Union and Liberty: An American TL

[jycee]

The annexation of California will definitely be interesting. I would like to see how an independent Californian identity would develop, if I ma not mistaken the leaders of the bear flag revolt in OTL were either white American settlers or their descendants in the north, they could be pro annexation but what about the more Mexican south? Is California stable as an independent country? Or weak enough that Mexico under a good military rule can reclaim it? I don't think it would have a population large enough to stop any invasion but Mexico seems quite unstable in this TL.

Other than that very good TL Wilcoxchar. I'm usually not the most interested in US History or US based TLs but this one has been quite enjoyable. Looking forward to see how things turn out.

 

[vultan]

Keep on bringing the good stuff on, wilcoxchar. I nearly died of joy after America bought Cuba.

 

[wilcoxchar]

Well, this update was originally going to focus on part of Scott's administration but these topics didn't really end up having much to do with it. So, enjoy!

Part Seventeen: Technological and Social Innovation

The Age of Steam:
Winfield Scott's presidency occurred during a time of great change in the United States. With innovations in steam technology over the past few decades and the spread of the electrical telegraph patented by Samuel Morse in 1837 across the country expedited communications and transportation across the country.

Transportation technology was renewed with the creation of major railway and steamship companies in the 1840s. By 1850 the United States had close ten thousnad miles of rail, including a railroad connection Boston to Richmond, Virginia. Companies such as the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Great Lakes Railway along wtih financial backing from industrialists like James Gadsden in South Carolina and David Levitt in Massachusetts spurred the construction of the United States rail network. James Gadsden in particular played an important role in the expansion of the South Carolina Railroad. By 1851 when Gadsden left the executive position, the railroad had expanded from its beginnings as a connection between Charleston and Columbia to connect Savannah, Atlanta, Jacksonville, and Pensacola.

River transportation was also revolutionized during the first half of the 19th century as steamships became commonplace. The Erie Canal and other canals built across the country allowed for river transport alongside rail. The most well known businessman to invest in steamships was Cornelius Vanderbilt. After profiting from his operation of a ferry between Staten Island and Newark in New Jersey and a steamship service between Manhattan and Albany in New York during the 1830s, Vanderbilt struck further west to make his real fortune.[1] In 1844, Vanderbilt founded a business that offered steamship transportation centered around Saint Louis along the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio rivers. The business grew quickly, and by the time Scott entered office, Vanderbilt's company was one of the most profitable and one of the largest private employers in the United States.[2] The success of Vanderbilt's steamship company helped to start the growth of the area between Saint Louis and Cairo the population center it is today.


Fourierism in the United States:
In the early 1800s, Charles Fourier advocated a social system based on cooperation and concern toward one another. He believed that everyone in a community should work toward to better the community, and advocated self-sufficiency as he thought that trade was the root of poverty and conflict. Fourier advocated these societies to be organized into small communes called 'phalanxes'. His ideas became known as Fourierism and laid some of the groundwork that led to the modern ideas of socialism.

In the United States, the disipline of Fourierism caught on in parts of New England, as the idea of small communal utopias spread across parts of the country. The main advocate of Fourierism in the United States was Horace Greeley, founder of the New York Tribune and a major figure in the Whig and later Republican parties. Greeley sponsored the founding of a number of towns based on the ideals of Fouriers teachings in the 1850s including Phalanx, Massachusetts, Reunion, Calhoun, and Harmony, Roosevelt. These and other Fourierist towns did not last long due to their relative isolationism and the ideals advocated by Fourier and Greeley lapsed for another thirty years.

However, the socialist ideas of Fourier and other socialist thinkers of the mid-nineteenth century did reapper in the 1870s and 1880s. Many of Fourier's ideas of cooperation were revisited in a number of towns that called themselves 'transforms' throughout the western United States. These towns, however, accepted trade as a means to assist in ending poverty and their leaders held a Fourier Transform Council to discuss the advancement of Fourier's ideas in the United States. The Council met five times in twenty years until a Fourier Party was formed in 1898, eventually becoming part of the Progressive Party.[3]

[1]This part about Vanderbilt is all OTL, except where he heads west.
[2]This is also OTL, according to Wikipedia.
[3] Yes, I mostly did that paragraph so I could make a Fourier Transform pun.

