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Chapter 62 Crockett and the Commonwealths

"Austin can't do this dammit. That land is Californian property and as such is under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth of California. What kind of right do they have to form new Commonwealths out of our land. What, it's in our constitution? Well what idiot wrote that into....oh. It was me."- Governor Alejandro Verde 1854
"Dessert? What kind of pioneers name their Commonwealth Dessert? Silly Mormons."- President Davy Crockett 1854
"I'd like to take the time right now to officially address rumors concerning the so-called UFO that crashed near Roswell, Arizona. The object in question was investigated upon by the local Ranger company and was found to be little more than a crashed weather balloon in an experiment conducted by the Texas Air Force at Area 11. There are absolutely no materials or life of extraterrestrial origin near the site whatsoever."- Grey House Press Secretary Javier Santos 1947

Though the 1853 Election is generally seen as not one of the most important ones in Texas history in terms of impact or direct political consequences, it is significant for being the first Presidential Election in Texas where power was peaceful transferred from one political party to another. For while Houston's transfer to Lamar was done between two intensely opposite rivals in ideology, it was done while Houston was mainly an independent. Here the Republican Party had ceded its control to the Western Union who now had a slim majority in both houses of Congress and the Presidency, though the Supreme Court was firmly Republican due to Lamar's influence on the picks as Vice President and his nominations as President. However unlike the United States, the Western Union victory in Texas was not due to a series of national crises that called for different leadership, but rather a combination of luck and the appeal of Crockett to the Texan masses. Under both Lamar and Burnett's terms Texas had flourished as a nation and could now count itself among the ranks for the greats in the world. The economy was booming, peace was upheld, foreign ventures successful, all was good in Texas. Thus the upcoming Crockett administration would need to make a profound impact on the Texas populace and uphold the current prosperity while proving that the Western Union was the chosen party for the Texan people. For if Crockett and the Unionist congressmen failed in their mission then there was a good possibility that they would shrivel away and end up in a similar fate to the Whigs. Fortunately Crockett would manage to cement his legacy and help the Western Union establish a identity beyond the opposition so that they continue to current day. The method this was achieved however was beyond what anyone in the Western Union intended.


