This is a world which saw a different 'Great Compromise' in which the South got much more of what it wanted in the Constitutional Convention, most notably a proportional, unicameral Congress which directly elects the President and a guarantee of slavery. It is also my attempt to take a look at what a significantly more conservative American political system would look like, since it seems to me that the vast majority of AH political timelines posted here and elsewhere feature a more left-leaning political sphere than OTL.
The
Whig party has grown from its roots as a catch-all opposition party to traditional Democratic dominance into a classic Christian democratic party, standing for fiscal conservatism, free trade, and decentralization.
The
People's party has it roots in the Western free silver movement of the 1870s and 80s, and grew to national prominence by creating a broad coalition with prohibitionists and abolitionists. Today it advocates 'melting pot' American nationalism, isolationism, and expanded regulation and economic intervention.
The
Democratic party is technically the nation's oldest, though it is no longer a nationally relevant party. Since the abolition of slavery in the 1890s, it has purely been a Southern identity party. In recent years, it has become
de facto the Southern wing of the People's party, though it still holds more conservative social views.
In 2014, the ruling People's-Democratic coalition was thrown out of office in a surprise win for the Whigs, who saw a last-minute gain with undecided voters in the last weeks of the campaign. Key issues were the growth of the national debt under President Lipinsky, illegal immigration from Canada, and the German occupation of the Sudetenland. Lipinsky's personal popularity proved unable to stop a surge in Whig support, especially in the rapidly-growing railcar suburbs of the Upper Midwest and Southwest. Nevertheless, the wide national margin was only enough to give the Whigs a one-seat majority.