 

[wilcoxchar]

Time for the picture to go with this update. I was going to do a rail map of the US, which I still might do, but I need to get up early tomorrow. So here's a map of the South Carolina Railroad.

 

[Lord Grattan]

Well, this update was originally going to focus on part of Scott's administration but these topics didn't really end up having much to do with it. So, enjoy!

Part Seventeen: Technological and Social Innovation

The Age of Steam:
Winfield Scott's presidency occurred during a time of great change in the United States. With innovations in steam technology over the past few decades and the spread of the electrical telegraph patented by Samuel Morse in 1837 across the country expedited communications and transportation across the country.

Transportation technology was renewed with the creation of major railway and steamship companies in the 1840s. By 1850 the United States had close ten thousnad miles of rail, including a railroad connection Boston to Richmond, Virginia. Companies such as the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Great Lakes Railway along wtih financial backing from industrialists like James Gadsden in South Carolina and David Levitt in Massachusetts spurred the construction of the United States rail network. James Gadsden in particular played an important role in the expansion of the South Carolina Railroad. By 1851 when Gadsden left the executive position, the railroad had expanded from its beginnings as a connection between Charleston and Columbia to connect Savannah, Atlanta, Jacksonville, and Pensacola.

River transportation was also revolutionized during the first half of the 19th century as steamships became commonplace. The Erie Canal and other canals built across the country allowed for river transport alongside rail. The most well known businessman to invest in steamships was Cornelius Vanderbilt. After profiting from his operation of a ferry between Staten Island and Newark in New Jersey and a steamship service between Manhattan and Albany in New York during the 1830s, Vanderbilt struck further west to make his real fortune.[1] In 1844, Vanderbilt founded a business that offered steamship transportation centered around Saint Louis along the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio rivers. The business grew quickly, and by the time Scott entered office, Vanderbilt's company was one of the most profitable and one of the largest private employers in the United States.[2] The success of Vanderbilt's steamship company helped to start the growth of the area between Saint Louis and Cairo the population center it is today.


Fourierism in the United States:
In the early 1800s, Charles Fourier advocated a social system based on cooperation and concern toward one another. He believed that everyone in a community should work toward to better the community, and advocated self-sufficiency as he thought that trade was the root of poverty and conflict. Fourier advocated these societies to be organized into small communes called 'phalanxes'. His ideas became known as Fourierism and laid some of the groundwork that led to the modern ideas of socialism.

In the United States, the disipline of Fourierism caught on in parts of New England, as the idea of small communal utopias spread across parts of the country. The main advocate of Fourierism in the United States was Horace Greeley, founder of the New York Tribune and a major figure in the Whig and later Republican parties. Greeley sponsored the founding of a number of towns based on the ideals of Fouriers teachings in the 1850s including Phalanx, Massachusetts, Reunion, Calhoun, and Harmony, Roosevelt. These and other Fourierist towns did not last long due to their relative isolationism and the ideals advocated by Fourier and Greeley lapsed for another thirty years.

However, the socialist ideas of Fourier and other socialist thinkers of the mid-nineteenth century did reapper in the 1870s and 1880s. Many of Fourier's ideas of cooperation were revisited in a number of towns that called themselves 'transforms' throughout the western United States. These towns, however, accepted trade as a means to assist in ending poverty and their leaders held a Fourier Transform Council to discuss the advancement of Fourier's ideas in the United States. The Council met five times in twenty years until a Fourier Party was formed in 1898, eventually becoming part of the Progressive Party.[3]

[1]This part about Vanderbilt is all OTL, except where he heads west.
[2]This is also OTL, according to Wikipedia.
[3] Yes, I mostly did that paragraph so I could make a Fourier Transform pun.

