Galloway and the Plan of Union: A Saga of a British America
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Chapter Twenty-Five: A “Central” Continent
Chapter Twenty-Five: A “Central” Continent
Aside from the four primary colonial powers on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, the 1810s was also rather turbulent for the rest of Europe, a continent that was still recovering from the outbreak of the Ten Years War. Perhaps the most stable region in continental Europe was Scandinavia, comprising the Kingdoms of Denmark–Norway to the West and Sweden to the East. In 1812, Gustav IV Adolf entered his 20th year as the King of Sweden. Under his rule, there was tons of investment. First was investment in its penal colony in Australasia, Södra Nya Sverige. After the settlement of Nyustland in 1792 and the Treaty of Tilsit over a decade later, Gustav IV Adolf allocated more funds towards their colony than ever before. There would be a gradual eastward movement of settlers and convicts along the coastline through the 1830s. The early phases of industrialization also swept in, with the funding of rural forges, textile proto-industries, and sawmills. Unlike the rest of Europe, there was comparatively little disruption from the eruption of Mount Tambora. The same held true for its neighbor to the West. This was considered the start of the Danish Golden Age, ushered in by Frederick VI of Denmark. Copenhagen had suffered from fire, bombardment in 1807, and bankruptcy, but art, literature, and science had reached new creative heights. After a brief war with Sweden, Denmark renounced its claims to Swedish Pomerania in 1815, in exchange for a payment of 4.1 million talers, 600,000 of which was to be in debt.
To the South and West of Scandinavia was the Netherlands. Since the economy was depressed by the Ten Years War, the end of the hostilities in 1808 led to stability in the economy before it truly began to rebound in 1815. In the light of an independent Dutch nation, it was required for French-speaking ministers and justices to renounce their French citizenship and for them to speak only in Dutch. Later, between 1819 and 1823, the provinces that were previously part of the Austrian Netherlands were made to have Dutch as their sole official language. The Industrial Revolution also began seeping into the country, with Antwerp in particular benefiting as it became a major trading port. In Wallonia (now part of France), French was mandated as the only official language, while the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg used French as the de facto official language with German used in schools. The steel industry in Wallonia flourished with its creation by English-born industrialist John Cockerill. Wallonia was mostly Catholic so there was little issue in terms of religion as it was integrated into the Roman Catholic French Empire. In Flanders, the issue was more contentious. It was absorbed into a majority Dutch Reformed state while there was a significant Catholic population in Flanders. The Catholic Church in Belgium resented the state encroachment on its privileges and believed the Constitution of the country discriminated against them, so many fled to the prosperous, tolerant Free City of Brussels.
While not a perfect situation for the Netherlands, the least stable state in Europe had to be the Confederation of the Rhine. Serious problems had begun to emerge in 1815 but really came to a head after the death of Karl von Dalberg in 1817. Industrialization was slow if existent at all in member states because of political disunity and conflicts of interest between nobility and merchants, making it easy prey for its neighbors if they decided to pounce. This meant that the Confederation of the Rhine was a mostly agrarian society, in which farming was mostly handled by tenant farmers who paid rent and services to nobles and landlords. The Year Without a Summer was particularly severe there. Meanwhile, in Prussia, modernization was underway. In response to the defeat of Prussia on the European front in the Ten Years War, reforms such as abolishing serfdom and emancipation Jews were passed, and free trade was introduced in 1818 while compulsory military service for males was introduced five years earlier. Last, but not least, among the major German states was Austria, which was in the “Age of Metternich.” Klemens von Metternich became the Austrian Foreign Minister in 1809 and then the Chancellor of Austria in 1821. His conservative views were so strong that he believed that absolute monarchy was the only proper system of government. Metternich, from a foreign policy standpoint, practiced balance-of-power diplomacy, only intervening in Poland in 1825 against Russia.
