The Course of Human Events

[Lord Grattan]

What follows is a revised and expanded version of a TL I posted in December. I hope you find it interesting. Please feel free to make comments and suggestions as this history of North America unfolds.

[Lord Grattan]

The Course of Human Events

1763 was a seminal year in North American history. In the aftermath of her victory in the Seven Years War, Great Britain established military and mercantile superiority over the lion’s share of the continent. All of New France east of the Mississippi River and east of the Hudson Bay Company’s land (Rupert’s Land) in the arctic north, plus the two Floridas now belonged to Great Britain. The North American theater of the war had been the site of brutal and destructive violence. Its end though did not bring peace to the continent. Rather it brought more conflict and bloodshed.

After the British army had taken control of the region from France, various Indian tribes, beginning with those near Détroit, revolted. They were alarmed by the policies imposed upon them by British General Jeffery Amherst and the British encroachment onto their land. The French, though they claimed the land, never attempted to dominate the land in the Upper Great Lakes as the British were attempting to do. The Indians, under the leadership of the Ottawa Chief Pontiac, attacked several British forts and settlements in the region in an attempt to drive both soldiers and settlers out. All totaled, eight forts were destroyed and hundreds of British soldiers were either killed or captured. Over a thousand settlers lost their lives or were captured as well. The number of Indians killed was not recorded. In the end, The Indians were unable to drive away the British, but the rebellion did force the British government to modify the policies that had provoked the conflict. The following year, peace talks between the crown and the tribes were begun. General Amherst was recalled to London and then reassigned.

In marking the 200th Anniversary of Pontiac’s Rebellion, as this conflict is now called, Chancellor Aaron Tucker (himself descended from combatants on both sides of the conflict), remarked at a ceremony in Detroit, Michigan, that “each side seemed intoxicated with genocidal fanaticism.” King George III was greatly appalled by the reports of the awful violence. On October 7, 1763, the king issued the Proclamation of 1763. The treaty established the vast Continental Crown Lands, which would, for an unspecified length of time, be reserved for the Indians and off limits to British settlers. The region set aside included the entire Great Lakes watershed, St. Lawrence watershed east of the river and the Mississippi watershed and those of its tributaries east of the river itself. The eastern boundary began at the mouth the St. John River at St. Lawrence Bay, followed the rives for 30 miles, went south to the Great Eastern Divide, and then followed the divide south to the 33rd Parallel, where the line curved to the SE where it intersected the 82nd Latitude and the East Florida border. The southern boundary of the reserve was the 32nd Parallel from the Mississippi River east to the Chattahoochee River, then south along the river at midstream to the river’s junction with the Apalachicola River, then east along the East Florida boarder to its terminus at the 82nd Latitude.

The Proclamation did not sit well with the colonists. For those who had poured money into land speculating endeavors it brought financial loss. For the land hungry populous it represented opportunity lost. People’s anger was focused on Parliament. This anger was enflamed further in the spring of 1764 when Parliament passed the Sugar and Currency Acts. The Sugar Act, which was an extension of the 1733 Molasses Act, was an attempt to raise money for the Crown by increasing the duties on merchandise imported into the colonies that was not of British origin. The Currency Act barred the colonies from printing their own money. At a town meeting in Massachusetts Bay, taxation without representation decried and cooperative protest throughout the colonies was suggested. Non-importation, or declining to accept merchandise imported from Britain, became the protest of choice in the Colonies.

By early 1764, King George III had concluded that he needed a personal representative in the colonies, someone whom he could trust to act on his behalf regarding land and settlement issues in the land covered by the Proclamation of 1763 and who could be a persuasive spokesperson for the Crown in the existing colonies of North America. In late April that year he chose his brother, Edward Augustus, Duke of York and Albany for the job. Edward was created Proprietor of the Continental Crown Lands. He arrived at Annapolis, Maryland on August 27, 1764. Edward and his wife, still newlyweds, having been married just five months earlier, would stay at the estate of Frederick Calvert, the 6th Baron Baltimore.