I enjoy social and technology updates very much. Too often TL's focus on political/military leaders, wars and battles at the expense of soc & tech events/issues. Along a similar vain, you've mentioned the Mormons, but what's happening within Protestant, Roman Catholic and Jewish religious communities/denominations in TTL?

 

[Lord Grattan]

I like reading this timeline, but I havent been able to find the other timeline I read. In this timeline the area around the St. Lawrence is yellow on maps in the thread because its crownlands, if that helps. I hope someone can find it for me, please.

I just noticed your post; the map you describe is quite possibly from my "Course of Human Events" TL.

 

[wilcoxchar]

This timeline is fascinating, please continue.....

​

Keep on bringing the good stuff on, wilcoxchar. I nearly died of joy after America bought Cuba.

Thanks!

This should be interesting, particularly if California has a gold rush before it's annexed (that will give them a fair amount of leeway to preserve their independence). Getting the US to step in without being asked will be difficult, if only because of the potential of antagonizing Mexico and / or the UK. And getting California to want to ask the US to step in may take some doing. The number one reason I'd see would be the stability of the Californian government. It will have to deal with a host of issues. I'd imagine a fair amount of tension between establish landowners of Spanish/Mexican descent versus city-dwelling immigrants (be they gold-rushers or not).

And then of course there's the slavery question, unless of course you have California survive outside the US until after you settle it, only to have California collapse as a result of economics of the late 19th century. This in many ways could be the most interesting option, if only because it would be so different. First, the US will be absorbing a country with a much longer history of independence, leading to all sorts of interesting precedents. Second, it may serve as a catalyst for all sorts of issues that arose in the late 19th century (labor unrest, big business, bimetallism, tariffs, immigration).

Yeah, I plan on having California stay independent until after the Civil War. It will be interesting to see at least coastal California enter the US with some semblance of a regional identity.

The annexation of California will definitely be interesting. I would like to see how an independent Californian identity would develop, if I ma not mistaken the leaders of the bear flag revolt in OTL were either white American settlers or their descendants in the north, they could be pro annexation but what about the more Mexican south? Is California stable as an independent country? Or weak enough that Mexico under a good military rule can reclaim it? I don't think it would have a population large enough to stop any invasion but Mexico seems quite unstable in this TL.

Other than that very good TL Wilcoxchar. I'm usually not the most interested in US History or US based TLs but this one has been quite enjoyable. Looking forward to see how things turn out.

Well, the leaders of Californian independence were more Spanish/Mexican settlers ITTL. With independence coming a decade earlier, there weren't many Anglo settlers in California at the time, I think.

I enjoy social and technology updates very much. Too often TL's focus on political/military leaders, wars and battles at the expense of soc & tech events/issues. Along a similar vain, you've mentioned the Mormons, but what's happening within Protestant, Roman Catholic and Jewish religious communities/denominations in TTL?

I'm not very familiar with what was occurring with the other religious denominations at this time in the US besides the Second Great Awakening, which I've already passed. I'll see if I can do a bit of research and at least make a rough map of the religious makeup of the US in 1850.

 

[Lord Grattan]

Excellent. In OTL America experienced a 3rd Great Awakening in the late 1850's through early 90's. Also, if you're interested, my Course of Human Events TL is also now into the mid 1850's.

 

[wilcoxchar]

Excellent. In OTL America experienced a 3rd Great Awakening in the late 1850's through early 90's. Also, if you're interested, my Course of Human Events TL is also now into the mid 1850's.

Yes, I'll definitely do a section on the Third Great Awakening later on.

 

[Venusian Si]

Time for the picture to go with this update. I was going to do a rail map of the US, which I still might do, but I need to get up early tomorrow. So here's a map of the South Carolina Railroad.

So what other additions will this railroad have? I could easily see a Columbus-Cordele rail, a Savannah-Jacksonville Rail, a Tallahassee-Pensacola Rail, and also a Jacksonville-Tallahassee Rail.

