Dixieland: The Country of Tomorrow, Everyday (yet another Confederate TL)
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Chapter 61 - O'Canada
O'Canada
One issue that divided Canada was the notion of whether the Dominion of Canada would adopt a more centralized government, or a more federal government, much like the United States and the Confederate States. The failure of the United States (ie, the secession of the South) made both the predominantly Anglo-Protestant Liberals and the Franco-Catholic Conservatives wary of federalizing the nation, fearful that the other would simply secede if they didn't get their way on the national stage. This was viewed as a disastrous notion, because the French and English-speaking regions weren't actually quite contiguous. Manitoba was predominantly French, as was Quebec. Ontario and Rupertsland was mostly English. The decision was to directly govern the entire nation from Ottawa, much like the United Kingdom.
This partly was accepted because as the dividing lines in politics during the 1870's were largely linguistical, this forced both parties to balance industrial and agricultural interests. The Liberals needed the support of Ontarian industrialists and Columbian farmers - the Conservatives needed the support of Quebec industrialists and Manitoban farmers. Government in Canada was largely defined...lack of much government at all. The only thing that the parties could agree on was the Canadian Chinese Exclusion Act, which saw a total ban on Chinese immigrants. Many Canadians closely followed the American riots in California and as would be usual throughout history, Canadian thinkers would reflexively do the opposite of America. Similarly, Canada would place no restrictions on Catholic immigrants from Europe - which meant that many Catholics, turned away from Port Ellis in New York, would simply sail up north to Canada instead of sailing back to Europe. By most standards, a majority of immigrants to Canada might actually have been Catholic, which caused many to suspect the Conservatives would gain a long-term majority. They were wrong.
Ultimately, the logjam between the Liberals and the Conservatives would be shattered by a surprising development - the declaration of the Roman Union. Widely rejected in the Catholic world as a puppet tool of the anticlerical Italian government, the Canadian Conservatives splintered. Manitobans were oddly one of the few Catholic regions on Earth to actually largely accept the Roman Union. In many ways, this was also pragmatic. Manitoban acceptance of the Roman Union came during a time of endemic Orangeman terrorism - and the adoption of the Roman Union in Manitoba caused the Liberals to agree to send military force to crush them. This was also partly due to Manitoban leader Louis Riel embracing the Roman Union. In contrast, much more conservative Quebec obviously rejected the Roman Union, and this split caused the Liberals to ultimately triumph by the 1880's. This was because eventually, the Conservative Party openly schismed, as the Conservative MPs from Manitoba joined the Liberals in a vote that gave them a sufficient majority to recognize the Roman Union's right to run schools in Manitoba. This incident could be traced to the Manitoba War, which was settled with the Dominion of Canada agreeing to fund most religious private schools (mostly Francophone Catholic) in Manitoba. The recognition that schisming Roman Union priests had the right to use church property and teach church classes outraged the Quebec delegation, which quickly ejected the Manitoba MPs. However, the Pope in Avignon, enraged by the Manitoba coup, issued a non-expedit for Canadian Catholics to not participate in Canadian elections. The chaos around all of this allowed the Liberals to more or less waltz into power, relatively unopposed, as they devastated the Conservative Party in Quebec. Ironically, the Conservative expellees in Manitoba would become the last Conservatives standing.
George Brown, long stalwart of the Liberal Party of Canada, simply died right before it was his time to shine. The Scottish-born Alexander Mackenzie took over the reigns, during essentially a challenging period. Tariffs with America remained consistently extremely high and attempts of the Liberal government to pry open trade with the US constantly failed. The rump Conservatives in Manitoba, desperate not to be confined to Manitoba, confirmed the leadership of the Anglo-Quebecer John Rose until his death in 1888. Fights with local governments were common and although almost all of them ended with the Privy Council siding with the national government, Canada remained a politically unstable colony. Sectarian strife, often in the form of various blood feuds in Western Canada, also horrified audiences in London, Toronto, and Montreal. In many ways, the instability of Canadian politics gave British bureaucrats pause when granting more autonomy to colonies in Oceania and South Africa.
On the other hand, investment in America was rare, but investment from Britain was high, especially in Western Canada. Mackenzie deftly took advantage of this situation by simply getting London to pay for the rest of the Canadian Pacific Railway (a project began by Mackenzie's Conservative predecessor), which British Columbia had always demanded as a prerequisite for officially joining the Canadian Confederation. Mackenzie was always skeptical of the railroad, but unable to actually cancel it, his plan was to simply get London to pay for it, which they did. With their demands met, BC officially joined not soon after, pushed by both Ottawa and London.
