Five more states and all the manpower that went with it? It’s not exactly speculation.
Where was the South going to get the several more hundred thousand rifles for these men. They couldn’t make them, and they couldn’t get them through the blockade.
The South came close to winning anyways.
Maybe in your wildest dreams. But in reality the South never came close. They might had an outside chance if the could convince the Brits and French to interfere. Without them they would have failed anyway.
They didn't seem to have any problems getting sufficient rifles with which to fight a war. I believe you mentioned that Lee took an extra 2,000 rifles with him in the hopes of arming the locals in Maryland to help him. Blockade runners were bringing them in, and I think they were making some rifles themselves.
Maybe in your wildest dreams. But in reality the South never came close. They might had an outside chance if the could convince the Brits and French to interfere. Without them they would have failed anyway.
With the alignment of the states as they were, the South would have unquestionably been ground to dust if the will remained in the North to do it. With more equal odds, this possibility changes greatly.