 

[wilcoxchar]

So what other additions will this railroad have? I could easily see a Columbus-Cordele rail, a Savannah-Jacksonville Rail, a Tallahassee-Pensacola Rail, and also a Jacksonville-Tallahassee Rail.

Possibly. However, railroads around this time, at least in the US, weren't really known for their ease in getting from place to place or making connections between cities that were very useful.

 

[jycee]

How is The Rio Grande Republic doing by this point. Mexico seems pretty unstable and my guess is many Mexicans might be migrating north. However once Mexico manages to put its act together it might try to invade/annex. And Rio would be at a disadvantage to to heavy population difference.
In such scenario how would the US react? How good are US - Rio relations? Can Rio really stay independent for long? Yucatan?

 

[wilcoxchar]

How is The Rio Grande Republic doing by this point. Mexico seems pretty unstable and my guess is many Mexicans might be migrating north. However once Mexico manages to put its act together it might try to invade/annex. And Rio would be at a disadvantage to to heavy population difference.
In such scenario how would the US react? How good are US - Rio relations? Can Rio really stay independent for long? Yucatan?

I'll cover some on relations between the US and its neighbors sometime during the next few updates.


Also, I'm going to get an update done this weekend but then there won't be another update for at least a week since I'm going camping for much of next week. Since that's happening, I'll try to get up to the 1852 election finished and posted but I'm not sure if I will be able to by the time I leave.

 

[wilcoxchar]

Update time!

Part Eighteen: The Country Goes West

Westward Settlement:
The 1850s saw renewed interest in migrations to the sparsely populated west. After the increased access between the eastern seabord and the Midwestern states, people tired of the urbanization of the northern cities moved further west in search of land and wealth. Soon, small towns sprung up along the Platte, Kanza[1], and Arkansaw rivers as settlers continued to move west. Many of these settlers in the northern part of what would become Kearny Territory were descendants of French and the surviving towns' names reflect their French heritage. Meanwhile, the southern area was mostly settled by southerners who were seeking to start up farms in the newly opened lands.

Further north, settlers bound for Oregon Territory during the 1850s often did not make the full journey and instead built their homes along the tributaries of the northern Missouri River. These towns caused the population of the Unorganized Territory to boom, and representatives from the territory lobbied in Washington for incorporation into official territories. In 1851, Congress and President Scott passed legislation to officially created organized territories. The area would be divided into three parts. The border of the state of Houston was extended northward to the Missouri and everything east of that became Kearny Territory. In addition, the 42nd northern parallel that formed the border between California and the United States was continued east to the border of Kearny Territory. The area to the north became Dakhota Territory while the area to the south was merged into New Mexico Territory, as it was most easily reachable from Santa Fe.

These settlements brought many hardships, especially in Dakhota Territory. Besides moving west of the Missouri River, there had been no agreements made between the native populations and the United States government on American settlers in the area. As such, the natives sometimes resorted to raiding American settlements if necessary. Scott being the military man he was, authorized the construction of military outposts along the rivers to protect settlers from native incursions. Some major forts established during the 1850s include Fort Collins and Bent's Fort in Colorado, Fort Laramie in Pahsapa, and Fort Washita in Calhoun.[2] Some of these forts have become historic sites, while others have developed into cities of their own, but all of them are a testament to the settling of the Great Plains and the western United States.

The Issue of Slavery:
With the incorporation of the western territories into the nation, the debate over the expansion of slavery intensified in Congress. Cuba was admitted as a slave state, making the balance in Congress nineteen slave states to seventeen free states. While this balance seemed to favor slavery in the territories, the senators of Missouri and Delaware were divided on the issue as European immigrants came to those states and the urban population increased. This created a deadlock on slavery legislation for much of Scott's presidency.

However, there was another reason for this deadlock. Up until 1851, most of the bills that had been proposed were to decide the issue for the entire Unorganized Territory, with a few proposing the border between free and slave states extend west from the northern border of Missouri or at the 42nd parallel north. With the division of the territory, it became possible to decide on each territory individually. With the epxansion of New Mexico Territory and the many settlers coming from Tejas and Houston, slavery was allowed in the territory.

