ok, what would be a viable POD, or year that the south (before seceding) could have become more industrialised.
Since the South had little natural resources (ok Virginia had coal, but this woas not exploited until 1870'ish), their only option for industrialisation would be firstly through the cotton mills (like Manchester in the UK), and then secondly by importing iron from elsewhere - this would probably be the North which would make them economically reliant on the North.