WI: Northwest Confederacy?

I was reading a book called American What Ifs? (or something like that), and it had an interesting idea called the Northwest Confederacy. Apparently there was quite a bit of support in the Old Northwest for the CSA, mostly because of geographical proximity and a resentment of federal interference and the cutting back of rights like the right to protest that occurred during the war. Apparently they got as far as getting hold of a buttload of guns, and forming an underground government before the Confederacy started to collapse, and it was clear their rebellion wouldn't work either.

Now, if we roll with the usual British buddy up with the South scenario, could the Old Northwest separate from the USA? And what would this mean for the western states who are now cut off from the rest of the USA? Could the Northwest Confederacy become some kind of Greater Midwest?
 
I was reading a book called American What Ifs? (or something like that), and it had an interesting idea called the Northwest Confederacy. Apparently there was quite a bit of support in the Old Northwest for the CSA, mostly because of geographical proximity and a resentment of federal interference and the cutting back of rights like the right to protest that occurred during the war. Apparently they got as far as getting hold of a buttload of guns, and forming an underground government before the Confederacy started to collapse, and it was clear their rebellion wouldn't work either.

Now, if we roll with the usual British buddy up with the South scenario, could the Old Northwest separate from the USA? And what would this mean for the western states who are now cut off from the rest of the USA? Could the Northwest Confederacy become some kind of Greater Midwest?
Given that the area would provide no real strategic value, I doubt the British would bother supporting the Northwestern Confederacy,
 
Given that the area would provide no real strategic value, I doubt the British would bother supporting the Northwestern Confederacy,

What I mean is that they support the CSA first, then later in the war, the Northwest Confederacy secedes, and the British support them because every little helps (and their anti-slavery ethic could help swing the British public behind the idea that the Union is oppressive and un-constitutional)
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
There was little outright support for the Confederacy in the Old Northwest. There was a great deal of anti-Lincoln and anti-war sentiment, including some people who were willing to use extra-legal means to try to bring an end to the war and were willing to work with the Confederates. But for the most part these people thought the South would come back into the Union if the abolition of slavery were dropped as a condition of peace and wanted to bring about a peaceful reunion of the states. There really was never anything like a genuine secession movement out there and they certainly never had any meaningful support among the bulk of the population.
 

mowque

Banned
Also, by this period, economic ties in the Old Northwest now linked to the East (meaning the North here). Railroads and canals had supplanted the old lifeline down the Mississippi which had used to link the region to New Orleans and the South as a whole. Wheat, pork, even timber, mostly flowed Eastward, instead of Southward.

This, of course, helped cement the region to the Union.
 
In 1864 CSA agents saw an opportunity to wreck havoc by liberating and arming @12,000 POWs from two camps near Chicago before the Republican National Convention.

They went to pro-CSA Midwest organizations with 200,000 members on paper begging for a mere 500 volunteers and never came close to that goal.
 
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