Cinco de Mayo
- Thread starter KingSweden24
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I mean there’s sort of been a revolution, albeit a reactionary one - the cabal of Bazaine, MacMahon and Rouher effecting decisions in France independent of the National Assembly is definitely a reaction to the war’s end
The Republicans: A History
"...President Chase's inaugural was a grand affair, one full of promise. It would mark the high-water point of the Republican Party - inaugurated with substantial majorities in both houses, Chase entered office as perhaps the most experienced President in half a century, having served as a reformist Governor, a Senator, and a Secretary of the Treasury. Monetary questions were one of the dominant themes of the 1868 election and he had positioned himself as an expert, first for having managed the Treasury under Lincoln, leaving that office before the collapse in the currency at the conclusion of the war and then as a critic of the Seymour Treasury's vacillation between sound and soft money. Perhaps no President before or since Chase was as closely watchful of the Treasury, to be staffed by Massachusetts ally George Boutwell, and indeed it is an irony that Chase's background lay in monetary policy seeing as how his Presidency is now widely viewed as an economic disaster...
...the 41st Congress has been described as the "light in the dark," a moment of expanding liberty at the start of the Gilded Era that was marked more by reactionary politics than progressive ones. Chase left the relationship with Congress largely to his Attorney General Benjamin Wade, a former Senator from the President's home state of Ohio, who ably doled out patronage jobs within the civil service and judiciary. Wade's first priority, having been an ardent abolitionist, was to shepherd through Congress two laws, later to be codified as constitutional amendments, meant to overturn the Dred Scott decision. Though they felt confident in a 5-4 majority on the Davis Court [1] against the decision and that Justice Samuel Nelson would likely join them to overturn it as erroneous, and despite slavery only being practiced in two states, the resurgent Republicans were committed to abolishing the practice once and for all and defending the achievement from a future hostile Congressional majority or Supreme Court. The Civil Rights Act of 1869 explicitly stated that citizenship could not be denied on account of race and that slavery was hereby abolished throughout the states. With the immediate issue settled, Wade then helped shape with the help of Speaker Schuyler Colfax and Senator Charles Sumner the "Abolition Amendments," the 13th and 14th Amendments, the first of which abolished slavery and indentured servitude, the second of which conferred citizenship of the United States upon "all persons regardless of color, race or religion, and regardless of previous slavery or servitude," excepting Natives and foreign nationals, while also protecting the privileges and immunities of citizenship from interference by states and guaranteed due process from interference by states [2]. Both amendments passed, perhaps surprisingly, by two-thirds majorities, with only a handful of Democrats in the House and only Maryland's Senators voting against them, and their ratification by the states were done by the end of 1870. This great abolitionist victory, at long last, came on the heels of Conkling's Naval Act being passed both houses, again with a few Democratic defectors joining in, with a small tariff being raised to help fund the contracts for building the new steam frigates the expanded Navy would need. The 41st Congress also, at breakneck speed, passed a Specie Resumption Act to begin to gradually reduce the greenback supply by 1879, giving the Treasury a full decade to gradually deinflate the US money supply, viewed as a compromise between the sound and soft money factions of the Republican Party. It was one of the most productive Congresses in the history of the Republic up until that point, a working relationship so positive that Chase's appointment of Ebenezer Hoar to the Supreme Court to replace Robert Grier in late 1869 was settled after a mere 10 minutes of debate. The domestic front was, of course, calmer than the foreign one, where Chase and his Secretary of State Hamilton Fish faced a number of challenges..."
- The Republicans: A History (1989)
[1] Slight retcon - Lincoln promotes David Davis to be Chief Justice at the death of Roger B. Taney instead of Chase, an intraparty rival who he soured on at this point, and appoints Joseph Bradley as Davis's replacement as Associate Justice. That gives us, in 1869, a Supreme Court of David Davis (Lincoln), Joseph Bradley (Lincoln), Noah Swayne (Lincoln), Stephen Johnson Field (Lincoln), Samuel Freeman Miller (Lincoln), Samuel Nelson (Tyler), Robert Grier (Polk), Nathan Clifford (Buchanan), and William Strong (Seymour). Definitely a 5-4 majority against the Scott case, with Nelson a potential flip (he originally was supposed to write a narrower opinion for the majority until Taney flipped out over the dissents and took over) and Strong possibly a flip as well. Still, the abolitionists are not taking that risk with their lifelong goals at hand.
