alternatehistory.com

Hi everyone! This is my first ever TL on AH.com. It was initially intended to be a fairly compact timeline about the decline of slavery in the 13 colonies with Bacon's Rebellion never happening as its POD, but it's grown a little beyond that. (For example, it technically has two PODs now.)

I didn't know much about this era when I started out; I've tried to make up for that by doing some fairly extensive research, but there's always something that slips through the cracks, so I'm completely open to constructive criticism and advice from people more knowledgeable on the subject than myself.

I've written the first 25 years and put them in this post; if there's interest in seeing it continue, I'll probably be writing installments of 5-10 years each, depending on how much happens in each year.

I hope you all enjoy the TL!

1675



After a series of raids and counter-raids by local Native American tribes and colonial militias, five Susquehannock chiefs are invited to parley with the leader of the Maryland militia. They agree to a truce, with the Susquehanna ceding some land to the colonists. (1)


The Wampanoag chief Metacomet negotiates with New England colonial authorities, preventing an escalation of hostilities. (2)


1676


Virginia and Maryland enjoy a relatively peaceful period with few hostilities on either side. Though some colonists want to attack the Indians again for more territory, the land gains from the the Susquehanna satisfy some of them, limiting calls for a campaign against them to a few hardliners.


The Virginia House of Burgesses holds an election. The newly elected delegates pass several reforms, foremost among them being universal male suffrage and limits on the governor’s power. (3)


1677-80


This period is fairly uneventful in the colonies. Virginia adjusts to its new reforms, and immigration increases during a time of stability. Many of the new arrivals are indentured servants or African slaves brought to work on plantations in Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas.


1681


William Penn and several other influential Quakers secure a charter for a colony in the New World, to be called “Pennsylvania”, over the strenuous objections of the anti-Quaker Governor Berkeley.


The expanded Virginia House of Burgesses rolls back some of Berkeley’s laws strengthening the Anglican Church.


1682


Penn establishes his colony, purchasing additional land from the Lenape, and Philadelphia is founded as its capital. He establishes freedom of religion within the colony, drawing many Quaker, Catholic and other nonconformist settlers to move there.


James II considers granting Delaware to William Penn to become part of Pennsylvania. However, not wanting to worsen the feud between Penn and Berkeley, he allows Cecil Calvert (the 2nd Baron Baltimore) to press his claim on it. Delaware becomes part of Maryland. (4)


Fearing competition for unskilled jobs from African slaves, the House of Burgesses passes restrictions on slavery in Virginia. However, whether by accidental or intentional oversight, their legislation does not extend to indentured servitude or debt-peonage, a loophole that the planter class is happy to exploit.


1683


Governor Berkeley steps down from his post, to be replaced by Francis Howard, the Baron of Effingham. Initially pleased to be rid of Berkeley, the Virginians soon discover that Howard intends to keep a tight leash on the colony. Though less stringent than Berkeley in his Anglicanism, he is infuriated by the reforms of the Burgesses and resolves to remove them as soon as possible.


1684-87


Chattel slavery slowly begins decreasing in importance in Virginia, and indentured servitude grows in proportion. Virginia tradesmen and craftsmen are still uncomfortable, but since indenture contracts have a built-in time limit, they find it less likely to interfere with their livelihoods than slavery.


1686


The Dominion of New England is formed. Edmund Andros, the former Governor of New York, is put in charge of it. Andros is a religious hardliner who hopes to enforce Anglicanism in the colonies, to the consternation of many of the settlers.


1688


The Glorious Revolution takes place, as William III of Orange lands in England with a force of 15,000 mercenaries, intending to depose James II and reestablish Protestantism in England. James flees to France to escape William’s forces.


The Seven Years’ War begins in Europe, known as King William’s War in North America. (5)


1689


Revolts break out across the colonies, some in solidarity with the Glorious Revolution:


In Boston, Puritan rebels rise up against the rule of Governor Andros, arresting him. The Dominion of New England is dissolved, and its constituent colonies reassume their old charters.


In southern New York, Jacob Leisler leads another revolt, seizing control of a large swath of land in the south of the colony.


A small Protestant uprising occurs in Maryland. However, its support base is limited, and Lord Baltimore is able to negotiate with them; there is an eventual compromise, and Baltimore agrees to cease the colony’s policies of favoritism towards Catholics.(6)


Governor Howard declares martial law in Virginia, citing the colonial rebellions and the war with France as his cause, and dissolves the House of Burgesses. However, this action causes the unrest to spread, and many Virginians (including large portions of the militia) rebel against him as well.


1690


King William’s War continues in the colonies as most of the revolts wind down, save for Leisler’s Rebellion, which has seized control of much of New York, and the Burgesses’ Revolt in Virginia. Leisler, however, despises the Catholic French more than the colonial authorities, so he agrees to provide a small force of militiamen to aid an expedition north into New France. The New York militia joins forces with that of the newly-restored Massachusetts Bay colony and with smaller contingents from Rhode Island and Connecticut as they march north into Acadia. (7)


The militia force takes Port Royal in May (8) and continues its campaign through French Canada. A raid by Albany militia and their Iroquois allies pulls French forces away from Quebec, which is finally captured by the English colonists in late October (9).


