alternatehistory.com

Hello, I'm back again. Need help with my timeline. (Urgent!)

Hello folks. As a few of you may know I had started working on an original timeline back in June; those who want more information can read these posts:

https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=197101
https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=203715
https://www.alternatehistory.com/di...istory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=199864

The first POD is relatively small, but I'll be building up the TL from there......with a little help, of course.

Speaking of that, here are the known guestwriting volunteers:

Fredrick II Barbarossa
Tukk323
Grey Wolf

Also, to anyone who may have been either watching this and/or wanting to contribute, I deeply apologize for the rather sudden halt in activity, but towards the end of July, my computer suffered a bolt-out-of-the-blue system malfunction which somehow caused me to lose internet access. This wasn't too much of an issue, but in late August I suffered yet another setback when all internet access period was lost for a few days due to a faulty router. So it's been pretty tough on me these past 5-6 weeks or so, and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Also, here's a couple of pages worth of a preview:

" First POD: June 9, 1805-President Jefferson wakes up on this warm summer morning and decides to call an informal meeting with some associates. Among the topics discussed are the eventual abolition of the U.S. slave trade, and possible restriction of trade against Great Britain.

Aug 4, 1805: A little trouble begins to brew in Spanish Florida on this day; A peaceful demonstration against recently tightened military controls by Sebastian Kindelan y Obregon, after the sudden death of Enrique White in early July.

March 8, 1806: C.C. Pinckney dies of a heart attack partly brought on by lingering emphysema that had been caused by a terrible cold he had caught back in late January.

April 22, 1806: The Non-Importation Act is signed into law pretty much as OTL, but just a few days later.

July 22, 1806: Meanwhile, in Great Britain, debate rages over the slave trade, particularly within the halls of Westminster Palace, in London. One argument between William Wilberforce & a pro-slavery MP gets so heated that both men are escorted out of the building.

March 25, 1807: Problems concerning the proposed Slave Trade Act, have caused it to be postponed until the end of August.

The 1st Major POD: April 6, 1807-Albert Gallatin met with President Jefferson at 9:30 that morning concerning the proposed Embargo Act in Washington. Congress had been debating the Act(which Jefferson himself had proposed), and more than a few deadlocks had occurred. Even worse, most of the northeastern states were very much opposed to the act for fears of harming their local economies. Despite his initial wishes to the contrary, Jefferson eventually conceded. Gallatin started home at 4:50 and the President got to work on his letter to Congress informing them of the withdrawal and explaining why such a decision had been made.

Apr. 9, 1807-Congress receives the letter from Jefferson. Though many members, particularly in the Mid-Atlantic states, are somewhat disappointed, others, including a good number of the Federalists(especially some of the more hardcore members such as Timothy Pickering) breathe a sigh of temporary relief; the Non-Importation Act passed the previous year had done some damage to the country's economy, particularly in the cases of New England and the Southern ports, such as Charleston, S.C. and Norfolk, Va.

Apr. 12, 1807-After three days of debate, Congress decides to allow the bill to die in committee.

May-June, 1807-Nothing much happens in this time frame, except that the H.M.S. Leopard suffers a mutiny on June 4th and is forced to sail back to Europe, thus butterflying the Chesapeake incident which occurred IOTL.

Jul. 4, 1807-President Jefferson meets with several members of Congress to discuss a possible eventual compromise concerning the Non-Importation Act; unfortunately, the meeting is rather brief and goes nowhere.

Aug. 25, 1807-In England, despite a decent amount of support from the abolitionists, Parliament is unable to reach the majority needed to sign the Slave Trade Act into law.

Sep 14, 1807-Congress begins negotiations to allow Maine, which is currently a Massachusetts exclave, to gain statehood; in the meantime, it becomes a territory on Sep. 21st.

Feb. 12, 1808-President Jefferson announces he will not be running for another term.

Apr. 15, 1808-A British merchant ship by the name of the 'Mary Louise' was caught trying to unload unregistered goods in the town harbor of Nantucket, R.I., eliciting a rapid response from local authorities.

Nov. 1808-James Madison wins the presidential election, but not quite by as large a margin as OTL: Rufus King recieved 41.9% of the popular vote, as opposed to only 32.4% IOTL.

Jan. 8, 1809-

Mar. 4, 1809-Madison is inaugurated as the 4th president of the United States; one of his first actions is to propose an extension of the Non-Importation Act, which was due to expire come Apr. 23, 1811.

Apr. 11, 1809-On this day, the Sons of New England organization is born in Portland, Maine Territory.

Sept. 9, 1809-The Sept. 9th Riots began in Boston, Mass. starting at 1:30 that afternoon, after a private cargo ship registered to Liverpool, Lancashire, by the name of the 'Ringo Joe' is captured, and destroyed by the National Guard; the main reason being that the ship had been carrying a large amount of various goods, many of which where both popular, and banned under the Non-Importation Act. The riot lasts for 3 days and gains the S.o.N.E. their first wave of new member.

Nov. 5, 1809-The raid of a recently-established New Haven, Conn. tavern called 'The Patriot' at 2:30 in the afternoon, leads to the deaths of over 3 dozen patrons, as well as the chief bartender. There is a significant cry of outrage across the city, and discontentment across much of the rest of New England. However, though, nothing much really comes of it.

Dec. 1809-As the decade ends, in North America, tensions slowly begin to simmer just a little over the issue over the Non-Importation Act; meanwhile the Napoleonic Wars rage on in Western Europe, and in Britain, some very disillusioned Quakers begin to leave for New England over the failure of the Slave Trade Act......"

(This was the prologue, whose style was admittedly inspired by DoD's first few pages)


"
Apr. 6, 1810
The White House
Washington, D.C.

President James Madison sat in the Oval Office, feeling somewhat miserable. It was 10:30 in the morning and starting to pour hard, which hadn't helped his mood. This whole mess about the Non-Importation Act had started to take a toll on him, and even worse, the Brits were starting to cause trouble again. Suddenly, someone began to knock on the door. "Come in, if you'd like." Madison replied. His chief secretary, William Berkeley[1], entered the room. "Mister President, sir, I assume you may have seen this?", Berkeley inquired, somewhat tensely. He produced a newspaper and put it down on the President's desk. The headline read, "Cargo Ship Carrying Illicit Goods Explodes in New York Harbor Overnight, Over 50 Lives Feared Lost". "This can't possibly........" blurted a stunned Madison. "I'm afraid it's true, sir.", Berkeley replied.

"You think someone took the law into their own hands and may have....."
"Yes, sir, unfortunately, that is what seems to have occurred here."
"Well, damn it. This is America, not Germany[2]! This cannot stand; the law must be enforced by the proper authorities. Or tragedies like this are sure to continue occurring."
"I understand, sir. That was all."

"Alright then. Be on your way.", Madison said, as Berkeley began to leave the room. The President, feeling particularly unwell, sloped back in his chair. This was looking up to be one dreary spring indeed.

[1]Can't remember whether he actually existed or not.
[2]Or rather, what was the 'Holy Roman' Empire of late."


Also, the DoD post style(albeit a slightly modified version of it) isn't going to be the only style I'll want to use.......I'll be searching other TLs for potential as well.


So, any thoughts, advice, criticism(please try to be as positive as possible as I'm still rather new to this whole schtick), suggestions, etc.?
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