Gene Schmiel presented an interesting topic based on the conjecture, “What if, even after the Union had won the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation, slavery had remained legal in the United States?”
He described how one changed decision at the Battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862, could have created a "Civil War butterfly effect" and irrevocably changed American history.
Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation gave Confederate states one more chance to re-join the Union, whether or not they abolished slavery. The presentation explained how, as a result, slavery might not have ended despite a Union victory.
The failure to abolish slavery would have become "the Northern lost cause". Abolitionists and black leaders would be bitter that despite the bloodshed, victory had not brought the cherished goal of slavery.
An interesting evening.
A gallery of photos is posted below, including many with headlines that are not historical, but in the spirit of the evening, “What if…?”
