To be fair, they couldn’t industrialise before they split off. Their industries wouldn’t have been competitive with the well-established ones already existing in the north. Only ways they could become competitive were (a) secede and put up tariffs, or (b) get a huge aid package from the federal government so they can run things at a loss for a few years. And the northern states would not have been happy with (b), so …
You maybe would think about industrializing too before you split off…
“Stupid northerners and their fancy trains.”
“Hey, how TF they getting all these fuckloads of troops out here so fast?”
To be fair, they couldn’t industrialise before they split off. Their industries wouldn’t have been competitive with the well-established ones already existing in the north. Only ways they could become competitive were (a) secede and put up tariffs, or (b) get a huge aid package from the federal government so they can run things at a loss for a few years. And the northern states would not have been happy with (b), so …