But with the uncertainty of whether the United States would gain California or any territory south of the Rio Bravo, the Missouri Compromise that was passed in 1820 was brought into review. This brought the possiblity of slavery into both Kearny and Dakhota Territory. While there was not much doubt over whether Dakhota would become a free territory, Kearny Territory presented an opportunity for the southern states to gain the concessions they had been looking for. The dispute over Calhoun Territory would not be resolved during Scott's administration, and the resolution of the dispute would bring much animosity between the northern and southern states.

[1]The Kansas River.
[2]All these forts existed in OTL.

 

[wilcoxchar]

And here's a map.

 

[hzn5pk]

very good so far, keep up the good work

For the map, is it possible to include the territory names. It looks like Oregon territory, bordered by Dahotah territory, with Kearny territry next to Missouri and New Mexico territory.

Then you add the names Pahsappa, Calhoun, and Calhoun, when you talk about the forts.

I would also wonder since manifest destiny is only partly satisfied with the Oregon territory, would not that drive, the drive for California be more than slave/free right now? Just wondering.

Also, I wonder if the people of Rio Bravo would ever see the US as a stable government and want to be included? Maybe not in the 1800's, but as the US stabalises and Mexico never does, I wonder if Rio Bravo would want to share in that stability and voluntarily want to be a part of the USA?

 

[hzn5pk]

I forgot, I love teh fact that the western states and territories are different than OTL. And that they have different names. I think that is one butterfly effect that is often missed. It also makes things interesting.

I was born and raised in western South Dakota. And I like the fact that you have seperated the OTL states of North and South Dakota along the Missouri river. There is no love lost between east river (Sioux Falls) and west river (Rapid City). This is the way it should have been.

Keep up the good work

 

[wilcoxchar]

very good so far, keep up the good work

For the map, is it possible to include the territory names. It looks like Oregon territory, bordered by Dahotah territory, with Kearny territry next to Missouri and New Mexico territory.

Then you add the names Pahsappa, Calhoun, and Calhoun, when you talk about the forts.

I would also wonder since manifest destiny is only partly satisfied with the Oregon territory, would not that drive, the drive for California be more than slave/free right now? Just wondering.

Also, I wonder if the people of Rio Bravo would ever see the US as a stable government and want to be included? Maybe not in the 1800's, but as the US stabalises and Mexico never does, I wonder if Rio Bravo would want to share in that stability and voluntarily want to be a part of the USA?

Thanks.

You're right about which territories are which. Pahsapa, Calhoun, and Colorado will be future states. The history book style gives a good way for me to foreshadow some details without revealing too much. I didn't put names on the map because I thought that they would be unnecessary and only add clutter.

As for California, gold hasn't been discovered there yet and the US navy still gets use of San Francisco harbor (probably will remain Yerba Buena ITTL) so for the country as a whole, there isn't much reason to go after California at this point.

Last night I got to thinking about what should happen to Rio Bravo and I had some ideas, so there will definitely be more about it soon.

I forgot, I love teh fact that the western states and territories are different than OTL. And that they have different names. I think that is one butterfly effect that is often missed. It also makes things interesting.

I was born and raised in western South Dakota. And I like the fact that you have seperated the OTL states of North and South Dakota along the Missouri river. There is no love lost between east river (Sioux Falls) and west river (Rapid City). This is the way it should have been.

Keep up the good work

Yeah, different borders for the western states is also something I find lacking in many TLs where it's relevant.

 

[Lord Grattan]

I too like your map, though would like to see place names included. I'm glad that you're splitting the West up differently and giving the territories & states different names from OTL.

 

[SilverPhantom2]

The border of the state of Houston was extended northward to the Missouri

This is puzzling me. Based on the map in the last page, Houston is the exact same thing it was before. And if you're extending the state's border to the Missouri, then it's a huge freakin state.