I’m an amateur at alternate history so this may have been done to death in the literature for all I know. If so, feel free to tell me so.
I’ve been pondering what would have happened if the radical Republican wing of the party had gotten its way earlier, so that Confederates who owned slaves had had their property seized and redistributed–i.e people had not only been freed sooner and their rights protected, but former slaves had actually received 40 acres and a mule. Along with other measures advocated by the radicals for preventing the Confederates from retaining control in the South, I wonder if this might have had a profound effect on US history.
Do you think that early and tangible restitution to slaves would have resulted in significant social, economic and political differences for black people in the US and/or politics, legislation and Constitutional law?