Union and Liberty: An American TL

[wilcoxchar]

Alright, I've been here for about a year, and I've built up a few timeline ideas in my head and on my computer through those days. So I figured I'd post a timeline here and see what you all think. It will be posted in a history book-ish style, as I'm not much of a person to go into very much detail about something. Anyway, here goes.

Union and Liberty: A History of America


Part One: The First Term of Andrew Jackson (1828-1832)

The Tariff of Abominations and the Southern Reaction:
In 1828, President John Quincy Adams passed a tariff increase to help American manufacturers compete with their European counterparts. This sealed Adams' fate in the Election of 1828 as Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun put reducing the tariff as part of their running platform.[1] Jackson beat out Adams in the election with 178 or 68% of the electoral votes. With the election won Jackson and Calhoun were sworn into the White House on March 4, 1829.


The Nullification Crisis:
After Jackson's ascension to the Presidency, South Carolina declared a right to nullify the Tariff of Abominations. Jackson opposed the nullification, but did not want to cause a confrontation with Calhoun as Calhoun had openly supported South Carolina's position on the tariff, and a fissure between the President and the Vice President would not help to strengthen the Union. Jackson also sympathized with the southern side of the debate to some degree. On April 13, 1830, at the Democratic Party celebration of Thomas Jefferson's birthday, a series of toasts would emphasize each member's position on the issue. When it came to Jackson, he raised his glass and said, "Our Federal Union: It must be preserved." Calhoun spoke next, and stated "Union and Liberty, our two most dear."[2] Calhoun's toast echoed the closing remarks by Daniel Webster during an earlier debate on the issue of Nullification. While the toasts showed the differing opinions between the President and the Vice President, it also showed their willingness to work together to preserve the United States.

In the summer of 1830, Jackson declared that he would reduce tariff levels to appease South Carolina and attempt an end to the Nullification Crisis, but he and Calhoun disagreed on how far to lower the tariffs. Calhoun wanted to lower tariffs immediately to below the levels before the Tariff of 1828 was passed, while Jackson wanted to gradually lower tariffs to somewhere in between the 1816 levels and the levels of the Tariff of Abominations. During talks in Congress, the two sides agreed to gradually reduce tariffs to the levels of the Tariff of 1824 over the next three years.


Arkansaw Statehood:
In 1831, the state of Arkansaw was admitted to the United States, becoming the 25th state.


The Election of 1832:
With their friendship restored, Jackson and Calhoun won the nominations for President and Vice President for the Democratic Party in 1832. Henry Clay was nominated as the Presidential candidate for the National Republican Party. The main issue during the election was the Second Bank of the United States, which Clay was in favor of and Jackson was against. Jackson had vetoed a renewal of the bank's charter during his first term as President, and convinced much of the populace during his campaign in 1832 that the bank was unnecessary and would lead to an elite. His appearance as the Common Man continued, and he won the election of 1832 with a landslide victory.

Under Jackson and Calhoun, the Democratic Party swept the south and the west, as well as much of the northeast. The Democratic Party achieved 190 electoral votes out of a possible 289, gaining 65% of the votes. Clay managed to win Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Kentucky, and Maryland, earning the National Republicans 32% of the electoral vote. Vermont was won by the small Anti-Masonic Party led by William Wirt, but this minor party soon faded. Jackson and Calhoun were inaugurated and took office for a second term on January 21, 1833.

[1] In OTL, this was not part of Jackson's platform.
[2] Calhoun's toast in OTL was "The Union; next to our liberty, the most dear." This event showed the rift that had grown between Jackson and Calhoun that would lead to Jackson picking Van Buren as his VP for 1832.

 

[wilcoxchar]

Now for the next part. And comments would be very welcome.

Part Two: Jackson's Second Term

New York v. New Jersey:
Even after the United States had been created, some states still had quarrels with each other that had carried over from the time as British colonies. The most important of these were territorial disputes that came about from inaccurate surveying or overlapping claims. One of these was the dispute between New York and New Jersey over their border as it approached New York City.

The border between New York and New Jersey after it reached the Hudson River according to New Jersey was a bisection of the Hudson, while in New York it was said to be the western shore of the Hudson. In the 1820s, New Jersey began to develop shipping industries on the western shore of the Hudson, and in turn New York attempted to tax the shipping for crossing the border into New York as the ships came in and out of New York Bay. Several New Jersey companies refused to pay the tolls on the shipping and the state brought the issue up in court. The dispute went all the way up to the Supreme Court as the Court is obligated in the Constitution to hear "controversies between the states".

During the hearing, not only were the trade issues brought up but also the underlying dispute over the two states' territorial boundaries. After four days, the Court headed by Chief Justice John Marshall eventually decided in favor of New Jersey in a 5-2 decision. Justices Marshall, Duvall, Story, Mclean, and Baldwin were of the majority opinion, while justices Johnson and Thompson forming the dissenting opinion. They determined that New Jersey did not have to pay New York for the tolls, but went further and stated that the eastern border of New York and New Jersey would bisect the Hudson River through the Narrows. This landmark ruling gave Staten Island to New Jersey and established the precedent of the Supreme Court having ultimate jurisdiction over boundary disputes between states.


Indian Removal:
Throughout his presidency, Andrew Jackson oversaw the policy of moving many of the Indian tribes west of the Mississippi River. Many of the Choctaw voluntarily moved off their lands after ceding the remaining territory to the United States government, and were moved west to areas in what is now the state of Arkansaw. While it was the intention of the federal government to move the Choctaw further west, the governor of Arkansaw allowed the Choctaw who desired to settle in Arkansaw and purchase land there. During Jackson's administration, ten thousand Choctaw moved into Arkansaw, while the same number remained in Mississippi where they were treated harshly by incoming settlers.

Many of the Chickasaw and Creek received monetary compensation for their remaining lands in Georgia and Alabama. Most of these tribes used the money to move west of the Mississippi and settle or south into Mexico. But a few decided to buy land in Alabama north of the Tennessee where they set up small communities in the sparsely populated frontier regions of the state. Their largest community was in Waterloo, Alabama, in the northwestern corner of the state. While the town had grown with the influx of Native Americans, the town has mostly died out during the 20th century as a result of emigration north to the Midwest.

The Seminoles were the toughest group to be removed, and the only group to remain in their ancestral lands until after the Jackson administration. The Seminole Wars is a term given to the many skirmishes the natives had with settlers and the militias gathered by the city of Saint Augustine. After offers of moving west had been accepted then rejected by a council of Seminole chiefs, the tribe stood its ground and fought for over ten years before they submitted and reached an agreement with the federal government. Owing to the poor climate of much of Florida and the resistance of the Seminoles, the federal government was slow to deal with the Seminoles and eventually let them remain on their land in the interior of Florida.

