Those first few years, the Johnson years, were hopeful times. Circa 1870, things are clearly different. IIRC, middle of the book. It’s been awhile.

First, fuckity fuck fuck fucking fucking fuck cool guys say fuck a lot fucker fuck.

Yes, absolutely.

I guess I’ll just take your word for it. I just don’t see how it would have been possible with almost the complete absence of a strong and expansive federal government combined with a general commitment on both sides to state’s rights, and the overall war-weariness of Northern voters.

… what the fuck do you think Reconstruction was?

A 10-year military enforcement that was flagging out there towards the end. You’d need to 20 - 30+ years minimum and the creation of a permanent federal admin presence to get to a point where the South’s new way of life could normalize. I could talk about this some more but apparently we just say “yes” around here. My fault for not realizing this was a meme community before I posted. For fun, look into what it took to “reconstruct” Germany and Japan post-WW2.

Yes, absolutely. Sharecropping is not actually great for the economy, and the South would remain economically marginal to the USA for decades afterwards.

No generational occupation, no long-lasting reform. As wasn’t discussed, because what good is conversation, the economics, politics, general belief in state’s rights, Northerner’s exhausted of war, the fact that the 15th Amendment was supported mainly as strategy for securing Republican political dominance in the South, that Northerners didn’t generally favor social integration, all meant what would have been nice to have happened just didn’t.

Yes. The only fucking reason Reconstruction ended in the first fucking place was a deal between the Democrats and Republicans over a disputed election.

This is you confusing what ought to be with what could have been. My question was very simple: given the the circumstances, what more could have be done? Certainly something, but enough to make modern American less of a “cesspool”. Hindsight is fucking 20 fucking fucker 20, fucker fucking fuck shit.

And you believe all of those things were not just possible but could have been sustained? Do you think they could have accomplished all of that without turning the Reconstruction into a generational occupation of the South? And you think it would have been economically viable and that the necessary long-term voter commitment would be there?

“America is a political cesspool because the Confederacy wasn’t punished properly.”

This point simply doesn’t make any sense. What is proper punishment? What punishment did the Union fail to enact that would have saved modern America?

Yes, the South’s, who had the greatest incentive to continue slavery. But, the economy was truly transcontinental. One economy. The North benefitted immensely from slavery.

Do you think the North would opt for a punishment that would amount to falling on their own sword? Could such a punishment be politically tenable?

what.

Human beings “other”. It’s key to understanding our species. So long as hardship can befall a people, those people will find a scapegoat. To this day, Blacks are only 14% of the population.

Capitilism + Humans = Political Cesspool

Punishing the Confederacy, even by wiping them off the face of the planet, would not have changed what America was to become, except by delaying global American hegemony.

Common misconception: that 19th century Union soldiers wore hot pants and crop tops with pink horsetails stuffed in their bussies and fists held high in solidarity with their black brothers and sisters.

In reality, they were all mostly racist, just the ones in the South moreso. Also, their entire economy was based on slave labor.

Capitalism guarantees hardship in boom and bust cycles. Humans are easily made to believe that the weak, outnumbered, and different are the enemy. That the same people who can’t muster up anything like a respectable rebellion are somehow a threat to the most powerful nation in the world.

The moment Africans were trafficked to the North American continent, they were guaranteed to be the forever enemy.