1691


The ship carrying Colonel Henry Sloughter, the newly appointed Governor of New York, sinks in a storm on the way to the Americas. When his Lieutenant Governor, Richard Ingoldesby, arrives and demands that the governance of the colony be turned over to him in Sloughter’s absence, Jacob Leisler has him arrested. (10)


In Virginia, Governor Howard is arrested as well, but many of the militia who stayed loyal to him continue the fight on his behalf (though some do desert upon learning of his arrest).


Upon learning of these developments, King William dispatches a force of regulars to the colonies to restore order by putting down the uprisings.


1692


Hoping to take advantage of the chaos, slaves in southern Virginia rise up, and the unrest spreads to northern Carolina. Rebelling slaves in Carolina are especially zealous due to the fact that slave masters are granted “absolute power” over their servants by Carolina’s constitution. They are quickly checked by reinforcements from the colony’s militia, who are better-armed and trained, but not fully defeated.


In New York, with the Lieutenant Governor arrested and the Governor still absent after more than a year (and most of the colonists correctly believing him to be dead), anti-Leislerian forces decide to take matters into their own hands. Many of Leisler’s appointed officials are attacked, arrested or even killed, and the troops that accompanied Ingoldesby attempt to storm Fort James, but are repulsed with heavy casualties on both sides. Fighting spills over into Pennsylvania, forcing Penn to call out the militia to try to contain the damage.


The regulars arrive to find several of the colonies openly engaged in civil war. They land in Massachusetts, which has been relatively unaffected by the fighting. They receive some reinforcements from the local militia and allied native tribes, some of whom are veterans of the Quebec campaign, and prepare to suppress the revolts, starting with Leisler.


William Kidd leaves a life of luxury in New York to return to piracy. He is later granted letters of marque and made a privateer in service of England, with financial backing from several English nobles. (11)


The campaign against the Leislerians begins. Though his forces are quickly pushed back by the English soldiers and their New England and native allies, their advance is hindered by the need to secure their flanks and rear against guerilla warfare and hit-and-run attacks. The natives’ familiarity with such tactics makes them valuable assets, gaining the respect of many of the soldiers.


1693


The last of the Leislerian troops are defeated, and Leisler himself is arrested, facing execution for treason. However, partisans and guerillas continue to harass the English in New York.


The Virginian rebels send a representative to New York to meet the advancing English troops, who bears a message informing them that the rebels’ grievance is with Governor Howard, not with the Crown. They promise to stand down and submit to English authority if the Burgesses’ reforms and lawmaking power are maintained. The soldiers, not wanting to fight another unnecessarily bloody campaign, agree with the stipulation that Governor Howard must be released unharmed, and that another royal governor will be appointed in his place.


The Carolina militia has pushed the rebelling slaves back to a few holdouts near the coast.


1694


True to their word, the Virginians stand down and release Howard, who returns to England in disgrace.


With Leisler’s rebellion crushed, Richard Coote, the Earl of Bellomont, is appointed Governor of New York. (12)


Captain Kidd’s ship enters the largest Carolinian slave holdout and puts down anchor there. Kidd bears an interesting proposition: he intends to deny the massive sugar revenues of Guadeloupe to the French, and he hopes to do it by inciting a slave uprising. He offers to feed, clothe and transport any ex-slave who accepts to Guadeloupe, where they will arm the French slaves and lead them to overthrow their masters and take over the island. The only condition he asks is that a share of the sugar trade income be sent to the English crown, and a much smaller fraction to himself. The ex-slaves are skeptical of his offer at best, but many of them decide that the prospect of a safe haven where they can be free is too good to turn down, especially given the dire situation of the slave rebellion. (13)


Though the colonies are now returning to a relatively peaceful and orderly state, the money required to finance the military expedition and the loss of colonial taxes and trade revenues during the colonial unrest have taken a severe financial toll on England that is now being felt.


1695


Kidd, his crew, and the newly-recruited ex-slaves (along with some mercenary pirates hired from the outlaw haven of New Providence in the Bahamas), go ashore at Guadeloupe with a load of muskets and powder looted from French ships. The slaves on the island vastly outnumber their European masters, and with reinforcements and arms from Kidd and the Carolinians, they are able to expel the French from the island. Though it is never proclaimed or declared, Guadeloupe becomes de facto independent under the control of the Africans, both Carolinian and Caribbean. (13)


English pirate Henry Every attacks a Mughal treasure convoy, raiding its flagship, the Ganj-i-Saway. Every’s crew is wantonly brutal, killing, torturing and raping many of the passengers. Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb is outraged, and demands recompense from the English government. (14)


1696


Financial reparations are paid to Aurangzeb and the Mughals, but England desperately needs money to finance its ongoing war with France and to alleviate its ongoing financial crisis, so despite declaring Every and his crews outlaws, it is not able to meet Aurangzeb’s demands. The Mughal Emperor responds by declaring an embargo on all English trade in India.


