I am not asking rhetorical questions. I wonder if the separateness of the two economies, and the era in which people in the paid labor states could ignore the other system had ended due to the proliferation of newspapers, magazines, and books, the rapid consolidation of the telegraph companies, and the steady growth of the railroad network at least in the paid labor states and the five border regions?
When books like Uncle Tom's Cabin could sell 100s of thousands of copies, and newspapers across the country could reprint New York and even international content in a matter of days in some situations, and the railroad was making travel to New York and Washington, DC faster and safer, could slavery have survived in the US or in a separated Confederacy?
The unwillingness of the five border areas to complete speedy secession is the evidence that interconnected families and economic relations were going to make it difficult for the southern states to maintain a separate labor system borrowed from the ancients. The rabid racism that sustained the system may be other evidence that the system was under enormous pressure and was desperate for sustaining rationalizations.
The publishing revolution occurred before the April 1861 outbreak of the real war. Information on the web shows how the 5 nation oligopoly among the telegraph companies was already improving service and decreasing costs. But the railroad revolution occurred during the war. The systems management techniques and quick build methods which included more pre fabricated railroad parts unfolded during the war.
These three changes drastically increased the power of Washington in politics and of NYC in business.
I could be wrong, but I don't see how slavery survives as more southern states and counties get tied into the electrical news nation, powered by mechanized transportation.
When books like Uncle Tom's Cabin could sell 100s of thousands of copies, and newspapers across the country could reprint New York and even international content in a matter of days in some situations, and the railroad was making travel to New York and Washington, DC faster and safer, could slavery have survived in the US or in a separated Confederacy?
The unwillingness of the five border areas to complete speedy secession is the evidence that interconnected families and economic relations were going to make it difficult for the southern states to maintain a separate labor system borrowed from the ancients. The rabid racism that sustained the system may be other evidence that the system was under enormous pressure and was desperate for sustaining rationalizations.
The publishing revolution occurred before the April 1861 outbreak of the real war. Information on the web shows how the 5 nation oligopoly among the telegraph companies was already improving service and decreasing costs. But the railroad revolution occurred during the war. The systems management techniques and quick build methods which included more pre fabricated railroad parts unfolded during the war.
These three changes drastically increased the power of Washington in politics and of NYC in business.
I could be wrong, but I don't see how slavery survives as more southern states and counties get tied into the electrical news nation, powered by mechanized transportation.