CS presidential elections: 1867 - ...

[galileo-034]

CS presidential election - November 1879
　
Background:
On domestic front, the CSA face the worst crisis since the 'Second Revolution', as the economical crisis has hit them, just at the time of the election of Vance. The cotton industry has been very affected, suffering also from the competition with Indian and Egyptian rising cotton industries. The little planters, unable to sustain the competition, are more and more numerous to sell their properties to the great landed owners and planters. The rural exodus is more and more important. Other sectors as the railroad construction are affected. Rising debt and inflation have added fuel to the popular anger.

Indian territory has been renamed 'Territory of Oklahoma' and opened to white colonization.
After the Census of 1876, both Kentucky and Missouri have retained only 1 representative in the House, while Virginia has lost 4 representatives.

On the foreign front, the CSA were also facing a big crisis:
in the USA, a Republican had been elected on a jingoistic platform, putting an end to 12 years of Democrat administration (McClellan from 1865 to 1873, and Pendleton from 1873 to 1877), but has been assassinated the day of his inauguration by an actor, JW Booth. Although no evidence was found of an implication of the CSA, northern press has denounced a Confederate plot and the war has been about to resume before the UK intervene to mediate the crisis.
A direct consequence of the crisis has been the intervention of the USA in favour of Cuban insurgents which has led to the American-Spanish war of 1877-1878, in which were involved confederate mercenaries hired by Spain. At the end, the Spaniards have been defeated and forced to concede independence, while the USA have obtained right to establish several military bases in Cuba and Puerto Rico. Vance has become very criticised for not having been able to prevent which many see as an encirclement of the Confederacy.
　
The administration of Vance has been determining in the formation of political parties:
#The Liberal Party favours an economic interventionism by the Confederate Government, a stronger regular army (which has been reduced to almost nothing, in favour of state militias after the war), development of the heavy industries (still at an embryonic stage) ...; this party is finding voters mostly among poor whites and urban middle classes.
#The Conservative Party, ardent advocate of the state's rights, favouring an ultra-liberal capitalism, minimal intervention of the Confederate Government...
This party is still subject to a strong factionalism and is often assimilated to the party of the landed aristocracy.
　
The election of 1879 thus becomes the first election with candidates openly affiliated to parties.

　

Governor P.G.T. Beauregard (L-LA) / Senator J. Gorgas (L-AL); 70 electoral votes (52,5 % of the popular vote)
Vice President F. Lee (C-VA) / Governor S. Price (C-MO); 41 electoral votes (46,7 % of the popular vote)
Minor candidates; 0 electoral votes (0,8 % of the electoral vote)
　
Final Result
Elected 4th President of the CSA

Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard
from Louisiana
　
Elected 4th Vice President of the CSA

Josiah Gorgas
from Alabama

 

[Cathcon1]

I'm wondering who the Republican winner in this tl is. Maybe one of the real life Radical Republicans? Anyway, please continue.

 

[galileo-034]

Indeed, I've thought it would be a Radical Republican. In my opinion, I think they would have taken over the party, after the election of McClellan. For the assassinated president, I'm hesitating between Frémont and Adams. I have been thinking to write the US counterpart of this electoral TL, but I fear to have less strong bases, as for the CSA, I enjoy some liberties due to the fact that all is to be built.

 

[Nytram01]

Which party does Beauregard represent?

 

[galileo-034]

Liberal (L).

 

[Nytram01]

Ah, right, I just spotted the (L-AL) in above.

I'm kind of pleased with that, because whenever I've spared a few thoughts about the future of an independent Confederacy and I put Beauregard as President he's always focused on internal improvements - though, it has always been my stance just to do this so he can play around with a kind of trans-continetal railroad (but not exatly from sea to shinging sea), one of Beauregard's gradiose dreams.

 

[SPJ]

Ah, right, I just spotted the (L-AL) in above.

I'm kind of pleased with that, because whenever I've spared a few thoughts about the future of an independent Confederacy and I put Beauregard as President he's always focused on internal improvements - though, it has always been my stance just to do this so he can play around with a kind of trans-continetal railroad (but not exatly from sea to shinging sea), one of Beauregard's gradiose dreams.