The Cherokee presented a complicated situation and in the end were the only of the Five Civilised Tribes to be forcefully removed from their land successfully. The Supreme Court decision of Worcester v. Georgia and Jackson's unwillingness to let the federal government handle the situation led the Georgia state militia to take action against the Cherokee. Many of the Cherokee were rounded up and forced to move west, on a journey where many of them died. Eventually, at Memphis in 1833, the Cherokee chiefs signed a treaty which formally ceded their land to Georgia and granted them new land south of the Platte River in what is today Pahsapa. While this conflicted with the locations of other Native American tribes, the Cherokee were moved to a reservation there and remain there to this day.


Assassination of Jackson:
The first attempt to assassinate Jackson came in 1833. On May 6, Jackson was on his way to lay the cornerstone of a monument to Mary Ball Washington in Fredericksburg. During a stopover in Alexandria in what was then Virginia but is now part of Winfield, a man by the name of Robert B. Randolph appeared and attempted to stab the President with a dagger. Jackson managed to dodge the blow and proceeded to chase after Randolph and beat him with his cane. Jackson had previously ordered the dismissal of Randolph from the navy for embezzlement, but in the end Jackson decided that the beating was punishment enough to Randolph and did not press charges. A short chronicle of the event was written by Washington Irving, who was present at the time and was serving as the minister to Spain under Jackson's administration.

The second attempt to assassinate a president was also toward Jackson, this time successful. In 1835, as Jackson exited the Capitol Building after the funeral of South Carolina senator Warren R. Davis Richard Lawrence stepped out toward Jackson and fired a pistol at the President. The bullet entered Jackson's chest and Lawrence was restrained by the crowd, including David Crockett, one of the first senators from the state of Tejas. Jackson died of blood loss four days later and was given a state funeral. He was succeeded by Vice President John C. Calhoun on February 3, 1835. Lawrence was deemed insane but his crime was viewed as so great that he was sentenced to death seven years after Jackson's death.

 

[wilcoxchar]

If we see a President Crockett, I will worship you as a god!

That gives me an idea...

Anyway, here's the next section.

Part Three: Calhoun's First Year

The Texas Rebellion:
Beginning in the summer of 1835, Mexico increasingly had problems with its frontier region of Texas as well as some other provinces as the conflict between centralisation and federalism increased. Along with Texas, the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, Zacatecas, and Yucatan rose up in open revolt against Santa Anna. On October 2, the Battle of Gonzales was fought between Texas and Mexico, the first engagement of the Texas Rebellion. Two months later, on December 7, the Texans captured San Antonio and on December 19, signed their declaration of independence from Mexico at the city of Washington-on-the-Brazos, later to become Austin after the man considered as the Father of Texas.

President Calhoun's response to the start of the Texas Rebellion was that the United States should support the Texans in their struggle for independence from the 'corrupted democracy of Santa Anna's Mexico', as he stated in a speech in New Orleans. Calhoun also said that he would not directly intervene unless Mexico invaded the United States, in order to avoid angering the northern states by seeming like he overtly supported the expansion of slavery.


Expansion of Rail: During his travel to the speech in New Orleans, Calhoun became the first president to travel in a railroad car when he travelled on the Baltimore and Ohio rail connection between Washington, DC and Baltimore. Afterward, he was determined that rail expansion would serve to greatly help the country in its industrial growth.

During 1835 and early 1836, he helped pass legislation to finance a railroad between Columbia and Charleston in South Carolina, as well as approving a bill to create a congressional transport committee, primarily to assist with and oversee the connection of the nations interior industrial and population centers with its ports. This would facilitate economic growth as well as encourage passenger travel in greater parts of the United States.


Toledo War:
The Toledo War was a boundary dispute between the Territory of Michigan and the State of Ohio. The dispute had erupted when it was discovered that the southernmost point of Lake Michigan, the basis for the northern boundary of Ohio, was found to be more southerly than previously thought. Although there were few confrontations between the two, both the governments of Michigan Territory and Ohio refused to back down even with Calhoun and members of Congress.

The tensions between Michigan Territory and Ohio remained well into 1836. As William Henry Harrison, an Ohioan, seemed like the front runner for Calhoun's opposition in the election, Calhoun realized he didn't have anything to gain from siding with Ohio. With this, the President began supporting Michigan's position, and urged Congress and the Ohioans to side with his position. In June of 1836, Calhoun signed a bill that would accept Michigan as a state, as soon as the boundary with Ohio was settled. In August of 1836, the governors of Michigan and Ohio, with pressure from Congress and Calhoun to settle the dispute, allowed the border to be resurveyed.

To ensure impartiality, they chose a little known surveyor named John C Fremont, who was then an officer in the United States Navy. Fremont surveyed the line eastward from the southernmost point of Lake Michigan to Lake Erie, and found that the line did indeed pass south of Toledo. In compensation, Michigan allowed those who wanted to move to Ohio to do so, and compensated them for their land holdings on the Michigan side of the border.

While Michigan gained the Toledo Strip during the war, it also lost a large amount of land. This land went to the creation of the Pembina Territory in anticipation of the admission of Michigan as a state. The border between Pembina Terrtitory and Michigan Territory was formed by the Mississippi River up to the Chippewa River, then following that river to its source, then plotting a course north northeast to Lake Superior. Montevideo became the first capital of Pembina Territory.


Election of 1836:
Throughout 1836, the election was fought with a tough campaign. Calhoun ran as the incumbent for the Democratic Party, nominating George M. Dallas, former senator and attorney general of Pennsylvania, as his running mate. William Henry Harrison and Henry Clay ran in their newly created Whig Party, while Daniel Webster and Willie Magnum ran for the National Republicans. While Calhoun's decision in the Toledo War lost him Ohio, it has been determined by historians that he would have likely lost Ohio anyway as it was Harrison's home state. Harrison's and Webster's attempts to gather public opinion were futile and Calhoun was elected, showing the continuing disunion of the Anti-Jacksonian parties.

Calhoun/Dallas: 150
Harrison/Clay: 74
Webster/Magnum: 67

 

[wilcoxchar]

And now...

Part Four: The Mexican Collapse

Admission of Michigan:
On February 4, 1837, Michigan was admitted as a state in the Union. Before it was admitted, the land to the west of Lake Michigan was separated off to form the Marquette Territory. Detroit became the capital of the state of Michigan, which it remains to the present day. Stephen T. Mason, who was territorial governor during the Toledo War, was elected the state's first governor. John S. Homer, who opposed Mason in the 1836 territorial elections, became the first governor of Marquette Territory, moving to the new territorial capital of Green Bay.


