Liberty or Despair

HueyLong

Banned
January 5, 1841
Springfield, Illinois


"To my great friend, Abraham Lincoln, I leave my general store...." Wrinkled paper that smells of coffee and law books.

"The US Army deeply regrets to inform you that...." The message- stale, dry, clear-cut, unlike the real message at all.

"You will never run for office in this state again. Not as a Whig, at least." The pinch-nosed clerk, spite and hate in his voice, stale ideas and submission.

"That'll be ten in Illinois scrip." Greed, really, and indifference as he hands the pistol forward.

Abraham Lincoln wondered if the gun would blow his brains out of his skull cleanly. He wondered what portrait would be left behind. He bets it will be etched in blood.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Themes in American Literature
Excerpted with permission
Halveston Publishing, Ontario
c. 1964

Suicide's Soliloquy
Abraham Lincoln

To ease me of this power to think,
That through my bosom raves,
I’ll headlong leap from hell’s high brink,
And wallow in its waves.
Though devils yell, and burning chains
May waken long regret;
Their frightful screams, and piercing pains,
Will help me to forget.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 14, 1841
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Frederick Augustus [1] looked around the dockyards of Philadelphia in amazement. The stink of fish and sweat and stale salt don't deter him. He is honored, honored, to be serving for the United States..... and doing so voluntarily.

He had expected to be a porter, some dock-man like other Negroes. But he was young, and white bodies had gotten more rare in the dockyards and so.... there he was, cook to a US privateer, chosen for his good voice and respectful manner.

They'll even let him have a gun, they say. "If'n you make sure you aim it at the right white man", the captain from Delaware says.

And Frederick Augustus thought there was no greater honor than to serve the United States same as a white man would. As many white men did.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

North Star editorial c. 1844
Excerpted with permission
The Augustus Estate, London

Right is of no Sex — Truth is of no Color — God is the Father of us all, and we are all brethren

They talk of PEACE, across the Atlantic. PEACE, when dealing with a Negro. But WAR, WAR when it comes to dealing with the White Man. This paper will talk of nothing but WAR until our Negro brothers are brought a true PEACE.

If you, Britons, citizens of the greatest Empire ever seen, wish to take up this cause and hold the cross to your breast, you must take the sword to your American brethren. That MONSTER of a Republic must be beheaded, like the dragons in legend of old.

It will not be simple. It will not be quick. There is toil and tire and sweat and blood and tears on this quest..... but at the end, the Holy Grail of JUSTICE and FREEDOM.

I will not be silent until the torch of freedom burns out the darkness of slavery from all the world. Not until Britannia takes up that torch in her fair hand, takes it up against Charleston and Cape Town and anywhere else the cries of slavery are heard.

THEY WILL BE HEARD!

------------------------------------------------------------------------

January 23, 1843
Riviere-du-loup, Quebec
US Army Headquarters

Ulysses Hiram Grant had an itch [2], right between his shoulderblades where his dress didn't cover. It was a scandalous dress.

How horrible it was, for this to be his first duty in the Army of the St. Lawrence. As if a play wasn't bad enough, Lietenant Grant, the young boy, the young failure, fresh from West Point [3], was to play a female part in The Moor of Venice.

The war was winding down at least. Ol' Fuss and Feathers had taken Quebec before retiring back to Riviere- the general had taken a liking to the village, where a fort bearing his name was in construction.

Still, if Grant had been General..... he would still be out there slugging. The Brits were enclosed in Montreal. Even with winter, Canadian winter, in its throes, something could be done to hurt the enemy. But, then, Grant had failed tactics and arithmetic and oh.... much more, so his opinion didn't matter. He would likely never be a General. And who really cares about useless what-ifs?

Grant missed his cue, and some adjutant pushed him on the stage. His ears were ringing. He drunkenly grumbled out his lines. The Congressional Officer gave a waspish laugh, and Grant stumbled back offstage.

He hated that little man.... Phillip Barton Keye or somesuch. The Congressional Officer had been with General Scott longer than Grant had.... and had done nothing of note beyond parties and clebrations and Canadian women and lots of apple whiskey.... in short, had done none of the drudgery of Army life.


[1] Frederick Douglas's birth name
[2] He gets the name he tried to register to West Point with. Butterflies.
[3] West Point, during the Canadian War, graduates its seniors mid-year. Thus the class of 1841 was out in December of 1840 and so on till 1843, Grant's year.
 
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HueyLong

Interesting scenario. Sounds a bit like Lincoln got side-tracked somewhere. Not sure of the timing however? Have reference to conflict in the US in 41, then attacking and occupying parts of Canada in 43 and a press declaration, basically a crusade against slavery in 44. Presuming that as part of mobilising public opinion for the war against the US elements in Britain are seeking to organise abolitionist support. That could make for a long war as the US is likely to react badly to that but would also serve to undermine the loyalty of people like Douglas.