As Afghanistan was technically still independent, the Canadian-Alaska border was the only direct land border between Russia and the British Empire. The British openly encouraged heavy Western settlement, including widespread Canadian adoption of personal firearm ownership. Parliament not only permitted weapons ownership in Western Canada - it mandated as such. Secretary of State Wilfrid Laurier (a Roman Union Catholic) was given the responsibility of creating a small Canadian Navy, which was largely intended on interdicting any Russian ships that came too close to the Canadian coast. Laurier was also instrumental in the Canadian intervention in Brazil. Hoping to establish Canada as an "independent" nation and as a French Catholic, Laurier believed that a conflict would help unite Canada. In addition, he had secured promises of British assistance in both funds and equipment, which were already on their way. In response to calls from the Federalist government of Brazil, Prime Minister Mackenzie called up the Canadian Militia (which had been exceedingly well-drilled in the last decade), before forces of the Royal Canadian Navy (essentially British ships that had been transferred over) were deployed to Brazil. Participation in the Brazilian War would most likely be the first of many defining moments of Canadian nationhood, for better or worse.
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Something is about to be discovered up in the Yukon Territory in the next decade and I have a feeling that it's going to be rather disruptive.
Chapter 62 - The Confederate Elections of 1891
The Confederate Elections of 1891
The elections, according to most of the Southern political class, seemed decided. Mahone was a tyrant who had illegally seized power, who oversaw a humiliating defeat of the Confederacy against the Spain, including a blatant Mexican land grab that was the ultimate humiliation. Under his rule, Confederate independence had seemed to have reached a nadir, and now his regime was hit by economic stagnation. The legitimate President, John Morgan, seemed as if he were to cruise towards a crushing victory that would finally "redeem" the South.
The results on election day, thus came as a shock to many. Across the country, unprecedented turnout lifted Mahone to a shocking win in precinct and precinct. As the news came in, the Morgan campaign seemed to be in total shock as it appeared that almost every single state had decided against Morgan. He had won in Mississippi, where poll taxes kept turnout low, but he lost everywhere else. Louisiana and his home state of Alabama seemed like toss-ups, but every other state had gone for Mahone by wide margins, ending the presidential race. The results in Congress were the same, as no-name random politicians who nobody had ever heard of swept over incumbent anti-Mahone politicians in the Congress. Recently enfranchised poor whites (and in the immediately emancipated states of the former Provisional Confederate States of America, blacks), while perhaps not huge fans of Mahone, still opted for him over Morgan. Soon after the election, the economy began to pick up again as Mahone declared the Confederacy "open for business" to European and American investors. Mahone famously declared a policy of granting mineral and settlement rights in the direct vicinity of any railroad built by a foreign power. This immediately sparked a railroad frenzy in the Confederate States, as British, French, and American investors tripped over each other to build railroads in the Confederate States. The widespread presence of foreign concessions and railroads led to economic recovery, but further terrified the Confederate political class.
It was quickly decided by the Confederate political class that their opportunity to defeat Mahone and "Mahonism" at the ballot box had passed. As a result, they largely grew to believe that Mahone could only be defeated through "extra-constitutional measures." And as they did not have the army on their side, this meant only one thing: terrorism. Bombings of Mahone government officials and against Mahone himself by "Redeemers" became widespread in the Confederacy. Mahone partisans often decided to take "revenge" into their own hand. The Confederacy quickly became convulsed by daily bombings in the major cities, as anti and pro-Mahone militants tried to shoot and bomb each other. With tacit support from the Administration, Mahone partisans generally had a better record in the combat, very much further destroying the political influence of the Confederate Old Guard. However, widespread public discontent with political violence created an opening for a third force.
Ironically, anti-Mahone sentiment would be most successful not due to the efforts of the old political class, which was becoming rapidly discredited by the violence, but a growing third force. General Longstreet, although largely in alignment with Mahone on most issues, broke with him strongly over one critical issue. Longstreet was a strong believer in Prohibition, while Mahone (and Cleburne) were not. Organizing the "Confederate Prohibition Association", Longstreet quickly became the leading spokesperson of what people colloquially referred to as the Prohibition Party. Many Mahonist politicians in Congress notably joined the Prohibition Party and as a result, the Confederacy once again returned to an informal three-party system - typically referred as the Nationalists, the Prohibitionists, and the Redeemers. Longstreet, eyeing the presidential election of 1897, supported retaining most Mahonist policies, but instituting a Civil Service Reform (which would hurt many Mahone partisans, many of whom were enriching themselves through the spoils systems) as well as instituting Prohibition on a federal level (the obvious violation of States' Rights was not addressed).