Fall of the Mexican Republic:
As 1837 began, the Texans faced another attack by Mexico. As Santa Anna marched against Texan forces, other regions in Mexico began rebelling. The Yucatan, which had rebelled two years before, rose up once again to overthrow the policies of centralization of Santa Anna. In the north, citizens in Santa Fe and many of the Spanish missions along the California coast rose up as well. Santa Anna figured that if he himself crushed the Texans, then the rest of the country would fall back in line.

Santa Anna initially won a string of victories capturing San Antonio and Corpus Christi. Upon reaching Beaumont, he caught a group of the Texans retreating to the east. Santa Anna, taking a major gamble ordered his men to pursue the Texans all the way across the Sabine River, at which point they began putting up a fight. The Texans managed to push Santa Anna back across the river, but not before letting civilians know that the Mexican army had crossed into the United States. Santa Anna lost that gamble, and on April 12, 1837, Congress approved a declaration of war on Mexico. United States troops moved into Texas and soon were chasing Santa Anna back toward the Rio Bravo. Other forces were assisting with the revolts in California and Santa Fe. John C Fremont, now part of the United States Corps of Topographical Engineers, took part in the expedition to assist the rebels in Santa Fe. Later, he traveled west and led the rebels in California down from San Francisco to capture the missions in San Diego and all the way to Baja California.

Meanwhile, Zachary Taylor drove the Mexican army out of Texas and assisted the new rebellion in the provinces of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas. In September of 1837, they declared their independence as the Republic of the Rio Bravo. Minor skirmishes continued throughout Mexico into 1838 as the independence forces and United States army contingents continued to battle the remnants of the Mexican army.

The rebels cooperated with the United States forces and Santa Anna was soon captured by the Texans and imprisoned. However, despite Fremont in the west, Zachary Taylor in the north, and the country growing more and more unstable, the government in Mexico City refused to give up. It was decided that an attack on Mexico City itself would have to be made. General Winfield Scott led an army to attack Veracruz and push forth to Mexico City. He followed the approximate route of Hernan Cortez, leading to one of his nicknames being the Second Cortez. After the occupation of Mexico City, the government surrendered, and Santa Anna was freed to negotiate with the various proclaimed governments that Mexico was now at war with. In a humiliating affair, Santa Anna signed the Treaties of Galveston on May 5, 1838. In the treaties, Santa Anna and the Mexican government recognized the independence of the newly proclaimed republics of California, Rio Bravo, and Yucatan. In addition, all land east of the Rio Bravo was ceded to Texas, Veracruz was opened to all United States navy vessels, and a sum was paid to the United States government. Soon after Santa Anna returned to Mexico City and the United States forces had evacuated, he was overthrown and replaced by Federalist Anastasio Bustamante. This would only lead to further troubles and civil strife in Mexico throughout the 19th century.

 

[wilcoxchar]

Part Five: The Remainder of Calhoun's Presidency

Martin Van Buren's Ambassadorships:
During Jackson's presidency, Calhoun had seen that Martin van Buren was becoming a prominent politician. Van Buren, a Dutch New Yorker, had been governor of New York as well as Jackson's Secretary of State for much of his Presidency. Calhoun, wishing to keep van Buren away from the United States to keep him out of politics, appointed van Buren to a number of ambassadorships during his presidency. Among his posts, van Buren attended the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1838 as ambassador to the United Kingdom. In 1839, van Buren was appointed ambassador to the Netherlands, where he played a small part in the negotiations leading to the independence of Belgium and helping the Netherlands retain all of Limburg and Luxembourg, as well as Liege to keep the country contiguous. In exchange, Belgium received the Dutch possessions on the island of Borneo, which at the time were losing money and that the Dutch consdiered a bad investment.


Speech on Republics:
In 1839, President Calhoun made a speech in Washington on the benefits of a republican system, and encouraged all the Latin American republican movements to flourish. This speech inspired many people, especially the men fighting for the independence of the Piratini Republic. The leaders, including Guiseppe Garibaldi, were encouraged by Calhoun's speech, and managed to hold off the Brazilian Empire for six more months. In 1840, Calhoun authorized the sending of hundreds of men to go assist the Piratini Republic in their fight. By August, the Piratini forces signed a ceasefire with Brazil, and became yet another independent republic in Latin America with the former Brazilian provinces of Rio Grande do Sul and Juliana.


State of Jackson:
With the intervention in Mexico, there wasn't much that Calhoun could do about the resistance of the Seminoles in the Florida Peninsula. While settlers were not moving to the lower portion of the peninsula, many were moving to the panhandle. As these settlers wanted to be part of a state, Congress passed a bill to divide the territory of Florida into two along the Aucilla River. The western portion soon was admitted on June 18, 1838, as the state of Jackson after the former President, while the rest remained a territory. The capital of Jackson was decided between Pensacola and Tallahassee, and Pensacola was decided on as many citizens of Jackson thought Tallahassee was too close to the Seminole lands and was vulnerable to raids. Also, the population of Pensacola experienced a massive increase as immigrants flocked to the city after the collapse of the Mexican state.


Election of 1840:
Unfortunately, the United States intervention in Mexico and Jackson's earlier policies which Calhoun for the most part continued pushed the country into a recession in the later 1830s. Combined with the consolidation of the Whigs and National Republicans into the Whig Party, Calhoun ran into trouble during the election of 1840. While he tried to appeal to much of the nation as the continuation of the Common Man espoused by Jackson, he did not achieve very much success. The country was in an economic downturn and had grown fed up with Jackson's policies. William Henry Harrison successfully ran with the platform of the Common Man and a war hero while making Calhoun look like a wealthy southerner. Where Calhoun tried to make Harrison seem out of touch and unfit to administer the nation, Harrison's campaigners not only twisted the attacks to Harrison's favor, but pointed out that they also had Daniel Webster, then a renowned senator and politician. These campaign tactics helped William Henry Harrison win the election handily, and he was sworn in on March 3, 1841.

Calhoun/Dallas: 93
Harrison/Webster: 205

 

[wilcoxchar]

Here's the next part. I'll respond to your comments later after I finish classes for the day.

Part Six: The Whigs in Control

Competition with Clay:
Right from the start of Harrison's term, the President had difficulty with the Whig leader and renowned speaker, Henry Clay. Although Clay had a powerful influence in the senate, he tried to influence the executive actions of Harrison such as appointing his cabinet. Even though the Whig party platform promised to reduce the Jacksonian spoils systems of cabinet appointments, Clay wanted to appoint Whig members who to help his advancement in the party.

