GO SOUTH, YOUNG MAN
President Abraham Lincoln, C.S.A.
An Alternate History Timeline by Robert Perkins
1809--Abraham Lincoln is born in Kentucky.
1816--Thomas Lincoln, father of Abraham Lincoln, frustrated by the loss of several farms due to insecure land titles in Kentucky, decides to move. Hearing of the opportunities and cheap land available in Mississippi Territory, and also seeking warmer weather during the “Year Without a Summer,“ he decides to take his family there.
Also in this year, the Second Bank of the United States is chartered. James Monroe is elected President of the United States, defeating Rufus King. Indiana Territory admitted to the Union as the 19th State.
1816 onward--Thomas Lincoln makes a moderately successful life for his family in Mississippi. He obtains a farm, and eventually is well-off enough to purchase two slaves. Thomas Lincoln is an ambivalent slaveholder, and young Abraham will inherit this trait from him. Young Abraham, who is an ambitious young man, looks down on his father, who he feels has failed to grasp the opportunities around him. He resolves that one day he will be both wealthy and politically powerful. He decides to study law.
1817--Mississippi admitted to the Union as the 20th State. James Monroe inaugurated as President. Construction of the Erie Canal begins.
1818--The northern boundary of the United States is established at the 49th Parallel by treaty with Great Britain. Illinois is admitted to the Union as the 21st State.
1819--The Talmadge Amendment, barring slavery from Missouri, is passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. This represents the opening volley of the Missouri Crisis, and the beginning of conflict between the North and the South over the issue of slavery.
Florida ceded to the U.S. by Spain. The Panic of 1819, the first large-scale financial crisis in U.S. history, results in foreclosures, bank failures, and unemployment. Thomas Lincoln’s farm is foreclosed upon during the Panic.
1820--Missouri Compromise. Missouri is to be admitted as a Slave State, but slavery is to be banned from all other U.S. Territory north of 36 degrees 30 minutes latitude.
Thomas Lincoln has made somewhat of a financial recovery, and manages to obtain another farm. He also manages to purchase two slaves at a very low price from a neighbor who desperately needs to raise cash in order to avoid foreclosure on his own farm. The American Colonization Society sends 85 negroes as colonists to Sierra Leone. This will be the genesis of the freedman’s colony of Liberia. James Monroe elected to a second term as President of the U.S.
1821--Missouri admitted to the Union. The Santa Fe Trail is opened.
1822--The colony of Liberia is founded. Florida Territory is organized.
1823--President Monroe declares the Monroe Doctrine, stating the policy that European intervention anyplace is the Americas is opposed and that he would establish American neutrality in future European wars.
1824--The Election of 1824 pits John Quincy Adams against Andrew Jackson. Neither candidate achieves a majority in the Electoral College, causing the election to be decided by the House of Representatives. Adams is elected President of the U.S. Jackson, who not only gained more Electoral votes than Adams, but also polled more popular votes, considers the election as having been stolen.
1825--John Quincy Adams is inaugurated as President of the U.S. Erie Canal completed. The first experimental steam locomotive in America is built by John Stevens of Hoboken, New Jersey.
1826--The first U.S. warship to circumnavigate the globe, the U.S.S. VINCENNES, leaves New York City. On July 4, Founding Fathers Thomas Jefferson and John Adams die, fifty years to the day after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
1827--New York abolishes slavery. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the first in the U.S., is incorporated, but not yet open for business. Joseph Smith claims to have received golden plates from the angel Moroni. He later claims to have translated these plates, said translation becoming the Book of Mormon.
1828--The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad opens for business. It is the first railroad to carry passengers and commercial freight in the U.S. Noah Webster publishes THE AMERICAN DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. The Election of 1828. Supporters of Andrew Jackson form the Democratic Party. Supporters of John Quincy Adams, lead by Henry Clay, form the National Republican Party. Jackson defeats Adams to win election as U.S. President. In response to the passage of a protective tariff, known as the “Tariff of Abominations,” by the U.S. Congress, the State of South Carolina declares the right of State Nullification of Federal law.
1829--Andrew Jackson is inaugurated as President of the United States. The Smithsonian Institution is founded.
1830--Abraham Lincoln is admitted to the bar, and sets himself up as a lawyer in Jackson, Mississippi. Joseph Smith organizes the Mormon Church in Fayette, New York. The United States Congress approves the Indian Removal Act, which facilitated the relocation of Indian tribes from east of the Mississippi River. Although this act did not order their removal, it paved the way for increased pressure on Indian tribes to accept land-exchange treaties with the U.S. government and helped lead the way to the "Trail of Tears." The Oregon Trail is opened.