The Italian peninsula was an interesting place following the Ten Years War. With Sicily and Naples united into the Kingdom of Two Sicilies by 1810, a new parliament was introduced with two chambers instead of three, which brought about the end of feudalism in the area within a matter of years. However, Parliament was mostly a mouthpiece for Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies as it was still an absolute monarchy at this point in time for every intent and purpose. With that said, the system of law, along with penal and commercial code, was maintained and extended to Sicily. In the mainland, the power of the nobility and clergy was somewhat reduced but that caused an increased disruption in law and order. This region was not only hit hard by famine in 1816 but typhus accompanied this, making the Year without a Summer even worse. To the northwest, the Kingdom of Savoy-Sardinia was expanding at a rapid rate. At the Treaty of Tilsit, the Crown of Savoy added the Duchy of Genoa to help the region serve as a buffer between Austria and France. Sardinia extended its protectorate over the Principality of Monaco via the Treaty of Stupinigi in 1817. Victor Emmanuel I of Savoy, son of the Bourbon Maria Antonietta of Spain, made his intentions clear. Lastly, beginning on April 1, 1810, Marie Louise, Queen Consort of Italy and daughter of former Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, became the Duchess of Parma. As a ruler of Hapsburg descent, the Austrian Empire kept a close eye on the small duchy.
How is the unification of Germnay going to play out with a weaker Prussia?
Also pls sicillian Italy🥵
Also pls sicillian Italy🥵
We’re so early on that it could be Austria that ends up unifying Germany instead
merely removing Bismarck from the picture in the very early 1860s and changing nothing else could be enough to railroad Prussia's chances of pulling off German unification. And that is in a mostly-OTL scenario.
ITTL is much earlier. I imagine Austria just has the best shot as it stands.
ITTL is much earlier. I imagine Austria just has the best shot as it stands.
At this point there may or may not be either a United Germany or Italy. Too early to tell.
Question (if not already asked and answered): is there a Second Amendment analog with the British American constitution? Or is the right largely guaranteed by provincial militia laws and charters leading to a generally accepted right to bear arms?
I don’t think there is a Second Amendment analogue. This version of America is expected to adhere closer to the gun rights stances of the UK and its OTL Dominions. So I would assume provincial militia laws and charters de facto guarantee some form of right to bear arms.
The Albany Plan of Union (a similar proposal to the Galloway Plan that was championed by Ben Franklin at the 1754 Albany Congress) proposed digressive proportionality of representation in the unicameral Grand Council, with 2 seats being the minimum and 7 being the maximum (and all seats would be elected by colonial legislatures every three years), and the number of seats that each colony would be entitled to would be based on colonial revenue contributions (i.e. per colony) to the common treasury. Thoughts on such aspects?
Having the number of seats vary by revenue contribution, where more contribution means more seats to participate in government, does play well into the taxation with representation slogan in an interesting way, and might encourage provinces/colonies/states to enact taxes that are the least avoidable (i.e. property taxes) but maybe rather harsh on collection if the need for money arises and loss of representation was at stake (though would also help deal with races to the bottom and help people better judge what places have better public services, though people might still try to avoid taxes or move to lower-tax jurisdictions that are happy with less representation). The Albany Plan let the Grand Council enact its own taxes and have its own treasurers appointed to oversee the collection of common revenues, but provinces could also send their own money to the common treasury or at the request of the general government.
Having the number of seats vary by revenue contribution, where more contribution means more seats to participate in government, does play well into the taxation with representation slogan in an interesting way, and might encourage provinces/colonies/states to enact taxes that are the least avoidable (i.e. property taxes) but maybe rather harsh on collection if the need for money arises and loss of representation was at stake (though would also help deal with races to the bottom and help people better judge what places have better public services, though people might still try to avoid taxes or move to lower-tax jurisdictions that are happy with less representation). The Albany Plan let the Grand Council enact its own taxes and have its own treasurers appointed to oversee the collection of common revenues, but provinces could also send their own money to the common treasury or at the request of the general government.
Smaller states would almost always tend to bring in less revenue than bigger states. They would be at a major disadvantage. And revenue in terms of what services for the government? A state could bring in a lot of revenue but if it's not derived something that's desired by the National Government then it could be essentially thrown out. In other words, the government could easily pick and choose what revenue matters and what doesn't. Harsher on tax collection also means a greater chance of colonies/states/provinces seceding early on. Because of that, and I don't want to do a major retcon, I want to keep it as is based on population.
Chapter Twenty-Six: An Independence Movement?
Chapter Twenty-Six: An Independence Movement?
