"Black Republic" as part of Reconstruction

[Tsochar]

I'm wondering about a possibility that has been floated once or twice about a "Black America" republic during reconstruction. Dave Chappelle was apparently attached to an Amazon original series that never got made in which Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama were given to freed slaves during Reconstruction, and in modern times the original USA collapsed leaving "Black America" as the most successful offshoot. From an Alt-hist standpoint that scenario seems.... dubious for several reasons (perhaps the largest of which being the mere existence of New Orleans) but I don't think the idea of an independent or autonomous "Black Republic" is necessarily ASB.
So for the purposes of this What-if, I'd like to brainstorm what such a territory might look like. Underlying assumptions:

-Year is 1866; the North has won the ACW, though not necessarily the same way it did IOTL.
-The prevailing consensus in both the North and the South is that the newly-freed blacks (and probably blacks in general) cannot live near white people, due to mutual animosity.
-The powers-that-be want to allow Black Americans to have self-government in such a manner that their policies will not affect the Whites.
-However, these policy-makers do not need this territory to be materially successful. In fact, they're probably more likely to accept a plan that makes this territory dependent on the US, though that is not necessarily a requirement.
-Forced removal, as occurred with the Indians during the Trail of Tears, is unfeasible as there are 50 times more people to deal with here.
-Liberia has already been explored as a possibility and rejected due to logistics. Canada and other nations have roundly rejected any deals involving resettlement.

Can you think of a solution where such a territory can be established and house more than 50% of the African-Americans living in the US at the time?

 

[Emperor of Pennsylvania]

The only way for this to happen for this to happen is for the North to hate the CSA so much that they want to completely destroy the states that made them up by replacing them with black-dominated states.

The most plausible way to make this happen is for John Wilkes Booth's other planned targets to get assassinated on the same day as Lincoln, leaving some very angry Radical Republicans in charge. Like say, Andrew Johnson gets killed and Seward becomes president.


Most African Americans were already in the South at the time, so the whole thing with those states holding the majority of the black population is pretty feasible.

 

[Revachah]

Maybe having boll weevil destroy the cotton industry earlier leaving large planters in ruin could make land purchase or seizure more feasible?

 

[BELFAST]

Not a very practical idea.
That would create a massive labour shortage.
Jobs done by former slaves would not be popular with white people.
Given how racist people were at the time I cannot see the former slaves getting land of any real value.
I am not sure what you mean by autonomous states. Do you mean more autonomous than other states in the union?
I think this would create a state that might try to secede later.

 

[Ficboy]

It's practically impossible for it to even remotely happen since most whites in the North wanted reconciliation with their counterparts in the South. Even Abraham Lincoln wanted it as best put it in his Second Inaugural Address in 1865.

 

[Tsochar]

I am not sure what you mean by autonomous states. Do you mean more autonomous than other states in the union?

Essentially, yeah. Effectively, a territory with rights and privileges similar, but not identical, to those of a full-fledged State. Probably something akin to Puerto Rico in OTL.

 

[The Tai-Pan]

Having white citizens lose land is the exact opposite of everything America stood for in 1865.

 

[Tsochar]

Having white citizens lose land is the exact opposite of everything America stood for in 1865.

True. Maybe set pieces of the West aside for black settlement? Arizona, Dakota, Montana, or sections thereof? OTL Reconstruction emphasized wage labor over homesteading, but reversing that (and preserving it) could lead to a decent-sized migration.

 

[Ficboy]

True. Maybe set pieces of the West aside for black settlement? Arizona, Dakota, Montana, or sections thereof? OTL Reconstruction emphasized wage labor over homesteading, but reversing that (and preserving it) could lead to a decent-sized migration.

It is unlikely there could even exist a black republic much less even one found in the West. Given the racial attitudes of most White Americans in the North and the South in OTL they wouldn't even allow it not even under a Radical Republican administration since they would be under immense pressure to stop it.

 

[Derek Jackson]

Remember the class that started the War committed Treason, under the deliberately narrow definition of the US Constitution. In the aftermath of Lincoln's murder the planter class shoudl have been given the option of giving up their lands or facing prosecution

 

[DanMcCollum]

Well, considering that the history of the United States has been full of certain groups with limited autonomy and semi-independent rights (i.e. Native Nations) and what happened to them - I'm not sure that this would be a good route to go for for the freedmen. Although a timeline where freedmen are effectively given reservation status within the South is certainly a fascinating one and something that I don't think has been developed before.

I've always been partial to a slightly more radical Reconstruction opening up the western Indian territory to Freedmen homesteading. It wouldn't solve all the problems, not by a long shot, but its certainly a fascinating topic to explore (Frederick Douglas as the Territorial governor of the Territory of Lincoln, with it's capital in *Quincy)

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

The United States wanted to bring the other states back in, but one possibility, as remote as it is, is this.

The South wanted Cuba, there were definitely plans to try to get it. Suppose they secede a few months early, because Lincoln is sure to win in the North, and have a government by January with the upper South that seceded doing so in December. The Cuban Revolution starts in 1858 and not 1868, and the CSA is able to send troops there before Lincoln is inaugurated.

Suddenly, when the union wins a little later because of Cuba, although the South has also exhausted itself more so it evens out pretty much, the union doesn't know what to do with Cuba.

That's the only way I can see it happening. The union is too racist to want Cuba as a state and they might decide that it can be a good place for blacks to go. They might hold it for a few years, and perhaps a bunch of Freedmen take the offer to go there.

Again, a lot of crazy things would have to happen just right for that to take place. But it does solve a couple of problems that come with the west or with Southern States being used.

