Empire of Freedom: The History of the American Empire

[Kaiser of Brazil]

I, um... what? How? I think you've severely underestimated the British and their allies with this alternate version of the War of 1812 here. You had the Native Americans of the Midwest defeated in five months (because apparently killing one guy caused every Indian in the Northwest Territory to stop fighting at once), and didn't even mention the Native Americans south of the Ohio River. The US spent more time and effort fighting their Indian enemies in the War of 1812 than the British at all. And the American Empire doesn't need more land right now. They just got their mitts on Louisiana and Florida. And I can't see an addition of land full of Catholics (who America hates), Indians (who America hates), and Loyalists (who America also hates) as a good idea. Not to mention the fact that the American Empire appears to be unable to lose following the Burning of Columbia.

First off, this isn't 1812 America they are fighting against, these aren't a bunch of unprepared militias who were caught by surprise by a war declaration. This is an America with an actual professional military.

Tecumseh's Confederacy collapsed IOTL after his death, why wouldn't it happen too here ? If you are talking about the Creek War, it will be covered in a separate chapter.

America isn't going to keep all it took, as I said there will be headaches after, especially debates about the Status of Quebec (which America will probably not keep).

There has been only two battles after Columbia, one against an outnumbered enemy in a siege in Montreal, and another one holding the bridgehead of a peninsula against a British assault (and they barely won that if the militia didn't come back).

 

[Kaiko]

I wonder how relations with France will continue as Napoleon has established himself as emperor (and normalizing relations in French society) and that the conditions of the secret treaty have been met.

America is now deeply unpopular with Britain, and could remain that way for a few generations unless a common enemy pops up. While they are allied with France, France is allied with Spain whose territory is in the way of a "nation from sea to shining sea".

 

[46566]

I wonder how relations with France will continue as Napoleon has established himself as emperor (and normalizing relations in French society) and that the conditions of the secret treaty have been met.

America is now deeply unpopular with Britain, and could remain that way for a few generations unless a common enemy pops up. While they are allied with France, France is allied with Spain whose territory is in the way of a "nation from sea to shining sea".

I'm also curious about the potential Russian Alaska. With Western Canada lightly populated if at all. Russia has room to claim more territory. Though having control over it is a separate matter.

 

[Darth_Kiryan]

I wonder how John Marshall's heir will handle the Empire. This will be Thomas Marshall. Hopefully, he gained a lot of experience while his father was Emperor because otherwise, he looks pretty inexperienced compared to Founding Fathers.

The Joys of elective monarchy where the son/family does not necessarily inherit, and for better or worse come 1835 (if marshall still dies as OTL)., you have Jackson, Calhoun, Webster, Benton, Houston, and an assortment of other people ready to take the reins of Empire....

 

[NK_Tesla]

I'm also curious about the potential Russian Alaska. With Western Canada lightly populated if at all. Russia has room to claim more territory. Though having control over it is a separate matter.

America also now has a route to the West Coast through Oregon/Washington/British Columbia, which might reduce the desire to take the southwest from Mexico and Spain. I could see someone else retaining that entire area.

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

America also now has a route to the West Coast through Oregon/Washington/British Columbia, which might reduce the desire to take the southwest from Mexico and Spain. I could see someone else retaining that entire area.

Or it may just encourage more expansion due to the desire of Southern States to keep the balance between Free and Slave States.

 

[Icee]

Or idea of taking entire america might spread they are after all called american empire and they cant let other nation beside them existing in america

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

What do you think of America's Anthem ITTL ?

 

[jennysnooper87]

What do you think of America's Anthem ITTL ?

I love it!

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

XV: THE CANADIAN WAR CREEK WAR

​

Happening in parallel with the Canadian War, the Creek War between the "Red Stick Creeks" and the "Lower Creeks" and the Imperial militias of the Commonwealths of Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and later Imperial troops under Andrew Jackson. The war started as a Civil War between the Reactionary and Progressive Creeks, the first ones inspired in Tecumseh's Confederation, but as the conflict started affecting traders and settlers in Georgia, Western Florida, and the Mississippi Territory, the American Government had to intervene.

The division of the Reactionary "Red Sticks" and the Progressives "Lower Creeks" was an old one since the 18th Century, the Lower Creeks had started assimilating American practices like Trade and Christianity, whereas the Red Stick Creeks stayed true to their old practices. When the Canadian War started, Tecumseh called for all Native American tribes west of the Apalaches to rise and overthrow the Yankee Imperialist. The Red Sticks heard the call to purify their tribe of western elements, attacking the Lower Creek camps and starting a Civil War. A band of Red Sticks under William Weatherford attacked a settlement of mixed Creek-Americans in Fort Mims, massacring its population. The Georgian government called for neighboring Commonwealths to send in troops to avenge the massacre, with Tennessee and South Carolina joining.

