Champions of Dixie: The CSA Wins (Redux of The Sun Never Rises: If the Confederacy Won)
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Chapter 5: 1880-1884
Chapter 5: 1880-1884
1880- Electricity becomes more prominent in the Union as the first electric streetlight is installed in Wabash, Indiana in February and the city itself becomes the first to be electrically lighted in the world later that year. Thomas Edison performs first test on electric railway. Women's Christian Temperance Union, established in 1874 to promote social reform via the prohibition of alcohol, creates Department of Scientific Temperance Instruction. President Blaine ships weapons and volunteer troops to the frontlines of the War of the Pacific in Peru, cementing his status as one of the most disliked presidents. He declines to run again in the upcoming election. Republicans nominate Secretary of the Treasury John Sherman and Chester Arthur for the presidential ticket at the Republican National Convention. Democrats nominate Delaware Senator Thomas Bayard and Indiana House representative William English. Reflecting the contentious nature of the election, it all came down to Pennsylvania. Which ever candidate it voted for would be the new president. The Pennsylvanians voted for Sherman, allowing for the election of another Republican in spite of the loss under LIncoln during the Southron Revolution and the Blaine presidency.
- James Longsteet inaugurated as the fifth Confederate president on February 22 in Richmond, officially ending the Goergia stigma. One of the first issues he promises to tackle is the lack of customs revenue by considering a constitutional amendment to overturn the ban on protective tariffs, which was unsuccessful. He did manage to raise tariffs to 15%, though by the end of his term, and successfully a ushered through an amendment allowing the federal government to invest in light industry. After the second failed attempt at Cuban independence, Spain and the CSA partition Cuba among each other, believing that Cuba cannot be trusted with its own affairs. The Eastern three provinces (Santa Clara, Puerto Principe, and Santiago de Cuba) kept by Spain while the western three provinces (Pinar del Río, La Habana, and Matanzas) are given to the CSA as part of West Cuba, with the exception of the city of Havana which itself was split into East and West. Alabama and Florida pass laws that make it legal for slaves in industrial settings to be punished similarly to those on cotton plantations. North Carolina tries the same but fails. James Seddon dies on August 19, just six months after his term ends.
- Profirio Diaz voted out as Prime MInister of Mexico in October, six months after British elections see Edward Gladstone displace Benjamin Disraeli as British Prime Minister. Conservatives once more control parliament, reducing tensions between Maximilian and the government. Government of British Cape Colony sets deadline for the Basuto people to surrender their weapons to the government. Basuto do not comply, leading to non-compliance leads to the Basuto Gun War. British led by General Frederick Roberts defeat Afghan troops under Mohammad Ayub Khan at Battle of Kandahar on September 1, bringing an end to the Anglo-Afghan War war starting two years earlier. Anglo-Boer War (Trasnsvaal Rebellion) begins in December and continues into 1881.
- Kansas becomes the first state to ban production and distribution of alcoholic beverages in the United States, doing so on February 19. John Sherman Inguaguated as president on March 4 at Philadelphia. Sherman orders withdrawal of all troops from South America by the end of the year and reducing weapons supply to Peruvians. That summer, the American Indian Wars continue as Sitting Bull leads the Sioux in their surrender to US troops at Fort Buford in Montana Territory (July 20). Following the surrender, Sitting Bull is held captive as prisoner of war for two years before being transferred to the Standing Rock Reservation in Dakota Territory. Others scatter to the CSA, Canada, and to other Indian reservations on the Great Plains. Sherman orders his Secretary of State to invite all American republics to a conference scheduled meet in Washington in 1882, but does not happen for logistical reasons.
- Western half of Spanish Cuba formally seceded to the CSA January 1, being named Habana Territory. First plots of Abilene, Texas, are auctioned; the town is incorporated later in the year. Kentucky approves law on June 10 (six months away from its 20th anniversary as part of the Confederacy) to abolish slavery, effective January 1, 1882. Richmond hosts both Yorktown Cententnial and International Cotton Exposition in October. Atlanta, Georgia originally considered to host the latter but passed on in favor of Richmond due to appearing more glamorous and in a state that actioned the eventual abolition of slavery. North Carolina sees the creation of White Furniture Company in Mebane in order to engage in the mass production of furniture.
- Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell (of Britain) create the Oriental Telephone Company. Russians negotiate treaty of St. Petersburg with China, where the eastern portion of the Ili Basin region was to be returned to China and be set as China’s border, and Russia was to pay reparations. Treaty seen as step backwards in Russia. Alexander II of Russia killed near his palace via bombing, falsely blamed on Russian Jews. His successor, Aleander III, takes the throne. War of the Pacific kicks into high gear after formal declaration of war in 1879 and failure of American mediation in 1880. In Janaury 1881 alone, The Chilean army defeats Peruvian forces at San Juan and take Lima, capital of Peru, later that month. Peruvian and Chilean forces battle to a draw at the Battle of Sangrar.
- Twelve years after its formation in Cleveland, Ohio, John Rockefler’s Standard Oil Company becomes a trust (monopoly) in New Jersey on January 2, consolidating his industrial and financial power. Polygamy becomes a felony under on March 22 via the passage of the Edmunds Act, inspiring mass demonstrations in Utah Territory that are immediately put down. The Chinese Exclusion Act, passed by Congress and signed by President Sherman on May 6, bans Chinese immigration to the United States. Building on the Page Act and Angell Treaty of 1880, this is Sterngthened in 1892 and made permanent in 1902. Three months later, The Immigration Act of 1882 is signed into law, imposing head taxes on immigrants and restricting the flow of criminals, mentally ill, and solo dependents. The New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad runs its first trains from Buffalo, New York in October. Depression of 1882 begins, lasting until 1885.
- Kentucky law formally abolishing slavery in its borders goes into effect January 1, gradually emancipating its slaves. Laborers at the Pratt Coke and Coal Company Mine outside Birmingham, Alabama went on strike to protest wage decreases and the presence of slave laborers on May 13. The owners, Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company, responded by filling all open spots with slaves. In July, the British Mediterranean Fleet bombards and captures the city of Alexandria, Egypt, and secures the Suez Canal for itself. British troops occupy Cairo on September 13, and Egypt immediately officially becomes a British protectorate. British Prime Minister WIlliam Gladstone issues ultimatum to President Longstreet to either abandon slavery or face a boycott by the British from southern cotton. Knowing that an entire economic system cannot be changed in one day and that there would be too much resistance to change, Longstreet accepts the boycott. This sends the Confederate economy into the start of a downward spiral and towards revanchism, with many individuals calling for a revival of the Golden Circle as a means of regaining respect towards Britain.
- Four years after international recognition of Serbian independence, the Principality of Serbia officially becomes the Kingdom of Serbia following a proclamation on March 18 by Serbian King Milan Obrenović IV. The 'Urabi revolt, having begun in 1879, reaches its peak in Alexandria, Egypt in June against Khedive Tewfik Pasha and foreign (mainly European) influences in the area. Battles between rioters, who attack Greek, Italian, and Malteese businesses, break out in the streets and kill roughly fifty Europeans and 250 Egyptians in total. The British and French sign the Anglo-French Convention of 1882 on June 28, signifying territorial boundaries between Guinea and Sierra Leone. Later that year, France gives up claims over Tunisia to Italy in exchange for Eretirea.
- John Sherman oversees the passage of The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act into law (January 16), reforming the United States civil service system by ending the spoils system. The first electric lighting system to employ overhead wires, built by Thomas Edison, enters service in Roselle, New Jersey on January 19. The Brooklyn Bridge, connecting New York City to Long Island, opens up to traffic on May 24, after 13 years of construction. The United States Supreme Court narrowly decides that part of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, allowing private persons and corporations to engage in race-based discrimination, is unconstitutional. Congress approves the construction of four steel vessels for the US Navy (under Secretary of the Navy Nathan Goff Jr), which would later be named the USS Atlantic, Boston, Chicago, and Dolphin.
- Alabama becomes the first state in either the USA or CSA to enact antitrust regulations, doing so February 23. Alabama also creates new rules that require minimum standards for treatment for injured slaves and minimum punishments rules for masters, which are only modestly enforced. Slave rebellion in Danville, Virginia kills 4 blacks on November 3. President Longstreet Opens the First Southern Exposition In Louisville, Kentucky on August 1, which occurs as an attempt to rehabilitate its image after the Britsh Cotton boycott began by showing off Losuivle’s mercantile and industrial progress. Alexander H. Stephens, former Confederate Vice President, dies on March 4. British-born industrialist D. A. Tompkins advocates for industrialization in the state of North Carolina as a way to restore good relations with the British, particularly the creation of of textile mills.
