Our Fair Country: The Commonwealth of New England
- Thread starter CosmicAsh
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The Troubles OTL weren't an exclusively Protestant v Catholic thing though.
First Nations Front, a revolutionary party that wishes to see all stolen land claims returned to the indigenous people.
Denmark shall be touched upon at a future date!
George Washington holds a mythical, perhaps even more so, role in American mythology. He is known as the General who won the war, and had the entire country behind him, and could have crowned himself King, Ceaser, whatever you'd like. Instead, he renounced all politics and leadership positions, and returned to his life as a private farmer. George Washington remained open to the public, and anyone could simply show up to his house and he'd always have a spare minute for a fellow citizen. As the articles of confederation grew more and more untenable, the great General Washington spoke publicly, just once, about the need for a stronger national government. Through his gravitas alone did Virginia, and many other states, join the new Union.
Northern Ireland is considered, by some (mostly south of the border Irish), to be a totalitarian police state. Make of that what you will.
Germany was never a fascist country. The National Völkisch regime is the name applied to the reign of the DNVP, which in fact was the "Stahlhelm" types you'd imagine from the Weimar Republic. It's important to note that under the leadership of von Papen and Hugenberg, Germany fell into a totalitarian state that can be understood as an absolute monarchy -- think the worse excesses of the German Empire, except instead of the central figure of the Kaiser, there was a focus on "traditional German values," and the DNVP pushed the idea of Germany supremacy and a paganistic "return to the roots" type autocratic rule. This is where elements of the Völkisch movement were introduced. There was very little focused put on antisemitic attitudes, and instead steeped itself in deep Nordic mythology, naming weapon systems after Nordic gods and the concept of uniting all people to defeat the Soviet Union. It's hard to say if the movement was moulded to fit the war or the war was made to fit the movement.
The general concept and justification of war in the Soviet Union was that Germany was protecting the "natural" order of things. The German people were a pure, natural, and gifted people who had formed their society and staked their place in the world. Germans, in their most basic state, should only care for themselves as they return to the fundamentals of humanity. However, the rising menace of the Bolsheviks were decidedly unnatural, unpure, and an abomination of the natural order. Any latent racist elements towards, say other Slavic peoples (Poles), was either erased or clouded over. After all, Germany's "partner" in central Europe was Poland, another people who were 'returning to their roots.' Poland was a useful propaganda tool to demonstrate that the Slavic people were not evil -- it was the ideology of Bolshevism that destroyed the natural order of humans. For that, it was Germany's natural duty to destroy the unnatural. This concept became a fundamental driving force of German propaganda, and their conduct in the occupied territories. Russians were not people to be feared. They were not people to be harmed. They were people to be liberated from the unnatural and danger of the dictatorship which controlled them.
It's this reason that the DNVP was never actually banned. The Völkisch movement is remembered as one that did harm to Germany, drained it of its resources, and caused a national humiliation and dictatorship. But at the same time, there is an innate cultural and shared political belief that in some way, what Germany did was right. Anti-communism was still high in Europe, and while the old Nordic myths were stripped away from the country, and the right-wing Monarchists finally driven away, the fear of Communism remained, and it would take Germany decades to rebuild from their own Civil War, and to accept moderation, the meshing of liberal ideals with the old Conservative past. The balance between socialism and capitalism. Populism is not strong in Germany because it reminds many of this painful period in the country's history. But the distaste of it purely came from internal reflection, and it leaves Germany with a confused and unsettled past.
The Troubles started with a bunch of violent sectarian riots, which caused the British Army to move in to “keep the peace”. They ended up making it even worse after Bloody Sunday, which caused the real Troubles to start. Even all the way back to Partition, most NI Catholics were Republicans.
And this refutes my statement on exclusivity how?
The Earl of Glen Cove; The Lord Westinghouse; Royal New England Electric
John Pierpont Morgan Sr., 1st Earl of Glen Cove (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was a New England financier and banker who dominated corporate finance in the country throughout the Gilded Age, and as the head of the banking firm which ultimately became known as J.P. Morgan and Company. Morgan was a driving force behind the wave of industrial consolidation in the British Empire spanning the late 19th and early 20th century. His financial empire came to rival some of the largest banks on the planet, becoming the second largest in the British Empire, and holding a significant amount of assets on the American Wall Street.Throughout his career, J.P. Morgan spearheaded the formation, often at his great personal expense, of several prominent corporations including International Harvester and Royal New England Electric. Him and his partners also ensured controlling interests in numerous other New England businesses, such as New England Telephone, and 12 railroads. The sheer size and power of his financial and economic empire made Morgan one of the most powerful men in the British Empire, and he was able to influence a vast number of lawmakers and other industry professionals.
The Lord Westinghouse (October 6, 1846 – March 12, 1914) was an New England entrepreneur and engineer from in Adirondack who invented the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry, gaining his first patent at the age of 19. Westinghouse saw the potential in the alternating current method of electricity distribution in the early 1880s, and poured his resources into developing and marketing the technology. Through his efforts, alternating current systems were in operation by 1890 in Boston, Brooklyn, and Albany. This significant lead allowed the Westinghouse company to be North America's leader in power generation for much of the 19th century. Westinghouse was best known in the United States for driving his Direct Current rival Thomas Edison out of business, with Westinghouse having a complete monopoly on the U.S. Electrical network until it was broken up under President Theodore Roosevelt.
