the balance between slave and free states. However, the answer came after the recent discovery of gold in California, a state inhospitable for slavery, led to a gold rush. In the Compromise of 1850, California would be annexed as a free state.

The difficulty of determining whether or not territories should be incorporated as free or slave states led to the emergence of popular sovereignty, in which states elected governors that were pro- or anti-slavery. In the Kansas-Nebraska Act, popular sovereignty became law. This law split the Whig Party, the main leftist party, into a pro-slavery faction that joined the Democratic Party, the main rightist party, an anti-slavery faction that formed into the Republican Party, and a xenophobic faction that formed the American “Know-Nothing” Party. In the 1856 election, Democrat James Buchanan won in a landslide, but the Republican Party performed quite well and showed itself capable of winning future elections.

However, as a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the territory of Kansas was settled by competing slavery and abolitionists factions that attempted to make it a free or slave state. The state quickly fell into civil war that is today known as Bleeding Kansas. The warfare in the territory led to the divide between slave and free states deepening and made fire-eaters (slave state secessionists) a major force in slave state politics.

The congressional election of 1858 exemplified the slave and free state divide. Support of the Republican Party grew by tremendous amounts and in border states, competition between slavery supporters and abolitionists was fierce. This is especially shown in the state of Illinois, in which slave and abolitionist factions directly came to heads with one another. For the Republican Party, future president Abraham Lincoln ran, while for the Democratic Party, future presidential candidate Stephen Douglas ran. It is here that Lincoln held his now infamous “A house divided” speech that famously foreshadowed the Confederate War of Independence. Although Lincoln would ultimately lose the senatorial, it resulted in many southern Democrats feeling that Stephen Douglas was soft on abolitionism.

In the 1860 election, in the Republican national convention, Lincoln, a moderate on the issue of slavery would barely eke out New York senator and former governor William Seward, a radical on the slavery issue in what would prove to be a shocking nomination that angered many. As for the Democratic Party, the southern Democrats split from the main party following disputes over the party platform and backed vice president John C. Breckinridge, while the Northern Democrats backed aforementioned senator Stephen Douglas. In addition to this split, a third faction known as the Constitutional Union Party was created by southern ex-Whigs in an attempt to stop civil war with the electoral promise of retaining the status quo.

This split would enable Lincoln to gain enough electoral votes to win the election while winning less than forty percent of the popular vote and less than ten thousand votes from the south. This angered many in the South, who felt that Lincoln would abolish slavery, and it would result in the secession of seven slave states by the time of Lincoln’s taking of office in March 1861.

The election of Lincoln in 1860 led to the state of South Carolina — the state where support of the right of states to secede from the union and nullify federal laws were strongest — to call the first of the many secession conventions that would occur prior to the War and voted unanimously for secession on December 20, 1861. The “Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina From the Federal Union” argued for states’ rights in regards to slavery and for slaveholders, but at the same time hypocritically argued against states’ rights in regards to the Fugitive Slave Act and that Northern states had an obligation to follow it. The slave states of Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas seceded as well in January and February 1861.

Only two of these states — the states of Texas and Alabama — directly mentioned the “plight of the slaveholding states” at the hands of the northern abolitionists with the remaining states making no mention of the slavery issue, only mentioning the breaking of ties with the federal government. However, four states — the states of South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas — also passed detailed explanations that blamed abolitionism and its power in the North, a kind of “abolitionist power” argument similar to the slave power arguments of the North except with little basis in reality — for their secession. These states believed that slaveholding was a constitutional right due to the fugitive slave clause in the constitution. These states established a new federal government, the Confederate States of America, in February 4, 1861.

President Buchanan, a textbook example of a lame duck president who was powerless to pass any legislature or make any decisions because his term was about to end, allowed the Confederacy to take control of federal-controlled forts with almost no resistance whatsoever. He believed that states had no rights to secede, but at the same time believed that the federal government was powerless to fight with them. It is for good reason that to this day he ends up close to the bottom of presidential ratings. One quarter of the US Army surrendered to the CS and joined it, and Buchanan did nothing as he was the outgoing president.

The resignation of Southerners from Congress enabled the Republicans to pass leftist legislature as they were no longer stopped by the usuallly conservative Southerners. They were able to pass the Morrill Tariff, the Morrill Act, the Homestead Act of 1862, the Pacific Railroad Acts, the National Banking Act, the Revenue Act of 1861, and the Legal Tender Act of 1862. Many of these acts passed contributed much to the US. The Homestead Acts would make land in the west cheap or even free at times, speeding up settlement of the west, while the Morrill Act created land-grant colleges, many of which are open today.

In an attempt to avert war, the Crittenden Compromise was proposed, which would re-establish and extend the line of the Missouri Compromise as the border between free and slave states. This could have averted secession, but Lincoln and the Republicans in Congress refused to implement it on the basis that it expanded slaveholding territory. It was then proposed to hold a national referendum on the idea, but the Republicans once more refused this idea. In February 1861, a peace conference met in Washington and proposed an idea similar to the Crittenden Compromise, but this was once more refused by Congress. The Republicans proposed a compromise in which they promised not to interfere with slavery where it already existed, but most Southerners saw such a promise as insufficient. Despite this deadlock, for the time being no more states joined the Confederacy.