Party logo of the Western Union in 2017

When the 1854 Spring Congressional session commenced in Austin, Crockett and his allies began as much work as possible to draft legislation that would support the parties platform and hopefully curb the legacy of Lamar. In the previews winter Crockett had already spent much time meeting with many congressional leaders on both sides of the party and traveled across Texas to thank his supporters and try and bring awareness of the political situation to those who lived in the more rural areas of the state. While Davy Crockett could be called a humble man he was more than aware of his fame and reputation that the people of Texas had with his actions in the Revolution and previous adventures in America. Crockett planned to use this to widen the parties support base beyond their current location in the East as well as get Republican representatives and senators to jump on board with the Western Union agenda so that the party could maintain the appearance of one that could well handle bipartisan legislation in Texas. Crockett's mission was found to be a success as his popularity across Texas soared with newspapers spreading information of his political goals and the recruitment of the more moderate wing of the Republican party into cooperation for the passing of Crockett's bills. Domestically in 1854 the first item on the agenda was the fiscal state of the Republic. With the California Gold Rush and the growth of trade and industry within Texas the Republic was at a current surplus in the federal budget with the nation seeing the highest growth rate in its early history until the 1870's. Under Republican control Congress had implemented moderate tax rates ranging from 25-45% with high tariffs and large amounts of spending of the national budget on infrastructure projects and industry subsidies. The Western Union decried this as unnecessary spending and advocated for low tax rates, low tariffs, and allowing the private sector to invest in Texan industry and infrastructure, the Union having had a mostly pro-Agrarian position in its inception. The first fiscal laws passed were the new tax rates which cut the national tax rate into three brackets of $0-100, $100-1000, and $1000-10,000. Tax rates were cut across the board with the bottom racket being 15%, the middle being 25%, and the upper being 33%. Tariffs were lowered with many European countries such as Germany, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The main exception to these cuts were the South American nations in order to protect the agricultural sector, and Great Britain due to heavy pressure from Paris so as to maintain the current relations. National spending was cut in nearly every sector with the only departments left untouched being the Army, Navy, Texas Rangers, and the State Department. This resulted in the firing of hundreds of national employees and withdrawal of funds for expansion projects. The one major area where Davy Crockett received the most resistance was the industry and infrastructure subsidies as the Republicans refused to back down on their stance and these policies were found to be highly popular among the people of Texas. Bills were drawn up to cut funding in several infrastructure projects and eliminate in its entirety the Industry subsidies. To the shock of the Western Union leadership, nearly all of these bills failed in either the House or the Senate due to near universal Republican rejection and the joining of multiple Unionist congressmen onto their side. This conflict became the subject of heavy debate for much of the summer of 1854 as the Republicans such as Senators James Henderson, Jose Ruiz, and Representative Frank Steiner led frequent filibusters and opposition rallies to reject these bills. Eventually a compromise was reached where Industry subsidies would be cut 33%, infrastructure projects would continue unhindered, and the Texas railroads would grow in expansion for the rest of Crockett's term. The support of the railroads and the aforementioned St. Louis agreement are cases which show the unique case of Rail fever that was abundant in Texas. Railroads were in many ways considered a blessing to the Texan people as they allowed the quick transportation of goods and people between the Gulf and California, connecting the vast nation in what was then considered instantaneous travel along with the implementation of the telegraph. This caused railraods to be a nonpartisan issue and both parties to actively have rail growth as part of their platform. Many politicians often being elected due to their stance on railways and history in the support and success of its growth. The only group within Texas that was against the rails were the Indian population who considered it to be a breach of their sacred lands. While some native lands were legally protected under the ICI, congress and rail companies found many loopholes to try and negotiate and enforce rail passage through these lands as this was a severe case where the Indian people were outnumbered by the majority. Thus Crockett's term saw a direct continuation of Lamar and Burnett's policy on rails and grew upon it with the first tracks being laid down for the Transcontinental railroad. The last are of fiscal conflict was the issue of agricultural subsides. While industrial subsidies were widely supported due to the creation of industry and the diverse growth of the Texan economy, agriculture was heavily split upon as while the topic itself was highly supported, the issue of national aid came to heed when it came to where to divert that support. Many Republican leaders liked to point out that by doing so mainly the plantations of the East would benefit in increasing their already substantial wealth, while the common farmer or rancher would barely receive any support at all due to their diverse needs and the smaller value of their land. Indeed while many Tejano, Indian, and Texan farmers in the west welcomed for government help, they were entirely against it if only the cotton plantations of the east would benefit while they would be left to dry. Fearful of creating a class divide within the party, Crockett relented on the issue and substantially decreased his proposed support to tax credits aimed at supporting the common farmer and additional funding in the Indian programs to give Texan tribes the tools they needed to domesticate and trade with Texan settlers by way of excess crops. This was agreeable with the Republicans and the agricultural subsides were found to be passed along with the rest of Crockett's reforms in its entirety by the end of 1854.


The Texas Plantation. What much of the economy was based on and a huge base of support for the Western Union.

On the side of foreign policy missions were undertaken by the State department at the start of Crockett's administration to increase the presence of Texas within the global market and the field of geopolitics. In its near 20 years of existence Texas had only created a sphere of influence that existed in North America (one that was overshadowed by the United States) and its international trade was limited to Western Europe with a few products being exported in the form of agriculture and weaponry. While the Western Union was not as overtly Nationalistic as the Republicans, they were still patriots and Crockett wanted to do his best to make sure that the nation he helped create would leave its mark on the world. In order to fulfill this promise Prince Carl was appointed as Secretary of State (even though he was a Republican) and was given the goal to expand Texan diplomatic missions worldwide and enter new markets for Texas to profit from. In this case Prince Carl went above and beyond the call of duty and would soon be hailed as one of Texas's greatest Secretaries of State in history. In many regards this has often been compared to the performance of Stephen F. Austin who while was successful in establish many relations of Texas with other countries, did not have Carl's extensive resource and noble style of diplomacy that was so common among the European nations. In the 1854 many diplomatic missions were sent abroad with relations being successfully opened with states such as the Italian Federation, the Russian Empire, Sweden, Greece, and the Ottoman Empire. In addition to the above mentioned trade deals with Western Europe, trade missions opened up exchange with almost all of Europe's chief Pacific and Asian colonies, the development of California allowing for trade to develop with Australia, Dutch East Indies, Kingdom of Hawaii, Philippines, and even some remote trade with India. In relation to Latin America trade agreements were done in order for Texas to gain an edge by approaching nations who had not yet gone under American or British influence so that Texas would develop a monopoly for its industry, allowing for later growth with all the untapped revenues. The nations primarily targeted were Peru-Bolivia, Chile, Haiti, the Spanish colony of Cuba, and Honduras and Nicaragua. The latter two developing even closer relations with Texas in the aftermath of the Filibuster War. Soon Texan products while not becoming a heavy source, became more common across the world as Texan beef made Spanish fajitas, Texan guns equipping European armies, Texan cotton creating the latest fashions, Texan ships making regular appearances in foreign ports, and many other occurrences launching Texas into the developing global economy.

