[DoodleDawg]

And yet, the CSA was only the second most powerful slave nation in North America.

Depends on how you define "most powerful". It was the largest, most powerful economy in North America completely dependent on slave labor.

[jeffersondem]

“Depends on how you define “most powerful”.”

Brings to mind the exculpatory statement offered by Mrs. Clinton’s husband after he fell into the pit he had dug.

[BroJoeK]

jeffersondem: "And yet, the CSA was only the second most powerful slave nation in North America."

Doodledawg: "Depends on how you define "most powerful".
It was the largest, most powerful economy in North America completely dependent on slave labor."

In 1861 the Confederacy had roughly 5.5 million whites and about 3.5 million slaves = 9 million total.
The Union had 22 million whites and 1/2 million slaves.
By war's end in April 1865 both sides actual slaves were reduced to a relative handful before being legally abolished under the 13th Amendment, December 1865.

Our pro-Confederates like DiogenesLamp want us to think that not only Southern economy, but also the entire US 1860 GDP of $4.4 billion was "dependent" on slave labor.
Was it?
Well, clearly $200 million in cotton exports was, but we should remember that the Constitution's counting ratio of 3/5 of slaves was also, perhaps coincidentally, the generally accepted estimate, at the time, of productive outputs of slave versus freed-labor.
By that estimate then, 4 million slaves would produce as much GDP as 2.4 million freedmen, meaning that in a total population of 31 million, slaves produced under 10% of GDP.
My estimate is around $350 million of the $4.4 billion gross.