Harrison resisted Clay's pressures for the most part, but had to concede a few positions to keep Clay content and agreeable, for Clay was a very influential man in the confirmation process by the Senate. However, Harrison did manage to keep most of his appointments seemingly nonpolitical and based on merit, such as the nomination and confirmation of former president John Quincy Adams as Secretary of State. Thomas Ewing was made Secretary of the Treasury and Zachary Taylor, one of the main generals on the side of the United States in the Mexican Collapse, was appointed as Secretary of War.


The Third Bank of the United States:
As part of the Whig party platform, Harrison revived the Bank of the United States for the third time in the nation's history. However, to appease those senators and representatives who had supported Jackson in the closure of the bank, Harrison had the charter length reduced from the previous twenty years to a three year charter to ensure more Congressional oversight on the actions of the Bank. During the year of the charter's expiration, Congress would deliberate on whether to renew the charter or to let it expire. The Bank reopened in June of 1842 with Nicholas Biddle once again at its head.

The Bank helped the United States government recover from the debt it had incurred during the Mexican Collapse by offering loans to many new businesses that had sprung up. Along with the American System, the Third Bank helped spur the growth of railroads in the United States during the 1840s. The Bank also helped to standardize the currency used in the United States during this period, as notes from the bank were often used instead of notes from State Banks when making large purchases.


The American System:
The last large part of the Whig party platform that Harrison impelemented during his presidency was the idea of the American System. Harrison gradually impelemented this policy over the full length of his term. Despite the reluctance of the South, a high tariff was placed on many raw material as well as manufactured goods. However, to appease the south and the new neighbors in the west, the tariff was exempted for United States exports to Texas, California, Rio Bravo, and Yucatan. To support the expansion of American internal infrastructure, Harrison and the Transport Committee authorized a number of bills which financed the construction of railroads. These railroads were primarily in the north, and connected the shipping centers in New York and New England to the burgeoning cities on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. While a few railroads were constructed in the southern states, they did not see much rail growth aside from small state or private investments.

 

[wilcoxchar]

While I don't have a picture for you this update, I do have...a new update.

Part Seven: A Growing Nation

Iowa Purchase:
Up until 1841, the border of the state of Missouri had been a straight north-south line. The area between that border and the Missouri River in the west had been granted to the Iowa tribe. After encroachments by white settlers, the Bureau of Indian Affairs began negotiations with the Iowa and other tribes who lived on the land. The government eventually bought the land for eight thousand dollars and the natives agreed to move to lands west of the Missouri River. The purchased land, known as the Ioaw Purchase, became part of the state of Missouri, finalizing the state's current borders.


Admission of new States:
In March of 1842, the census from Marquette Territory had reached 75,000 people, and a bill was passed to have it admitted as a new state. Green Bay became the state's capital because of its central location within the state and its having been the territorial capital.

After the admission of Marquette, some Southern states began to complain about the large numebr of northern states that were being admitted to the Union. They lobbied in Congress for the admission of Florida as a state, despite the continued presence of Seminoles in the rural swamp areas of the territory. In May, 1843, a bill was finally passed to admit the state after a number of settlers, encouraged by their state governments, move down into Florida and settled either on the coasts or in the northern reaches of the territory. The city of Jacksonville was declared the capital until the problem of the Seminoles was dealt with, then a new state Congressional meeting would decide whether to stay in Jacksonville or move to a different city further south.

A few months later in August, the settlers in the southern area of Pembina Territory applied for statehood. Congress passed the bill, and the new state of Demoine was established with the city of Waterloo as its capital due to its cental location, rather than the larger but far more northern city of Minneapolis. Later in the year, two forts would be established in the state; Fort Raccoon near the confluence of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers, and Fort Decatur, near where the two forks of the Des Moines River join together.


Oregon Trail:
After the original explorations by Lewis and Clark, and the later expeditions by explorers and military men such as John Jacob Astor, Zebulon Pike, and Benjamin Bonneville, many settlers traversed the American West toward the Oregon Territory. Many of these first wave of settlers were descendants of Frenchmen in Upper Louisiana who desired better fur trapping grounds further west. However, this wave was not very large and many of the settlers were subject to attacks by the native tribes. In the 1840s, a second wave of settlers began coming west, following the paths set before them. While only a few made it all the way to the Pacific and the Columbia River, many others settled towns along the trail, along the Platte River as well as along the Snake River.


A Multicultural Nation:
Since 1820, when immigration records began being kept in the United States, there had been a wide influx of immigrants from many places in northern Europe. During the 1830s, that number only increased with over six hundred thousand coming to the United States in that decade. The 1840s only brought more people as Europe went through hardships. Irishmen came after crops started failing and settled mostly in New England. Englishmen and Scotsmen, many among them refugees fleeing the British Isles after the Chartist Uprisings, either went to Canada or settled all among the eastern and southern states. German immigrants in the 1840s, fleeing general hardship, settled in independent Tejas, as well as along the upper Mississippi, the Great Lakes, and along the Missouri as it approached the Mississippi. Dutchmen, upset by the strife cause by the Belgian Revolution and a heavy storm that battered the Low Countries in January of 1843, came and settled not only in the Hudson Valley, where the remnants of New Netherland still remained, but also in New Orleans and the lowlands along the lower Mississippi and Arkansaw rivers. Many of these immigration patterns would leave their mark in the town names that are in those regions today.

 

[wilcoxchar]

And now, another update!

Part Eight: The Election of 1844

Election of 1844:
Both conventions of 1844 highlighted the troubles faced by both parties of thattime to unify a country that was growing ever more sectionalized. The Democats were looking to recover the Presidency after the loss to Harrison, while the Whigs still had internal disputes with the power-hungry Clay.

The Whigs were divided as to whether to renominate Harrison, the incumbent, or Clay, who had run previously and was an expert speaker. At the nomination, after five rounds of ballots, the votes were about half and half between Harrison and Clay. After four more rounds of ballots, Harrison got the nomination, but an embittered Clay never announced his support for Harrison. The nomination of Harrison would also end Henry Clay's congressionial career, for he had resigned his position in the senate during his run for the nomination.

The Democrats were also divided on their candidates, but their trouble was how to regain the executive office instead of a power struggle. The two major candidates for the nomination, former President Calhoun and New York governor Martin van Buren, were both from opposite ends of the country but neither would accept the Vice Preisdential seat. At the convention, the two remained at a deadlock after many rounds of ballots. Van Buren's insistance on immediate negotiation with Britain over the Oregon Country made him a pacifist in the eyes of the public, while Calhoun was seen as being too southern of a candidate and his failure to win reelection in 1840 had hurt his standing with the party. In addition to this, Lewis Cass, a Michigan senator, still had a few dozen votes that were blocking the supermajority necessary for either to get the nomination.