 

[Athelstane]

If you can somehow get a Radical Republican in the White House at war's end - maybe Hamlin sticks around, or Lincoln dies before the election, or Lincoln is somehow stuck with Stevens or somesuch...well, I don't think a Republic as such is viable, but I *could* see a very aggressive land appropriation program in the Deep South that could, in time, and with enough twists, lead to something...short of that, but robust. Maybe new, expressly African-American majority states eventually getting carved out of the black belt, though perhaps not all continguous to each other.

The risk, of course, is that what actually happens here looks more like South African bantustans than what the author has in mind.

The first big problem with Chappelle's show premise is that there is just no way any U.S. polity, in any condition, would tolerate a foreign state occupying the lower Mississippi River and all that would mean for sea access for Midwestern crops and goods. Even if the whole thing collapsed, eventually something would reconstitute itself, and grab it back by force.

 

[Athelstane]

That's the only way I can see it happening. The union is too racist to want Cuba as a state and they might decide that it can be a good place for blacks to go. They might hold it for a few years, and perhaps a bunch of Freedmen take the offer to go there.

Interesting thought.

No likely, but...not impossible, maybe...

Or, maybe the U.S. itself invades in 1858-59 (this is not at all impossible), but when the secession crisis hits, the Cuban elites in the new territory side with the new CSA, maybe assisted by southern Amry garrison officers...

But even so, I think it would be hard to relocate a majority of freedmen to Cuba. You are talking about 3.5 million people...and most will not want to go. Maybe a significant minority end up there, perhaps...

 

[Tsochar]

Interesting thought.

No likely, but...not impossible, maybe...

Or, maybe the U.S. itself invades in 1858-59 (this is not at all impossible), but when the secession crisis hits, the Cuban elites in the new territory side with the new CSA, maybe assisted by southern Amry garrison officers...

But even so, I think it would be hard to relocate a majority of freedmen to Cuba. You are talking about 3.5 million people...and most will not want to go. Maybe a significant minority end up there, perhaps...

Considering the population of Cuba at the time was half that, it's essentially a no-go. The infrastructure to grow food just isn't there.

It would probably be better if, instead of having a single location, there might be a collection of designated "Black Territories," including bits and pieces of Southern states that are already heavily African-American in population, plus parts of territories that were considered out-of-the-way enough to set aside (Montana, maybe, or Dakota), and Cuba as well if it's available. If we want to "cheat" we could have these scattered exclaves have a single government with significant devolution of powers. A bit like the Bantustans in South Africa, undoubtedly with the same intentions behind them.

 

[Athelstane]

Considering the population of Cuba at the time was half that, it's essentially a no-go. The infrastructure to grow food just isn't there.

It would probably be better if, instead of having a single location, there might be a collection of designated "Black Territories," including bits and pieces of Southern states that are already heavily African-American in population, plus parts of territories that were considered out-of-the-way enough to set aside (Montana, maybe, or Dakota), and Cuba as well if it's available. If we want to "cheat" we could have these scattered exclaves have a single government with significant devolution of powers. A bit like the Bantustans in South Africa, undoubtedly with the same intentions behind them.

No, these are valid concerns. I think Cuba is a tough option to really use here.

So maybe we are back to "internal" solutions.

Just looking at the map here...

The really dense concentrations of slaves are in that black earth belt stretching from the lower Mississippi right over to South Carolina. These are the areas I think wouldmost interest Radical Republicans, not least because they actually DID manage some projects in these areas during the war.

But you could readily see some plausible new "freedman territories," or something that evolves into such, in the Yazoo Delta; central Alabama; central Georgia; coastal Georgia; and much of low country South Carolina.

 

[Ficboy]

No, these are valid concerns. I think Cuba is a tough option to really use here.

So maybe we are back to "internal" solutions.

Just looking at the map here...

The really dense concentrations of slaves are in that black earth belt stretching from the lower Mississippi right over to South Carolina. These are the areas I think wouldmost interest Radical Republicans, not least because they actually DID manage some projects in these areas during the war.

But you could readily see some plausible new "freedman territories," or something that evolves into such, in the Yazoo Delta; central Alabama; central Georgia; coastal Georgia; and much of low country South Carolina.

A black republic is unlikely but there might exist a black majority state.

 

[Athelstane]

A black republic is unlikely but there might exist a black majority state.

Well, South Carolina was *already* 57% enslaved in 1860, so it wouldn't be too hard....

 

[Emperor of Pennsylvania]

It's practically impossible for it to even remotely happen since most whites in the North wanted reconciliation with their counterparts in the South. Even Abraham Lincoln wanted it as best put it in his Second Inaugural Address in 1865.

Yes, which is why you have to change things to make it so that the North doesn't want reconciliation with the South and instead wants revenge.

Hence my idea with the Booth conspirators killing more of their targets, causing the North to be out for blood.

Having white citizens lose land is the exact opposite of everything America stood for in 1865.

Remember, there were quite a few people in the North who were extremely angry at the South for committing treason.

So, in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, when that anger was still present, it wouldn't have been too unfeasible for the government to try to bring about a harsh reintegration of the South.

However, by the late 1870s, almost all of that sentiment is gone, so the status of a hypothetical black state would be in jeopardy at that time.

 

[Thomas1195]

Nope, at the minimum a Radical Civil War is a must - I mean, radicalize the whole war - only this could radicalize the North as a whole and destroy the Copperheads. Next, if the Confederate goes full Paraguay, then various Confederate states would have automatically become black majority.

Hence my idea with the Booth conspirators killing more of their targets, causing the North to be out for blood.