Editor says, what if the border states had seceded from the Union? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the July 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.

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Jared Myers commented on 2012-06-24 09:03:47 ~ It would have been interesting to see how the Confederacy would have handled a secession of one of its own states.

Eric Lipps commented on 2012-06-24 16:02:21 ~ It's worth noting that for all its huffing and puffing on the matter, the Confederacy managed to forget to explicitly recognize in its own constitution the right of states to secede. Apparently its leaders took the view that that right was so obvious it didn't need to be acknowledged--which I think was an absolute guarantee of later trouble had the CSA won its independence.

Eric Oppen commented on 2012-06-24 18:17:47 ~ The CSA were big hypocrites on secession---when WVA seceded, and East Tennessee tried to, to rejoin the Union, they did all they could to bring them back into the CSA.

Jared Myers commented on 2012-06-24 20:24:29 ~ The Southern Slave Power wanted a huge, expansive, intrusive Federal government, contrary to what the neo-Confederates of today maintain. The Democratic Convention of 1860 (held in Charleston, SC ironically enough) proves it.

Jeff Provine commented on 2012-06-25 14:42:59 ~ Stand Watie and Opothleyahola teaming up to create an independent Indian Territory... It could turn into another Seminole War and make the South wonder whether it's worth trying to hold onto treaties (which I assume were already fudged upon, given general White attitudes at the time).

Jackie Rose commented on 2012-06-25 17:39:19 ~ I seem to remember that Lincoln warned the Confederacy that if they could secede from the Union, then their own Confederate states could leave the Confederacy as well.