During a meeting between rounds of voting, discussion turned to a compromise candidate. After great deliberation, various Democrat party memebrs introduced the name of James K. Polk, speaker of the House and a representative from Tennessee. Talks with Polk began, and after his agreement to run for the nomination and Cass throwing his support behind Polk and solely running for Vice President, the momentum toward Polk had begun. After two more ballots, Polk had become the clear nominee and was nominated, with Cass as the Vice Presidential candidate.

The election itself was less intense as the two primaries, but it was still a hard-fought election. Polk laid out a clear platform for his campaign, that made four points. Polk's goals were to get some or all of the Oregon Country, bring Texas into the United States, get rid of the National Bank, and establish an independent treasury system that would separate the government funds and revenues from the national banking systems. Harrison tried to compete with Polk but found it difficult without Clay to support him on the campaign. Harrison could not claim that he was the western candidate because both he and Polk hailed from western states. Harrison attacked Polk that he was not baptized because his father was a deist, to which Polk responded that Thomas Jefferson and many of the founding fathers were also deists. Harrison also attacked Polk's relative obscurity within the political scene, but to no avail. In the election, Polk defeated Harrison and won the presidency, carrying much of the South and the key states of Virginia and Pennsylvania. Also, the Congressional elections of 1844 gave the Democrats a majority in the Senate.

Polk/Cass: 172
Harrison/Webster: 123

 

[wilcoxchar]

While it's not as much as I usually do in an update, here's a little something to show that I'm still working on this and tide y'all over until the weekend.

Part Nine: The Annexation of Texas

Annexation of Texas:
After his inauguration, President Polk set out to accomplish the first goal that he set out during his election campaign; to bring the Republic of Texas into the Union. Polk sent Joel Roberts Poinsett as the United States consul to Texas to negotiate the terms of the annexation in June. By August, the Congress of Texas voted in approval the annexation and the motion gained the approval of David Crockett, then President of the Republic. Meanwhile, Polk gathered support from Congress to support bringing Texas into the United States.

Polk and many of the Democrats spent the majority of the summer of 1845 garnering support in Congress for the annextion of Texas. While many northern senators initially opposed the idea of bringing more slave states into the Union, especially one as big as Texas, some were won over by a compromise to bring the remainder of Pembina Territory in within the remainder of Polk's term. Still, a two thirds majority could not be reached in the Senate at the next vote. At the next Senate meeting, however, president pro tempore John Tyler managed to bring some of the Whigs opposing annexation to ratify the treaty, and in September, Texas was brought into the Union.

Texas was initially brought into the United States as a territory, but its more populated areas quickly became states. In March of 1846, the area of the Republic of Texas was divided into three parts. Tejas and Houston, separated by the Colorado River, were admitted that month. Samuel Houston became governor of Tejas and David Burnet became governor of the state of Houston. David Crockett, president of Texas at the time of annexation, was elected as one of the first senators from the state. The admission of Tejas and Houston brought in two more slave states, although the states tried to remain neutral on the issue when it was brought up.

The states of Houston and Tejas hold a number of interesting facts in their early history. During the four months the Tejas state capitol building in San Antonio was being constructed on the west side of Alamo Plaza, the legislative sessions were held across the plaza in the chapel of the Alamo mission, which had seen a minor battle during the Texan War of Independence. The admission of Houston to the United States is an interesting note in history, for it marks the only time a President has had a state named after him before holding his office as President.

 

[wilcoxchar]

Part Ten: Of States and Banks

Admission of Pembina and Itasca:
After Tejas and Houston had been brought into the Union, northern congressmen were clamoring for new states to be created out of the lands in Pembina Territory. The population of the territory had been increasing as immigrants poured in and as copper mining boomed in the region. By the beginning of the Polk administration, many cities and forts had been founded along the many rivers and lakes in the area. In the summer of 1847, Pembina Territory as divided by the Minnesota and Red Rivers, and the state of Itasca was created from the eastern portion with Duluth at the western end of Lake Superior as its capital.

A year later, there were many pressing for the admission of Pembina to the Union. However, there were problems with the native Sioux tribes living in the region. After forts were built at positions on the east side of the Missouri, settlers and soldiers began coming to the region. The settlers tended to cluster around the forts to protect them from raids by the native Americans for a while, but soon the population grew large enough that the government of Pembina Territory decided that buying land from the Sioux was necessary. Representatives from the Sioux tribes and the United Staes government met in early 1848, and negotiated treaties regarding the movement of the Sioux and other tribes in the area.

The agreements either states that the tribes would live in peace with the settlers in their current living areas, or that they could move north or west across the Missouri River. Despite the Sioux tribes' signing of the treaties, compensation was often never paid because of corruption or the money was sent directly to settlers and traders who Sioux leaders had become indebted to. Pembina was finally admitted as a state in late 1848, with the first state capital at Yankton on the Missouri.


Expiration of the Third Bank:
With Polk coming into office and the Democrats gaining a majority in the Senate once again, the era of the Third Bank was coming to a close. The bank's charter was set to expire in 1845, and despite the lobbying by the Whig congressmen to renew the charter, any bill that was passed to renew it was vetoed by Polk. The Bank finally expired at the end of 1845, and Biddle, who had been the president of the Second and Third Banks, died soon after.

However, not all policies from the Third Bank were discarded. The issuing of United States notes was kept, but moved under the jurisdiction of the United States Treasury Department. The Treasury continued to issue these US notes, and backed them with gold and silver, which could be redeemable at select Treasury offices around the country. These becamse the first official national currency and, while not going far in replacing the use of coins, were often used for large-scale purchases and increased the credibility of paper currency in the United States, leading to the repeal of the Coinage Act passed by President Calhoun a decade earlier.

 

[wilcoxchar]

While it's not as much as what I usually post, I'll post what I've written up of this so far, and try to make a map for it tomorrow.

