Near the beginning of volume 2 of Grant's memoirs, I find interesting his analysis of the South at that time, and his prediction of what it's destiny could have been:
"There was no time during the rebellion when I did not think, and often say, that the South was more to be benefitted by its defeat than the North. The latter had the people, the institutions, and the territory to make a great and prosperous nation. The former was burdened with an institution abhorrent to all civilized people not brought up under it, and one which degraded labor, kept it in ignorance, and enervated the governing class. With the outside world at war with this institution, they could not have extended their territory. The labor of the country was not skilled, nor allowed to become so. The whites could not toil without becoming degraded, and those who did were denominated 'poor white trash.' The system of labor would have soon exhausted the soil and left the people poor. The non-slaveholders would have left the country, and the small slaveholder must have sold out to his more fortunate neighbor. Soon the slaves would have outnumbered the masters, and not being in sympathy with them, would have risen in their might and exterminated them. The war was expensive to the South as well as to the North, both in blood and treasure, but it was worth all it cost."
end quote. I do believe that the South benefitted by its defeat. It's difficult to imagine that society, as structured, succeeding in the long term. I'm not sure if an insurrection would have been in the cards, though. Somewhat speculative. I had never thought of a migration of whites out of the South to seek better opportunities. Does anyone know if, prior to the Civil War, the South was already being drained of poor whites? And if so, were they all heading west to new territories, or were any going north?
"There was no time during the rebellion when I did not think, and often say, that the South was more to be benefitted by its defeat than the North. The latter had the people, the institutions, and the territory to make a great and prosperous nation. The former was burdened with an institution abhorrent to all civilized people not brought up under it, and one which degraded labor, kept it in ignorance, and enervated the governing class. With the outside world at war with this institution, they could not have extended their territory. The labor of the country was not skilled, nor allowed to become so. The whites could not toil without becoming degraded, and those who did were denominated 'poor white trash.' The system of labor would have soon exhausted the soil and left the people poor. The non-slaveholders would have left the country, and the small slaveholder must have sold out to his more fortunate neighbor. Soon the slaves would have outnumbered the masters, and not being in sympathy with them, would have risen in their might and exterminated them. The war was expensive to the South as well as to the North, both in blood and treasure, but it was worth all it cost."
end quote. I do believe that the South benefitted by its defeat. It's difficult to imagine that society, as structured, succeeding in the long term. I'm not sure if an insurrection would have been in the cards, though. Somewhat speculative. I had never thought of a migration of whites out of the South to seek better opportunities. Does anyone know if, prior to the Civil War, the South was already being drained of poor whites? And if so, were they all heading west to new territories, or were any going north?