1831--Nat Turner slave rebellion in Virginia. 57 whites are killed. Turner and his compatriots are captured and hanged. Cyrus McCormick invents the first commercially successful reaping machine.
1832--Abraham Lincoln joins the National Republican Party and unsuccessfully runs for the Mississippi State Legislature. The Black Hawk War is fought in Illinois. The Fox and Sauk Indian tribes are forced to move west of the Mississippi. Abraham Lincoln is not involved, and his absence causes no major changes to the course of the war. A South Carolina convention passes the Ordinance of Nullification, which was against the institution of permanent tariffs. The state also, on this issue, threatens to withdraw from the union of the United States of America. Andrew Jackson is re-elected as President of the U.S., defeating Henry Clay.
1833--Andrew Jackson is inaugurated for a second term as President of the U.S. The South Carolina Nullification Crisis is resolved when Congress passes a compromise tariff act in response to South Carolina's objections to the Tariff of Abominations. The State of South Carolina subsequently withdrew the Nullification Ordinance upon its approval. But, the following month…somewhat anti-climactically…Congress passes the Force Bill, which authorizes the President to use Federal troops to enforce Federal law in South Carolina.
1834--Abraham Lincoln wins election to the Mississippi State Legislature, running as a National Republican. He will serve two consecutive terms in the Mississippi State House of Representatives and one in the Mississippi State Senate. Andrew Jackson is censured by Congress for defunding the Second Bank of the United States.
1835--Andrew Jackson survives the first-ever assassination attempt made against a President of the United States. After the assassin’s pistol misfires twice, Jackson beats the man with his cane. The Texas Revolution begins as Texas declares independence from Mexico. The Trail of Tears: The Cherokee tribe is forced to cede its lands in Georgia and move west of the Mississippi River.
1836--The Texas Revolution continues. Battles of the Alamo, Goliad, and San Jacinto. Birth of the Republic of Texas. The first convention of the American Whig Party is held in New York. The Whigs are the former National Republicans, united in their opposition to Andrew Jackson. Samuel Colt patents his first revolver. The Specie Circular is issued as an executive order by President Andrew Jackson. The order requires all payments for federal lands to be made in gold or silver coin. He also refuses to renew the charter of the Second Bank of the United States. These actions will contribute to a major financial crisis in the following year. In the Presidential Election held this year. Democratic candidate Martin Van Buren defeats Whig candidate William Henry Harrison.
1837--The Panic of 1837 begins. Hundreds of banks will close, and an economic depression settles over the United States which will last until 1843. President Van Buren is blamed for the catastrophe. Elijah Lovejoy, an Abolitionist newspaper owner and editor, is killed by a mob in Illinois.
1838--Samuel Morse first publicly demonstates the Telegraph, using Morse Code. Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery in Maryland. Governor Lillburn Boggs orders the expulsion of Mormons from the State of Missouri.
1839--Mississippi passes the first-ever State law allowing women to own property. Charles Goodyear invents rubber vulcanization.
1840--Presidential election in the United States. Whig candidate William Henry Harrison defeats Democrat Martin Van Buren. Abraham Lincoln, running as a Whig, is elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Mississippi, narrowly defeating Democrat Jacob Thompson. He benefits from the landslide victory of fellow Whig William Henry Harrison, riding Harrison’s coat-tails into Congress.
1841--William Henry Harrison is inaugurated a President of the United States. He dies one month later. He is succeeded by Vice President John Tyler. The AMISTAD case is heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, which rules that the Africans who had seized control of the ship had been bound into slavery illegally.
1842--Abraham Lincoln wins a second term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Mexican troops under General Rafael Vasquez invade Texas and briefly seize San Antonio. The Webster Ashburton Treaty establishes the border between the United States and Canada east of the Rocky Mountains, settling boundary disputes in Maine and Minnesota.
1843--Abraham Lincoln, whose law practice has thrived and made him a somewhat wealthy man, decides to branch out into plantation agriculture. He purchases a farm, and ten slaves to work it. Over the years, he will expand his holdings both in land and in slaves. Lincoln, like his father, is an ambivalent slaveholder, and mentally wrestles with the morality of what he is doing. Like Thomas Jefferson, however, he decides that his economic needs outweigh his moral ambivalence about slavery as an institution. However, he does ensure that his slaves are treated very well by the standards of the day. He believes that slavery is a doomed institution, and that the slaves will be free in the near, but undefined, future. He therefore educates the brightest of his slaves, and allows his workers to govern their own affairs through democratic means. The first large-scale wagon trains along the Oregon Trail begin.
1844--In congressional elections this year, Congressman Abraham Lincoln is defeated by Democrat Jefferson Davis. A feud begins between the two men. Samuel Morse sends the first telegraph message from Washington, D.C., to New York. In the Presidential Election, Democrat James K. Polk defeats Whig candidate Henry Clay. Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church, is murdered by a lynch mob in Illinois.
