Bleeding Florida: An Alternate History
- Thread starter Pellegrino
- Start date
Good point. To be honest, this part of the TL is more of the setup for how the communists end up in Florida (Know Nothings basically close New York to immigration and, as we see in the next update, Engels is forced to go back to his father with hat in hand due to the new tax put on immigrants in New York). As a result, I need to be careful not to rush through this and ignore something like the overall size of the NYSM and how it will factor in this scenario.
An Irish nationalist pulls something similar in Fight and Be Right IIRC.
Anyways, can't believe I haven't found this TL before now. It's rare to find something really interesting being done with the Antebellum U.S., subscribed!
TFSmith121
Banned
No problem...
I think the idea of a "frontier" society in Florida where the confrontation between pro- and anti-slavery is interesting, but the question of rebellion within an existing state leads immediately to the possibility of federal action...
Best,
I think the idea of a "frontier" society in Florida where the confrontation between pro- and anti-slavery is interesting, but the question of rebellion within an existing state leads immediately to the possibility of federal action...
Best,
iddt3
Donor
How long would such a law stand? Even before the Civil War, wasn't immigration regulation a power reserved to the Federal Government? It could certainly cause an exodus, but it would also cause some severe economic dislocation, and it seems likely to end up in the Supreme Court.
Oh it almost certainly is unconstitutional…even by the lax standards of 1853. But it will take a great deal of time to sort out in the Courts and in the mean time the Irish and Germans are really feeling the heat. There are two other factors to keep in mind here. First, in 1853 Ellis Island wasn't yet opened. In fact, even Castle Clinton wasn't yet operational. Rather, immigrants docked on the South Street docks in Manhattan. Even after the state opened Castle Clinton (AKA Castle Garden) as the nation’s first Emigrant Landing Depot in 1855, it remained a state run operation until 1890. So here we have the state basically closing the South Street docks to immigration, which probably would not be seen as an overreached by New Yorkers.
The second part of the law, which was hinted at but not expressly defined, was the anti-Irish and anti Communist Act which included a “tax” (which Whitman referred to). This Act, as mentioned in the update, was based on the “Discourage the Immigration to this State of Persons who cannot Become Citizens thereof” Act passed in California in 1855. The California Act expressly targeted Chinese immigrants and imposed on the owner of a ship a landing tax of fifty dollars for each passenger ineligible to natural citizenship (i.e. each person of Chinese descent). It should be noted that this law stood up to constitutional scrutiny in the lower courts (and was even expanded in 1862 by the notorious “Anti-Coolie Act of 1862). Now, racism was a driving force of said act, and it is possible that the Supreme Court would take a different view if it were white Europeans (even if they were Catholics and Communists). But that doesn't change the fact that an identical law was in fact gaining steam in OTL at the exact same time that these events were taking place in TTL.
So as we see, thousands of Irish and German immigrants now have to pay a $50 tax to allow their families to land in America. This doesn't actually stem immigration much as many immigrants find a way to scrape up the funds to pay this outrageous tax. But the state is getting rich through this exploitation. Then, when the ships are set to land, these Irish and German immigrants find out that the ship is not being allowed to land at the South Street docks (despite the fact that the vast majority of them paid the tax). Hence the riot…
And when the dust settles, a large portion of these Irish and German immigrants will be done with New York, particularly when they are told of the Florida Armed Occupation Act of 1842, which promised each of them 160 acres if they moved to Florida. For Engels, one additional requirement stands out: the requirement that each person accepting said offer also agrees to bear arms.
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True, but that might just be what Engels and the communists are banking on...
What bout the other eastern ports? And does this mean that the Papbst, Schlitz and Blatz families arent moving to the midwest? 
You might have some reason not to provide a link to the OTL law you reference just yet, but looking it up so far I've learned there is a geographic restriction as well--as far as I can make out, the law applies to land south of 29 degrees 42 minutes north--so I infer from references to "about 3 miles north of one town and 10 south of another." I've tried to show where that so indirectly and imprecisely defined latitude is on the attached map.
OK, I think that's a good size, considering I can't use a political map as a reference. I'm using a brew of G.Projector and Photoshop; G.Projector requires an equirectangular base file which is why it is so pixillated; I have to use a base that covers the whole world and I don't have such an equirectangular map with towns and local features circa 1850!
