Corrupted Dreams

With all these rosy threads about a "velvet divorce" and peaceful secession, I thought a little bit of pessimism wouldn't hurt. The world could have had it a lot worse.

PART I:

POD: 1861

The Confederate troops near Fort Sumter remain calm, and do not fire at the fort. Two weeks later, the Fort is evacuated and the Civil War is averted.

During the next two months, Virginia see-saws back and forth on the issue of secession, and eventually joins the CSA in early August. America teeters on the brink of civil war. On September 7, 1861, a West Virginian pro-Union militia attacks a Confederate position, and is captured and charged with treason.

Lincoln is outraged, and calls on Congress for a call to war. The month of October flys by with endless debate in the Capitol. The issue comes to a vote on the 2nd of November. The final vote is decided in favor of peace by only 3 votes.

The CSA peacefully splits from the Union, in return for granting the US the Florida Keys as a naval base.

In the next 3 years, the Republican Party is hit badly, and the Whig(formerly Union) candidate John C. Bell is victorious in the 1864 election. The Whigs also gain the largest amount of seats in the 1864 Congress, but not a majority. The Reps are split about 40% Whig, 30% Democrat and 30% Republican, while the Senate is 45% Whigh 40% Democrate 15% Republican.

The Confederate elections are completely dominated by the Confederation Party, with only the Democrats winning three seats in the new House of Reps, all from pro-union regions. The first President of the CSA is John Breckinridge, a former Democrat.

Over the next decade, the Confederacy tries to industrialize, but only really succeeds in creating a military-industrial complex. The Confederate army is made stronger over the years, as the Confederacy cracks down on several slave rebellions and Unionist militias during the next decade. The Bureau of Internal Protection, a federal force designed to fight insurrection and rebellion, is formed in 1869. It will become more than its mandate over the life of the Confederacy.

In the US, life seems rosier. The Transcontinental Railroad is completed in 1867, with much fanfare and celebration in the press. Industrial progress is rapid, and urban life is improved slowly. An American Central Bank is established, and funds a variety of business programs.John Bell is politically untouchable in the '68 elections, with a 70% majority in the electoral vote.

Under the surface, however, corruption swells. The American Central Bank's director, Alfred Smallhouse, accepts several large contributions in return for favorable loans to various groups. The Union Pacific Credit League, a company designed to maximize profits for its shareholders, is granted several large contracts by the Federal Government, aiding in a large part by the sixteen Representatives and two Sentators with large holdings in the company. A New York Times reporter about to scoop the story suddenly retires to a large estate in Maine.

The corruption erupts to the surface in the 1872 election, when the Boston Herald reveals the extent of the Credit League's corruption. The events traumatize the Whig party, leading to a Republican victory under James Blaine. But the new Republican-dominated House of Representatives and the Democrat-dominated Senate are both far from honest. Several other corrupt deals are kept under the surface and away from the press.

In the CSA, increasing crackdowns on anti-government militias and slave rebellions leads to the banning of the abolitionist Democrat party, enforced by the Bureau of Internal Protection, which has been swelling in size for the past few years. The 1872 election is uncontested, with a 100% victory for the Confederate Party and Alexander H. Stephens, the new president. In Richmond, participants in an abolitionist march are arrested and charged with treason. Under the new Social Preservation Act, the trial is closed to reporters and the result is life imprisonment for over 100 protestors.

In Europe, events have continued as OTL up until the establishment of the Third Republic. A French Commune attempts to seize power, leading to a three-way civil war between the Communists, the Republicans and the Imperialists. The Republicans seize control in 1875, but only through questionable tactics. France becomes a dictatorship under Andre Montage.

In the CSA, the form

bravo!!

....

I hate the editing deadline. I can't remember what happened to the next paragraph in that post, because I didn't save the .txt file. So, excuse me for bad editing in that post.

PART II

In Texas, many have been alienated by the slow corruption of democracy in the Confederacy. The long devotion to independence in Texas has caused backlashes against the increased powers of the Confederate government, ironically more powerful than that of the Union. It's become a haven for dissidents, who have fled into the western portions of the state and been convienently overlooked by Texan authorities uncomfortable with the federal government.

In August 1875, a prominent abolitionist from the Richmond March, David Galloway, and his gang of five, comes into the western town of Abilene at precisesly the wrong time. A squad of Internal Protection men has been sent out to check out the town's mayor, who is suspected of aboltionist leanings. In the Lone Star Saloon, one of the Protectionists recognizes Galloway, and moves to make an arrest. Galloway isn't going to come peacefully, and neither are his gang, all well-armed. They shoot two of the Protectionists before they have a chance to strike back.

Returning fire, the Protectionists end up shooting not only the Galloway gang, but also the barmaid, a rancher, and the local sheriff. A deputy arrives quickly, and attempts to arrest the Protectionists, who resist violently, and ride out of town back to the Bureau's Houston offices.

The Texan press, the most free in the Confederacy, screams in outrage. A crowd protests outside the Houston office, and the Bureau is paralyzed temporarily. Talk of secession is aroused, centered around a Texan militia captain named James Barclay. On October 19th, he leads ten thousand Texans in raising the flag of the Lone Star Republic on Houston Heights. The Bureau-controlled Texan Legislature is chased out of their homes and arrested by Texan police, and James Barclay is made temporary President of the Lone Star Republic.

Outside Texas, the events are widely known but unpublicised by the majority of the press, and when they are, they are criticized. However, the Union is highly supportive of the Texans and volunteer brigades are formed to aid the Texans, mainly made up of abolitionists.

Stephens acts quickly to supress the rebellion. The Confederate military is sent into Houston via rail, and the Bureau of Internal Protection swiftly arrests any Texan sympathizers. The insurrection really only lasts five months against the full might of the confederacy, with the final stand of Barclay in San Antonio being referred to as the Second Battle of the Alamo by the Union press. The dissidents are rounded up and imprisoned or flee into the Indian Territory or New Mexico. Texas is formerly re-admitted into the Confederacy in 1880, but is carefully watched by the Bureau and never really re-admitted into Confederate society.

Up North, the Centennial is greeted with massive celeberations across the Union, with the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia being by far the largest. A popular exhibition is the World of Progress, showing off inventions and devices for a variety of purposes. Among such diverse inventions as the automatic bread slicer and the steam-powered scissors stands Thomas Edison's booth, showing off his phonograph, electric light, and his most recent devices, the telephone, perfected from work conducted by Alexander Bell and Phillip Reis. President Blaine himself remarks that such a useful device "might one day rival the post".

The elections were a easy victory for the Republicans, overseeing four years of apparent prosperity. The Lakota and the Sioux were quietly defeated and pushed onto reservations, thanks to more competent leadership by the armed forces. The economy continues to grow, and the industrial factories enlarge slowly. Storm clouds are gathering on the Horizon, however. The Mormons of Utah are becoming decidely uncomfortable with the Union, and the seething mass of revolution that is Mexico seems to be evolving in a pointedly anti-America direction.

-that's all for tonight, I gotta go.

good stuff - is Mexico going to foment trouble in TX by any chance?

No, but it will be a problem for both nations.

I worked out what happened to part 1: I copied only the first part of my text document, which I did not save. Nevermind.