After victoriously waging war with the Native Americans till 1807, and after pushing the Cherokee and other remaining tribes into destitution, "Champions of the People," Grand Marshals William Henry Harrison and Napoleone di Buonaparte, decided that they could ride their popularity to the highest non-Royal offices in the land. They ran on a ticket of Harrison as Prime Minister and Buonaparte as Viceroy. Buonaparte, then known as 'Good Ole Boney" by the American public, was the most popular of the two and had been around longer, but he thought that his being an immigrant might ruin his chances. In an attempt to win over nationalists, he changed his name to Napoleon Bonaparte. The public was so in favor of the two men that it went down as one of the most one-sided appointment campaigns in history. On January 1st, 1808, in a spectacular ceremony, Harrison and Bonaparte knelt before King Andrew.
"As King of the Union of Royal American States, I do hereby declare my choices for the offices of Prime Minister and Viceroy!" said Jackson in a booming voice. After that, Harrison and Bonaparte took their oaths of loyalty to King and Country. Then, the army marched up and down in front of the under-construction Washington Palace- the King's residence and the nerve center of government- and saluted the two new leaders. After speaking to the throngs of flag-waving patriots, they rode in carriages to their new residences. Harrison christened his new home The Cabin. Before, the temporary Prime Ministers that served before them (and before Jackson had the Constitution amended so they could serve longer terms) lived in their personal homes. Harrison had overseen and was still overseeing the construction of The Cabin, and he went all out making it a rustic wooden mansion in the center of Philadelphia. Bonaparte, meanwhile, moved into a Southern-style white mansion. Because of the massive fountain with a marble statue of Caesar, his favorite historical figure, in front of the portico, he named it "Blue Fountain," and it entered the public vernacular in the form of the expression "Fancy as Blue Fountain."
Immediately, the foreign nations reacted. Despite the rivalry with Britain, their Prime Minister, Lord Grenville, sent a letter to Harrison. It started out as a polite congratulation, but descended into a warning. In one of the final lines, Grenville wrote: "I trust you will try to further this peace. Always remember that His Majesty has a vastly superior army. While we are content with peace, we shall not be trifled with." This was taken as a threat.
Lord William Wyndham Grenville, First Baron Grenville, Prime Minister of Great Britain
For over a year, King Andrew had been sizing up the British Oregon Territory. Orleans, broken up into however many states, was still largely unsettled. That did not matter to Andrew. On January 28th, he demanded Britain hand over Oregon for 20 cents an acre. Britain refused.
On March 2nd, the Union declared war on Great Britain. France followed suit on April 10th.
Immediately, Andrew, Harrison, Bonaparte, and Lord Secretary of War George Rogers Clark launched the long-mobilized army across the border. A huge number of reinforcements hit the Nauvoo Trail, and blazed across the country with unbelievable rapidity. Thousands of volunteers rushed to the colors and found themselves on the long march into Canada and Oregon. Years before, America would have found it literally impossible to invade Canada. However, the British navy had slightly deteriorated from lack of use, the French Royal Navy had bloated to unimaginable size, and the American army was totally and completely changed. Andrew bragged that his "mountain boys can stand toe-to-toe with any confounded, dad-gum European dandies. Let them come." The Union was also industrialized and could produce almost everything it needed. What it couldn't make, it imported from France, Sweden, or Holland.
Lord Nelson, commander of the British armada, hurriedly tried to repair the navy.
French scouts showed up on the Thames. Faced with the threat of invasion by the Louis' army, an army that had been growing just like America's for the last decade, the British had no choice but to focus on their own shores. Cut off from the motherland, British Canada started to fall.
Over the next two years, the American army showed it really
could stand toe-to-toe with the British, and, unlike during the Revolution, actually fought in the European fashion. The outnumbered British held off valiantly under the command of the Duke of Wellington, using Quebec City as their capital. Several attempts were made to take the city, but all failed. At last, Andrew himself marched north as a "warrior-king" and personally saw to the victory of the
Second Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Just like the British did to the French decades before, the Americans climbed up the cliffs and overran the British with sheer numbers. The casualties were high, but they were even higher for the British. With his command center surrounded on all sides by Andrew's elite Saxon Grenadiers, Wellington came out and presented his sword to the American King.
The cycle had come full circle: Britain had driven France out of the New World because Canada had so few inhabitants. The French and Indian War ended with the deaths of Wolfe and Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham. Now, the Americans had pushed Britain out of North America for the exact same reasons on the exact same battlefield. "Wonderful irony," thought Andrew. On June 9th, 1810, Britain, after losing half its navy in its massive battles against the now dominant French fleet, signed the Treaty of Brussels with France and the URAS.
With all of Canada under his control, the king had yet another playground to tinker with. He immediately authorized new surveying and censuses. Garrisons were stationed in all the major towns to quash any dissent. Soon, new states and territories were added to the Union:
State of Quebec
State of Ontario
State of Nova Scotia
State of New Brunswick
State of Columbia
State of Newfoundland & Labrador
State of Cascadia
State of Winnipeg
State of Algonquia
State of Jacksonia
State of Manitoba
State of Hudson
State of Oregon
Royal Territory of Franklin
Royal Territory of Madison
Royal Territory of Manitoba
Royal North-Western Territory
Royal Arctic Island Territories
Of course, there were still many holdouts and hostile Indians to be dealt with, but Jackson's Empire now stretched from sea to shining sea... And was the size of
Russia, which it now, much to the Czar's dislike, shared a border with. But Alaska could wait. America should not get too big for its britches. Andrew decided he would avoid a war for the foreseeable future.