The Imperial government was dealing with the Invasion of Canada at the time, only sparing 1,200 men under Colonel Andrew Jackson to defend the Mississippi from the Creek attacks. The unorganized State militias were generally considered ineffective, with the best men being Revolutionary War veterans, and had the bad habit of mixing up Lower Creeks and Red Stick Creeks during battle and considering both as savage enemies. Jackson arrived to put them into shape, imposing discipline into the militias and organizing them into an army. The Lower Creeks under William McIntosh helped the Americans, giving strategical advice and showing paths across their lands, allowing the American-Creek force to strike the Red Stick territory.

The War lasted from April 1805 until February 1806, when Jackson's men arrived at Econochaca, the Holy Ground of the Red Sticks and defeated them in Battle. The Creeks had never fought a major war before, and the rejection of innovation by the Red Sticks meant that they had very few muskets. The capture of the Holy Ground by the American Army broke their morale, Jackson would spend the next weeks building roads to attack their remnants in Horseshoe Bend. On the 26th of February, the Battle of Horseshoe Bend broke the Creek resistance and forced them to sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson.

​

Ignoring that thousands of Creeks fought by his side, Jackson forced the Creek Confederacy to give up parts of Southern Georgia and about half of modern Alabama Commonwealth. For his victories, Jackson was promoted to General, leading his forces back to Columbia, only to find the British razing the city and the Emperor dying on the field.

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

XVI: THE QUEBEC CRISIS

​

Quebec was Catholic, and that was a problem. When the Treaty of Lisbon was seen by the parliament upon the return of the Emperor, the Federalists and Whigs united in condemnation of the Annexation of Canada, Quebec in specific. The Federalists were fierce anti-Catholics, claiming that they couldn't be patriotic because their true loyalty was with the Pope in Rome. The Whigs had more pragmatic reasons, their main support base were the Southern Commonwealths, and the annexation of Canada broke the balance between Free and Slave Commonwealths by adding several anti-slavery ones, and those new votes threatened to break the balance of the Senate.

When the recently-crowned Emperor Thomas I came back, he was recieved as a hero that won a victory that massively increased the Imperial territory, but upon arriving at his Estate in Germantown, Virginia, he was recieved by the Senate President James Monroe. After a cup of coffee, Thomas asked about how things were during the time he was away, Monroe explained the happenings in the Senate and his own concern. On the next day, they both went to the Senate where the Emperor started a 15-minute long impassionated speech about his Washington's dream of an America extending from the Arctic to Yucatán, he then went on to talk about brotherhood with Canada and that "Catholics could be righted from their sinful ways by our missionaries", he then became angry and spoke that those men were throwing away the sacrifice of his father and thousands of soldiers due to their "egoistic desires".

That last part attracted angry reactions from several Senators, they started booing the Emperor and calling him a "secret papist" who wanted to takeover America by flooding it with Immigrants and Catholics from Quebec and Mexico. Thomas started fighting back by accusing them of sabotaging the Manifest Destiny and even of Republicans. Senator Thomas Jefferson then left in protest as well as several Federalists and Whigs, the extremists of both parties left the Senate floor leaving the Centrists and Monarchists by Thomas' side. Between the 12th and 26th of October, America was functioning with half a parliament, negotiations over the status of Quebec started between Jefferson and Monroe, raging from making it a puppet state to selling it to France. After two days of negotiations without sleep in Jefferson's Virginian Estate, with both men functioning on coffee, the results were finally made on the Quebec consensus, sending them to the Emperor.

The problems restarted when Thomas Marshall refused to sign the deal, the deal assured the independence of Quebec by the north of the St. Laurent river, Quebec would be an American Protectorate, paying 1/10th of it's national revenue for American protection, while also giving special trade privileges to American citizens. The refusal of the Emperor was causing a unprecedented political crisis, and both the people and the army were with the Emperor, believing the Senate was corrupted by morally broken men who were sabotaging the hard-fought American conquest. Some Northerners of the rising abolitionist movement claimed that it was the plot of Southern Aristocrats to protect Slavery from the votes of the Anti-Slavery Canadians. The Emperor appealed to the people on the 21st of October, making a speech in Philadelphia claiming that "Terrible forces had taken over the Senate" and evoked the memory of his father's sacrifice for America in Columbia. His firely speech enticed the people and a crowd with pitchforks and torches surrounded the building that the defective senators were meeting, essentially putting them in a hostage situation.

