Forever Brother's

Xen

Banned
"Depart our wayward sisters and go in peace."

There hasn't been a really well thought out and developed Confederate timeline for a while. Though the topic seems to always be up, so I'll revive something that got swallowed up by the old boards.

In this timeline the US Constitution states clearly that states can secede from the Union, except for in times of war. This prevents the New England states from seceding in the War of 1812. I will not touch history until 1860. Abraham is still elected President, much to the disappointment of the South, that December South Carolina secedes. During the first 6 months of 1861 South Carolina is joined by 11 other states and the Confederate States of America is formed.

Not able to declare war to keep the south from seperating, Lincoln had no choice but to recognize the Confederate States independence. Representatives from the the Confederacy met with representatives from the north in Philadelphia. In the meeting's western Virginia and parts of Kentucky were organized into the pro-Union state of Kanawa., and maritime boundries were set. At the meetings conclusion on August 2, 1861, the Union officially recognized the Confederate States. Britain, France, and Russia would follow within the week.

Confederate national elections were held in October 1861, interm President Jefferson Davis won re-election as part of the Confederate Democratic Party. The Whig Party didn't have sufficient support to challenge Davis in the national election. The Confederate Constitution limited the President to one 6 year term.

In the first few years of independence the Confederate states managed to put together a small navy and a working government in Richmond. However progress was often slow as states often had spats with one another, and for the first time southerners felt the impact of losing the northern industry.

Relations were often warm with the United States, although there were several incident's that caused politicians on both sides to rattle their sabers. The US refusal to allow southern bounty hunters to find runaway slaves. Runaway slaves just had to escape across the Ohio or Potomac to find freedom. Virginia, Kentucky and Arkansas beefed up their state militia's to try to find slaves before they escaped northwards. This sometimes led to the enslaving of free blacks living in the south.

The first real test to the United States and Confederacy came in the summer of 1864 when Napoleon III of France tried to install Maximillion as his puppet in Mexico. Napoleon hoped to gain an ally in Richmond and keep the Union from interferring with his plan. President Davis chose to side with Lincoln and commit the Confederacy to uphold the Monroe Doctrine. The French Emperor started to proceed with his plans but was given a firm warning by Britain, Prussia and Russia to desist. London made it very clear if France went to war with the US over Mexico, that France should consider herself at war with Britain.

In spite of winning the showdown with France, Lincoln was voted out of office by a massive landslide, the Republican Party split into several smaller parties. Horatio Seymour became the 17th President of the United States. The country was a different place, the loss of the south came as an incredible blow to northerners. The country began to turn its focus west where the US Army was defeating the Indians and the railroad was looking to build tracks stretching from Chicago to San Francisco.

North America was now a very different place

CS.jpg
 
Texas Et Al

Texas was very set on the idea that when it suceded the ceded terrritory of New Mexico went with it.
Maryland Wanted to sucede [Parts at least] It was Lincoln's sending of troops that keep it in the Union.
Delaware also had a Vote on Sucession.
There also was a Question of dividing the Federal Gold reserves.
You should address these in your TL.
 
---The US refusal to allow southern bounty hunters to find runaway slaves. Runaway slaves just had to escape across the Ohio or Potomac to find freedom. Virginia, Kentucky and Arkansas beefed up their state militia's to try to find slaves before they escaped northwards. This sometimes led to the enslaving of free blacks living in the south.----


How are the blacks who flee treated in this US? Are they partially blamed for the loss of the South as in HT's the Great War or are they treated a little better-given the endemic white racism at the time?
 

Xen

Banned
Michael E Johnson said:
---The US refusal to allow southern bounty hunters to find runaway slaves. Runaway slaves just had to escape across the Ohio or Potomac to find freedom. Virginia, Kentucky and Arkansas beefed up their state militia's to try to find slaves before they escaped northwards. This sometimes led to the enslaving of free blacks living in the south.----


How are the blacks who flee treated in this US? Are they partially blamed for the loss of the South as in HT's the Great War or are they treated a little better-given the endemic white racism at the time?

The latter, blacks who flee north arent treated super great, but they are free, and look to the US as the promised land so to speak. The able body men are finding a home in the US Army. They are sent to the west to fight Indians.
 
Hold the phone, you have to remember that initially only a few states seceded from the union: South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. Just 7.

Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri did not secede until war broke out. At that point, staying in the union meant fighting their brothers to the south for a cause they did not especially believe in. If you remove the declaration of war, some of these states may still secede, but not all. Missouri, at least, isn't going to secede, probably not Virginia, and only Arkansas is really likely to.

All in all, it would have been a pretty good deal. We would miss New Orleans, and eventually Texas, and having another Mexico on our border would be a pain later, but otherwise, no big deal. I bet we could pick up at least most of the states west of the Mississippi when the whole thing fell to bits around the turn of the century. The big loss would be the advances in medicine we got out of the huge battles in OTL. But heck, with 2 million people living who would have died, there's got to be some great inventors or philanthropists, so I can live with it.

Could be called an American Utopia, if it weren't for how the blacks'd still be treated.

Edit: On reflection, for all its faults, I would miss Georgia. My yankee blood is not strong enough to turn me from her. The mists, the pines, the hanging moss...the wild dogs... Now I'm all nostalgic.
 
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--and Missouri did not secede until war broke out---


Missouri and Kentucky never offically left the US. They were 2 key border states(along with Maryland and Delaware) where Lincoln had to worry about not pissing off the white population so they wouldnt leave the Union as well-ie the Emancipation Proclamation only applied to areas of the CSA still in rebellion-not the areas recaptured by the Union or those border states.
 
Michael E Johnson said:
Missouri and Kentucky never offically left the US.

Actually, Missouri is a fascinating topic. No, they did not secede in early 1861 like their neighbors. In February 1861 the legislature called a state convention to consider Missouri’s relation to the Union. None of the delegates favored immediate secession, but Governor Claiborne F. Jackson was pro-Southern and refused to respond to Lincoln’s call for troops in April 1861, when the American Civil War began. Instead he ordered the state militia to assemble at Camp Jackson in St. Louis. Union Army General Nathaniel Lyon soon marched against the camp and forced its surrender. Agitators attacked the Union troops, who then fired into the crowd, killing several people.

In a last effort to maintain peace, on June 11, Lyon met Jackson in St. Louis, but the conference ended when Lyon would not approve Missouri’s neutrality and Jackson refused to permit Union troop movements in the state. Jackson called for 50,000 volunteers and placed Sterling Price in command of the militia; Lyon then occupied the capital. Jackson and remnants of the legislature fled to Neosho. On June 17, Price’s militia attacked Lyon’s troops at Boonville, but Lyon was victorious. However, at a bloody battle at Wilson’s Creek on August 10, Lyon was killed and his troops routed. Price led his Confederate soldiers to another victory at Lexington the next month.

In October the Neosho government approved Missouri’s secession. However, the state convention set up a provisional government in July 1861, with Hamilton R. Gamble as governor.

Thus, depending on the legality of either government, (neither, in fact, was a legal government), Missouri can be considered to be a seceded state. No, Lincoln never recognized it, but that does not take away from the fact that a moderately legal government (certainly every bit as legal as Gamble's). So, technically, both of you are right.
 
Admiral Matt said:
That's what I was referring to, though I admit I did not understand the situation as well as Mr Kaufmann.

LoL, at least call me Walter. I hate "Mr Kaufmann." That's what people call my grandfather.
 
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