[2] Huge butterfly that "equal protection" not included in this version of the 14th, without Black Code southern states being reintegrated into the Union at forefront of people's minds. You'll also notice there's no 15th Amendment protecting voting rights here, either. Remember that this postwar Union is way more racist towards blacks than our own was... the priority for Republicans is really just to undo Dred Scott, protect that undoing from a future hostile Congress or Supreme Court, and nothing else.
...the 41st Congress has been described as the "light in the dark," a moment of expanding liberty at the start of the Gilded Era that was marked more by reactionary politics than progressive ones. Chase left the relationship with Congress largely to his Attorney General Benjamin Wade, a former Senator from the President's home state of Ohio, who ably doled out patronage jobs within the civil service and judiciary. Wade's first priority, having been an ardent abolitionist, was to shepherd through Congress two laws, later to be codified as constitutional amendments, meant to overturn the Dred Scott decision. Though they felt confident in a 5-4 majority on the Davis Court [1] against the decision and that Justice Samuel Nelson would likely join them to overturn it as erroneous, and despite slavery only being practiced in two states, the resurgent Republicans were committed to abolishing the practice once and for all and defending the achievement from a future hostile Congressional majority or Supreme Court. The Civil Rights Act of 1869 explicitly stated that citizenship could not be denied on account of race and that slavery was hereby abolished throughout the states. With the immediate issue settled, Wade then helped shape with the help of Speaker Schuyler Colfax and Senator Charles Sumner the "Abolition Amendments," the 13th and 14th Amendments, the first of which abolished slavery and indentured servitude, the second of which conferred citizenship of the United States upon "all persons regardless of color, race or religion, and regardless of previous slavery or servitude," excepting Natives and foreign nationals, while also protecting the privileges and immunities of citizenship from interference by states and guaranteed due process from interference by states [2]. Both amendments passed, perhaps surprisingly, by two-thirds majorities, with only a handful of Democrats in the House and only Maryland's Senators voting against them, and their ratification by the states were done by the end of 1870. This great abolitionist victory, at long last, came on the heels of Conkling's Naval Act being passed both houses, again with a few Democratic defectors joining in, with a small tariff being raised to help fund the contracts for building the new steam frigates the expanded Navy would need. The 41st Congress also, at breakneck speed, passed a Specie Resumption Act to begin to gradually reduce the greenback supply by 1879, giving the Treasury a full decade to gradually deinflate the US money supply, viewed as a compromise between the sound and soft money factions of the Republican Party. It was one of the most productive Congresses in the history of the Republic up until that point, a working relationship so positive that Chase's appointment of Ebenezer Hoar to the Supreme Court to replace Robert Grier in late 1869 was settled after a mere 10 minutes of debate. The domestic front was, of course, calmer than the foreign one, where Chase and his Secretary of State Hamilton Fish faced a number of challenges..."
- The Republicans: A History (1989)
[1] Slight retcon - Lincoln promotes David Davis to be Chief Justice at the death of Roger B. Taney instead of Chase, an intraparty rival who he soured on at this point, and appoints Joseph Bradley as Davis's replacement as Associate Justice. That gives us, in 1869, a Supreme Court of David Davis (Lincoln), Joseph Bradley (Lincoln), Noah Swayne (Lincoln), Stephen Johnson Field (Lincoln), Samuel Freeman Miller (Lincoln), Samuel Nelson (Tyler), Robert Grier (Polk), Nathan Clifford (Buchanan), and William Strong (Seymour). Definitely a 5-4 majority against the Scott case, with Nelson a potential flip (he originally was supposed to write a narrower opinion for the majority until Taney flipped out over the dissents and took over) and Strong possibly a flip as well. Still, the abolitionists are not taking that risk with their lifelong goals at hand.