[Lord Grattan]

Upon arriving in North America, Edward Augustus immediately became involved with the situation in the Crown Lands. In November 1764 he met with Britain’s Indian Agent for the northern section of the Crown Lands, Sir William Johnson. Johnson told him about Pontiac’s activities and described the British response. At the time, British soldiers were marching toward the Muskingum River in the Ohio Country and were within striking distance of several Indian villages. During that mission the army secured the release of more than 200 men, women and children who had been taken captive by the Indians. The army also extended an invitation to tribal leaders asking them to gather the following summer at Fort Ontario to craft a formal peace treaty with representatives of the British government. By November, the expedition had pressed on into the Illinois Country where they drove French soldiers from their last remaining stronghold, Fort de Chartes. It was there that they spent the winter.

When spring arrived, the commander, Colonel Bouquet and deputy Indian agent, George Croghan, met with Chiefs Pontiac and Kaské. While Kaské wanted to burn Croghan at the stake, Pontiac urged moderation. Kaské refused to join with “those who would surrender to the invaders the land given them by the Great Spirit”. Rather than accept British soverignty, he left British territory by crossing the Mississippi River with other French and Indian refugees. Pontiac though agreed to travel to New York. There he and several hundred other Illinois and Ohio tribal leaders entered into a formal treaty with William Johnson and Edward Augtustus at Fort Ontario on July 25, 1765. The Fort Ontario Treaty called for the cesation of all hostilities in the region, provided for the return of all prisoners of war, and established a Covenant Chain of Mutual Respect and Peace between the tribes and the British government. Additionally, the tribes recognized British control (but not soverignty) over the land north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi, and the British agreed to provide livestock, clothing, blankets and medical supplies to the tribes annually for ten years. While at the fort, Edward Augustus met and befriended the Mohawk leader Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea). Brant’s friendships with Edward Augustus and William Johnson were the only lasting friendships he ever had with white men.

The Duke of York also quickly became involved in the issues between the colonists and the crown. Throughout his first year in North America, the Duke of York was in correspondence with several leading citizens and government officials in the colonies. These letters focused on the issues of taxation, commerce and western settlement. These letters did much to calm the waters in the colonies. The Duke’s efforts were hampered however, in 1765, when Parliament passed the Stamp and Quartering Acts. There was civil unrest in several cities from Halifax to Philadelphia. Parliament was divided on how to respond to the situation in the colonies. Some proposed legislation declaring that laws passed by Parliament were final and binding on the colonies. A few also suggested that the Admiralty be empowered to set up special military tribunals to adjudicate the cases of colonists charged with political crimes against the realm. On the other hand, many in Parliament privately admired the colonists for standing up for themselves. The next year, Parliament relented and repealed the Sugar and Stamp Acts. The Quartering Act was finally repealed in 1769.

As a result of Prince Edward’s efforts, a meeting was set up between Prince Edward and key legislators and citizens from several colonies (Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Nova Scotia and Virginia). The meeting was held April 12-25, 1767 in New Haven, Connecticut. At the conclusion of the meeting a Plan for Colonial Cooperation and Responsible Government was signed by the 34 men present. The plan, called the Adams-Franklin Plan (after its chief proponents Samuel Adams and Benjamin Franklin) would be disseminated throughout the British colonies in North America and presented to King George III.