Later, Andrew Jackson's Army came back from Halifax and was hailed by the crowd, Thomas recieved the General and informed him that there was a conspiracy of the Senate to bring an end to the Empire and make America lose the gains that so many died for, including Emperor John I. Jackson informed the army of the developments and locked down Philadelphia, the situation was tense and Thomas used it. Accusing the Senators of treason, he nullified his appointments and appointed half of the Senate, choosing loyalists from each state to fill the seats. He ordered the Senators' arrest when he noticed that one of them wasn't in that building: Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson was a Republican, he had silently accepted a monarchy awaiting for an opportunity. He was going to use that crisis, meeting with the Governor of Virginia William H. Cabell to discuss the Senate crisis, claiming that Thomas was becoming "America's Napoleon", and that he had made a coup to become a Tyrant. Jefferson called the Governors of Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia for a meeting in Appotamox, Virginia. From that meeting, Jefferson was declared President of the United Republic of America (URA), with the Southern States (with the exception of Maryland, Delaware, and Kentucky) declaring their independence from the American Empire on the 26th of October of 1806. Thomas I declared the secession illegal, and enraged crowds killed the defected Senators by burning the house down, the Emperor would send Andrew Jackson's army to the south. Jackson was a southerner, he symphatized with the cause of his fellow men in the Carolinas, but he absolutely despised treason. He also grew closer with the Marshall family, John I promoted him, and he felt guilty for believing to have caused the Emperor's death in Columbia, he owned a debt with his son Thomas. Jackson led a 40,000 men army to the South, ready to end the uprising against the Government.

Flag of the United Republic of America​

 

[jennysnooper87]

And now a much earlier American Civil War, this time with the American Empire as the Union and the United American Republic as the Confederacy.

 

[NK_Tesla]

sabotaging the Manifest Destiny

You are about 30 to 40 years early for the idea of Manifest Destiny to appear in America compared to OTL.

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

You are about 30 to 40 years early for the idea of Manifest Destiny to appear in America compared to OTL.

Manifest destiny was what guided America for much of its History, it didn't just show up in 1845 due to a Victoria II decision. ITTL, it was Washington's final address that set the tone of what America wanted to the future and guided Thomas (that and his Father's sacrifices) to annex Canada. From the Artic to Yucatán, from Sea to Shinning Sea.

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

XVII: CIVIL WAR
I

"After failing to achieve their victory against America in the Senate, the insidious snakes of America have gone to the South and declared open rebellion against the Empire and it's people. It is with great sorrow that I enact this order, for I am a Virginian myself, but I won't accept that the legacy of Washington and my father is left to burn. Today, I enact the General Mobilization and let history remember my words: I shall not, as long as there is life in my body, let the Empire fall, the traitors shall be hanged over Columbia and their bodies thrown in the Potomac. Today I call for the people of America to once more fulfill it's sacred duty and defeat the Atheist masons of Dixie. Down with the Traitors ! Up with America !"
-Emperor Thomas I, 1st of November of 1806
​

The American Civil War is one of the most important events of American history, the escalation of the conflict on the month of October of 1806 may seem unexpected for a quick reader of American History, but the roots would come all the way from 1787. The Constututional Convention approved the greater centralization of Government under a Strong Executive headed by an Elected Monarch, but that didn't mean that Republicans like Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and Thomas Paine would change their minds. The Whig Party was initially composed almost 70% by Republican supporters, and that was one of the reasons George I choose to make the first Senate be made up mostly of Loyalist Federalists. There was always a significant Republican support in America especially in the South, the Monarchy became associated with the Federalists, with high tariffs, abolitionism, centralization, militarism and urban population. And those were values that opposed the "Southron (or Dixie) Way of Life", it was natural that most of the Southern politicians would ally themselves with Whig Republicanism.