[2] Huge butterfly that "equal protection" not included in this version of the 14th, without Black Code southern states being reintegrated into the Union at forefront of people's minds. You'll also notice there's no 15th Amendment protecting voting rights here, either. Remember that this postwar Union is way more racist towards blacks than our own was... the priority for Republicans is really just to undo Dred Scott, protect that undoing from a future hostile Congress or Supreme Court, and nothing else.
Not actually in the city itself, I hope. Veracruz was notoriously disease ridden at the time (I believe yellow fever specifically), and OTL was even garrisoned by Sudanese soldiers during the empire because it was thought they would be more resistant to the adverse conditions.
I would believe the French would base themselves a little further into the hinterland, perhaps at Orizaba or Cordoba. Or heck, maybe even Camaron. How deliciously ironic would that be?
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A Century of United Italy
"...having already excommunicated King Victor Emanuel II, Pius IX now gathered the Council of Malta - the first ecumenical council in three decades - to discuss and define Catholic dogma in response to the rise of liberalism, rationalism, nationalism and materialism in the recent decades. The first session was held the Mdina Cathedral, though later sessions would meet instead at the Co-Cathederal of St. John in Valletta. The British Governor, Sir Patrick Grant, commented in a letter to the Colonial Secretary Lord Carnarvon, 'Is it not strange to see, the mighty Pope, sitting here on this little rock in that tiny church, mumbling and whispering with his bishops against the tides of modernity?' It should be noted that it was only through Carnarvon's intervention, fearing outrage from Catholic Europe, that the Pope was not expelled at Salisbury's urging from Malta during the Orange Riots of the previous July.
Though the Malta Council would eventually condemn all the modern foes of Pius IX and declare his word infallible - a significant advancement in Catholic dogma, even if it was merely formalizing something already effectively in practice [1] - little else was settled there, least of all the question of the Treaty of Guarantee and Pius' return to Rome. Back in Italy, the King's power was if anything diminishing. The government of Luigi Menabrea had seated itself in Rome to triumph after the Treaty of Brussels, and Victor Emanuel had been greeted as a conquering hero. Menabrea's government survived attempts to topple it [2] and in standing up to the King - by the monarchy's aide-de-camp no less - the popular government of Italy made its stand and, for the time being, cemented a relatively liberal government in place. The next few years would be good for Italy, with the anticlerical excesses of the Rattazzi cabinets over with and Victor Emanuel involving himself sparingly in the matters of state beyond a normalization of standards, government and cultural consolidation..."
- A Century of United Italy
[1] As I understand - Catholic readers are welcome to leap in here and correct me
[2] Flap flap go the butterflies, since having Rome already be the seat of government stabilizes Italy a bit and so this guy sticks around a bit longer, though most governments in Italy at this point hailed from the center-right as far as I can see
Though the Malta Council would eventually condemn all the modern foes of Pius IX and declare his word infallible - a significant advancement in Catholic dogma, even if it was merely formalizing something already effectively in practice [1] - little else was settled there, least of all the question of the Treaty of Guarantee and Pius' return to Rome. Back in Italy, the King's power was if anything diminishing. The government of Luigi Menabrea had seated itself in Rome to triumph after the Treaty of Brussels, and Victor Emanuel had been greeted as a conquering hero. Menabrea's government survived attempts to topple it [2] and in standing up to the King - by the monarchy's aide-de-camp no less - the popular government of Italy made its stand and, for the time being, cemented a relatively liberal government in place. The next few years would be good for Italy, with the anticlerical excesses of the Rattazzi cabinets over with and Victor Emanuel involving himself sparingly in the matters of state beyond a normalization of standards, government and cultural consolidation..."
