Slavery would have ended, like every where else in the civilized world, but upward mobility was severely limited in Southern society. I thought we had a pretty good country after the Civil War, up until about 20 years ago when we lost our free and independent media, War on Poverty and Hollywood s-canned the culture, etc.
Well, slavery was over both for political and economic reasons before the Civil war. And, the beginning of federal power stems from the Civil War, not from The Great Society.
Admittedly, things ran well until recently, but once the federal government crushed States rights, it was only a matter of time.