- Rome becomes the capital of the Kingdhom of the Italy on January 9, exactly 10 years following Nappoleon II’s death. The first Eurpopean electricity power station is inaugurated in Italy (at Milan on June 28) In northern Vietnam, French Forces defeat the Vietnamese at the Battle of Gia Cuc (March 28) in the run-up to the Sino-French War. The Tonkin Camapign begins in the region that June in the wake of the decision by the French government to dispatch reinforcements to the Tonkin Gulf area to avenge Commandant Henri Rivière's defeat and death by Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army at the Battle of Paper Bridge on May 19. French forces capture the Sơn Tây citadel. Spain passes the Moret Law on September 18, declaring the children of slaves in Cuba and Puerto RIco born on or after the date of passage to be free, effective immediately The War of the Pacific, while largely static since 1881, formally comes to an end on December 16, as representatives from Peru and Chile sign the Treaty of Ancón, ceding Tarapacá province to Chile and ending Peru's involvement in the war.
- The eight-hour workday is first proclaimed on May 1, by the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in the United States. Membership in the labor federation, Knights of Labor, reaches 100,000 people nationwide. Former Russian colony of Alaska formally became a United States territory on May 17. Race riots occur in Cincinnati, Ohio, March 27-29, killing 50 people. Riots sprung from public outrage over the decision of a jury to return a verdict of manslaughter against William Berner, while his mixed-raced accomplice was convicted of murder and hanged. Democrats, at the National Convention in Chicago, nominate Senator Thomas F. Bayard of Delaware. And Former Governor Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana as president and vice president. Sherman and Arthur run again on the Republcian ticket, but lose to the Democrats in the election in November, winning only California, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
- Judah P. Benjamin, 1st Confederate States Attorney General, 2nd Confederate States Secretary of War, 3rd Confederate States Secretary of State, and Vice Presidential candidate, died in Paris, France on May 6 from heart complications. Just three months later, after Richmond approves the Statue of Liberty as a gift from Paris, the cornerstone of the statue is laid in Charleston Harbor on August 5. LeRoy Pope Walker, 1st Confederate States Secretary of War, dies August 23 in Huntsville, Alabama. The Mexican monarch (knowing the strong likelihood of a Protifrio Diaz victory in the parliamentary elections and with conservative backing) and Confederate minister to Mexico, Henry Jackson (under pressure from Golden Circle advocates, most of whom were poor whites seeking land for themselves), secretly negotiated for the CSA annexation of the northwestern departments. Just days before the elections in October, it was announced that the pre-1865 states of Chihuahua (Chihuahua, Batopilas, and Huejuquilla), Sonora (Sonora, Alamos, and Arizona) and California would be given to the CSA. Publicly, the reason was that those territories were not profitable for the Mexican government and too distant from the capital of Mexico City to govern. Porfirio Diaz becomes Prime Minister and a rivalry between him and Maximillian intensifies. A boycott by the USA against the CSA is called for in response to this annexation.
- A German protectorate is created over South-West Africa on April 22, and later in Cameroon on July 14, before taking possession of Togoland on July 5. The Scramble for Africa officially begins in November with the Berlin African Conference, with twelve European powers invited to partake in the formal division of Africa between themselves. Neither the USA nor CSA are invited. The Sino-French War breaks out on August 22 over control of the Tonkin Region and continues into 1885.) French Admiral Amédée Courbet's Far East Squadron virtually destroys China's Fujian Fleet at the Battle of Fuzhou on August 23. The Third Reform Act widens the adult male electorate in the United Kingdom to around 60% of the male population.
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I do think that the US becoming more left-wing/progressive than IOTL is the most probable and natural outcome: it would have all the necessary factors for such thing to happen: high level of industrialization, high level of education, large urban working class, an even stronger democratic tradition (without the whole slavery baggage), and more homogenous population (which means far far less racial tension).
