# How long would slavery have lasted in the Confederacy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 12, 2006, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-slavery-have-lasted-in-the-confederacy/368496 "2006-08-12T22:56:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-slavery-have-lasted-in-the-confederacy/368496/102 "2012-06-14T05:13:45Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > So how many free states would have had to join the CSA to have a majority, and then Amend the CSA Constitution to abolish slavery? Why on Earth abolish it ? Zombies are the perfect slaves. They don’t sleep, they don’t get tired, they’re strong and they’re unholy soulless abominations so the whole thing is totally guilt-free ! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-slavery-have-lasted-in-the-confederacy/368496/103 "2012-06-15T17:23:54Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Harry Turtledove has written at least two different south-wins-the-civil-war scenarios. In one, slavery is banned almost immediately. [snip] But I always thought the first scenario was a little facile… if nothing else, it would have to seem like a huge betrayal, after all of that effort of forming a new country and fighting a war to support the right to own slaves… Right, but the first scenario didn’t arise from mere “what-if” alternate history. I presume you’re referring to _Guns of the South_. The time-traveling Afrikaners with AK47s are a bit of a wild-card in that scenario. 😉 As I recall from reading the story years ago, President Rob’t E. Lee made his decision to abolish slavery because he had a sneak-peek from a 21st Century history book from the real time-line at how future generations would see slavery, and he was chastened by it. It probably helped his decision that the Afrikaner intermeddlers (say that five times fast) wanted slavery to continue, and at that point they had pissed him off so much that he would paint the sky orange if they wanted blue sky. 😃 And yes, I’m quite aware that I’m replying to a post made long ago. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-slavery-have-lasted-in-the-confederacy/368496/104 "2012-06-16T00:37:39Z")
Another geeky song is _The First and Second Law_ [(of Thermodynamics)](http://www.iankitching.me.uk/humour/hippo/entropy.html) by Flanders and Swann ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-slavery-have-lasted-in-the-confederacy/368496/105 "2012-06-16T01:53:54Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Another geeky song is _The First and Second Law_ [(of Thermodynamics)](http://www.iankitching.me.uk/humour/hippo/entropy.html) by Flanders and Swann And if there’s anything that the Confederacy would have supported, it’s geeky songs, right? Somehow I suspect this was meant for another thread… ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-slavery-have-lasted-in-the-confederacy/368496/106 "2012-06-16T02:51:54Z")
Ah, yes, the Old South…the graceful white-columned mansions, surrounded by the endless fields of cotton, in which the slaves toil from dawn to dusk, singing old spirituals about the Laws of Thermodynamics. _Oh, Lord, lower my entropy. Don’t let go into equilibrium– Lower my entropy._ ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-slavery-have-lasted-in-the-confederacy/368496/107 "2012-06-17T00:13:14Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > Right, but the first scenario didn’t arise from mere “what-if” alternate history. > > I presume you’re referring to _Guns of the South_. The time-traveling Afrikaners with AK47s are a bit of a wild-card in that scenario. 😉 As I recall from reading the story years ago, President Rob’t E. Lee made his decision to abolish slavery because he had a sneak-peek from a 21st Century history book from the real time-line at how future generations would see slavery, and he was chastened by it. It probably helped his decision that the Afrikaner intermeddlers (say that five times fast) wanted slavery to continue, and at that point they had pissed him off so much that he would paint the sky orange if they wanted blue sky. 😃 > > And yes, I’m quite aware that I’m replying to a post made long ago. 🙂 I’ve forgotten the precise details, but even with all that… the south has just rebelled, with a key issue of the rebellion being the right to own slaves, they’ve fought a foe who opposed that right, they eventually beat them… and then a revelation from the future, something that would be just utterly out of the blue, is enough to get the to just happily change their tune? Seems a bit facile to me. Could I easily see it changing the mind of Robert E Lee? Sure. Could I see it changing the mind of enough of Confederate society? Much less likely… (And yeah, that other post from me was pretty clearly in the wrong thread). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-slavery-have-lasted-in-the-confederacy/368496.md?page=5)