"89

the long version

"The book presents an argument for the peaceful secession of the Southern States from the United States. A southern secret society joins forces with a pool of powerful northern industrialists. They use a communications blackout to take advantage of a constitutional loophole that leaves the nation without an executive branch following the 1888 election. In the final third of the novel, set in the future, secession is finally achieved. The story pits private wealth against a big government inflated by the demand for public services from America's lower classes"--Bookseller's blurb.