But there was one thing left to spark the revolt: The direct threat of the Monarchy against the South. The Southrons saw that after the Canadian War, when the Emperor annexed a large territory composed by mostly abolitionists. The threat that the Canadian provinces would turn into Commonwealths and add several anti-slavery Senators allowing the Northerners to impose their will upon the South caused the opposition to the annexation of Quebec. The Senators of the South even found common ground with some Northerners, due to the Anti-Catholicism of "Hamiltonian" Federalists, and attempted to compromise, but Emperor Thomas refused and they left in protest. Only Jefferson came back to Virginia to rally the governors for what was a planned overthrow of the Government, with the others staying in Pennsylvania hoping to gain the sympathy of the people. But that backfired, the people sided with the Emperor and burned the Senators alive, knowing that the Army and the people of the north wouldn't side with him against the "Tyranny of Emperor Thomas", Jefferson changed tactics and argued for full secession.

Emperor Thomas rallied the people against the traitors, to say he was charismatic would be an understatement as he could manipulate crowds with emotional speeches in the open streets. The people were convinced that the rebellion (who now made Richmond their capital) was led by a secret order of atheistic freemasons who attempted to manipulate America as some kind of world conspiracy to destroy the American Empire of Freedom. The URA would be a base upon they could plot from, using its agrarian resources to fuel an army of spies to destabilize the Empire and provoke its collapse. The Northerners felt betrayed and they wanted revenge, with thousands forming militias and joining the growing "Army of the Potomac" in the city of Columbia.

For the people of the south, the secession was met with indifference for some and enthusiasm for others. For a Virginian, having a shared Dixie identity with the Georgians was as strong as having a shared American identity with the Yankees. Jefferson noticed that one would need to be forged by blood, combining the several Militias into a common army led by the Canadian War Veteran, William Henry Harrison, the Virginian commander who commanded the Indian Front against Tecumseh. The "Grand Army of the Republic" was formed with 55,000 men, many of them Creek and Canadian War veterans.

The War was concentrated in Maryland and Virginia, and the first battle between Jackson's 60,000 men "Army of the Potomac" and Harrison's "Grand Army of the Republic" would happen on the 5th of December of 1806, after Jackson started the first offensive into Virginia by crossing the Potomac river. The Battle of Gainesville would be the first battle of the American Civil War, with Jackson ironically attacking a defensive position held by the GAR. By the 6th of December, after both sides suffered heavy loses, Jackson's army was the first to retreat after a tactical draw, the weakened GAR was about to retreat when the Yankees blinked first, but they couldn't pursue them. The battle ended with 20,000 casualties from both sides left to rot in the field, 20,000 brothers who died fighting one another, the war didn't have a swift end as both sides hoped, and much more blood would be spilled until the end of the war.

 

[The Merovingian]

Down with the traitors. America from the Arctic to Panama, nay, from Great lakes to La Plata itself!

 

[Umbric Man]

A very good timeline. One of the few monarchial-America timelines I'm paying attention to, the consistency in-universe is fantastic to keeping things feeling plausible as well as good writing in general. Antonio, wonderful, wonderful work.

I have but one quibble and it's on Quebecker borders: if you divide it at the St. Lawrence River you threaten Quebec's livelihood and even nominal independence, and just south of the St. Lawrence is full of Francophones/French-Canadians, so keeping the OTL border at the Appalachian mountains is best. I know America keeping Quebec in vassalage is part of the point but for ethnocultural and economic reasons it's IMO wiser to keep the border at OTL, you keep control of Quebec via controlling both entryways to the St. Lawrence via Kingston and Cape Breton.

Also, is a map available?

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

A very good timeline. One of the few monarchial-America timelines I'm paying attention to, the consistency in-universe is fantastic to keeping things feeling plausible as well as good writing in general. Antonio, wonderful, wonderful work.

I have but one quibble and it's on Quebecker borders: if you divide it at the St. Lawrence River you threaten Quebec's livelihood and even nominal independence, and just south of the St. Lawrence is full of Francophones/French-Canadians, so keeping the OTL border at the Appalachian mountains is best. I know America keeping Quebec in vassalage is part of the point but for ethnocultural and economic reasons it's IMO wiser to keep the border at OTL, you keep control of Quebec via controlling both entryways to the St. Lawrence via Kingston and Cape Breton.

Also, is a map available?

Thanks Umbric ! And I have to admit, all of this is done in Mobile, and I am terrible at making maps so, unless someone wanted to help me, I can't give a map.

 

[Prince Daemon Targaryen]

Thomas Jefferson will be hated as much as Benedict Arnold is in the annals of history. Wow

 

[Virginia Liberal]

Thanks Umbric ! And I have to admit, all of this is done in Mobile, and I am terrible at making maps so, unless someone wanted to help me, I can't give a map.

You type all this up on mobile my God sir you are a saint.