Civil War in 1845

Leaving the discussion of the trigger for later, lets say a debate in Congress gets overheated and gets violent between Senators, leading to secession or something like that, lets say the states of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina secede and form a Confederacy of Southron or something of that like. What happens? The Mexican American War has not begun yet, so Texas is still terrified of Mexico and in a flux.

Would Texas align with Britain to stay alive?

Would the CS be attacked, assuming they fire no first shot?

Would more states leave the Union to follow, or not?

How will this affect Texas and the American West?
 

TFSmith121

Banned
After 1832, it was pretty clear that nothing absent

Leaving the discussion of the trigger for later, lets say a debate in Congress gets overheated and gets violent between Senators, leading to secession or something like that, lets say the states of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina secede and form a Confederacy of Southron or something of that like. What happens? The Mexican American War has not begun yet, so Texas is still terrified of Mexico and in a flux.

Would Texas align with Britain to stay alive?

Would the CS be attacked, assuming they fire no first shot?

Would more states leave the Union to follow, or not?

How will this affect Texas and the American West?

After 1832, it was pretty clear that nothing absent a Freesoil/Liberty Party/Republican candidate winning the presidency was going to prompt secession, so - not to be the skunk at the picnic - but your POD is pretty much not going to occurr.

This is after 1820 and before 1850, so the politics of slavery are (relatively) quiet, the party system is (relatively) stable (at least compared to 1856 and 1860) and secession is not going to occur with James K. "A Country of Vast Design" Polk in the White House.

The sectional and secession crises did not occur because of pique; the Civil War did not break out, and 600,000 men die, because of Preston Brooks.

The roots of the sectional crisis literally went back to the Seventeenth Century; the Revolution, Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution, and the compromises of 1820 and 1850 papered over the divides, and quite sucessfully, for almost a century ... it took a lot more than overheated debate and even violence in Congress.

Best,
 
Even with Webster elected VP in 1840, the checks and balances when he becomes President are such that it only goes so far - and leds to one in 1852 that's caused because they can't just sweep it under the rug in the ATL 1850.

So, if you want 1845 you have to go even further back - maybe a different President accepts Nullification in the early 1830s? Say John Calhoun becomes President after Jackson dies in an accident? Northern backlashwhere the Whigs haven't totally formed could cause them to become more of a Free Soil Party that is, at first, anti-Nullification. But, you'd have to work at it.

Of course then, your probably going to have it erupt by 1840, or have Northern secession, but if a compromise candidate wins in 1832 (Clay), and Calhoun pulls a Cleveland and wins in 1840 for a term in his own right as some others split the Whigs, maybe an 1844 election gets you an aging Webster who sees the road the country is headed down and decides slavery needs dealt with now.

It'd be interesting, too, because now Clay, Calhoun, and Webster are seen as the Senate giants who kept things from blowing up while arging their own sides but also being willing to compromise. TTL they could be seen very differently.
 
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