With both the English government and the East India Company hemorrhaging money, and with Canada and Guadeloupe lost to the French, both sides of the War of the Grand Alliance sue for peace. France cedes a large portion of Canada to the English, and a smaller parcel of land to the Iroquois (given to them by the English as a reward for their aid in the capture of Quebec and the defeat of Leisler). Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I signs a peace treaty not long after, freeing him to devote troops to the Great Turkish War.


1697


Aware that they will soon face a strengthened Habsburg army, the Ottomans retreat from some parts of northern Serbia to consolidate their forces around Belgrade. They face the (as yet unreinforced) Habsburgs at the Battle of Zenta. The battle is a Habsburg victory, but the Ottomans are able to retreat in good order and keep a large portion of their army intact. They withdraw to Sarajevo. (15)


Habsburg reinforcements begin to arrive in Serbia and Pannonia.


Portugal offers to buy Bombay from England. The English government, in dire financial straits, accepts, as Bombay is now of much less use to them.


1698


The strengthened Habsburg army meets the weakened Ottoman army and defeats it once more at the Battle of Sarajevo. Though Sarajevo, like the Battle of Zenta, is not a rout, it leaves the Ottoman forces too weakened to continue the war. The Sultan surrenders. He is forced to cede all of the Egri and Varat eyalets and most of the Budín and Temesvar eyeaets to Austria, but the Ottomans retain Transylvania and Croatia (16) as well as Belgrade and Banat.


Scottish colonists settle in Darien, founding the colony of Caledonia.


England’s Parliament proposes an act ending the Royal African Company’s monopoly on the slave trade, provided that free traders pay a ten percent duty to the government. However, intense lobbying from the Company results in the bill being voted down. (17)


1699



The Darien colonists initially struggle, but are able to trade for supplies with local tribes and with nearby English colonies. Caledonia begins to grow. (18)


The Treaty of Constantinople is signed by Russia and the Ottomans; the Ottomans cede Azov to Russia. (19)


1700


Virginia officially abolishes slavery, with Pennsylvania and Maryland following suit not long after. The vast majority of these colonies’ plantations are worked by indentured servants, and all three have relatively liberal governments. Neither of these are true of Carolina, but it has begun exploring an expansion of indentured servitude after the devastation of the slave revolt of 1692-94.


The Great Northern War begins as Poland, Saxony, Denmark-Norway, and Russia attack the Swedish Empire.

Footnotes:
  1. IOTL this escalated into a major attack on a Virginian town, breeding hostility against Native Americans in Virginia that Nathaniel Bacon was able to exploit to build support for his rebellion.

  2. This averts King Phillip’s War and a great deal of devastation in New England, and sets the stage for better relations with the natives in the future.

  3. This also happened IOTL without Bacon’s presence.

  4. IOTL, Penn and Baltimore went to England to argue their cases in the land dispute, but here King James favors Baltimore from the get-go, meaning that he stays in Maryland. This will be important later.

  5. So called because it lasts seven years as opposed to OTL’s nine.

  6. Maryland has more territory and thus more Catholics, and the acting governors who exacerbated religious tensions in the colony while Baltimore was in London never come to power here. The rebels thus have less support, and Baltimore (who is a better negotiator than his proxies) is present to speak to them.

  7. IOTL, Leisler ordered a punitive raid against the French in revenge for the attack on Schenectady. ITTL, since the attack didn’t happen, he opts to join with the New England militia instead. There are also more New Englanders, because the population of the region is larger due to King Phillip’s War not happening.

  8. Like OTL.

  9. There are more militiamen there than OTL, and the campaign isn’t bungled either.

  10. Sloughter was delayed IOTL instead of dying. His continued absence causes more unrest in New York.

  11. He leaves New York a few years early ITTL because of the chaos caused by Leisler’s Rebellion.

  12. He actually succeeded the person who succeeded Sloughter IOTL, but gubernatorial appointments are slightly different ITTL due to the different situation in the colonies. Coote’s appointment is relevant because he was one of Kidd’s major finanical backers in both OTL and TTL.

  13. Okay. I know this is a ridiculous idea that would never work in reality. Anyone reading this can call ASB on it and be perfectly justified in doing so. But I got the idea of Captain Kidd helping to found a freedmen’s republic, and it was just too cool to let go of.

  14. Strange though it sounds, this happened OTL.

  15. OTL’s Battle of Zenta was a Habsburg curbstomp that utterly destroyed the Ottoman army as an effective fighting force. ITTL, expecting to be facing more troops, they’re better prepared for the battle and it’s not quite as lopsided.

  16. Both of which they lost IOTL.

  17. IOTL, the bill would have given the duty to the Africa Company. However, with England in a financial crisis that’s only getting worse due to the loss of Indian trade, they want the money to go directly into their coffers instead--but the Africa Company objects quite strenuously to breaking their monopoly with no benefit for them. This has the side effect of severely limiting the growth of slavery in all of England’s colonies, not just the East Coast ones.

  18. England didn’t support the Scottish colonists IOTL, fearing hostilities with Spain, but here it allows its colonies to trade with Darien/Caledonia in the hopes of making some money out of it.

  19. Again, like OTL.
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