Board Thread:New on Alternative History/@comment-72.185.4.15-20130303025444/@comment-32656-20130305125649

They wouldn't have done so.

Lincoln did not do that. For that matter, he pledged to do nothing. Not that the South believed it. The mere idea of a Republican in office was offensive to the Southerners, simply put.

Lincoln didn't want war - and he did his best to prevent it.

That "author" is an English Professor with degrees in Biological Science, and English. Not History. That book is on his analysis of their speeches during their Senate race. It has absolutely nothing to do with the opinions of either man, or the facts of the ground. I also see things that lean me to thinking that the man is from the South, too.

Had Douglas been the winner, there would have been no civil war. The war starting otl was a direct result of Lincoln getting elected, something which the south could not stand. They issued their declarations of succession long before the man was even sworn in, for pete's sake. It had absolutely nothing to do with either man, but the mere fact that the Republicans won. Sore losers, much? And don't fall into the trap that it wasn't about slavery, either - all the declarations listed it as the primary cause for succession.

It's not impossible that a war could have broken out at some point during his term. The south wasn't far off of it, after all, and the Republicans did have control of congress.

But if Douglas won? He'd lose for sure in 1864. And I'd bet on the North winning the resulting war much easier, too.

J, almost none out of all you posted was actually true. Sorry.

And, overall: No Civil War = No Confederacy. Simple.