- A Century of United Italy
[1] As I understand - Catholic readers are welcome to leap in here and correct me
[2] Flap flap go the butterflies, since having Rome already be the seat of government stabilizes Italy a bit and so this guy sticks around a bit longer, though most governments in Italy at this point hailed from the center-right as far as I can see
Italy actually could have worked out a pretty good situation for itself in OTL had it just managed its alliances better (not sticking its finger in the wind in WW1 before reneging on its agreements with Germany and Austria and not attaching itself to Hitler's crazy train in WW2)
We're talking OTL or ITTL? because by sheer inertia ww1 and ww2 as we know are butterfly away, i was mention how the whole pope affair and italian politics might backfire in italy later on..just not know enough to wonder what would be...never cared that much about italy
OTL - but yes, we're going to have some very different wars in the future of this world, though I do think a big war between European Great Powers was inevitable in some sense (though we're not getting the old Entente CSA/Central USA like TL-191 I can tell you that much. The circumstances that led to those Alliances probably won't occur, other than USA vs CSA being more or less a given).
As for Italy, one must recall that the Exile to Malta is an ITTL invention. The Pope was a "prisoner of the Vatican" for sixty-odd years in OTL until they hashed it out with the Lateran Treaty. The Great Powers have underwritten something similar to the Lateran Treaty/Law of Guarantees in TTL, its just that Pius is being a stubborn ass (as he was)
Too butterflies to asset anything, just wait to see what will come next them
Canada in the 19th Century
"...MacDonald's two-pronged approach to consolidating Confederation was a classic combination of both carrot and stick; on one hand, he was never afraid to dangling financial concessions, which helped prevent Nova Scotia from bolting from the young Canadian nation in 1869. He also had a substantially expanded regiment of British soldiers in place to defend against potential Fenian threats and, due to concerns about "the revenge of the Republicans" after the election of Salmon Chase, the United States. As beneficial as improved finances were to Nova Scotia, the Royal Navy squadron in Halifax Harbor certainly was persuasive.
More critical to MacDonald's immediate problems was the uprising in the Red River Colony that coincided with the transfer of Rupert's Land to Canada by the Hudson's Bay Company, a rebellion that would have to be put down violently, partially out of fear of US involvement. The looming specter of a United States that had just passed a bill dedicating itself to a two-ocean navy with the Royal Navy as a clear inspiration overwhelmed decision making in Ottawa, to the point that MacDonald angry pressured his Parliament to offer British Columbia a considerably more generous offer on debt assumption and the construction of a "Canadian Pacific Railway" than the British colony had been expecting, pointing out that a future US Pacific Fleet could sail into Victoria at any moment to seize the isolated region and create a land connection to their Alaska Territory. By the end of 1869 [1], Canada officially controlled a territory considerably larger than that of the United States despite a much smaller population, and the only holdouts of British North America were the island colonies of Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, the latter of which defeated a referendum to join Canada. Both MacDonald and the ambitious young Conservative Colonial Secretary Lord Carnarvon were well aware that a substantial lobby in the United States - from Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts to Democratic opponents in Congress to some of the President's Cabinet - viewed it as the Union's destiny to absorb Canada in its entirety..."
- Canada in the 19th Century
[1] Year early in this case due to more of a geopolitical pressure point existing for Britain and Canada to get their act together
More critical to MacDonald's immediate problems was the uprising in the Red River Colony that coincided with the transfer of Rupert's Land to Canada by the Hudson's Bay Company, a rebellion that would have to be put down violently, partially out of fear of US involvement. The looming specter of a United States that had just passed a bill dedicating itself to a two-ocean navy with the Royal Navy as a clear inspiration overwhelmed decision making in Ottawa, to the point that MacDonald angry pressured his Parliament to offer British Columbia a considerably more generous offer on debt assumption and the construction of a "Canadian Pacific Railway" than the British colony had been expecting, pointing out that a future US Pacific Fleet could sail into Victoria at any moment to seize the isolated region and create a land connection to their Alaska Territory. By the end of 1869 [1], Canada officially controlled a territory considerably larger than that of the United States despite a much smaller population, and the only holdouts of British North America were the island colonies of Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, the latter of which defeated a referendum to join Canada. Both MacDonald and the ambitious young Conservative Colonial Secretary Lord Carnarvon were well aware that a substantial lobby in the United States - from Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts to Democratic opponents in Congress to some of the President's Cabinet - viewed it as the Union's destiny to absorb Canada in its entirety..."
