WI Cotton Gin was invented later

There will be a greater number of Methodist, Presbyterian and Quaker ministers urging slaveholders to free their slaves when they die and urging state legislatures to pursue abolition of slavery. Maryland and Delaware might have abolished slavery by 1810, and if the cotton gin's invention is delayed until 1820, perhaps Virginia might do so as well.
 
while looking at the Misplaced Wildlife page on TV Tropes, the Carolina Parakeet was brought to my attention. i've known of this extinct bird for years but never looked into how it died out. out of curiosity, i did so, and one of the possible/collective causes was loss of habitat due to the forests they lived in being cut down to make room for farming land

why am i bringing this up in a thread about the cotton gin? if you're sharp, you may have already figured it out: if the cotton gin is invented later, the Carolina Parakeet may well be able to survive at least as an endangered species in some areas (they lived throughout much of the eastern US) and died out as late as 1918. if the cotton gin is delayed by twenty years or so and less of the Near South (and Maryland and Delaware in particular) are devoted to agriculture, perhaps some of the parakeets can be saved thanks to the butterflies of a later cotton gin
 
while looking at the Misplaced Wildlife page on TV Tropes, the Carolina Parakeet was brought to my attention ... snip ... perhaps some of the parakeets can be saved thanks to the butterflies of a later cotton gin

Perhaps the Passenger Pigeon might be as well.
 
yeah, i could definitely see that happening, though they'd likely be in isolated environments (that's what i had figured in relation to the parakeets as well)

though when i mentioned that, i wanted to spark further interest in this idea since i'm interested in the basic concept of a later cotton gin and its effects; the potential aversion of an extinction was just a bonus ;)

one thing i really wonder about concerning this is what direction US politics will go in following this, if we assume that Maryland and Delaware abolish slavery before the cotton gin is invented. could it butterfly away the Civil War?
 
if we assume that Maryland and Delaware abolish slavery before the cotton gin is invented. could it butterfly away the Civil War?

I don't think that Maryland and Delaware alone could do that. You'd need to have some of the larger southern states (I'm thinking Virginia, but more knowledgeable people could provide alternatives) to both abolish slavery AND come out extremely strongly against secession.

This would intimidate whatever other southern states are clinging on to the 'peculiar institution' to back off from any demands of secession and just compromise with the other states. Ironically, this could lead to slavery lasting longer than OTL as some 'holdouts' continue to practice slavery in the southeast while the territories all become slave-free and the free states refuse to ship back escaped slaves. Eventually in the 1890's a constitutional amendment is passed as the number of free states grow, and due to the stigma of slavery the slave states just go along with it.
 
I don't think that Maryland and Delaware alone could do that. You'd need to have some of the larger southern states (I'm thinking Virginia, but more knowledgeable people could provide alternatives) to both abolish slavery AND come out extremely strongly against secession.

This would intimidate whatever other southern states are clinging on to the 'peculiar institution' to back off from any demands of secession and just compromise with the other states. Ironically, this could lead to slavery lasting longer than OTL as some 'holdouts' continue to practice slavery in the southeast while the territories all become slave-free and the free states refuse to ship back escaped slaves. Eventually in the 1890's a constitutional amendment is passed as the number of free states grow, and due to the stigma of slavery the slave states just go along with it.

Virginia would be the big one, TN and KY would likely be important as well. Considering not a single Free State joined the CSA I think it can be taken for granted if any of these three would have abolished slavery it would be opposed to secession.
 

Dirk_Pitt

Banned
I believe all the border states are possibilities, getting less likely the further west you go.

In a possible secession you might have the second wave secessions, like Tenessee and Texas, stay in the Union.
 
Combine it with someone bringing boll weevils into the US a century earlier and Cotton will be just devastated.
 
Top