On September 17, 1767, Prince Edward, accompanied by Samuel Adams and Benjamin Franklin, arrived in London to discuss the proposal. Specifically, the plan would empower the provinces to convene and maintain a congress with the power to pass laws regulating taxation, quartering of British soldiers, provincial militias, and commerce within and between participating provinces. Back in 1754 Franklin had authored the Albany Plan of Union, which sought to unite several of the colonies into a confederation. That proposal was rejected by the King’s grandfather, George II. This one though was approved by George III and the Privy Council. Parliament approved the Adams-Franklin plan by a slim margin on November 1 after adding the stipulation that any laws passed by the congress could be vetoed by Parliament. The victorious trio departed London on November 3, one day after the birth of Edward’s nephew and namesake, Edward Augustus (future Duke of Kent and Strathearn and the father of Queen Victoria). As commander-in-Chief of British forces in North America, this Prince Edward oversaw the final British military withdrawal from Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1799.


Note: September 17, 1767 is the OTL date of Edward Augustus’ death and November 3 is the OTL date of his burial in Westminster Abbey.

[Analytical Engine]

Coolness...

More?

[Lord Grattan]

Northeastern North America in 1763:

Purple= Great Britain (Hudson Bay Company)
Red= Great Britain (Unorganized)
Hot Pink= Great Britain (Quebec)
Yellow= Great Britain (Continental Crown Lands)
Green= Great Britain (Atlantic Coastal Colonies)
Gray= Spain

[Analytical Engine]

Originally Posted by Lord Grattan

Northeastern North America in 1763:

Purple= Great Britain (Hudson Bay Company)
Red= Great Britain (Unorganized)
Hot Pink= Great Britain (Quebec)
Yellow= Great Britain (Continental Crown Lands)
Green= Great Britain (Atlantic Coastal Colonies)
Gray= Spain

One slight mistake - Quebec was on both sides of the St. Laurence River:

[joho6411]

Originally Posted by Lord Grattan

The Course of Human Events

1763 was a seminal year in North American history. In the aftermath of her victory in the Seven Years War, Great Britain established military and mercantile superiority over the lion’s share of the continent. All of New France east of the Mississippi River and east of the Hudson Bay Company’s land (Rupert’s Land) in the arctic north, plus the two Floridas now belonged to Great Britain. The North American theater of the war had been the site of brutal and destructive violence. Its end though did not bring peace to the continent. Rather it brought more conflict and bloodshed.

After the British army had taken control of the region from France, various Indian tribes, beginning with those near Détroit, revolted. They were alarmed by the policies imposed upon them by British General Jeffery Amherst and the British encroachment onto their land. The French, though they claimed the land, never attempted to dominate the land in the Upper Great Lakes as the British were attempting to do. The Indians, under the leadership of the Ottawa Chief Pontiac, attacked several British forts and settlements in the region in an attempt to drive both soldiers and settlers out. All totaled, eight forts were destroyed and hundreds of British soldiers were either killed or captured. Over a thousand settlers lost their lives or were captured as well. The number of Indians killed was not recorded. In the end, The Indians were unable to drive away the British, but the rebellion did force the British government to modify the policies that had provoked the conflict. The following year, peace talks between the crown and the tribes were begun. General Amherst was recalled to London and then reassigned.

In marking the 200th Anniversary of Pontiac’s Rebellion, as this conflict is now called, Chancellor Aaron Tucker (himself descended from combatants on both sides of the conflict), remarked at a ceremony in Detroit, Michigan, that “each side seemed intoxicated with genocidal fanaticism.” King George III was greatly appalled by the reports of the awful violence. On October 7, 1763, the king issued the Proclamation of 1763. The treaty established the vast Continental Crown Lands, which would, for an unspecified length of time, be reserved for the Indians and off limits to British settlers. The region set aside included the entire Great Lakes watershed, St. Lawrence watershed east of the river and the Mississippi watershed and those of its tributaries east of the river itself. The eastern boundary began at the mouth the St. John River at St. Lawrence Bay, followed the rives for 30 miles, went south to the Great Eastern Divide, and then followed the divide south to the 33rd Parallel, where the line curved to the SE where it intersected the 82nd Latitude and the East Florida border. The southern boundary of the reserve was the 32nd Parallel from the Mississippi River east to the Chattahoochee River, then south along the river at midstream to the river’s junction with the Apalachicola River, then east along the East Florida boarder to its terminus at the 82nd Latitude.