- Canada in the 19th Century
[1] Year early in this case due to more of a geopolitical pressure point existing for Britain and Canada to get their act together
I really like how this world keeps growing further and further apart from OTL and how you can link events in opposite sides of the world through your updates.
I'm really looking forward on how geopolitics in North America keep changing as Mexico finally gets rid of French influence, the U.S. expands its navy and Canada consolidates into one single nation.
I'm really looking forward on how geopolitics in North America keep changing as Mexico finally gets rid of French influence, the U.S. expands its navy and Canada consolidates into one single nation.
Britain and Canada: Tried it. Seriously, People forgot how little love Canada have for their southern neighboors.
The Knights of the South: Secret Societies in the Confederacy
"...the Klan would outlive Forrest considerably but by the time of the elections held throughout late 1868 and much of 1869 to elect a 4th Confederate Congress, it was clear that the organization was hardly going to be a disciplined party machine like those that had existed in the Union in the antebellum era. For one, it suffered the issue that befell most grassroots movements - apathy once one of its major victories was won (in this case, the election of Nathan Bedford Forrest to the Presidency) - and a broad variation in general competence from chapter to chapter. In Tennessee and Kentucky, the home states of the President and Vice President, the Klan had become a vital social, political and even economical group, a key conduit for patronage in local government jobs, its county chapter meetings places to settle disputes inexpensively and to make business contacts. By the beginning of 1870, the majorities of both state legislatures were at minimum Klan-affiliated if not Klan members. Contrast this to places such as Arkansas or Mississippi, other Deep South cotton belt states where Forrest had dominated in the 1867 elections - here, county-level Klan chapters openly feuded to the point of violence, which the major plantation owners in some of these states gleefully encouraged and egged on.
What stymied the ability of the Kuklos Klan to emerge as a true political force after Forrest's election was thus threefold: its structural problems after the election were both the cause of and exacerbated by President Forrest's neglect. More settled as President and ineligible to seek reelection ever again, Forrest had grown weary of the fractious "knighthood of the common man" and viewed its infighting disdainfully, but rather than intervene and apply some organizational rigor as its members perhaps expected from a cavalry officer, he instead distanced himself from it. The other problem was the rise in counterweight groups, most notably the Society for Confederate Veterans [1], a "open knighthood" whose membership was not secretive. This was the brainchild of James Longstreet, who had been appalled by the electoral violence in the 1867 campaign and wanted to create a "counter-Klan" that was respectable within Confederate genteel society. After the first Society conference and barbecue in Norfolk in 1869 was a bigger success than even Longstreet had expected, much of the social club aspect of the Klan lost its appeal, particularly in Georgia and South Carolina where Longstreet focused his efforts on growing the society, with an eye towards future electoral campaigns.
The third problem for the Klan was that the crushing economic calamity of 1870 and the global Great Depression that followed it would end the postwar boom years and refocus Confederate attention elsewhere, most notably on the boiling rebellion on the island of Cuba, a matter that certainly had already caught the eye of the Confederacy's oldest knighthood [2]..."
- The Knights of the South: Secret Societies in the Confederacy
[1] No, the acronym "SCV" is not an accident, as with many other things in this timeline
[2] Yup, the Knights of the Golden Circle haven't gone anywhere
What stymied the ability of the Kuklos Klan to emerge as a true political force after Forrest's election was thus threefold: its structural problems after the election were both the cause of and exacerbated by President Forrest's neglect. More settled as President and ineligible to seek reelection ever again, Forrest had grown weary of the fractious "knighthood of the common man" and viewed its infighting disdainfully, but rather than intervene and apply some organizational rigor as its members perhaps expected from a cavalry officer, he instead distanced himself from it. The other problem was the rise in counterweight groups, most notably the Society for Confederate Veterans [1], a "open knighthood" whose membership was not secretive. This was the brainchild of James Longstreet, who had been appalled by the electoral violence in the 1867 campaign and wanted to create a "counter-Klan" that was respectable within Confederate genteel society. After the first Society conference and barbecue in Norfolk in 1869 was a bigger success than even Longstreet had expected, much of the social club aspect of the Klan lost its appeal, particularly in Georgia and South Carolina where Longstreet focused his efforts on growing the society, with an eye towards future electoral campaigns.
