Crossroads Greatest Hits: A Big Counterfactual
We’ve often discussed counterfactuals and what-if questions. Here are my thoughts on a big one: what if Lincoln had not been assassinated?
Search Results for: Counterfactual
The Great Man of History … An Implied Counterfactual
Today is Ulysses S. Grant’s birthday. As H. W. Brands would have it, he was the man who saved the Union. Perhaps he was. Perhaps, in fact, he was indispensable to the suppression of the southern rebellion, which in turn was secured…
Speaking of Counterfactuals …
Over at civilwarhistory2 (open archives), the always charming Helga Ross asks: What if our favorite professor had been born a plantation slaveowner in South Carolina or Mississippi leading up to the 1860’s…..? It’s easy to say what one would do…
The Future of Slavery Sans Civil War: Counterfactual Ponderings
Over the last several days commenters have been responding to one commenter’s desire to seek discussion on several counterfactual questions. There’s no harm in that. However, there is something wild about the conclusion reached that if, absent a war, slavery…
The Sunday Question: Slavery Counterfactuals
Reader Bob Nelson has suggested that readers of this blog might well want to contemplate some counterfactuals concerning slavery and the Civil War. First, he wants to know what people think as to when slavery would have ended in the…
A Different Sort of Counterfactual
People have speculated in the past about how the Civil War would have been different if it were televised. This speculation has usually followed one of two lines of inquiry: would Abraham Lincoln have been a viable presidential candidate in…
What if the Confederacy Had Won? A Counterfactual Contemplation
One of the more interesting counterfactual exercises open to people interested in the era of the American Civil War is what would have happened had the Confederacy prevailed. It is worth thinking about. Part of such a counterfactual exercise would…
Stonewall at Gettysburg … Again?
Recently The Civil War Monitor asked several historians (including yours truly) their opinions about Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson. The answers appear in the current issue, but space restraints in the paper edition offered an opportunity for the journal to share on…
The Continuing What-Ifs of Reconstruction
Note: Not too long ago I finished a manuscript that will appear in next March’s Journal of the Civil War Era. It addresses particular counterfactual queries concerning the course of Reconstruction and the policy pursued by Republicans. I have long…
Stonewall at Appomattox
Historians of the American Civil War often have to contend with what-if questions (and some ask a few of their own). Indeed, inherent in much of an assessment of the wisdom of this or that move or decision is some…
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