Do you think it would have made more sense to have him as president in "How Few Remain" when the CSA buys Sonora and Chihuahua?

 

[galileo-034]

CS presidential election - November 1885

Background:
On the domestic front, although handicaped by its weak power opposite the states, the Confederate Liberal administration of President Beauregard has managed to improve the economical situation. The inflation has been checked, and the disorder caused by several riots, which occured under the administration of Vance has ceased.
After almost 15 years of electoral controversy over Kentucky and Missouri, a compromise has been found: Kentucky is united to Virginia, and Missouri to Arkansas. Virginia and Arkansas also get the Representatives of these states. Officially, Kentucky and Missouri still remain part of the CSA.
The factionalism is also disappearing in favour of a two-party system with Liberals and Conservatives.
　
On the foreign front, President Beaureagard has sought to strengthen the diplomatic position of the CSA on the world stage. A long time, the Confederate foreign policy had essentially relied on the British support to preserve independence. However this alliance has soon proved to be no more than some links of friendship, the British being not willing to go at war for a nation built on slavery, a relation which has been more and more challenged after the rise of Gladstone's government.
One of the objectives of Beauregard presidency has been to build a more vigourous and independent foreign policy. The first nation to respond has been the Empire of Mexico which has been confronted to the hostility the USA since the restoration of the Empire by the French, and to the support of the Union to the republican guerilla.
The main foreign event of Beauregard years has been the Central American War. The USA have supported the attempts of Guatemala and Honduras to restore a united Central America, to counter Mexican influence. Then, a border dispute between Guatemala and Mexico had become a full war. Honduras, the USA and the CSA sent 'volunteer units' to their respective allies. The war ended into a tactical stalemate, but into a political victory for the Central American Federalists.

　
Senator W. Mahone (L-VA) / Governor D. L. Russell (L-NC); 60 electoral votes (51 % of the electoral vote)
Governor W. Hampton III (C-SC) / Senator N. B. Forrest (C-TN); 47 electoral votes (46,5 % of the electoral vote)
Minor candidates; 0 electoral votes (2,5 % of the electoral vote)
　
Final Result
Elected 5th President of the CSA

Senator William Mahone
from Virginia

Elected 5th Vice President of the CSA

Governor Daniel Lindsay Russel
from North Carolina

 

[Spengler]

I wonder how long before a black uprising. I'm sure there are some in the north who would love to see a more successful john brown.

 

[SPJ]

President Mahone is an interesting idea. Will he bring up any ideas during his presidency that he had as a member of the Readjuster Party in OTL.

 

[galileo-034]

President Mahone is an interesting idea. Will he bring up any ideas during his presidency that he had as a member of the Readjuster Party in OTL.

I've chosen him as his alliance with Republicans has made him looking to me like a liberal. I don't know precisely the contents of the Readjuster platform but I think it would not be, ITTL, far from the Liberal platform.

I wonder how long before a black uprising. I'm sure there are some in the north who would love to see a more successful john brown.

I included the possibility of some minor slave revolts when I've written about disorder and riots which occured under Vance.
But you can expect something more important in the coming updates.

 

[galileo-034]

CS presidential election - November 1891

Background:

Pursuing the policy of Beauregard, Mahone has continued strengthening confederate industries to reduce reliance upon imported goods.
Despite a decade of recovery, the consequences of Vance years are still affecting the domestic situation. The crisis of the 70s had caused a lot of small planters to cede their lands to bigger landowners; the rural exodus which ensued, even if not as important as in Europe, has been a major factor in the growing social discontent.
When a sustained effort of industrial development was begun under Beauregard, the owners of factories and funds, often big landowners and slaveowners, have prefered a slave labour force, less costly than white workers. Trying to impede the phenomenon, a Slave Labour Tax, already experienced in some states, has been implemented at national level by Mahone. Of course, this attracted a lot of criticism from industrials who argued it would affect competitivity of their production on the world market, among other arguments.
　
On the foreign front, the main achievment of Mahone has been the building of the Mexico&Richmond Railroad which links the two capitals and is to become a key in the development of Mexican industries, as the preference of confederate industrials for black workforce has caused a lot of white workers to migrate to Mexico where their skill is very appreciated.
　