.....Hmmmmmm. Lets see, che will be 76 in 1897, and did die OTL in 1904.
I don't blame Longstreet for considering running. As the South claws itself back up from rock bottom, Longstreet seems to be the one politician alive in the Confederacy who still garners some degree of universal respect. He might have a shot.
By the way, were any politicians or prominent citizens ever linked to the anti-Mahone terrorist activities?
By the way, were any politicians or prominent citizens ever linked to the anti-Mahone terrorist activities?
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In the eyes of public opinion, many. In the actual courts, not many, because the courts are generally not a bastion of pro-Mahone sentiment. If anything, most judges/lawyers are pretty sympathetic to the terrorists. A lot of prominent politicians, such as Ben Tillman, have their political fortunes severely damaged by being fairly or unfairly linked to the terrorists by the Mahonists.
So will Mahonism become a staple of Confederate politics? What are the exact social and political pillars Mahonism stand on.
So a strong central government (which is anathema to the Old Guard and their successors), compensated emancipation, very strong Executive (I’m guessing a limited Judiciary and a weakened Legislative as well). What else is notable about their ideology, if it is one at all after Mahone is out of office. Was the one term president limit amended or no? Since Mahone’s first term wasn’t one he was elected to do it didn’t really count.
Wonder if all this political action/corruption and terrorist acts will create a very powerful FBI analogue that makes itself very independent of the Executive, and is run by either Congress or the Judiciary.
Confederate Investigative Bureau (CIB)
Could easily become a bulwark of due process/legal and law-abiding police force that is politically neutral or could become a secret police force (like the Gestapo) if the CSA ever goes fascist/authoritarian run by the President or Attorney General in the name of the dictator President.
So a strong central government (which is anathema to the Old Guard and their successors), compensated emancipation, very strong Executive (I’m guessing a limited Judiciary and a weakened Legislative as well). What else is notable about their ideology, if it is one at all after Mahone is out of office. Was the one term president limit amended or no? Since Mahone’s first term wasn’t one he was elected to do it didn’t really count.
Wonder if all this political action/corruption and terrorist acts will create a very powerful FBI analogue that makes itself very independent of the Executive, and is run by either Congress or the Judiciary.
Confederate Investigative Bureau (CIB)
Could easily become a bulwark of due process/legal and law-abiding police force that is politically neutral or could become a secret police force (like the Gestapo) if the CSA ever goes fascist/authoritarian run by the President or Attorney General in the name of the dictator President.
I would say those are largely a means to an end. I actually don't think it's a stark ideology - if anything, it's relatively non-ideological pragmatism. Nonaligned foreign policy, heavy state support for industrialization, a pragmatic stance on race, a claim to be speaking for the "popular will". If anything, "Nationalist" might be the best way to describe Mahonism, especially with the heavy military influence. Those seem like stark ideological commitments only because of who it puts him in conflict with. Mahonism is largely defined as what it's not. You could even say National Populism (not in the Kaiserreich sense lol).
Ironically, that's not so different from the motivating ideology of much of the Whig and later Republican Party...
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I was gonna say it sounds like a Nationalist Whig party in the making
I don't think the modern concept of left-right (or even the 1800's French concept) is that useful for antebellum American politics. I've heard pretty good arguments that the modern American right is more or less an semi-uncomfortable marriage between both sides of the US Civil War.
I suppose this (both sides of the old political spectrum sorta melding in response to a new socialist challenge) is not an uncommon phenomenon (ie, the Tories consuming much of the Liberal Party in Britain, the National-Liberal Coalition in Australia, the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan, etc.)
Here's a question sort of out of left field; what's the food culture of TTL's Confederate South like in this TL? What we think of as 'Southern' cookery has just been split at the Mason-Dixon (so whole traditions like Kansas City barbecue could be butterflied away; the world and the United States will be poorer without Arthur Bryant's), and the independent South will be poorer (although not without new and fascinating bright spots; it might be the center of a hawker stall phenomenon in North America), so there's a lot of room for divergence.