When Lincoln was inaugurated in March 4, 1861, he affirmed that he had no intention of being the side to initiate war, but if the South were to be first to attack, he would not hesitate to use force against them. He also affirmed that secession was “legally void” and that the Union was to be perpetual and a legally binding contract that no state could break. He affirmed that he would use force to retain possession of federal poverty, but would retreat from post offices and would withdraw American marshals and judges. He closed his inaugural speech with a plea to retain the “mystical chords of memory” between the North and South. This speech was anything but war-mongering, but throughout the South it was seen as being such a speech.

The Confederacy attempted to make peace with the Union by attempting to initiate negotiations, but Lincoln refused these negotiations, declaring that any negotiation would be tantamount to recognition of its independence. Secretary of State William Seward, who saw himself at the time as the power behind the inexperienced president, engaged in unauthorized negotiations with the Confederacy that would ultimately fail as a direct result of the fact that they were unofficial. These negotiation would ultimately have no effect on Lincoln, who nonetheless was determined to control American-occupied forts, with those forts being Fort Munroe in Virginia, Fort Pickens, Fort Jefferson, and Fort Taylor in Florida, and most notably Fort Sumter in the harbour of Charleston, South Carolina, the centre of secession.

Lincoln sent a notice to the governor of South Carolina, Francis W. Pickens, that he was sending ships to supply Sumter. The Confederate government, led by President Jefferson Davis, responded with an ultimatum that the US must evacuate the fort lest it see attack; Major Anderson, the officer stationed in Sumter, refused to surrender. On April 12, beginning at 4:30 am, Confederates began to bombard Sumter with artillery surrounding Sumter and although the American garrisons returned fire, they were outgunned and surrounded on all sides by Confederates. It was no surprise that after a valiant struggle that after 34 hours Major Anderson finally surrendered. Following this battle, Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to quell the emerging rebellion. The call for quelling the rebellion was so strong that the state of Ohio — hardly the largest state — could supply all 75,000 volunteers. There were “auctions” held for the flag flown at Fort Sumter, with the expectation that buyers would re-auction the flag and donate the money they earned to the war effort. In addition, four more states — Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas — seceded from the US and joined the CS in outrage of Lincoln’s declaration, with Maryland coming dangerously close to secession as well. Although soon afterwards West Virginia counter-seceded and joined the US, the secession of border states certainly worsened the situation.

The American public clamoured for troops to be sent to capture Richmond to quell the rebellion. Rushing into battle, Brigadier General Irvin McDowell and his under-prepared army were sent against the slightly more experienced Confederate Brigadier General PGT Beauregard at Manassas. McDowell’s plan for a surprise attack on the Confederate left flank was poorly executed by his officers, but nevertheless, the Confederates, who planned to attack the American left flank, found themselves at a disadvantage. Confederate reinforcements under Brigadier General Joseph E. Johnston came by railroad and changed the course of the battle. A brigade of troops famously stood their ground against the Americans and most notably its commander Thomas Jackson stood its ground in face of the enemy like a stone wall, and thus his nickname of “Stonewall Jackson” was created. The Confederates had a strong counter-attack, leading to the retreat of American forces and many panicked as the retreat turned into a rout. This, of course, was the Battle of Bull Run. The heavy casualties on both sides sobered both and made them realize the war would be far bloodier and longer than either of them realized.

There was also a state that declared itself to be neutral. Kentucky was divided between a pro-Confederate governor and a Unionist legislature. As a result, it was forced to declare neutrality although neither the governor or the legislature supported it. Like all good compromises, it satisfied no one (apart from some who did not want to fight). When Lincoln requested troops from Kentucky, Governor Beriah Magoffin countered by stating that Kentucky would “furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister southern states”. However, in the Kentucky legislative elections of 1861, the Unionists won a few more seats, enough to overcome the gubernatorial veto, and after the election the American army established recruitment camps. In response, many of Confederate President Jefferson Davis’ advisors wished to invade Kentucky, but ultimately Davis saw that Kentucky was a vital part of the war effort and needed to join the CS on its own terms. He refused to invade Kentucky(5). Lincoln came to the same epiphany and also refused to invade Kentucky. Both sides wished for Kentucky to join either side on its own terms. It was just a matter of waiting to see which side it would pick.





(1) The American Civil War, renamed for obvious reasons.
(2) Right-wingers.
(3) Far-right. Strangely enough, the term is even used when describing places in which far-right policies are considered mainstream ITTL.
(4) Just to clarify, the term is a demonym for a person from the USA.
(5) Jefferson Davis invaded Kentucky IOTL in an invasion that opened the Western Theatre of the American Civil War.
 
I like it. Especially the detail and the part noting that the CSA would be a failure.

Thank you. The Confederacy was bound to fail IOTL, and of course the timeline's named "The Curse of Cotton" for a reason. I'lll be sure to show how the CSA fell into decay.
 
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