WI: All slave states secede

A)As a final note, the ever-reliable Wikipedia claims the Confederacy wished to make Washington DC their capital and to secure Maryland's support for the Confederates. Make of that what you will.

Wikipedia's believability aside, this does make sense. Confederate leaders considered themselves the true heir of the Jeffersonian/Washingtonian republic established in 1776 and again in 1789, not those Yankee industrialists. Heck, the City was even named after one of their own. In a way, I've always wondered why the South didn't think about keeping the very name "United States of America" and the American Flag minus the stars that would represent the northern states.

I think the seccession of all Slave states would have several possible effects, especially if it forced the US to abandon Washington DC:

1. It would give the CSA a bit more standing internationally right off the bat, especially if the North was unable to reoccupy Washington DC fairly quickly.

2. On the other hand, it would create much more moral clarity in the war. Lincoln could issue an emancipation proclamation immediately, since there would be no reason to drag his feet to keep the border states in line. This might make it politically harder for the British and French governments to consider extending recognition to the CSA even as belligerant, let alone an independent country.

3. Assuming the South was winning militarily, what would be the possibility that a Confederate Government in control of Washington DC would expand its objectives from simple independence to becoming the government of the entire United States, or at least large parts of it?
 
I agree about Delaware being a tough fit in the confederacy. It was the one state in the country that was a slave state in name only, with only about 1700 slaves and 18,000 or so free blacks in the state. I wonder if the confederacy would even want Delaware to join, as it would provide an uncomfortable example of in essence a post slavery society in which a significant amount of free blacks were tolerated and in which the remnant of slavery was dying out. Don't know if other slave states would really want this example in their country.
 
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