Yeah modern Left-Right developed around the 1880-1890 or maybe even later as a response to the rise of populist and socialist.I'd argue that it starts with Bryant's first nomination for President by the Democrats but you still have some Liberal Republicans like TR that blur the lines into the start of the 20th century. And then the world turned upside down in the 1960's to get us to where we are at today.
But for the Whigs in the antebellum they were the in many ways the successor to the federalist party, and the we don't like Jackson Democratic-Republicans rolled into one. They would become the first protectionist party in American history (as far as I can tell). They were pro industry and sometimes even interventionist when it came to industry and the economy. They would break up over slavery in the 1850's same as the Democrats the difference was the Democrats would reform post war where as the Republicans would evolve from of the stronger anti slavery Northern branch of the Whigs. No southern branch ever reformed and were absorbed by the democrats post reconstruction. Some people here in Virginia that I've talked to claim that the Readjuster Party of the 1870's was made up of southern Whigs but I don't know how true that is.
In a lot of Alternate histories where the South Wins the Civil War the Whigs make a comeback in the CSA as either the main political party (Turtledove 191), or as the foil party to the Southern Democrats, as the Party of Industry in the South.
I could see California "Santa Maria" BBQ coming to define the North's barbecue traditions much more ITTL, particularly if there was a substantial migration of poor whites (and emancipees too) to California that caused it to be influenced by southern BBQ.
TBQF, KC BBQ probably just gets named Memphis-style barbecue instead. Something like that is too hard to butterfly out because people are so biologically predisposed to find this stuff delicious/addictive. It's like trying to butterfly out the existence of opium or cocaine.
The real thing I'm interested in is the development of Coca-Cola
Oh there's going to be barbecue in the North; I picked that example because KC barbecue can be traced back to one specific person (Henry Perry) who won't exist ITTL since he was born post-POD. Less 'would X have Y' and more 'how different could it get' with a side of border rivalry.
(Also very interested in what happens with Coke.)
(Also very interested in what happens with Coke.)
Chapter 63 - The US Presidential Elections of 1892
The US Presidential Elections of 1892
The wildest American election since 1864 would be waged only 28 years later, the culmination of a variety of political issues, with both parties in crisis. As President, James G. Blaine had vociferously condemned laws against the use of German in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and other Midwestern states with overwhelmingly German populations, but overwhelmingly Republican governments. Blaine actually had many Catholic friends and interestingly never couched his opposition to Catholic immigration in religious or ethnic terms - he treated it as an issue of "loyalty to the Constitution", something that he felt was inevitably violated by the Ultramontanism of the Pope in Avignon. When a bill was passed declaring English the sole and official language of the United States, Blaine vetoed the bill immediately, castigating it as a xenophobic. In addition, when the Congress passed a bill levying a massive tax on alcohol (pushed by advocates of a growing Prohibition movement), Blaine vetoed the bill, calling it unconstitutional. Blaine tried to remain neutral on prohibition in hopes of alienating neither middle-class WASP Republicans or German Republicans. Unfortunately, for Blaine, he alienated both. The Prohibition Party candidate refused to drop out even though Blaine partisans insisted that they could cost the Republicans their majority. In addition, Blaine alienated many non-interventionist members of the Republican Party with his war in Brazil, which was largely unpopular as Dom Pedro Augusto seemed more and more erratic.
Luckily for Blaine, his greatest asset was the incredible disarray of the National Union Party. Leland Stanford was never a true believer in the "Anti-Oriental" cause, more or less just wielding it as a political too. His economic views were hazier, as he simultaneously combined a Robber Baron personal life with relatively progressive economic views. Regardless, the paradoxical candidate had a real aim: seizing control of the National Union Party, something he accomplished at the National Union national convention of 1892 against his rival Thomas Ewing, narrowly winning after a rousing speech by Stanford partisan Dennis Kearney. The nomination was widely seen as a hostile takeover by Stanford and many outraged National Union partisans were unsure of how to react, as many of them blamed Stanford for their defeat in 1888. Most however, realized that the National Union ticket in 1888 was doomed no matter what.