The Proclamation did not sit well with the colonists. For those who had poured money into land speculating endeavors it brought financial loss. For the land hungry populous it represented opportunity lost. People’s anger was focused on Parliament. This anger was enflamed further in the spring of 1764 when Parliament passed the Sugar and Currency Acts. The Sugar Act, which was an extension of the 1733 Molasses Act, was an attempt to raise money for the Crown by increasing the duties on merchandise imported into the colonies that was not of British origin. The Currency Act barred the colonies from printing their own money. At a town meeting in Massachusetts Bay, taxation without representation decried and cooperative protest throughout the colonies was suggested. Non-importation, or declining to accept merchandise imported from Britain, became the protest of choice in the Colonies.

By early 1764, King George III had concluded that he needed a personal representative in the colonies, someone whom he could trust to act on his behalf regarding land and settlement issues in the land covered by the Proclamation of 1763 and who could be a persuasive spokesperson for the Crown in the existing colonies of North America. In late April that year he chose his brother, Edward Augustus, Duke of York and Albany for the job. Edward was created Proprietor of the Continental Crown Lands. He arrived at Annapolis, Maryland on August 27, 1764. Edward and his wife, still newlyweds, having been married just five months earlier, would stay at the estate of Frederick Calvert, the 6th Baron Baltimore.

My question is how do you type with "old English" script? I would like to use that as well. Please explain how this is done. Thanks Hojo

[CaliBoy1990]

Originally Posted by Lord Grattan

Thank you; I am giving your generous offer some thought and will be in touch. Have you been able to reconstruct the paragraphs to Stars & Stripes that you lost last month? S&S is an engaging story!

Thanks! Yes, I've managed to reconstruct that part of the story as I had originally thought it up. Though I've also been working on DoD stuff so I've had that to deal with as well(I'm hoping my efforts haven't gone to waste). That, and the power went out in my neighborhood yesterday after we had some REALLY nasty storms coming through; it came back on after a few hours but I only got my internet access back for a short time before it went down again; I just got it back up again very recently and don't know how long it'll last, so I'm trying to use up my time as efficiently as possible.

Yes, RL has been busy. I have also been digesting your comments & thoughts you posted above (wow - almost 8 months ago ). Thanks for sharing your observations.

Yep. I have to be honest, I've never been the biggest fan of 'monarchial America' stuff, but this was definitely an exception to the rule, due to how well written it has been, as well as some of the unique twists(Jewish Deseret? Now you don't see that every day. ) .

In short, IMO: a good TL that deserves more attention.

[Lord Grattan]

Originally Posted by joho6411

My question is how do you type with "old English" script? I would like to use that as well. Please explain how this is done. Thanks Hojo

I copied and pasted directly from the file on my computer. I was using Internet Explorer at the time so the fonts copied exactly. I've since started using Chrome and have discovered that I can no longer do this.

Originally Posted by CaliBoy1990

Thanks! Yes, I've managed to reconstruct that part of the story as I had originally thought it up. Though I've also been working on DoD stuff so I've had that to deal with as well(I'm hoping my efforts haven't gone to waste). That, and the power went out in my neighborhood yesterday after we had some REALLY nasty storms coming through; it came back on after a few hours but I only got my internet access back for a short time before it went down again; I just got it back up again very recently and don't know how long it'll last, so I'm trying to use up my time as efficiently as possible.

Yep. I have to be honest, I've never been the biggest fan of 'monarchial America' stuff, but this was definitely an exception to the rule, due to how well written it has been, as well as some of the unique twists(Jewish Deseret? Now you don't see that every day. ) .

In short, IMO: a good TL that deserves more attention.

Thanks for the complement and encouragement. I hope that you have no more bad storms this spring.