Nor would the software and my computer be able to handle that level of local detail. So this is more impressionistic than I might like, but anyway, we're talking about that part of Florida. I wonder if the latitude was chosen precisely to include as much of the southeastern peninsula as possible while excluding all parts of the panhandle--the latitude seems to skim just along the shoreline at Port Saint Joseph, at the tip of the triangular western peninsula I always thought, as a kid mostly living in that vicinity, as the "trigger" of the "gun" Florida looked like on the map.A not inappropriate similarity!
ITTL--and OTL.I gather the latitude is defined precisely enough, in the actual statute, but in terms of Florida's township coordinates, not global ones.
Chapter Five: The Prodigal Son
The short lived riots of May 10-11, 1853 had firmly handed the city to the Whigs and established the Know Nothings as the dominant political force in the state of New York. After passing the controversial Irish and Communist Exclusion Act (which critics disparagingly called the “Anti-Commie Bill” as a play on words on the law it was based on in California) thousands of Irish and German immigrants found themselves financially wiped out by the imposition of a tax of $2.50 for any immigrant working in the city in the city. However, even more controversial was the $50 “docking tax” which was required for any shipmaster who allowed a “non-working” immigrant to disembark from his vessel in New York. This rendered it next to impossible for many Irish and German immigrants already in New York to bring their families into the country. The belief by the Know Nothings was that the immigrants would then only remain for a short period of time before they were forced to return to Europe. For the shipmasters, the problem was an easy one to circumnavigate. They would require the tax either be paid in full by family members already in New York or they would have the tax paid through credit through the immigrant’s family already in the state. For many immigrants, the overwhelming desire to be reunited with their families clouded their judgment and they agreed to pay the tax on credit, having much of their meager wages garnished. Before long corruption and fraud became rampant as disreputable factory owners would impose their own “garnishment fee”, further cutting into the wages of the immigrant worker. By May of 1853 the desperation of many of these employees, who were often at the mercy of their employers once the tax was imposed, resulted in a sudden and radical drop in wages in the city. In less than one year the average wages of an Irish factory worker dropped over 33%, while the profit margin of many factory owners increased sharply as the city’s work force became straddled with enough debt to lead to desperation.
Still, for many Irish and German immigrants, there remained hope that the difficulties would soon end. Many in the state, even supporters of the Know Nothing movement, were appalled at the laws and its harsh treatment of “white workers.” In fact, unofficial polls seemed to indicate that the majority of New Yorkers thought that the bill went too far. And when over 10,000 immigrants filed suit in federal court arguing that the laws were unconstitutional, many learned attorneys remained confident that the law would in fact be deemed unconstitutional and be overturned eventually. Eventually.
But by May 10 1853 the patience of the badly exploited immigrant community had reached its boiling point. The riots started when the Know Nothings passed a controversial (and unconstitutional) law that effectively prohibited immigrants from disembarking at the South Street Docks, the landing point for nearly every immigrant in the state. Despite the fact that many immigrants had already paid a large sum of money to bring their families into the city, they were shocked and appalled to discover that the State of New York and just changed the deal on them at the last minute. The anger boiled over, but unlike the previous riots between the Dead Rabbits and the communists, this one was dealt with immediately…and brutally. Fifteen men were killed when the 71st New York Militia opened fire on the protesters as they rushed the docks.
Friedrich Engles forced a smile as he read over the newspaper clipping that had reported his death at the South Street docks. It had been a disastrous night, hundreds of his supporters had been rounded up and the local “Anti-Commie Club” had destroyed what was left of the Red Republican. The idea that his enemies were reading of his death only to later discover that he was in fact well and fine was a small consolation.
“Capitalism at its truest and purest form,” Karl Marx said angrily as he looked out the window at the image of the soldiers marching down the street.
“When they find us we will be arrested,” Engles said angrily, “Just like Willich and Harney. They will try to blame us for this.”
Engles took the newspaper article of his death in his hand once again and began to read over it again. It was his only victory in all of this and he needed to be reminded of it. Since being driven from Europe he had been disowned by his father after having destroyed his business and his name. He had failed to inspire a revolution in America even after having been handed the city of New York on a golden platter just two months ago.
“We should have marched on City Hall in March,” Marx said despondently, “we could have taken the City. We could have…”
“Or we could have been killed.” Engles replied. “We will overcome this, just as we have overcome everything that has led us to this.”