Part Eleven: The Beginning of the Oregon War

Tension in Oregon:
By the summer of 1846, tensions between the United States and the British officials in North America were high. The Provisional Government established by American settlers at Champoeg three years earlier had been growing, with incoming settlers using Champoeg as a main camp before going off to establish their own communities in the Oregon Country. A petition sent by William Gilpin and Fremont as a The dispute over the northern border of Maine remained unsettled, and the influx of American settlers into the Oregon Country was spreading north. While it was clear that the government in London had no desire for war, the United States and the settlers in Oregon were much more eager. Many forts were established by the United States and the Champoeg Provisional Government in the region to protect the settlers. Thus, when some British soldiers tried to force a community of American settlers off their land along the Fraser River near Fort Langley, shots were fired and the Oregon War had begun.[1]

While the information of the fighting traveled east to Washington and London, the Champoeg government led by Gilpin and Fremont and the forces of the Hudson Bay Company conducted the affairs of the war in Oregon. American settlers quickly took the lightly defended Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River and reconstructed the fortifications at Fort Nez Perce, which had been abandoned by the British after a fire two years earlier, but were unable to gain control of any British forts north of the Columbia River. The Champoegans did manage to hold on to most of the American forts on the north bank of the Columbia, including Fort Bonneville at a southern bend in the river and Fort Choteau at the confluence of the Wenatchee and Columbia Rivers.[2]

[1] The actual beginning of the Oregon War is disputed, but this is what is commonly stated in United States history textbooks.
[2] Fort Bonneville and Fort Choteau did not exist in OTL. Fort Bonneville is named after general Benjamin Bonneville and Choteau is named for trader and explorer Rene Auguste Choteau.

 

[wilcoxchar]

I've gotten the update finished! Feel free to criticize and point out any inaccuracies, as I'm not sure if I have realistic communication or movement times. Also, I have a map ready, but I'll upload it later this morning.

Part Twelve: The Summer Campaigns

Summer of 1846:
Word of the outbreak of hostilities in Oregon spread quickly to the two governments, but it reached Washington first. The United States ordered troops to advance northward to stop the British from sending further supplies to Oregon via land. Echoing the War of 1812, most of the fighting was centered around the Great Lakes. However despite small gains by either side during the summer months, the majority of the fighting outside of Oregon came to a stalemate. There were only three real pushes that either side made in the summer months of the war. A United States force went north along the Red River to Winnipeg and laid siege to the city, but failed to capture it. The British, in turn, captured Sault Saint Marie in Marquette but failed to advance any further. In Maine, a combined land and naval attack under the joint command of General Winfield Scott and Commodore Matthew C. Perry advanced into New Brunswick. While Scott's advance stalled before it could reach Fredericton, Perry was able to lead a raid and bombardment of Saint John's. Perry had to retreat, however, when a British flotilla arrived south from Halifax to engage.

In Oregon, the summer months saw the most brutal fighting in the war. In June, President Polk and Congress passed a bill organizing any United States forces in the Oregon Country under Fremont. Fremont, commanding the newly formed Oregon battalion, moved north from Oregon City and in late July took Fort Vancouver after the short Battle of Bellevue, in which the 700 Americans and 400 local Chinook natives defeated the 300 British who were defending the fort. The Chinook had sided with the Americans after Fremont promised they could keep the lands they had settled on. Fremont continued north and rached the outskirts of Fort Nisqually by the end of August.

Aside from Fremont's campaign, Gilpin led forces from Forts Choteau and Bonneville along the north bank of the Columbia River to encircle Fort Okanogan. They reached the fort and surrounded it starting in early August. To cease supplies from reaching the fort, the soldiers attacked and fired upon any ships in the Columbia River that were heading for the fort. The small fort did not hold out for very long due to the lack of supplies and the men inside had surrendered by the end of the month. Meanwhile, a small British naval force on the Pacific began harassing shipping enterring the Columbia and bombarding Fort Astoria.

 

[wilcoxchar]

Just got another update done. I'll get a map up tomorrow. It's the beginning of the end for the Oregon War!

Part Thirteen: A Winter in Oregon

Oregon War, Winter of 1846:
As the months went on and summer turned to winter, the British soldiers in Fort Nisqually were running low on supplies and surrendered. Fremont continued north along the coast while William Gilpin's men went upstream along the Columbia. Gilpin and his company quickly reached and captured Fort Colville. Gilpin continued up the Columbia River and in October, intercepted a supply train taking supplies from the Hudson Bay Company headquarters of York Factory to British settlements in Oregon. After the supply wagons surrendered, Gilpin's men hatched a plan where they would follow the supply train west to Fort Thompson and use it to capture the fort. The plan worked, and Fort Thompson fell at the beginning of November. The capture of the supply train would play a vital part in the success of the Americans during the winter campaigns in Oregon.

While Gilpin was heading for Fort Thompson, Fremont's men continued north along the coast and reached Fort Langley in mid-December. By then the fort was dangerously short on supplies after Gilpin had captued the supply train. After a week, the soldiers in Fort Langley laid down their arms and surrendered. Fremont and Gilpin remained in Fort Langley and Fort Thompson for the remainder of the winter.

Meanwhile, in Britain, Parliament was clamoring for negotitations to begin with the United States as they had other things to worry about. The winter of 1846-47 was a harsh one in Britain, and combined with the tensions and emigration of many Irishmen due to the ongoing famine on the island, many Parliamentarians felt that the protection of the Columbia Department was of low interest to the United Kingdom at the time. In early 1847, it was decided that negotiations with the United States would begin. President Polk was also eager to begin negotiations as support for the war was beginning to fall in the States as well.

 

[wilcoxchar]

Alright, got a new update ready.

Part Fourteen: The End of the Oregon War

A Snowy Ceasefire:
As the United States and the United Kingdom moved toward negotiation, fighting died down in Oregon. The United States Pacific Squadron, led by John Sloat and based in Monterrey, California, drove off the British ships near Fort Astoria. The Pacific Squadron then continued north and began denying ships from passing near Fort Victoria. After a few days, the Pacific Squadron travelled up toward Fort Langley and met Fremont and his men at Warren Bay.[1] Fremont and Sloat coordinated an amphibious landing on the east side of Vancouver Island and proceeding south to capture Fort Victoria. However, they never got the chance to enact this plan.

In early February, a ceasefire was arranged between the United Kingdom and the United States, and the path was laid toward negotiation. A month later, the peace negotiations began in Madrid, with Washington Irving as United States ambassador to Spain representing American interests and Sir Frederick Pollock,[2] a Privy Councillor, representing Britain. Alexander Christie was also present at the negotiations as a voice of the Hudson's Bay Company. The deliberation on the specifics of the peace treaty last for a few weeks, but finally a workable peace was made.

The Peace of Madrid:
The Peace of Madrid was signed on March 18, 1847, after being ratified by both Congress and Parliament. While it was clear that the United States won the Oregon War, the country did not accomplish all its war aims and even have to make some concessions. The main body of the treaty was concerned with the concessions in the Oregon Territory. Firstly, the United States did not gain up to the 54 40'N line that surrounded American support for the war. The border line was arranged at the 52nd degree North latitude, so as to pass between Vancouver Island and Queen Charlotte Islands. Further, Great Britain retained fishing rights off the coast of Oregon north of Vancouver Island.