1845--Abraham Lincoln writes a series of insulting letters to the local Whig newspaper in Jackson, Mississippi harshly criticizing Democratic politician Jefferson Davis, who recently defeated Lincoln to take his seat in Congress. Davis takes offense, and challenges Lincoln to a duel. The two men meet in a forest near Jackson on Christmas Eve, 1845. Lincoln, as the challenged party, had the privilege of choosing the weapon, and chooses swords, thinking that his long arms will give him an advantage in such a contest. However, Jefferson Davis has had military training, whereas Lincoln has not, and he skillfully slashes Lincoln’s right cheek with the tip of his sword, drawing first blood. At this, Lincoln immediately surrenders and formally apologizes to Davis. He will later retract his harsh words in in a very contrite letter written to the local Democratic newspaper, and over time, Lincoln and Davis will become good friends.
Also in this year, James K. Polk is inaugurated as President of the United States. The United States annexes the Republic of Texas. Texas is admitted into the Union as the 28th State. Mexico breaks relations with the United States.
1846--A dispute over the location of the border between Texas and Mexico leads to war between the United States and Mexico. Battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de Palma. At the outbreak of war with Mexico, Abraham Lincoln accepts commission as Major of the Second Mississippi Infantry Regiment. He is frustrated that his regiment is not called immediately for active service, however. Fellow Mississippian Jefferson Davis is appointed Colonel of the First Mississippi Regiment, which is assigned to the U.S. army under General Zachary Taylor. The Oregon Treaty is signed with Great Britain, fixing the boundary of the United States and Canada at the 49th parallel from the Rocky Mountains to the Straits of Juan de Fuca. The Republic of California secedes from Mexico. The Mormons are forced to leave Nauvoo, Illinois after clashes over polygamy and other issues.
1847-The Mexican War continues. Battles of Monterrey, Buena Vista, Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Churubusco, and Mexico City. While fellow-Mississippian Jefferson Davis is finding glory at the Battles of Monterey and Buena Vista, Abraham Lincoln sits in camp near New Orleans, awaiting orders with the rest of the 2nd Mississippi Regiment. Brigham Young leads an expedition of Mormons which settles in the region around the Great Salt Lake, founding Salt Lake City.
1848--The Second Mississippi Regiment is finally sent to Mexico. It sees little combat, and serves mainly as a garrison unit in Mexico City. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo finally ends the war. Mexico cedes huge western territories to the United States. In this year’s Presidential Election, Whig Zachary Taylor defeats Democrat Lewis Cass. Gold is discovered in California.
1848-1850--Abraham Lincoln, upon returning to Mississippi, skillfully uses his military service to promote his political career, exaggerating both his own achievements and those of his regiment. As a result, he positions himself for a gubernatorial candidacy in 1850.
1849 onward--California Gold Rush.
1850--Abraham Lincoln runs for Governor of Mississippi, and wins, defeating Democrat John A. Quitman. Quitman, frustrated at his defeat, accepts the offer of Cuban revolutionary Narcisco Lopez to lead a filibustering expedition to Cuba. The expedition fails, and Quitman is captured and executed.
1852--Abraham Lincoln, seeing that the Whig Party is becoming increasingly weak and ineffectual, switches parties. Running as a Democrat, he wins election to the U.S. Congress, defeating John D. Freeman.
1854--Stephen A. Douglas, Democratic Senator from Illinois, proposes the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The bill embodies Douglas’s view that the status of slavery in the territories should be decided by the people of the territories themselves, a concept which becomes known as “popular sovereignty.” Douglas argues that that soil and climate would make the territory unsuitable for plantations, which last reassured his northern supporters it would remain free. He defends his doctrine of popular sovereignty as a means of promoting democracy and removing the slavery issue from national politics, lest it threaten to rip the nation apart.
However, it will actually have exactly the opposite effect. Slavery supporters and Free-Soilers will soon be engaged in competition for political domination in Kansas, and this competition will quickly turn violent. Kansas is about to begin bleeding, and the wound will eventually split the nation.
Abraham Lincoln, sensing the conflict which is about to erupt, declines to run for a second term as a U.S. Congressman. Instead, he runs for the U.S. Senate seat recently vacated by Walker Brooke, and through the influence of his friend and fellow Senator Jefferson Davis, the State Legislature selects him for the post.
1854-1860--As the Kansas crisis begins to tear the nation apart, Abraham Lincoln becomes known as an eloquent defender of State’s Rights in the United States Senate, nearly as well-known as his fellow-Mississippian, Jefferson Davis.
