Should I incorporate the East Indies (including India) in the near future? I would but I'm not sure how the POD here changes things in the region (through 1800).
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Galloway and the Plan of Union: A Saga of a British America
- Thread starter PGSBHurricane
- Start date
The EIC's expansion in India was conducted largely independently of the British government during peacetime. How aggressive they were depended on who was governor general at the time.
However, the British government did step in on occasion.
I change my mind about heading back to North America after covering France. I think I will do a section about the Indies (both East - including India - and West) after that and potentially focus on the butterflies there.
If the French Revolution is butterflied, that also butterflies the Haitian and Latin American revolutions, which equals a far different New World.
That I am aware of. I meant the Indies in the 1780s-early 1790s in the context of a British America
Will colonial governments all gravitate towards the provincial model (i.e. have a royally appointed governor) and away from the proprietary and covenant models?
And will there be an emergence of a Prime Minister? The Albany Plan had a General Treasurer (perhaps similar to the British development like with the First Lord of the Treasury) and I don't think there was much on other executive offices in the Galloway Plan besides the PG.
I guess the latter question is a bit much like a spoiler on the future grants of autonomy or something else (perhaps completely different), so you don't have to answer that. Sorry. I don't mean to fish for future hints, though with a still-British America it's pretty much assumed to go Dominion in the future.
And will there be an emergence of a Prime Minister? The Albany Plan had a General Treasurer (perhaps similar to the British development like with the First Lord of the Treasury) and I don't think there was much on other executive offices in the Galloway Plan besides the PG.
I guess the latter question is a bit much like a spoiler on the future grants of autonomy or something else (perhaps completely different), so you don't have to answer that. Sorry. I don't mean to fish for future hints, though with a still-British America it's pretty much assumed to go Dominion in the future.
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Thanks for reminding me about the state governors. Completely overlooked that detail. Will fix it shortly. And the governors will be appointed by the Crown (from the party that holds the majority of the combined delegates in the legislature). As far as the position of Prime Minister goes, I thought that the President-General was to serve a similar role to OTL American presidents or a hybrid of that and the Prime Minister. I am aware that in most countries with a parliamentary system have a president and prime minister, with the president serving the role of a figurehead like the British Monarchy does today. So, with the Thirteen Colonies still under British rule, I'm not sure if a separate PM is necessary with the PG filling much of that role. If this is an inaccurate interpretation, I will amend that in future updates and will apologize for the American-centric depiction of a PG. The General Treasurer will be introduced soon enough though.
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Chapter Seven: Vive La Révolution?
Chapter Seven: Vive La Révolution?
In July 1776, the French became extremely thankful that the Massachusetts rebellion (mostly) would not spread beyond the Massachusetts Bay Colony and engulf all of the Thirteen British Colonies from Georgia to New Hampshire. They were also thankful that the British dug in their heels and gave into the demands of their North American colonists. It was a common fear that if neither of these things happened, the Thirteen Colonies would declare independence and drag themselves into a years-long war where France would likely intervene on the side of the Americans and dig France into bankruptcy. Thanks to this, and their colonies, bankruptcy would be generally averted. The aftermath of the Seven Years War saw the removal of the French presence from the entire mainland North American continent. France saw itself confined to the Caribbean, with the most prominent colonies being Guadalupe, Martinique, and (the most profitable New World colony of the eighteenth century) Saint Domingue. A significant portion of the profit came from slave labor on the Caribbean sugar plantations. While the Transatlantic slave trade was operating, over 1 million slaves survived the Middle Passage and landed in the French Caribbean, most of whom ended up in Saint Domingue.
While France was not yet bankrupt by 1789, the atmosphere was anything but joyous. The most vocally angry people were the peasants who were not only starving and could not afford to pay taxes but had the least power of anyone in the country. Their frustrations took aim at the fact that despite comprising 22-23 million people (roughly 80% of the French population), they owned just 35% of the land. At the same time, the clergy and nobles (which made less than 2% of France’s population when combined), owned another 30% of the land. The peasant masses also bore much of the weight of the Ancien Regime as the cost of living rose by as much as 62% and the price of bread by 88% between 1741 and 1789 while wages only rose by 22%. Then there were the intellectuals who were angry at the lack of Enlightenment-era ideas and reforms that took place in more other countries. In France, enlightenment was associated with anti-government and anti-Church radicalism, with many thinkers questioning the authority of the absolutist Bourbon monarchy, the rigid class divisions in France. And the role of the Estates-General which hadn’t met since 1614. This caused the hostile government to have them imprisoned or exiled.