The third problem for the Klan was that the crushing economic calamity of 1870 and the global Great Depression that followed it would end the postwar boom years and refocus Confederate attention elsewhere, most notably on the boiling rebellion on the island of Cuba, a matter that certainly had already caught the eye of the Confederacy's oldest knighthood [2]..."
- The Knights of the South: Secret Societies in the Confederacy
[1] No, the acronym "SCV" is not an accident, as with many other things in this timeline
[2] Yup, the Knights of the Golden Circle haven't gone anywhere
In OTL, the Sons of Confederate Veterans is a "Lost Cause" charitable organization dedicated to honoring the legacy of the Confederacy made up of the male descendants of Confederate veterans. Its essentially a Confederate apologist group but its not the Klan, exactly. Same initials, similar purpose ITTL
Sons of Confederate Veterans - Wikipedia
Thank you!! Very high praise, indeed. I'm glad you're enjoying it
making the butterflies subtle but studying their gradual impacts over time is part of the fun!
The Cuban Revolt at 100
"...despite their near-failure in the fall of 1868, by the summer of 1869 the forces of Cespedes controlled much of the province of Oriente, despite the rebellion having become more or less clandestine. The Spanish response was heavy handed and brutal, spearheaded by Blas Villa, an aggressive commander who frequently massacred entire rebel forces. Spain was unable to respond as aggressively as they could have due to the Glorious Revolution the previous year, but the war of extermination against the rebel government - which had proclaimed an Assembly of Cuba with Cespedes as its chief - nevertheless settled into a stalemate.
These events were watched closely both in Europe and in North America. As they made efforts to elect a new King acceptable to the whole of Spain, the Cortes under the guidance of General Prim had just passed a constitution more liberal than any other in Europe, guaranteeing a constitutional monarchy of defined separate powers which would not interfere directly with the elected Cortes, of universal suffrage for all men, and of freedom of the press and free enterprise. If this Constitution of 1869 had one flaw it was that it was largely a compromise between royalist conservatives and republican progressives, both having to swallow things they did not like, but with an emphasis on centralism and declaring Catholicism as the sole religion of the state, it nevertheless satisfied reactionaries leery of the various freedoms it entitled [1]. Liberals across Europe, on the back foot since 1848 and who had watched the rise of the Confederacy and monarchy in Mexico with dismay, rejoiced at the document. How this new, more liberal Spain would deal with an abolitionist revolt in Cuba now became a key question in European courts, most of whom were satisfied to allow Spain to solve the matter on its own, but where intrigue about the opportunities for national interest began to swirl as they pondered how they could leverage an independent Cuba or a colonial Cuba with a grateful Spain to their advantage [2].
In North America, meanwhile, the escalating war was met with other concerns. Maximilian I of Mexico, secure in a stable government for several years now, began to envision a new course for Mexican foreign policy in the 1870s, one in which the Second Empire wielded influence in other Spanish-speaking realms and became a "middle path" between poor caudillo republics and playthings for European powers. In this sense, the Cuban Revolt of 1868 was one of many breaches between the Emperor in Mexico City and his erstwhile patron the Emperor in Paris, who having been humiliated in losing Luxembourg to Germany and Rome to Italy returned his attention despite his poor health to overseas Empire, with the Caribbean and Central America of particular interest. Most crucially, though, Cuba became an area of interest to the two Anglophone republics. Slave power in the antebellum South had been interested for decades in southward expansion, with Cuba the potential crown jewel of a "golden circle" of slave states in a unified republic. One of Cespedes' commanders was a Confederate, Thomas Jordan, who sent missives back to Richmond occasionally to report on the war. Robert Barnwell Rhett, Sr. [3], an aging newspaperman who had influenced secession, began printing articles encouraging the government to intervene and annex Cuba, as the start of a project to eventually seize much of the Caribbean, as pushed by an organization known as the Knights of the Golden Circle.