Vice President D. L. Russel (L-NC) / Governor J. P. Buchanan (L-TN) ; 52 electoral votes (47,1 % of the popular vote)
Governor J. S. Hogg (C-TX) / Governor E. A. Perry (C-FL); 59 electoral votes (52 % of the popular vote)
Minor candidates; 0 electoral votes (0,9 % of the popular vote)
　
Final Result
Elected 6th President of the CSA

James Stephens Hogg
from Texas

Elected 6th Vice President of the CSA

Edward Aylesworth Perry
from Florida

 

[Spengler]

I suspect by 1891 the csa would start to suffer from being such a backward agrarian shit hole. In fact I suspect if it survived into the twenties, it wouldn't have a election.

 

[galileo-034]

CS presidential election - November 1897

Background:
In 1893, an economic crisis hit the USA. Although the embargo prevented any official economical ties, through links with Mexico and Europe, the crisis soon reached the Confederacy.

Social strife arrived soon with the Red Year in 1894-1895.
Throughout the 1880s, the social discontent had led to the emergence of new relatively things: socialism, syndicalism ... But the phenomenon occured at a relatively little scale until the early 1890s, which explains why there was so few repression before the Red Year (but there was still some repression nonetheless); it was again strengthened by the crisis.
The Red Year began in Virginia with the 1894 Richmond general strike. Although there had already been strikes in the previous years, even the strikes of the 1870s hadn't been as organized and generalized as this one: the Confederate capital was paralyzed. While the state militia was called and martial law declared, the strikers remained pacific and the streets remained calm. Attempts were made at dividing the strikers: while they were mainly white poor workers, there were also Black Freedmen. The authorities were forced to make many concessions to the unions.
The relative success of the Virginian workers prompted many other unions to follow the example throughout the Confederacy.
The way of managing the strikes was different according to the state; it was rather conciliatory in Liberal states as Virginia, or repressive in Conservative states as South Carolina: Charleston general strike began in early summer, peacefully as in Virginia, but unlike the strike of Richmond, the state militia opening fire was ordered to open fire by Governor Tillman.
The intransigence of the latters led to the escalation, and the strikers became rioters.
Even worst were the slave uprisings which occured in autumn; if there had been in the 1870s a lot of slave uprisings, they occured only at a local scale and didn't last more than a few days, days which became weeks in that Red Year. The largest uprisings took place in South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi. Often, if not everytime, the goal of the rebelled slaves was to go north into the USA.
During the second semester of 1894, the situation was such that even in Washington D.C. the politicians began to agitate while rumors of war begin to spread in newspapers; in fact, the Confederacy had gone into a such state of weakness than many feared that the USA would take advantage of the situation to end what had been left unfinished in 1865. Without going to general mobilization, all state militias were put under maximum alert; the imperial government of Mexico, fearing to be surprised by war since there existed a treaty of mutual defense, also ordered a partial mobilization.
Fortunately, by the beginning of 1895, riots and uprisings have ceased, and the Red Year was over.

Politically, the only legislation passed at a national level because of the Red Year was the Military Service Act, often proposed by the Liberals in the 1880s but everytime rejected; this time, the crisis had revealed the unsufficient strength of the Army.
The social legislation was so controversial that it was passed at a state level: in states, unions were legalized while in other states, they were outlawed ...
The political landscape saw the arrival of a new player: the Socialist Alliance. The new party was created in late 1895 by members of several unions from all the Confederacy who judged the Congress no representative of their views, even the left wing of the Liberal Party which was not radical enough. One of the official goals of this party was social equality between Blacks and Whites, even if there was an unofficial discrimination, the structures of the party being dominated by Whites.