But it was not just the peasant and intellectuals who were frustrated. The industrialists, craftsmen, and merchants (all part of the bourgeoisie), while owning 25-30% of the land, were unhappy about being unrepresented and demanded the suppression of privilege and equal rights. For them, the lack of political freedom and representation meant that capitalism could not grow or be modified to meet their demands. The nobles, as privileged as they were, had little power under the current system, unlike their British counterparts, and did not want to pay its share of taxes. Even King Louis did not enjoy his country being in billions of livres in royal debt. He certainly did not enjoy watching his country suffer military defeat after defeat at the hands of the British. On top of all that, the harsh winter of 1788 caused a nationwide famine and wave of starvation alongside food riots in Paris. All that was needed was a trigger for reform and revolution and it would on the horizon in the not-so-distant future.
After years of building up billions of livers in debt and Parisian food riots, the economy of France could not take it anymore. On September 21, 1792, King Louis XVI made a royal edict summoning the Estates-General for the first time since 1614. It met exactly four months later following elections at Versailles. There were almost 1,200 delegates, with 303 in the First Estate (the clergies), 278 representing the Second Estate (Nobles), and 578 as part of the Third Estate (everyone else). Ironically, many nobles were elected as part of the Third Estate while the working class was not represented at all. Anyway, the main grievances were about taxes. The Third estate was at odds with the King and aristocrats, resenting that the nobles could excuse themselves from taxes and that the duties hindered commerce. Of course, there were concerns too that double representation of the Third Estate came with no double power. In a deal with the Third Estate, the Second Estate voted with them to support tax reform in exchange for supporting giving more legal power to the nobles. The final passed legislation, published in September 1793, called for gradual introductions of tax reform, transfer of power to nobles, and emancipating serfs. France was at peace, for now.
I understand you are using hindsight, but would they really think like that?
So, it looks as though the French Revolution has been averted, at least for the time being. That butterflies the Napoleonic Wars as well (although there'll probably be some sort of war soon, Europe had them every few decades at this point), which has huge ramifications for the politics of Europe heading into the 19th Century. I'm sure you have some plans for Napoleon (he was a once in a generation military genius, after all), but I doubt he'll become Emperor or anything.
Probably not the peasantry, which is a majority but still, but anyone who is paying attention to what goes on overseas which is still a significant part of the population.
I was originally going to bring the Dutch Patriot Movement into this as their attempted revolution came before the French (Fun fact: France considered intervening on the side of the Patriots OTL but didn’t because of their debt). But without much of the American Revolution occurring, the Anglo-Dutch War doesn’t occur either and the Patriot Movement largely fails to take off. While much of the root causes are still here, the vehicle for mass agitation of their platform doesn’t exist and the analogue to the movement is a fringe group that doesn’t gain much traction over the Orangists.
Nice update, as eager for more as before!
Edit: I’m unsure if it’s improper to say but might’nt you want to threadmark the map I made for the situation in America?
Edit: I’m unsure if it’s improper to say but might’nt you want to threadmark the map I made for the situation in America?
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I stated that my next update would be about the Indies, but I think there might not be enough to say. Instead, I will be covering the other new world colonies as a whole and possibly the non-British and French European powers in Europe before moving back to British North America.
The Indies (East and West plus India) and Europe will be some nice places to explore potential butterflies.
Deleted member 147978
@PGSBHurricane
Keep up the good work on your TL. (Liked and Watched already.) However I do got a question in regards of admission into the UAC.
On one of your threadmarks, Nova Scotia was the first outside colony to join the UAC. You also mentioned that Quebec wouldn't be joining at first on the reason of cultural differences.
Assuming that all of British North America would be part of the UAC (or not), would it be likely that Quebec would become a dominion of its own or it would it join the UAC in a later date with a "special treatment" inbound?
Keep up the good work on your TL. (Liked and Watched already.) However I do got a question in regards of admission into the UAC.
On one of your threadmarks, Nova Scotia was the first outside colony to join the UAC. You also mentioned that Quebec wouldn't be joining at first on the reason of cultural differences.
Assuming that all of British North America would be part of the UAC (or not), would it be likely that Quebec would become a dominion of its own or it would it join the UAC in a later date with a "special treatment" inbound?
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That I am not sure of. I think Quebec would not want to join for a while because of it being mostly French in an English-speaking world.