Engles didn’t know how though. The tax that even he was forced to pay had wiped out his savings. He couldn’t repair the printing press to the Red Republican and no newspaper would hire him. Even Karl Marx was now blacklisted. They had no money and no means of survival in the city. If not for a young man from a wealthy family who hid them they would have already been arrested. But instead they were hiding in the home of Henry David Astor, grandson of the recently deceased millionaire John Jacob Astor. Astor sought them out when the riots kicked off and offered them protection in the one place that the capitalist would never imagine to look for them: on Wall Street.
Although Karl seemed distrustful of the young man of twenty-one, Engles immediately warmed to him. Like Engles he had been ostracized by his family for his political views. Astor had been sent abroad by his father as a teenage and was sent to study at a prestigious university in England. But when he spoke publically in support of Engles and William Alexander Jones, the man hung for shooting the Queen, he was immediately expelled and forced to return home. Once home his father had tried to quite his young sons radicalism, even trying to get him to enter the family business of real estate. But after sending David to Florida to investigate some potential real estate investments Henry was shocked to discover that Astor had foolishly purchased a 12,000 acre plot of land from a Jewish abolitionist named Moses Elias Levy. Levy had founded “Paradise Plantation,” the nation’s only Jewish settlement, in the middle of Florida. But Levy would tragically see it burned down during the Seminole Wars and by 1851 he was in dire need of funds after years of legal battles over the status of the title of his land. Young Astor, either out of sympathy or out of a foolish belief that he could create a new society on the ruins of the failed “Jewish homeland,” purchased the entire plantation. It would be the straw that would break his fathers back, and he was soon driven out of the family business and told that he would “have to find his own way.” With little more than the Astor name and a 12,000 acre plantation in Florida, Astor soon sought out the two men who had shaped his youth: Marx and Engles.
“This too shall pass,” David Astor said as he took a seat next to Engles. “But until then we must be ever cautious. This will only drive the Irish to our side: to the side of the oppressed.”
Marx snorted angrily at the presumptuous young man who foolishly referred to himself as one of the “oppressed.”
“Oppressed?” Marx asked sarcastically. “How soon before the prodigal son returns to his father’s fold?”
Marx immediately regretted the statement as he saw Engles recoil at the sharp rebuke. He could have just as easily been talking about Friedrich and he knew his friend took the insult as a thinly veiled jab at him.
“I am sorry,” Marx said as he dropped his head. “This has been a most trying time…for all of us.”
Engles again forced a smile. He knew he was dead to his father. There would be no going back. His radicalism had destroyed his father’s company and nearly ruined him. He had been forced out of the company he founded and was left with little more than his textile factory in Barmen. Blacklisted due to his name from the lucrative British textile industry, Engles Sr. soon investigated ways of developing his ties to the American textile industry and most notably, the America cotton industry. But to his shock and disappointment, Engles Sr. soon discovered his son had made a reputation for himself even in New York.
But unknown to the younger Engles, the Prodigal Son would in fact be given a second chance at redemption. Across the Atlantic in the German village of Barmen, Friedrich Engles Sr. rushed into the kitchen to attend his wife. The elderly woman never gave up hope that her son Friedrich would someday abandon his radicalism and return to the family business. But her dreams were now forever shattered. The newspaper she held in her hand carried tragic news that was too much for her to bear. He son, it had been reported, had been killed in New York.
Chapter Five: The Prodigal Son
The short lived riots of May 10-11, 1853 had firmly handed the city to the Whigs and established the Know Nothings as the dominant political force in the state of New York. After passing the controversial Irish and Communist Exclusion Act (which critics disparagingly called the “Anti-Commie Bill” as a play on words on the law it was based on in California) thousands of Irish and German immigrants found themselves financially wiped out by the imposition of a tax of $2.50 for any immigrant working in the city in the city. However, even more controversial was the $50 “docking tax” which was required for any shipmaster who allowed a “non-working” immigrant to disembark from his vessel in New York. This rendered it next to impossible for many Irish and German immigrants already in New York to bring their families into the country. The belief by the Know Nothings was that the immigrants would then only remain for a short period of time before they were forced to return to Europe. For the shipmasters, the problem was an easy one to circumnavigate. They would require the tax either be paid in full by family members already in New York or they would have the tax paid through credit through the immigrant’s family already in the state. For many immigrants, the overwhelming desire to be reunited with their families clouded their judgment and they agreed to pay the tax on credit, having much of their meager wages garnished. Before long corruption and fraud became rampant as disreputable factory owners would impose their own “garnishment fee”, further cutting into the wages of the immigrant worker. By May of 1853 the desperation of many of these employees, who were often at the mercy of their employers once the tax was imposed, resulted in a sudden and radical drop in wages in the city. In less than one year the average wages of an Irish factory worker dropped over 33%, while the profit margin of many factory owners increased sharply as the city’s work force became straddled with enough debt to lead to desperation.
