Growing up in Northen Ohio, I learned from a young age that the civil war was about human rights and slavery. It was about humans trying to own other humans and white people treating black people like they weren’t human. Naturally I was proud to have grown up in the north and identified with the union and considered that “we won” the civil war.

Later I encountered the idea that the civil war was about states rights, economic issues, and secession. I went through different phases of dealing with this account. First thinking it was untrue, then thinking it was true but minor compared to the slavery thing, and eventually realizing that there are some good points on both sides.

Since the end of the civil war, the states have been united in an unstable equilibrium with the ideas of the union being ascendant. There is no slavery and no secession. The union dominated the confederacy in war and has been in charge since.

But in 2025 with the “united” states now more divided than they have been since at least the civil war, and perhaps ever, I propose that the united states settle on a new more stable and equitable outcome. The Union wins on Civil Rights, and the Confederacy wins on States Rights. I propose that there should be no more slavery or racial discrimination anywhere in the former united states, and any state is allowed to secede should it choose to do so by its own internal governance. Perhaps there could be some federal breakup process for seceeding to allow people to move if they so choose.

#Secession2025