[mrfraser1986]

Nice little update LG

[Glen]

Was looking at the map of Albion. Some interesting choices there. One thing, though. Missouri's southern border is so OTL as to be utterly ASB with this timeline's POD so far back from drawing said border. How come?

[Lord Grattan]

Originally Posted by Glen

Was looking at the map of Albion. Some interesting choices there. One thing, though. Missouri's southern border is so OTL as to be utterly ASB with this timeline's POD so far back from drawing said border. How come?

The whole border or just the "bootheal"? I don't rightly recall there being any reason for including the bootheal in Missouri, and of course the folks who maneuvered its inclusion into Missouri would not be around in TTL. It was an oversight on my part. Therefore, I'll redraw maps and consider the OTL "bootheal" region to be part of Arkansa. Thanks for the input.

[Glen]

Originally Posted by Lord Grattan

The whole border or just the "bootheal"? I don't rightly recall there being any reason for including the bootheal in Missouri, and of course the folks who maneuvered its inclusion into Missouri would not be around in TTL. It was an oversight on my part. Therefore, I'll redraw maps and consider the OTL "bootheal" region to be part of Arkansa. Thanks for the input.

Yeah, the bootheel is the big one. Now, the rest of that column of states is a bit closer to OTL than one might like, but at least they are plausible to develop in other timelines. The bootheel's a different story. Good work!

[Lord Grattan]

On October 16, 1854, just 5 days after the disastrous collapse of the 1st Niagara River Suspension Bridge, a meeting of the bridge company’s board of directors was held at Manchester, New York. The board immediately agreed that a new bridge should be built, and that the new span should be a combination road and rail bridge. The following spring the design proposal submitted by bridge builder and engineer William Monk (who had previously built several suspension bridges and aqueducts in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Allegheny) was selected over those submitted by Walter Wade and Calvin Knapp (who had most recently built the Monongahela River Suspension Bridge at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania).Monk’s design plan called for the building of a double deck bridge in order to create a stronger structure and allow for increased traffic capacity and weight. In October 1855, he began building that bridge. Work continued without interruption, and in April 1858, the span was finished. On April 11, the 19½ ton locomotive “Tioga”, crossed the bridge at a speed of 7 mph and caused a deflection of only 3½ inches at the center of the span.

The bridge had a span of 825 feet and was supported by four wire cables of ten-inch diameter each that were supported by 2 stone pylons at each end. The railway deck was built above the carriage floor and both were joined by a latticed truss of wood construction forming what appeared to be a long narrow cage across the gorge. A large number of guy wires from the bridge to the cliff wall were utilized to counteract the effects of the wind. The Niagara River Suspension Bridge cost $450,000 dollars to build and became one of the worlds most famous. This 2nd suspension bridge remained in use until 1884, when a thorough and comprehensive overhaul of the span was completed. More and heavier trains carrying heavier loads necessitated the renovation. All that remained of the 2nd bridge were the anchorages and cables, though they too soon but they too had been refurbished and improved.

Even before the initial line was established across the gorge for the 1st Niagara River Suspension Bridge, there was great interest in and support for building a similar span upriver nearer to the falls. By the fall of 1854, the Falls View Suspension Bridge Company had raised the necessary funds and received the necessary authorizations to begin construction on the Falls View Bridge, to be located between Palmer, Ontario and Manchester, New York, 300 yards north of Rainbow Falls and within sight of the mighty Horseshoe Falls. Construction was set to begin in the spring of 1855, but was delayed due to the collapse of the Niagara River Bridge. Nearly 4 years later, after a complete design overhaul, the project received the go ahead from officials in Albany and Thames, and construction began. One cold day in February 1859, a rope was carried across the river over the ice bridge at the site of the proposed new span establishing the physical link between the two shorelines.