With the economy being stabilized and little social stratification occurring at the moment, along with peace on the frontier, Crockett moved forward with his plan on creating additional commonwealths to Texas. The addition of new Commonwealths to the Republic was something that the Western Union began to develop as a part of its platform in the mid 1840's in order to begin a greater practice of devolution in Texas and transfer power from Austin and the State of Texas to the rest of the nation west of the Rio Grande. This main thought of "state's rights" was a main part of the parties ideology due to the fact that most of its early membership consisted of American immigrants from the Southern states where that form of federalism was higly valued. Another reason being in direct opposition to the goals of the Republican Party who sought to centralize the government and have most power lie within Texas, all according to the nationalistic vision of Lamar. There were also multiple political reasons for this action. The dividing of California would allow the remainder of the Commonwealth to head into the Western Union camp due to the high number of American immigrants that had made their way to the Golden Commonwealth, with much of Eastern California being inhabited by Tejanos or Mormons who did not agree with Western Union ideology. Another relation to states rights was the fact that if multiple commonwealths were created then there was a higher chance that they could unite against the power of Austin, further weakening the Republican party. Finally there was the largely practical reason that California was simply too large of a territory to run effectively run from Monterrey. When this initiative was announced during Crockett's election campaign, a heavy amount of Republicans emerged opposed to the plan due to the above mentioned loss of political power. There was also an ever present fear for the Republicans that if Texas divided too much then they would face disunity and chaos like the United States was currently undergoing under Douglas. Unfortunately for them, the motion was highly popular in California where the people wanted a more effective means of representation and would be more than glad to get rid of the Apaches and Mormons from their Commonwealth. Due to this unexpected surge of support, Republicans relented and shifted tactics instead to how much the nation would be divided. For Republicans the goal was to keep division to a bare minimum while Western Unionists supported as much as possible. Negotiations in both Austin and Monterrey were ever ongoing throughout most of 1854 over the future status of California. Under the terms of California's constitution the commonwealth could be split up into 5 different commonwealths. For the Republicans came the offer of a division between Western and Eastern California. While the Western Union advocated for the creation of Northern California, Southern California, Baja California, New Mexico, and Deseret. The opinion in California was that of that they were fine with any divisions that took place in the east, but wanted the Baja California peninsula and as much of the Pacific land as possible in the state. On June 28th the Monterrey legislature came to an agreement where the western half of the commonwealth would become the new California while the eastern state would be roughly split in half. The northern side forming the Deseret commonwealth for the Mormons, and the southern half given to the Tejanos and Indian citizens, the Arizona commonwealth. The proposal was sent to Austin and on September 9th a bipartisan majority came together and passed it through both houses of congress, President Crockett signing the division into law later that day.

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Map of the Republic of Texas in 1854. Texas (Blue). California (Green). Deseret (Orange). Arizona (Red)

With the passing of what would become known as the California Division and the enactment of several fiscal conservative reforms it looked as though Davy Crockett would be setting himself up a great legacy that would rival that of Houston and Lamar. The man's actions had allowed for the Western Union to establish its permanent place in Texan politics by proving that their method could help ensure the prosperity of the Republic. When 1854 came to a close it looked as though the Texan golden age would continue. Unfortunately this would not be the case as war would soon erupt both within the borders of Texas and that of its neighbors. All thanks to two groups that would come to trouble Texas in the 1850's, Mormons and Filibusters.

A/N: Flags of the Commonwealths will be posted tomorrow.