Luckily for Blaine, Leland Stanford's brilliant idea ultimately failed only because of a simple thing: he died of natural causes a week after securing the nomination. Stanford's vice-presidential nominee, the erratic Sylvester Pennoyer, took his place, which finally sparked a walkout of many National Union stalwarts, who formed the National Democratic Party. George Frisbie Hoar, a major National Union figure in the Senate who lambasted the "bigotry" of Pennoyer, teamed up with a conservative, Grover Cleveland, the mayor of Buffalo, New York, to "preserve the values of the National Union Party and the late Abraham Lincoln." They hoped they would take advantage of the most polarizing election since 1860, between two widely disliked frontrunners.
They were wrong. The National Democrats pretty much evenly from both parties, including both non-interventionist Republicans and anti-Pennoyer National Unionists, but never caught fire. In the end, the 1892 elections would be decided between two men, Pennoyer and Blaine. Pennoyer promised free silver, a ban on Chinese immigration, an escalation of the war in Brazil, legalization of trade unions, opposition to prohibition, and an end to discrimination against non-English speakers and Catholics. Many Germans, although not on board with the rest of the Pennoyer agenda, were eager to vote Blaine out, Pennoyer's erratic tendencies asides. Ultimately, the election would be one of the closest in American history.
Americans woke up the morning after the election to find the race still undecided. Pennoyer had swept almost all of the West, the upper-Midwest (the heavily German states of Wisconsin and Minnesota), and the traditional border states. The only Western state to vote Blaine was the newly admitted state of Utah, which was admitted on the promise that they'd vote Republican. Pennoyer had broken into Massachusetts and New Jersey, narrowly winning both states by under 1%. With all states but one called, the total rested at 167 Blaine, 164 Pennoyer, with Rhode Island's 4 electoral votes still to be decided. Rhode Island was a bizarre state - a majority Republican state with a majority Catholic voting bloc that was historically low turnout. Despite the best efforts of the local GOP to discourage Catholic turnout, Catholics turned out in droves to vote against Blaine. The final tally of the election in Rhode Island...saw Pennoyer win by an eye-popping 69 votes. The Rhode Island GOP immediately demanded a re-count, though it was widely believed that the recount was rigged, as it saw thousands of votes thrown out, almost all of them Pennoyer votes (from heavily Catholic neighborhoods). National Unionists in Congress were outraged, screaming voter fraud at the top of their lungs. Ultimately, seeing his friends in his old institution, the House of Representatives, scream invective at each other reminded Blaine uncomfortably of his horror at watching the violence between pro and anti-slavery advocates in the US House.
Giving one of the most famous speeches in American history, Blaine declared that he had spent his entire life fighting corruption in the United States (through civil service reform) and defending the inviolability of the Constitution (his justification for anti-Catholicism). Implicitly contrasting the United States with the Confederate States, he declared that he would not power by "imbibing a tainted chalice" by following the example set forth by Abraham Lincoln in 1864. He urged the Republican Congress to respect the original vote total from Rhode Island, which they did. In the same way that George Washington's refusal to run for a third term created a strong political precedent in the United States, so did Abraham Lincoln's concession to George McClellan in 1864. The Congress did so, certifying Rhode Island's original vote total, coronating Sylvester Pennoyer as the President-elect of the United States.
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Chapter 64 - The Pennoyer Administration
The Pennoyer Administration
President Pennoyer came in ready to make an impact. He realized that the House of Representatives, narrowly under the control of the Republicans as led by Speaker of the House Joseph Cannon was unwilling to cooperate with his aggressive legislative policy, Pennoyer realized that he would have to rule through executive action. Luckily for him, the National Union Party had seized control of the Senate in the 1890 midterms. Added to a spattering of Anti-Oriental Senators, this gave Pennoyer a fairly solid base for judicial nominations, which had fallen to a stand-still in 1890. While Cannon was notoriously partisan and completely locked National Union delegates out of the process in ramming through Blaine's aggressive agenda, this created a backlash. The pro-Pennoyer majority in the Senate was led by National Unionist Richard Bland, a hardcore supporter of Free Silver, who desperately wanted to break the one-and-a-half party system of the United States. Pennoyer was exceedingly interested in stacking the Supreme Court, largely because he had famously lost a case at the Supreme Court, Pennoyer v. Neff, which led to the near-ruination of his business. He especially loathed his personal rival, federal judge Matthew Deady, who had ruled against him at the district court level. As a result, the Pennoyer administration was fanatically concerned with judicial nominations, leading Pennoyer to personally stack the Supreme Court with people of a like-minded politics.
