Someone I know has told me that she thinks that, had the Civil War never happened, the eventual development of mechanized farm equipment would have caused the slave-holding South to free all of its slaves of its own accord. How reasonable a hypothesis is this?

by [deleted]

Searocksandtrees

Sorry, but your submission has been removed because we don't allow hypothetical questions. If possible, please feel free to rephrase the question so that it does not call for such speculation, and resubmit Otherwise, this sort of thing is better suited for /r/HistoryWhatIf.