It’s definitely not like TL-191 where the Union hates blacks following the War and Native Americans are driven to extinction for all that we know. However, the Indian Wars and the Chinese Exclusion Act aren’t butterflied away and while blacks do receive their civil rights, it’s somewhat delayed thanks to the Democrats stronghold on power for about a decade. And with the Democrats back in power, expect some of that progress to be undone. And also, much as OTL, expect scientific racism to be on the rise on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line by the turn of the century. Expect the massive wave of immigration to be somewhat different too.
North America in 1885
Here's a map of North America circa 1885
Red = USA
Blue = CSA
Green = British North America
Yellow = Latin America (North America)
Cyan = Greenland
Black dot = Havana
PS, I am aware that the departments of the Mexican Empire were not the same as on the map, but the annexed territory does more or less line up with the boundaries of modern day Chihuahua, Sonora, and Baja California. Furthermore, I understand that not all the Canadian provinces, particularly in the midsection of the country, were created at the time. I could not find a map that better reflects all this though.
Red = USA
Blue = CSA
Green = British North America
Yellow = Latin America (North America)
Cyan = Greenland
Black dot = Havana
PS, I am aware that the departments of the Mexican Empire were not the same as on the map, but the annexed territory does more or less line up with the boundaries of modern day Chihuahua, Sonora, and Baja California. Furthermore, I understand that not all the Canadian provinces, particularly in the midsection of the country, were created at the time. I could not find a map that better reflects all this though.
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Not an update. I'm just here to notify you guys that I have a new timeline up for anyone who wants to check it out. It's called "It's called "Galloway and the Plan of Union: A Saga of a British America" and has a relatively unique point of divergence that's less common around here.
It's going to go hand in hand with the annexation of the Mexican territories. How the two will connect directly, you will have to wait and see.
Isnt Max a Liberal and he is even hated by his conservative allies for having liberal policies.
I have not abandoned this, but I am lowering the prioritization of this TL behind my other one for the time being. I am still working on the next update for this TL though, just got caught up with school, job-searching, and my other timeline. Goodbye for now, but not indefinitely.
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Have to wonder why, after the Boss Tweed episode, which looked for a time like it would normalize relations between the US and CS, would the US suddenly oppose the legal-if dubious-purchase of the northern Mexican states by the CS. I would assume that because of the fact the CS won their independence mainly because of European intervention (along with the exhaustion both main parties were feeling), the Monroe Doctrine had essentially been killed stone-dead.
Assuming down the road the US annexes Hawaii, how would that be any different than what the CS did with Mexico?
Those are the only questions I have. Honestly, I loved reading your alternate history thus far and am looking forward to more
Assuming down the road the US annexes Hawaii, how would that be any different than what the CS did with Mexico?
Those are the only questions I have. Honestly, I loved reading your alternate history thus far and am looking forward to more
After the boss Tweed Scandal, things had only really began to thaw between the USA and CSA so they weren’t too close before 1884 or so. And the big reason for the boycott was that even though Mexico was technically a CSA ally, the USA saw it as a violation of Mexican sovereignty and re-introducing slavery to a society that had already abolished slavery. And keep in mind it wasn’t just the USA placing a boycott on the CSA but the British did as well. To me this was the only appropriate punishment the US could give the CS over this because starting a war like in TL-191 seems incredibly stupid.
As far as Hawaii goes, I guess it’s because it technically wasn’t “Europeanized” the same way Mexico was when it was annexed. Mexico was already a colony and gained independence, after which it abolished slavery. Hawaii wasn’t exactly in the same position yet.
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Ahh okay
That makes more sense, and you're right, Britain also had boycotted the CS
It will be interesting to see what might happen that brings a complete warming of US-CS relations as honestly, every CS alternate history I've seen always ends....well, badly.
Admittedly it's kind of cliche that the USA and CSA always end up on opposite sides of every conflict because of plot convenience, and while it will remain that way most likely up through the equivalent of WW1, I will have things change most likely so that they end up on the same side in TTL's WW2. But it's still a bit too soon to tell.
That would be interesting to have them on opposite sides in WWI yet they fight on the same side in WW2
I've come to the decision to put this on a long-term (not indefinite) hiatus. I haven't really been in the mood to update this lately, and while I think this is better than my first attempt at a CSA Victory, I've been losing my passion for it considering how many other people use this as a TL concept and I don't think this one is great either. So this isn't a permanent goodbye from this forever, just for the foreseeable future.
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