Still, for many Irish and German immigrants, there remained hope that the difficulties would soon end. Many in the state, even supporters of the Know Nothing movement, were appalled at the laws and its harsh treatment of “white workers.” In fact, unofficial polls seemed to indicate that the majority of New Yorkers thought that the bill went too far. And when over 10,000 immigrants filed suit in federal court arguing that the laws were unconstitutional, many learned attorneys remained confident that the law would in fact be deemed unconstitutional and be overturned eventually. Eventually.
But by May 10 1853 the patience of the badly exploited immigrant community had reached its boiling point. The riots started when the Know Nothings passed a controversial (and unconstitutional) law that effectively prohibited immigrants from disembarking at the South Street Docks, the landing point for nearly every immigrant in the state. Despite the fact that many immigrants had already paid a large sum of money to bring their families into the city, they were shocked and appalled to discover that the State of New York and just changed the deal on them at the last minute. The anger boiled over, but unlike the previous riots between the Dead Rabbits and the communists, this one was dealt with immediately…and brutally. Fifteen men were killed when the 71st New York Militia opened fire on the protesters as they rushed the docks.
May 23, 1853: Wall Street, New York City, New York
Friedrich Engles forced a smile as he read over the newspaper clipping that had reported his death at the South Street docks. It had been a disastrous night, hundreds of his supporters had been rounded up and the local “Anti-Commie Club” had destroyed what was left of the Red Republican. The idea that his enemies were reading of his death only to later discover that he was in fact well and fine was a small consolation.
“Capitalism at its truest and purest form,” Karl Marx said angrily as he looked out the window at the image of the soldiers marching down the street.
“When they find us we will be arrested,” Engles said angrily, “Just like Willich and Harney. They will try to blame us for this.”
Engles took the newspaper article of his death in his hand once again and began to read over it again. It was his only victory in all of this and he needed to be reminded of it. Since being driven from Europe he had been disowned by his father after having destroyed his business and his name. He had failed to inspire a revolution in America even after having been handed the city of New York on a golden platter just two months ago.
“We should have marched on City Hall in March,” Marx said despondently, “we could have taken the City. We could have…”
“Or we could have been killed.” Engles replied. “We will overcome this, just as we have overcome everything that has led us to this.”
Engles didn’t know how though. The tax that even he was forced to pay had wiped out his savings. He couldn’t repair the printing press to the Red Republican and no newspaper would hire him. Even Karl Marx was now blacklisted. They had no money and no means of survival in the city. If not for a young man from a wealthy family who hid them they would have already been arrested. But instead they were hiding in the home of Henry David Astor, grandson of the recently deceased millionaire John Jacob Astor. Astor sought them out when the riots kicked off and offered them protection in the one place that the capitalist would never imagine to look for them: on Wall Street.
Although Karl seemed distrustful of the young man of twenty-one, Engles immediately warmed to him. Like Engles he had been ostracized by his family for his political views. Astor had been sent abroad by his father as a teenage and was sent to study at a prestigious university in England. But when he spoke publically in support of Engles and William Alexander Jones, the man hung for shooting the Queen, he was immediately expelled and forced to return home. Once home his father had tried to quite his young sons radicalism, even trying to get him to enter the family business of real estate. But after sending David to Florida to investigate some potential real estate investments Henry was shocked to discover that Astor had foolishly purchased a 12,000 acre plot of land from a Jewish abolitionist named Moses Elias Levy. Levy had founded “Paradise Plantation,” the nation’s only Jewish settlement, in the middle of Florida. But Levy would tragically see it burned down during the Seminole Wars and by 1851 he was in dire need of funds after years of legal battles over the status of the title of his land. Young Astor, either out of sympathy or out of a foolish belief that he could create a new society on the ruins of the failed “Jewish homeland,” purchased the entire plantation. It would be the straw that would break his fathers back, and he was soon driven out of the family business and told that he would “have to find his own way.” With little more than the Astor name and a 12,000 acre plantation in Florida, Astor soon sought out the two men who had shaped his youth: Marx and Engles.
