Into the Night
Contributor
I sincerely believe that slavery would have eventually disappeared. The primary reason the South owned slaves (and for the most part the North did not) was strictly economic in nature. The South was the agricultural center of the Union. It derived the vast bulk of its wealth from growing cotton and tobacco. Both of these are highly labor intensive. They also presented a moral dilemma for many in both the North and the South. I believe that progress in labor saving farm machinery would eventually have spelled the end of using human beings to do the work of machines. Machines would have proven (as they have) to be far more efficient than slavery and plantation owners would have switched. Yes, it would have taken time but it would not have meant the deaths of over 400,000 citizens. It would not have lead to the destruction of plantations, leaving the South in ruins and I believe if slaves were freed by their owners rather than stolen by the Federal government race relations would be far better today.
The North DID own slaves, at least for awhile.