The United States, meanwhile, had begun the first year of their lease of St. Thomas for a naval station and had moved three cruisers there, and 1869 was the year that the American Congress passed the Naval Act which would greatly expand their oceangoing capabilities (to tremendous alarm in Britain, France, and the Confederacy!). More than anything, the United States was adamant that the Confederacy, whom its abolitionist Republican Party-controlled government despised, not annex Cuba successfully..."
- The Cuban Revolt at 100
[1] It was a pretty good compromise ruined by Amadeo being an idiot and then the Carlists deciding to do their thing
[2] Great Power intrigue gonna Great Power intrigue
[3] This guy is even alleged, per Wikipedia, to have pulled some shenanigans at the 1860 Democratic Convention to help trigger secession
These events were watched closely both in Europe and in North America. As they made efforts to elect a new King acceptable to the whole of Spain, the Cortes under the guidance of General Prim had just passed a constitution more liberal than any other in Europe, guaranteeing a constitutional monarchy of defined separate powers which would not interfere directly with the elected Cortes, of universal suffrage for all men, and of freedom of the press and free enterprise. If this Constitution of 1869 had one flaw it was that it was largely a compromise between royalist conservatives and republican progressives, both having to swallow things they did not like, but with an emphasis on centralism and declaring Catholicism as the sole religion of the state, it nevertheless satisfied reactionaries leery of the various freedoms it entitled [1]. Liberals across Europe, on the back foot since 1848 and who had watched the rise of the Confederacy and monarchy in Mexico with dismay, rejoiced at the document. How this new, more liberal Spain would deal with an abolitionist revolt in Cuba now became a key question in European courts, most of whom were satisfied to allow Spain to solve the matter on its own, but where intrigue about the opportunities for national interest began to swirl as they pondered how they could leverage an independent Cuba or a colonial Cuba with a grateful Spain to their advantage [2].
In North America, meanwhile, the escalating war was met with other concerns. Maximilian I of Mexico, secure in a stable government for several years now, began to envision a new course for Mexican foreign policy in the 1870s, one in which the Second Empire wielded influence in other Spanish-speaking realms and became a "middle path" between poor caudillo republics and playthings for European powers. In this sense, the Cuban Revolt of 1868 was one of many breaches between the Emperor in Mexico City and his erstwhile patron the Emperor in Paris, who having been humiliated in losing Luxembourg to Germany and Rome to Italy returned his attention despite his poor health to overseas Empire, with the Caribbean and Central America of particular interest. Most crucially, though, Cuba became an area of interest to the two Anglophone republics. Slave power in the antebellum South had been interested for decades in southward expansion, with Cuba the potential crown jewel of a "golden circle" of slave states in a unified republic. One of Cespedes' commanders was a Confederate, Thomas Jordan, who sent missives back to Richmond occasionally to report on the war. Robert Barnwell Rhett, Sr. [3], an aging newspaperman who had influenced secession, began printing articles encouraging the government to intervene and annex Cuba, as the start of a project to eventually seize much of the Caribbean, as pushed by an organization known as the Knights of the Golden Circle.
The United States, meanwhile, had begun the first year of their lease of St. Thomas for a naval station and had moved three cruisers there, and 1869 was the year that the American Congress passed the Naval Act which would greatly expand their oceangoing capabilities (to tremendous alarm in Britain, France, and the Confederacy!). More than anything, the United States was adamant that the Confederacy, whom its abolitionist Republican Party-controlled government despised, not annex Cuba successfully..."
- The Cuban Revolt at 100
[1] It was a pretty good compromise ruined by Amadeo being an idiot and then the Carlists deciding to do their thing
[2] Great Power intrigue gonna Great Power intrigue
[3] This guy is even alleged, per Wikipedia, to have pulled some shenanigans at the 1860 Democratic Convention to help trigger secession
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