“This too shall pass,” David Astor said as he took a seat next to Engles. “But until then we must be ever cautious. This will only drive the Irish to our side: to the side of the oppressed.”
Marx snorted angrily at the presumptuous young man who foolishly referred to himself as one of the “oppressed.”
“Oppressed?” Marx asked sarcastically. “How soon before the prodigal son returns to his father’s fold?”
Marx immediately regretted the statement as he saw Engles recoil at the sharp rebuke. He could have just as easily been talking about Friedrich and he knew his friend took the insult as a thinly veiled jab at him.
“I am sorry,” Marx said as he dropped his head. “This has been a most trying time…for all of us.”
Engles again forced a smile. He knew he was dead to his father. There would be no going back. His radicalism had destroyed his father’s company and nearly ruined him. He had been forced out of the company he founded and was left with little more than his textile factory in Barmen. Blacklisted due to his name from the lucrative British textile industry, Engles Sr. soon investigated ways of developing his ties to the American textile industry and most notably, the America cotton industry. But to his shock and disappointment, Engles Sr. soon discovered his son had made a reputation for himself even in New York.
But unknown to the younger Engles, the Prodigal Son would in fact be given a second chance at redemption. Across the Atlantic in the German village of Barmen, Friedrich Engles Sr. rushed into the kitchen to attend his wife. The elderly woman never gave up hope that her son Friedrich would someday abandon his radicalism and return to the family business. But her dreams were now forever shattered. The newspaper she held in her hand carried tragic news that was too much for her to bear. He son, it had been reported, had been killed in New York.
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And some of you may be curious about the Moses Levy mentioned in the last update. Well, he really is a very colorful character worthy of his own TL. A Moroccan born Jewish immigrant who was an abolitionist and founded a failed Jewish homeland in the middle of Florida, it goes without saying that he is a very interesting historical figure:
https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=11530
https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=11530
You might have some reason not to provide a link to the OTL law you reference just yet, but looking it up so far I've learned there is a geographic restriction as well--as far as I can make out, the law applies to land south of 29 degrees 42 minutes north--so I infer from references to "about 3 miles north of one town and 10 south of another." I've tried to show where that so indirectly and imprecisely defined latitude is on the attached map.
OK, I think that's a good size, considering I can't use a political map as a reference. I'm using a brew of G.Projector and Photoshop; G.Projector requires an equirectangular base file which is why it is so pixillated; I have to use a base that covers the whole world and I don't have such an equirectangular map with towns and local features circa 1850!
A not inappropriate similarity!
I gather the latitude is defined precisely enough, in the actual statute, but in terms of Florida's township coordinates, not global ones.
Thanks for that map Shevek! And as you noticed in the last update, the young communist grandson of John Astor owns 12,000 worthless acres right smack on top of this line (in what is today Astor, Florida)...
Not to give away to much here, but the wheels are in motion for:
Engels unable to make any money in New York
An olive branch being sent to him by his father.
An elder Engles Who was nearly wiped out financially and who is blacklisted from doing business in England and apparently New York.
An elder Engles who it might be noted has only one valuable commodity outside of his one remaining textile mill: his extensive connections in the cotton industry.
Tens of thousands of disenfranchised immigrants in the state of New York who are looking for a place to relocate where they are not required to pay the restrictive taxes levied on them by the state
Well,we will find out how his all comes to head in coming updates...
This is a very fascinating timeline Pellegrino. You seem to have a talent not just with history, but with your historical figures seem human. I can't wait for the next update.
Fascinating! Love how your tying all the disparate characters together through so many plausible means! Can't wait to see where you go next!
What bout the other eastern ports? And does this mean that the Papbst, Schlitz and Blatz families arent moving to the midwest?
I hadn't planned on discussing what happens to them yet, although I had a few ideas. But we will see the impact of these laws in coming updates on NY