Failed Futures: The Confederacy Had Colossal Plans After the Civil War to Spread Slavery Across the Globe And Become Fabulously Wealthy

History Unplugged Podcast · Dec 13, 2022 · 58m

Confederate leaders were nothing if not dreamers. They did not merely want to maintain slavery in a quiet corner of the world and hold onto antiquated traditions. They saw themselves as true progressives that would lead a neo-feudal order, becoming massively wealthy with trade, and dominate the Western Hemisphere.

In the antebellum era, leading Southern politicians, diplomats, clerics, planters, farmers, manufacturers, and merchants preached a transformative, world-historical role for the Confederacy, persuading many of their compatriots to fight not merely to retain what they had but to gain…