Some months before the presidential election, the end of the institution which had made the Confederacy began.
As the Confederacy entered in the 1890s, many people saw the anachronism that slavery was becoming. Thus, at the beginning of 1897, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, rising star of the Liberal Party and Lieutenant Governor, submitted to the State Legislature of Virginia a text negociated for some time among members of the Liberal Party: the Manumission Act; some months and debates later, it was ratified.
However, the Manumission Act introduced in the meantime forced labour, slavery in all but name. The only and major difference was that the newly freed workforce became managed by the state government, not being longer considered as a property (not property of individuals at least): it was to be distributed according to the needs of planters and industrials.
Of course, the black freedmen were still deprived of basic civil rights; what's more, the new act strengthened the legal segregation. Nonetheless, it opened a door.


Governor J. P. Buchanan (L-TN) / Lieutenant Governor T. W. Wilson (L-VA) ; 52 electoral votes (45,4% of the popular vote)
Vice President E. A. Perry (C-FL) / Governor B. R. Tillman (C-SC); 59 electoral votes (45,4 % of the popular vote)
T. E. Watson (S-GA) / M. Butler (S-NC) ; 0 electoral votes (9,1 % of the popular vote)
Minor candidates; 0 electoral votes (0,1 % of the popular vote)

With a still strong memory of the Red Year and the recent abolition of slavery in Virginia, the election was very tense. The Conservatives accused the Liberals of having created the conditions for the Red Year by their laxism while the Liberals accused the Conservatives of irresponsibility in their management of the strikes which caused riots and slave uprisings.
The major surprise of this election came from the success of the Socialist Alliance. Although he has been third in every state, he missed the second place in Virginia and Georgia by a few dozen of votes.
Finally, although the Liberal Party won the popular vote, he lost Louisiana to the Conservatives by less than 500 votes.


Final Result
Elected 7th President of the CSA

Edward Aylesworth Perry
from Florida

Elected 7th Vice President of the CSA

Benjamin Ryan Tillman
from South Carolina

 

[SPJ]

Hmmm, so now southern slaves are more like Russian serfs.

Also Ben Tillman as VP! That can't lead to anything good.

Politically, the only legislation passed at a national level because of the Red Year was the Military Service Act, often proposed by the Liberals in the 1880s but everytime rejected; this time, the crisis had revealed the unsufficient strength of the Army.
The social legislation was so controversial that it was passed at state level: in states, unions were legalized while in other states, they were outlawed ...
Also, the political landscape saw the arrival of a new player: the Socialist Alliance. This new party was formed in late 1895 by members of several unions from all the Confederacy who judged there weren't anyone in the Congress representative of their views, even the left wing of the Liberal Party which was not radical enough. One of the offficial goals of this party was social equality between Blacks and White, even if there was an unofficial discrimination, the structures of the party being dominated by the Whites.

Some months before the presidential election began the end of the institution which had made the Confederacy.
As the Confederacy entered in the 1890s, there wasn't nobody to see the anachronism that slavery was being becoming. Thus, at the beginning of 1897, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, rising star of the Liberal Party and Lieutenant Governor, submitted to the State Legislature of Virginia a text negociated for some time among members of the Liberal Party: the Manumission Act; some months and debates later, it was ratified.
However, the Manumission Act introduced in the meantime forced labour, slavery in all but name. The only and major difference was that the newly freed workforce became managed by the state government, not being longer considered as a property (not property of individuals at least): it was to be distributed according to the needs of planters and industrials.
Of course, the black freedmen were still deprived of basic civil rights; what's more, the new act strengthened the legal segregation. Nonetheless, it opened a door.

There are some typos there you should edit.

 

[galileo-034]

Hmmm, so now southern slaves are more like Russian serfs.

Also Ben Tillman as VP! That can't lead to anything good.

I've found his name in a thread about communism in the CSA. After having read his biography on wikipedia, he has seemed to me the perfect guy to represent a somewhat reactionary trend after the Red Year and the Red scare which would likely follow.
As VP, I doubt he would cause a lot of damages, but Perry is getting very old...

I don't know enough about serfdom in Russia but it seems a good parallel.
In fact, when I've thought about this new system, I had more in mind the forced labour practiced in European colonies of Africa which looks like slavery in every aspects.