What if the South had diversified its economy early on, circa 1840 or so, instead of having nearly all of its capital invested in a Third World style mono-economy built around cotton? Would the development of its iron deposits around Birmingham, along with the discovery of the East Texas and Louisiana oil fields a few years earlier than the Pennsylvania discoveries, changed the results of the Civil War? Would that have changed the foreign policies of England and France much in favor of supporting the Rebellion, or, would the Rebellion never have taken place?

This discussion came up a couple of years back on a university list server, so I thought it might generate some discussion here.

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