Also in the Peace of Madrid, the two sides also took the opportunity to settle the remaining territorial disputes along their shared border. To connect the region under jurisdiction of the United States north of the Lake of the Woods in northern Itasca, the border was extended west to the Red River. Also, Maine's border was settled as the River Saint John's going to the longitude midway between the American claim up to 1798 and the American claim after 1798. The border would then continue south along the longitude until it reached the Saint Croix River, and would follow the Saint Croix River to the coast. An odd inclusion into the treaty was the article calling for the return of the skull of Chief Comcomly, which had been stolen from his burial ground in 1834 by a physician to be placed in a museum in England.[3]

After the Peace:
With the Oregon War ended, the two sides returned to diplomatic normalcy, but the war would begin a rift between Great Britain and the United States that would affect world politics for at least a century. The American reaction to the end of the war was generally positive. The United States had bested her former master for sure, unlike the ambiguity of the American victory in the War of 1812. However, some Americans felt disheartened that the United States did not gain all of the disputed territory in the peace.

In Britain, the war was looked upon as a minor affair compared to Britain's domestic troubles of the time. However, Parliament was alarmed at the relative lack of defense that the colonies in British North America put up, especially Nova Scotia and New Brunswick with their important naval bases, and attributed it to the decentralization of the colonies and the slow dispensations from Parliament. As a result, the British government encouraged confederation in the Maritime colonies, granting self-governance to Nova Scotia in 1848. New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island followed with self-governance in the 1850s. In 1861, the last step to confederation was completed with the Charlottetown Conference. At the conference, the three colonies were joined into the Acadian Union, with the administrative capital settling in Moncton, New Brunswick.

[1] Warren Bay is OTL Boundary Bay, which lies on the border between British Columbia and Washington. But with no boundary, I had to think of a new name. Warren Bay is named after the USS Warren, the first ship of the Pacific Squadron that Fremont saw coming north.
[2] Frederick Pollock was a Privy Councilor in OTL, but not in 1847 according to Wikipedia. IOTL he is also known for the Pollock Octahedral Numbers Conjecture apparently.
[3]This happened IOTL, but I don't think it was ever returned.

 

[wilcoxchar]

Update time. Next update should include the 1848 election.

Also, do you guys like me explaining where various places are in OTL, or should I just describe the area and have you find the OTL equivalent yourself if there is one? I know sometimes I have fun trying to find locations of alternate cities when just given the description and am wondering if you all want me to let you do that.

Part Fifteen: Advance of Religion and Science

Mormon Exodus:
After being banished from towns in Ohio and Indiana, many followers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for their religious beliefs, they founded the town of Nuavoo in western Illinois. However, they continued to be persecuted by the state legislature and mobs of angry citizens. In 1847, after resolving to find elsewhere to settle, the Church split into two groups. One group, led by Hyrum Smith, brother of Church founder Joseph Smith Jr., went north to British North America. The other group, led by Brigham Young, went west looking for land in the sparsely populated Republic of California.

Smith's group headed north, arriving at Fort Decatur in April. His group continued northward eventually traveling along the east bank of the Red River. Finally crossing into Britain in late 1847, the group set up camp for the winter near Winnipeg. In the spring, Smith decided on a settlement after considering various possible sites around Lake Winnipeg and the surrounding area. The settlement was in between Lake Manitoba and Lake Saint Martin.[1] Smith named the settlement Whitmer after one of the Three Witnesses.

Young's group, the Vanguard Company, went west and consisted of the majority of the Mormons who fled Nauvoo. The group crossed Demoine and then followed the Platte River west, much like those heading to Oregon Territory. After following the Platte and the North Platte for months, the Vanguard Company broke off the river as it turned south. After reaching Fort Vasquez,[2] the company turned full south and entered the Republic of California in early 1848. Young consulted with trappers and frontiersmen about numerous sites for settlement as Smith did in Winnipeg, and decided on two places for settlement. The first and primary town, Vanguardia, would be on the east edge of Ute Lake. The second settlemnt, Youngstown, was much further south and east, along a bend in the Colorado River.[3] Over the years the population grew and smaller settlements spread out throughout the area, especially between the well travelled trail between Vanguardia and Youngstown. To this day the Mormon Church is one of the largest religious groups in the state of Espejo.

The Poinsettian Institution:
In July of 1847, Joel Roberts Poinsett founded the Poinsettian Institution, an organization to promote the advancement of science and general knowledge. The creation of the Institution was funded by the estate of Louis Elizabeth Hungerford,[4] after the death of his father, Hubert. Louis had read the will of his great-uncle James Smithson, which had stipulated that should Hubert die without heirs, the estate would go to the United States government for an "establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men."

Initially keeping the estate upon his father's death in 1835, Louis had over the next decade become infatuated with science and the world around him, and after reading a copy of Charles Darwin's Journal and Remarks on his voyage on the HMS Beagle, decided to fulfill Smithson's will and donate the wealth of the estate to the United States government. After the money was given to the government, Poinsett oversaw the creation of the Institution, and was its first Secretary.

[1] OTL Fairford, Maintoba
[2] OTL Fort Bridger, Wyoming
[3] Vanguardia is Provo and Youngstown is Moab
[4] This is the first fictional person I have mentioned in the timeline. In OTL, Hubert did not have any heirs, and the money went to the government automatically.

 

[wilcoxchar]

And with this triple post, comes an update. Finally settled in at home for the summer so I should be able to update at least a little more frequently.

Part Sixteen: The Last of the Jacksonians

Purchase of Cuba:
In 1848, Polk set out to complete the final part of his platform, and sent ambassador Washington Irving to discuss a purchase of Cuba by the United States. Irving was authorized to offer anywhere up to one hundred million dollars. The idea was supported by southerneres as Cuba already had slavery and it wouild create some balance to the gains from the Oregon War. Initially Irving's offers were not met with much approval by the Spanish, but when words of yet another revolt on the island, this time led by Narciso Lopez, the Spanish government agreed to sell the island for seventy milliond dollars, and allowing Spain to keep naval vessels in Cuban ports. Cuba was officially transferred from Spain to the United States on January 1, 1849.


Election of 1848:
The road to the 1848 election began with President Polk announcing that he would not be running for a second term. Polk stated that he had accomplished all his goals as President and thus had fulfilled his time in the White House. Since Polk was not in the running, the Democrats nominated Vice President Lewis Cass as their candidate, with Martin van Buren as the Democrat candidate for Vice President. On the Whig side, they nominated two generals from the Mexican-American War. Winfield Scott was picked for President and Zachary Taylor was chosen for Vice President.