The fate of Portuguese Brazil was now in flux. Faced with a near-doomsday dilemma, Prince Pedro stayed in Brazil against the orders of the Cortes thanks to Brazilian independentists. He asserted that no laws or decreases issued by Portugal would apply to Brazil without his authority. This decision was announced on January 9, 1822, in response to a petition from the city council of Rio de Janeiro, and the fiat was published in May. An advisory council was created in February to represent the Brazilian provinces with its first meeting held that June. On May 13, Pedro was offered the title of "Perpetual Protector and Defender of Brazil,” only assuming the latter title. The National Constituent Assembly for Brazil was decreed on June 13, separate from the Constituent Cortes assembled in Portugal, but would not actually convene until 1823. Independence of Brazil was declared on September 7, 1822, and the Empire of Brazil was proclaimed the following month on October 12. The Cortes sent troops to Brazil to dissolve the rebellion government and force his return to Portugal, but instead, they followed orders from the Prince in Rio de Janeiro. In other provinces, fighting erupted between Brazilians and Portuguese. The coronation of Emperor Pedro I of Brazil (formerly Prince Pedro) took place on December 1, 1822. Earlier in the year, the Portuguese Constitution was approved but it ultimately never went into effect.
The Portuguese initially refused to recognize Brazilian independence, treating it all as a rebellion to be put down. This ultimately failed as the Portuguese troops surrendered by November 1823. Even after the military defeat, the Portuguese Government attempted to engage in major diplomatic efforts to avoid the recognition of Brazil's independence by European Powers who wanted to establish trading and diplomatic ties with Brazil. Under British pressure, Portugal agreed to recognize their independence in 1825 through two acts. The first was the Letters Patent issued on May 13 where the Portuguese King "voluntarily ceded and transferred the sovereignty" over Brazil to the Emperor. The second was in the Treaty of Peace signed in Rio de Janeiro on August 29 by which Portugal again recognized Brazilian independence. It was ratified the next day by the Emperor of Brazil and by the King of Portugal on November 15. With that, the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and Algarves was dissolved once and for all. The Charter of Law was previously issued restoring the Portuguese monarchy to an absolutist regime, eliminating practically any trace of the Liberal Revolution in the state of Portugal, although it was not largely effective until then. Unknown at the time, Brazilian independence alongside the Great Rebellion of Saint-Domingue would be the start of an era of major changes in Latin America.
All across the Caribbean and Latin America, all eyes were on Brazil and Saint-Domingue. The former was the first independent nation in the Western Hemisphere that was formerly colonized and the latter was the site of a successful slave rebellion. These two together raised the level of hope for people in the Americas, especially outside the UAC. Unlike in British North America, most European possessions south of the border had little to no democratic tradition, let alone rights for people who weren’t from the colonizing country, even with a separate kingdom status. The most obvious source of tension in the region was in Costa Firme. The Captaincy General of Venezuela had been long at odds with the rest of Gran Colombia. The separation from it into a province had sufficed since the inception of Costa Firme in the 1790s, but after Brazilian independence, things took a turn. Empowered, José Antonio Páez, backed by the Creole mantuanos, initiated an attempted separation of Venezuela from Costa Firme in 1826 that was crushed by Spanish intervention. A second attempt in 1830 would have great implications for the region. From 1823 into the 1830s to the north of Costa Firme, the Captaincy General of Guatemala (part of New Spain) began resenting the government from Ciudad de Mexico due to its illiberal rule, lack of representation in government, and geographic barriers that made it very difficult to travel.
Citizens of Latin America were not the only ones empowered by the ongoings of Brazil and Saint Domingue; even African slaves were too. Roughly corresponding to the declaration of Brazilian independence, there were many slave rebellions in Brazil. Given that gnarly 4.5 million slaves were imported from Africa to the Americas by landing in Brazil, this was mostly inevitable. 1822, the year Brazil declared independence from the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and Algarves, karted a key turning point for slaves. Plagued by economic depression, drought, and political turmoil, and top of poor treatment of slaves and extreme racism caused conditions ripe for rebellion (especially in the state of Bahia). There were slave rebellions in Bahia in 1822, 1824, 1826-28, 1830-31, and the culmination of it all in the Malê revolt in 1835. A mostly urban affair, Six hundred Malê (of Yoruba Muslim origin) took to the streets of Salvador. However, they were outnumbered and had inferior weapons, and many ended up massacred by the National Guard, Police, and white civilians. Ultimately, 200 slaves were criminally sentenced and 500 were expelled. Outside of Brazil, Cuba, another plantation-dominated economy was the arguable central area for slave rebellions, as they frequently flared on and off between 1825 and 1845. Other revolts sporadically broke out in the Caribbean and Latin America, causing Europe and the UAC to become very weary.
It will probably be in a couple week (at least) but I'm glad you're looking forward to it.