Westinghouse was at the forefront of the creation of Royal New England Electric, manoeuvring himself into the position of President of the newly founded conglomerate. He led the corporation until his retirement in 1907 after an economic downturn cast doubts on his leadership. He became a well-known philanthropist in New England and Canada, and turned down an offer to become Lieutenant Governor of Adirondack in 1911 due to his poor health.
Royal New England Electric is a multinational conglomerate located primarily in Boston. The company is widely known for its history as New England's sole private electrical provider before competition was mandate by an act of Parliament, but has since branched out into the production of aircraft engines, electrical motors, energy generators, lighting systems, and is the largest contractor with the Ministry of Health for healthcare related technical equipment. RNEE has subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Australia, Rhodesia, Uganda, the Gold Coast, and Poland. The company has long since resisted being broken up by federal authorities, often making moves to ensure competition remained in operation. Today, the company is the largest privately-held conglomerate in New England, and the majority of its revenue comes from international sales. It is renowned for high quality craftsmanship, and most Commonwealth continues use the company for military aircraft engines, attesting to New England's continued role as the high-tech industrial zone of the Commonwealth.
What change(s) in TTLs USA made the 32nd amendment possible? Also, which persons and/or groups are interpreted as "Confederate" under the 21st amendment - does it include every person who lives in a former Confederate State? Every person having held that citizenship (which means this part of the amendment would be obsolete by the 1940s or early 1950s)?
I must say, I'm a bit skeptical of an America missing New England being so much more... progressive than IOTL. The South would likely be utterly dominating federal politics until the mid-1800s, so the USA doing things like granting full suffrage rights to Hispanics and Native Americans in the 1830s feels off.
Kanan did mention that at least some of this is due to a much harsher reconstruction.
However, I am inclined to agree with you about how liberal the *US is prior to this. Kanan - can you give some context to each of these amendments, please?
I also almost feel that it would have been more fitting for the North to secede from the South ITTL, looking over the Ameri-centric parts of this again. Just my own personal view, but one I think I could defend.
That is correct. For their credit -- the revolution had been a generation ago and the issue was not seen as such a hot button one.
https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...-of-new-england.434287/page-220#post-18194116.
Active members of the Confederate military, as defined by their position on pension/enrolment lists. The Amendment, as written, does in fact mean it has an expiration date (the death of the last Confederate). The Amendment was effectively one banning them from federal office.
This is correct! It's worth noting federal laws currently restrict campaign donations as a blanket policy, so it's not "Citizen's United unlimited funds" involvement, it's more nuanced. The amendment came from the revival of the union vote in the 1970s towards Nelson Rockefeller, who believed that Unions were an important part of American life. The idea was to let unions mesh with political parties to better represent workers. This backfired, of course, as Social Labor quickly sucked up the biggest unions by incorporating them as part of their nomination process, while the Nationals had only been able to get some labour unions to join the party's steering committee. Regardless, to this day both parties have strong union support.
Sure, that is a valid criticism.
For starters, there is no 3/5ths compromise in the United States Constitution. The Document itself is broadly similar, but there are notable differences (the Vice-Presidency was appointed by the President - Hamilton eventually had the idea of turning this into the Prime Minister's role he so desired, but Congress/States quickly shot that down). As you can imagine, this did lead to greater House representation rather quickly. If you note, the dominate power of the slave states did stall the progress rather quickly, with there being a huge gap between semi-Controversial amendments.
How did the 11th and 12th pass?
Easy. 12th Amendment was a compromise for native removal acts which were ordered by President Henry Clay. The South got the land (and all the resources there), while Clay was able to secure a nice amendment that *trust me* was totally going to pass the needed states. The House and Senate approve it, no problem. The north ratifies it. Great start. Then the south sits on it. No government moves to do anything with it.
The story for the 11th Amendment is similar. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo itself originally held a provision that would make Mexicans living in the captured territories citizens as soon as possible. Such language was kept in the OFC Treaty of Huehuetoca. It was submitted to the House, passed, then the Senate, and passed. Once it got to the states, the South stalled and sat on it. In the early 1860s, as the country quickly accelerated towards collapsing, the South began to adopt more and more caustic rhetoric. However, they did begin to concede that it would benefit them greatly to integrate the not insignificant Hispanic population for any upcoming wars (i/e get them on their side). It mostly worked.
It is important to note that the population (mostly Hispanic) of the further annexed territories in OFC amount to around 800,000 people. Add this into the population of California (90k in 1850), New Mexico (50k in 1850) and Texas (200k in 1850) you are looking at perhaps 200,000 men of voting (and fighting) age who were Hispanic. Good to have them fighting alongside you than against you.
How did it pass? Well using the quasi-unknown status of the seceded states, the remaining States quite simply re-passed them and with enough vague handwaving, it was accepted as legal. This was the case for the 12th Amendment. Note how rapidly the next amendments come with the South gone from the Union. It's notable that with the extremely harsh slaveocray that was established, the North punishes the south *hard* in retribution for their actions. The obvious full support for Freedmen's political and civil rights through the late 1800s and early 1900s has obvious effects on America's political geography.
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QBAM World Map
hopefully i'm not posting over anything when i send this. a few months ago i started a new and updated version of the OFC qbam from whenever ago with all the updated borders and a shot at covering the provinces in mexico and the central african federation (unfortunately, there wasn't a lot to go on for the latter, and the former was a nightmare trying to line up the provinces. in any case, hopefully this'll be a good reference guide for people yet to see the map (as unlikely as that is).
@Kanan @ariyarathna what are the Dutch colonies ITTL? I see the Caribbean islands, but is part of the island of New Guinea still Dutch?
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