The campaign of 1848 was the first one to bring up the issue of salavery. Scott and Taylor managed to remain vague on the issue, and managed to win many voters in the South. However, the Democrats were troubled by van Buren's outspoken platform against slavery. Van Buren's position gave the Democrats an image of a Northern ticket. This lost them many votes in the South, while gaining them little in the Northern states where few people considered slavery a major issue. In the end, the election marked the end of the era of the Jacksonian Democrats, and saw Winfield Scott become the last President running on the Whig Party. Prior to leaving office in March of 1849, Polk's last action as President was the creation of the Department of Interior, which would oversee domestic affairs in the United Staes.

Scott/Taylor: 165
Cass/Van Buren: 139

 

[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]

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]

Alright, time for another update then I'm off to bed. No more updates after this one until at least Monday as I'm going away for the rest of the week.

Part Nineteen: Coming Changes

Foreign Happenings:
While the United States was experiencing increased sectionalism and technological innovations, Europe was undergoing a series of changes as well. In what would become known as the Midcentury Revolutions, France went from being a monarchy to a republic, the Austrian Empire was reformed, and the stage was set for Italian Unification. There were attempted changes in some of the German states, but none of them got very far.

In France, after the death of king Louis-Philippe in early 1850, the wave of revolutions and rebellions was kicked off as many Parisians, inclduing Orleanists and Republicans, gathered to protest the continuation of the monarchy in his son. After a week of revolts and virtual lawlessness in Paris, a provisional government was able to be formed. After months of deliberation, elections were organized in the country and Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte was elected the first titular president of the Second French Republic.

Meanwhile, in the Americas, Mexico's internal conflicts continued. In fact, as time went on the instability in Mexico heightened. During the 1840s Mexico had no less than twenty changes in the presidency, with Antonio López de Santa Anna and Anastasio Bustamante each holding the presidency four nonconsecutive times during the decade. The struggle between the various factions in the Mexican government often led to brief civil wars or insurrections in different provinces of the country, but all of these were put down forcefully. This instability would continue for many years to come, until finally shattered as the United Provinces of Central America had in the 1830s.

Mexico's instability caused many problems among its neighbors. With many Mexicans eager to get away from the violence and civil strife, the populations of the neighboring countries swelled. The populations of San Diego and Yuma in California doubled between 1840 and 1850 while new towns were settled along the Verde River. The Republic of Rio Bravo and Republic of Yucatan also saw massive immigration and this put a strain on their economies. The United States and other countries offered aid to Yucatan and Rio Bravo, but it only alleviated the economic strain somewhat. Unemployment and crime became a problem in the cities, and corruption in the government eventually led to these countries increasingly falling under foreign influence.

Election of 1852:
Throughout the 1852 election, slavery was by far the dominant issue. In the Whig primaries, Vice President Taylor had fallen out of fashion with the Whig party members and many southerners for his vacillating stance on the expansion of slavery and was replaced by fellow Virginian John Botts. Scott also struggled, but eventually gained the nomination, narrowly defeating Daniel Webster. The Democrats chose rising star Stephen Douglas for their presidential candidate, while Mississippi senator Jefferson Davis was chosen as the vice presidential candidate.

With Scott's slightly abolitionist notions on slavery having been brought out over the course of his term, many Southern states turned against him. This combined with Douglas's promotion of popular sovereignty for deciding slavery in the territories and the Democrat nomination of a candidate from the Deep South for vice president, the Whigs lost much of their fervor and as a result, the election. This would be the last election that the Whig Party would participate in, as in the next few years the party fractured along northern and southern lines.

Aside from the national election, slavery was also important in the state elections. The banning of slavery was on the ballot in both Missouri and Delaware in that year. In Delaware, the vote went in favor of banning slavery as the practice had declined in the state over the last decade, and the final slaves were manumitted with payment from the state in 1853. In Missouri, however, the vote was much closer, and was generally divided between those in the north of the state in favor of banning slavery and those in the south of the state who were against it. In the end though, slavery was upheld in Missouri in 1852.

Douglas/Davis: 168
Scott/Botts: 142

 

[wilcoxchar]

And now another update.

Part Twenty: Coming Together and Growing Apart

A Continental Idea:
With increasing amounts of people traveling west, many entrepreneurs and politicians saw a need for an eventual link between the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts in the United States. During the Douglas administration, many proposals were brought to Congress for rail lines connecting the two coasts. Some suggested routes started from Saint Louis or Chicago, which had already been connected back to the major east coast cities, while others proposed paths going up to Minneapolis and then west.

The western end of the proposed transcontinental railway was often more varied. Some proposals desired to keep the railroad in the United States and ended the railway at one of the small but fast-growing costal towns in Oregon Territory. Others saw a more southerly route that passed through the California Republic to end in Monterrey, Yerba Buena, or San Diego. Despite the great interest taken by the government in completing a rail line between the two coasts, sectionalism between north and south stopped any major progress until the 1870s when private companies expanded west.

Popular Sovereignty:
With many Americans moving west into the Great Plains, Stephen Douglas passed a bill in 1854 with support from former Vice President Lewis Cass that would open up Kearny Territory to further settlement. With the bill he advocated the position of popular sovereignty and letting the people of a territory decide whether it would allow slavery when it was admitted to the Union. This led to increasing problems as ardent abolitionists and Southern slaveholders moved into the territory to promote their respective positions.

In the months after the bill was passed, both slaveholders and freesoilers poured into the territory. Slaveholders from Missouri and Arkansaw soon clashed with freesoilers from Chicago and New England. These settlers came at odds with each other as the frontier towns swelled with people, and in spring of 1855 violence broke out that would soon engulf the entire territory. The violence began with what is now known as the Haarlem Riots. The town of Haarlem lies on the Sparne River[1] near where it joins the Arakansaw, and grew during the opening of Kearny Territory because of its proximity to Arkansaw and Missouri. In the decade after the city's founding, it had grown to over two thousand people. With such growth, slavery became a great issue in the town. In April of 1855, the murder of a freesoiler by one of the slaveholders in the town spiraled out of control into general violence. The riot lasted almost the entire day before law was restored in the town and in all, seven people were killed.

This sparked more riots in the rest of the territory as a proslavery legislature came into power. In July, noted abolitionist John Brown attempted to bar the legislature from entering the territorial capital at Council Grove. While John Brown was killed in the resulting skirmish, he was remembered and soon became a martyr for the freesoilers in Kearny Territory. After further threats against the legislators, the territorial capital of Kearny was relocated southward to Fort Gibson. In response, the freesoilers set up their own territorial legislature in Council Grove. While the violence gradually decreased in 1856, the competing legislatures lasted long after Douglas's administration and the events of 1855 and 1856 greatly hurt Douglas in the eyes of the American people.

[1] The Canadian River