ALL: To add to this thread I have followed the following steps CONSISTENTLY, with 10 out of 12 games in the past 6 months to avoid the ACW early on w/i 5 years.
1. At start of game(Paused), immediately set NFs to Bureaucrats in the Following states(as colonial power increases): Florida, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota. Secondly, set max Diplo influence on ALL South American countries, DO NOT ENACT ANY POLITICAL REFORMS. Thirdly, build as many commerce raiders as possible and remember to buy up the steamer convoys(remove the automation) to as much as your budget can handle(play around with Taxes as you see fit to make it work). Lastly, in regards to tech, I focus on increasing Ideological thought, Research pts tech and production. I did not focus too much on Military UNTIL I outlawed slavery. Then its fair game..so you decide.
*What did does is increase the potential Slave states in the USA, and in doing so, increases the Popularity of "Slavery Outlawed" while making the Southern states happy. In Historical sense, your ignoring the Missouri compromise. Preparing
2. start Colonizing Idaho & British Colombia(in that order)
* Keeping GB out of the historical USA is key, IMO, I have tried a mix bag of colonizing Oklahoma, Idaho, British Col. and Colorado without good results. But in my games the constant is that Idaho and BC are best to start with.
3. Bring in ALL NEW STATES as SLAVE STATES!! By this time Item#1 colonies should have enough B-crates to ask for statehood, accept and "EXTEND SLAVERY"
* Again this raises the "SLAVER OUTLAWED" popularity(in the Political tab bottom left) you should notice 1 of 2 things at this point. First, the Pop % to "OUTLAW SLAVERY" should be bet 15-25% or Secondly your Republican\Wig UP % should be at about the same percentage. I have seen a mix of the two in many of my games.
5. Start planing on colonizing Washington State and Oregon.
*By this pt Idaho should be yours by default, accept statehood and "EXTEND SLAVERY". remember you will be pushing your Colonial pts to the 0, so watch them closely. By this point your steamer convoys should have been built and you have more pts to use in colonizing..BUILD MORE as necessary.
4. You should now enter the Mexican-Texas War. I have been able to bring in the item #1 states in BEFORE Texas capitulates to Mexico. Please note, i have tried bother entering the war on the side of TX(status Quo) AND declaring war on Mexico outside of the war( meaning Mexico is now involved in 2 separate wars) as a demand concession(Mexican Texas or another state).
*By this point, Mexico has colonized Colorado and maybe trying to colonize Oregon & Oklahoma. My advise to you is to focus on Washington state to block GB from encroachment into the US mainland. Once Washington state is yours THEN focus on Oregon and OK. When these colonies have the sufficient 1% of Primary or accepted culture POP assign a NF B-crate and turn it into a SLAVE STATE when prompted with the event. Wage the war as you see fit. * As an added bonus, you should enact the Ostend Manifesto to gain cores in Cuba, it will help in the future.
5: WAIT until the Mexican-Texas conflict is over b/c accepting or declaring a victory. If you "pull the trigger' too soon Mexico will continue its war on Texas and win..don't let that happen...be patient. Annex Mexican Texas, accept Texas for statehood as a slave state!!
* By this point you blocked out GB from Washington state, Have started colonizing in OK and Oregon and the Republicans should be in power, the decisions icon is green and you can now outlaw slavery. I have been able to do all of this bet 1838-1841. Dates vary, but only in 2 games did the slavery debate fire almost immediately in 1836. In this case, restart the game.. I hope this helps, if anyone has any other questions on avoiding the ACW or some advice on CSA feel free to reply or send me a PM.