The Union Wins the War, Is It Better to Get a Divorce?

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In a counterfactual history perspective, can you make the case that secession would have been created a better world? I think the Union victory is by far the better outcome. The argument against the Union winning would be the argument that would be made by those who believe they suffered from Union power later on. It's better to work through the problems where one side has the resources to incentivize you to work through them together rather than leaving you on your own to go your own direction.

Jeremi Suri is a historian at UT Austin. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(06:45) – Revolutions and governments
(24:23) – American Civil War
(33:35) – Lincoln and election of 1860
(37:25) – Slavery
(50:35) – Freedom of speech
(1:02:17) – Death toll of the Civil War
(1:05:36) – Ulysses S. Grant
(1:07:45) – Ku Klux Klan
(1:19:27) – Robert E. Lee
(1:27:11) – Abraham Lincoln
(1:42:18) – If the south won
(1:50:54) – Hypocrisy of the Founders
(1:56:56) – John Wilkes Booth
(2:00:11) – White supremacy
(2:05:34) – Disputed elections
(2:15:56) – Politics
(2:24:20) – Donald Trump and Joe Biden
(2:37:06) – January 6th
(3:02:04) – Hope for the future