Redesigned by Douglas Gardner, this suspension bridge featured a timber deck and with stiffening truss and timber towers supporting the cables at each end of the bridge. The towers measuring 100 feet tall were built of 12 inch by 12 inch pine timbers. Each leg of the tower consisted of four timbers and the 16 were grouped together under the saddle plate for the support of the main cables. Guy wires were run from the bridge span to shore anchors to prevent the bridge from swaying. On January 10, 1860, the bridge’s flooring was completed. Residents were invited to walk across and examine the bridge for free until the formal opening. The Falls View Bridge was officially dedicated and opened with much fanfare on January 14. As the bridge’s deck was only 10 feet wide, traffic could only pass in one direction at a time. As a carriage entered the bridge from one end, a bell would ring at the other end to notify them that a carriage was about to cross. As a result, there were often long lines of carriages waiting to cross the bridge. The bridge underwent renovations, enlargements and steel retrofitting in 1870 and 1881. Even with these enhancements, the Falls View Bridge would swing from side to side and rise and fall in wave like fashion during severe storms. On the night of March 3/4, 1892, a ferocious storm with gale force winds lashed the Niagara region. Around midnight the fastening of one of the principal storm stays of the bridge broke as the bridge was being pummeled by an especially violent gust of wind. This left the Falls View Bridge to the mercy of the storm. A few hours later, at 4:40 am, and the bridge broke loose and crashed to the river below.

Since the building of these early bridges over the Niagara River more then 150 years ago, several others have come and some have gone. The most recent bridge to be demolished was the Steel Arch Railway Bridge between Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, New York in August 2009. On December 2, 1999, the Buffalo and Port Erie Bridge Authority announced plans to build an identical twin span on the downstream (north) side of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Bridge. Construction on the new bridge was scheduled to begin in March 2003, but due to numerous legal challenges and other delays, construction did not get underway on the project until April 2010. The new completion date for the bridge is early in 2012. Below is a list of existing bridges over the Niagara River in order from south/upstream (Lake Erie) to north/downstream (Lake Ontario). Bridges marked with an asterisk (*) cross smaller portions of the river within New York. All others cross the full river between Ontario and New York. The endpoints given for each bridge of each bridge are listed going left to right while facing downstream.

Veterans of Foreign Wars Bridge (1921) – Port Erie, Ontario/Buffalo, New York
Pedestrians and vehicles (Federal Route 12 & Interprovince 88)
Buffalo-Port Erie Bridge (1869) – Port Erie, Ontario/Buffalo, New York
Trains
South Grand Island Bridge* (twin spans, 1935 & 1961) – Grand Island/Tonawanda, New York
Vehicles (Interprovince 188)
North Grand Island Bridge* (twin spans, 1935 & 1961) – Grand Island/Tonawanda, New York
Vehicles (Interprovince 188)
Stedman Island Bridge* – Stedman Island/Niagara Falls, New York
Pedestrians
Halo Island Bridge* – Stedman Island/Halo Island, New York
Pedestrians
Rainbow Bridge (1944) – Niagara Falls, Ontario/Niagara Falls, New York
Pedestrians and non-commercial vehicles
Whirlpool Bridge (1898) – Niagara Falls, Ontario/Niagara Falls, New York
Trains and vehicles (Federal Route 10; also connects Ontario Routes 74 to New York Routes 17 & 54)
Lewiston-Queenston High Arch Bridge (1850) – Queenston, Ontario/Lewiston, New York
Pedestrians and non-commercial vehicles (Federal Route 212)
Lewiston-Queenston Suspension Bridge (1961) – Queenston, Ontario/Lewiston, New York
Vehicles (Interprovince 188; also connects New York Route 38 to Ontario Route 9)

[Herr Frage]

Yor attention to detail continues to stun. When it comesto storytelllng my natural talemt lies in worldbuilding, but you utterly outclass me in that field.

Since I am not enginneer or familiar with the region I cannot really offer much critique an the AH aspects. But it is interstingly informatrive on fields I do not normally examine.

Do we have a Tutretledove for best laid setting?