In many ways, Pennoyer broke a variety of presidential norms. Unable to get the House to approve a lowering of sky-high tariffs, he merely attempted to fail to properly operate the various customs agencies of the United States. When the state of California. run by hardcore anti-Orientals, simply declared that it would no longer follow the Supreme Court precedents revolving around the Privileges or Immunities clause, Pennoyer declared that no federal troops would enforce those Supreme Court laws. Republicans castigated Pennoyer as a crypto-Confederate in response. Pennoyer was in fact quite sympathetic to the Confederacy and relatively early in his career, he would plan a trip to the Confederate States. Similarly, Pennoyer, unable to actually pass a bill making silver legal tender, simply ordered federal agents to accept payments in silver. Under this rationale, even if he were voted out of office, the federal government would be sitting on an unusual amount of silver, almost forcing them to adopt silver. This also sparked outrage, as his opponents lambasted him as a tyrant. In addition, Pennoyer's backdoor method of attempting to institute free silver sparked financial chaos, causing the American economy to largely slow down. In the wake of President Mahone's devastation of bondholders, many European investors began to view Imperial Mexico as their best investment destination.
The early Pennoyer administration was dominated by labor unrest, chiefly the Pullman Strike in Chicago. Workers, led by Eugene V. Debs, went on strike against the Pullman Company, which operated one of the most infamous company towns in America, demanding a recognition of the union, an increase in wages, and a decrease in rents. In many ways, the strikes were inspired by the Haymarket riots in 1890, where the state government of Illinois executed several anarchists under sketchy evidence, alleging they had thrown a bomb, or at least known that it had been thrown. The 1890 elections had brought into power the National Union politician John Hopkins, who commuted most of the sentences. Altgeld was now siding firmly behind the Pullman strikers, as was the federal government under Pennoyer. Seeing the very bad situation for them, the Pullman Company folded, accepting the demands of the strikers and recognizing their union. This sparked a wave across industrial America, as raucous strikes began succeeding against employers. Even though there was no federal legal recognition for labour unions, some states began passing laws to protect unions, and many businesses, without government intervention, recognized unions in fear of strikes. American Railroad Union head Eugene V. Debs became famous across the country for triumphing against the Pullman Company.
In terms of foreign policy, the Pennoyer Administration was even more aggressive than Blaine, proudly brandishing the large navy that the Blaine Administration had bequeathed onto the United States. Military aid to Augusto Pedro was increased. Upon hearing news that Europe had once again plunged into a gruesome war, he saw his opportunity to implement one of his major campaign promises. In a likely unconstitutional move, Pennoyer ordered in early 1894 that American naval forces were to interdict any ships suspected of carrying Chinese laborers off the West Coast of the United States. After a British-owned/operated ship flying under the Qing banner was interdicted, the British and Qing governments responded in anger. With anti-Qing sentiment rampant among Chinese nationalist intellectuals, the Qing government realized that they needed to direct nationalist fervor away from the Manchu. A tit-for-tat escalation between a remarkably belligerent Qing government and a remarkably belligerent American government erupted.
Qing ships immediately began confiscating American merchants and their goods, under trumped up and largely untrue accusations of opium smuggling. Hilariously, these allegations were provided "evidence" by the British, who despite having actually fought the Opium Wars, saw British society strongly turn against opium and actually aid the Qing government in fighting opium. In response, the United States began denying access to America by Canadian merchants, quickly impounding both Canadian and British goods in a bid to force the British, presumably ludicrously preoccupied by a war to force their "Manchu puppets" to come to heel. However, the Qing government, realizing that the Americans had made a grievous mistake, immediately declared that all American concessions in China were temporarily suspended and split 50/50 between the British and Qing government until future notice.
It was this moment that President Pennoyer realized that he might be barreling the United States towards a very unwelcome foreign entanglement, especially with the 1894 midterms approaching. He did not want the same kind of recession that wiped out President Clay. He was aggressive and violent, but not a lunatic. He scheduled a meeting with British and Qing diplomats immediately after his Grand Tour of the Confederacy, which he felt would secure a diplomatic partner. In his meeting with President Mahone in Texas, the two Presidents celebrated the completed extension of the St. Louis-Memphis-Little Rock railroad into the city of Dallas. However, during the parade through Dallas, several Redeemer terrorists tossed various bombs into their motorcade. Most missed and splattered the street, but two of them fell directly into the car, immediately exploding and killing all the passengers, including both Presidents.