1856--Pro-slavery forces under Sheriff Samuel J. Jones burn the Free-State Hotel and destroy two anti-slavery newspapers and other businesses in Lawrence, Kansas. Three days later, the Pottowatomie Massacre occurs in Franklin County, Kansas when followers of abolitionist John Brown kill five homesteaders, ostensibly because of their pro-slavery views (in actuality, several of those killed were slated to be witnesses in an upcoming trial of one of John Brown‘s sons, and the killings may have been motivated more by a desire to remove these witnesses than by the pro-slavery views of the victims). South Carolina Congressman Preston Brooks attacks Senator Charles Sumner with a cane in the hall of the U.S. Senate after Sumner gave a speech attacking Southern sympathizers for the pro-slavery violence in Kansas. Sumner would take three years to recover while Brooks was lionized throughout Southern states. In the federal elections held this year, John C. Fremont, the first candidate for president under the banner of the Republican Party, loses his bid for the presidency to James C. Buchanan. Millard Fillmore, running on the American Know-Nothing and Whig tickets was also defeated.
1857 - The United States Supreme Court rules in the Dred Scott decision, 6-3, that a slave did not become free when transported into a free state. It also ruled that slavery could not be banned by the U.S. Congress in a Territory held by the Federal Government, and that blacks were not citizens of the United States. James Buchanan is sworn into office as the 15th President of the United States.
1858--With strife between pro-slavery and anti-slavery partisans escalating to dramatic chaos, the 2nd Infantry and 3rd Artillery regiments under the command of Captain Nathanial Lyon attempt to restore order during the "Bleeding Kansas" campaign. Democrat Stephen Douglas runs for re-election as Senator from Illinois. He is opposed by Republican Congressman Owen Lovejoy. A series of debates between the two candidates is held. Lovejoy is not nearly as eloquent as Abraham Lincoln was in OTL, and the debates do not catapult him into national prominence. However, Lovejoy, a staunch abolitionist, does force Douglas to make various anti-slavery statements which will come back to haunt him later on.
Also in this year, during a Senate debate on the crisis in Kansas, Senator Abraham Lincoln of Mississippi gives his famous “House Divided” speech, the most memorable portion of which is as follows…
“We are now far into the fifth year, since a policy was initiated, with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only, not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed.
A house divided against itself cannot stand.
I hope the Union will not be dissolved. I hope the house will not fall. But if the agitation by some elements at the North against the South and it’s institutions will not cease, and if the South will not be given her just rights within this Union, she will be forced to leave the house, and the Union will be dissolved.
It is my hope, and my prayer, that this will not happen. I love this Union as I do my own life. But if our Northern brethren will not allow us to live with them in the same house, should they wonder when one day, we leave and build another?”
1859--The United States Armory at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) is seized by twenty-one men under the leadership of abolitionist John Brown. This act to cause an uprising of slaves in the surrounding territories fails when federal troops on October 18, under the command of Colonel Robert E. Lee, kill several of the raiders and capture John Brown. Brown is hanged for treason by the state of Virginia later that year.
1860--The Election of 1860: At the Republican National Convention, William H. Seward of New York wins the Republican nomination for President, defeating challengers Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania, and Edward Bate of Missouri. At the Democratic National Convention, Stephen Douglas of Illinois is nominated for President. However upon his nomination, the Southern delegations walk out of the convention. They reconvene in Charleston, South Carolina, and nominate Senator Abraham Lincoln of Mississippi as their candidate. Meanwhile, a coalition of former Southern Whigs forms the Constitutional Union Party, nominating John Bell of Tennessee. The Republican candidate, Seward, narrowly wins the election, and does so without winning a single Southern electoral vote. South Carolina secedes from the Union on December 22, 1860.
January 1861--Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, and Louisiana secede from the Union. Federal troops fire on Southern civilians gathered outside Fort Barrancas, Florida.
February 1861--Texas secedes from the Union. General David Twiggs, commanding U.S. military forces in Texas, surrenders his command and all government stores and installations to the State of Texas. A convention of the seceded States is held in Montgomery, Alabama, and votes to create a new nation, the Confederate States of America. A Provisional Government is formed, and a Provisional Constitution is adopted. There is much debate as to who is to be offered the post of Confederate President. It is decided to offer the office to Jefferson Davis, who is generally recognized as the pre-eminent statesman of the South. However, Davis, who desires a military command instead, turns down the position, and nominates his friend and colleague, fellow Mississippi Senator Abraham Lincoln.
March 1861--After much debate, and desperate to fill the post before March 4...the day President-elect Seward is to be sworn in as President of the United States…the Montgomery Convention votes to offer the Confederate Presidency to Senator Abraham Lincoln of Mississippi. Lincoln accepts, and on March 4, 1861, he is sworn in as the first President of the Confederate States of America.