A lot would depend on the situation and what the POD is? The comment about Cape Town as a centre of slavery sounds like its either not under British rule or slavery is still being tolerated there so there are definitely some differences outside North America. The odds should still be on Britain winning - depending on what that means - but defeating the US, defending Canada and possibly occupying/annexing some areas, as well as freeing a lot of slaves, is a lot different from any sort of decisive victory.

Steve
 

HueyLong

Banned
The Canadian Course in American History
Excerpted with Permission
Halveston Publishing, Ontario
c. 1954

Introduction

To quote the Reform politician Daniel Mackenzie [1], "America was born when Canada died." This book serves to show the contributions the Canadian states made to the progress of our most perfect union, from the Annexation of 1844 to the present day.

This book is a memorial to all Canadians, dead and alive, and to all their great labors. [2]

------------------------------------------------

On the Question of Slavery

As discussed in previous chapters, the Canadian territories represented the most massive demographic expansion in the United States' history at that point. The Canadian territories brought their own cultural and political biases, regardless of the attitudes of their American conquerors.

In the great moral debate of slavery, the Canadian territories showed what appeared to many- abolitionist and slaveholder alike- to be apathy. But it was, in truth, only a continuation of the Canadian tradition of moderation and compromise. This is what helped forge the Compromises that our Union has been built upon.

Canada had little self-interest at stake in the debate over slavery. They had only a very small Free Negro population, and faced no great threat of Black migration in the face of emancipation, as did the Old Northwest and Northeast. In short, they had no reason to defend the institution. There were no great abolitionist preachers in Canada, unlike in the Northeast (and even in some parts of the Old Northwest). Religions of moderation and silent piety dominated the Canadian shield. (As always, Western Canada provides a counterexample. But that will be dealt with in a later chapter.) Canada was of sober-mind, especially when compared to the red-faced fanatics of the Northeast in the 1850s.

Many Canadian politicians were at least, opposed to the expansion of slavery, but not to the maintenance of it where it existed. They represented the Canadian bias of regionalism- a bias the area would not be cured of until Daniel Mackenzie's Reform candidacy for President. While certainly not for states-rights as defended in the South, they did not feel that they could judge the institution on Georgian or Virginian or Alabaman soil. Not a single Canadian Congressman voted against the so-called Gag Resolutions until the 1870s. Not a single Canadian city or state elected a Liberty candidate (not even with the "free-soil" platform). Only 1 Canadian Congressman voted against the Mexican War, which everywhere else brought up cries of a "slaver's conspiracy" and a "southern plot", and was brought to an otherwise sectionally divided vote.

The electoral preponderance of the Canadian Territories and those Territories' own fondness for the Whigs would help to maintain the regional compromise, despite a large disparity between "free and slave states" on paper. Although most Canadians could be described as "free-soil", they did not act as such on the national stage.

Without the Canadian Territories in the Union, there may well have been a crusade of abolitionism within the Union itself. Only the Canadian spirit of compromise and moderation prevented such an upwelling of feelings, such a disastrous split in our Union.

[1] An ATL son of William Lyon Mackenzie.
[2] Note the presence of a bias.
 

HueyLong

Banned
HueyLong

Interesting scenario. Sounds a bit like Lincoln got side-tracked somewhere.

He does not kill himself in '41, if thats what you're wondering. What he does, well... that will remain to be seen.

Not sure of the timing however? Have reference to conflict in the US in 41, then attacking and occupying parts of Canada in 43 and a press declaration, basically a crusade against slavery in 44. Presuming that as part of mobilising public opinion for the war against the US elements in Britain are seeking to organise abolitionist support. That could make for a long war as the US is likely to react badly to that but would also serve to undermine the loyalty of people like Douglas.

All of these are part of the same war (The Canadian War). And note that *Douglass is just a newspaper editor in London in '44, at least as far as you know.

A lot would depend on the situation and what the POD is? The comment about Cape Town as a centre of slavery sounds like its either not under British rule or slavery is still being tolerated there so there are definitely some differences outside North America. The odds should still be on Britain winning - depending on what that means - but defeating the US, defending Canada and possibly occupying/annexing some areas, as well as freeing a lot of slaves, is a lot different from any sort of decisive victory.

Something will be said of Cape Town, and it has to do with a different situation regarding the Boers and Cape Dutch.

The POD is somewhere in the 1830s, but I'll leave it up to people to speculate.
 
Very interesting style! Letting us guess as to a possible POD. Hmmm...

I like the idea of the Canada being annexed, though I can't wait to find out more about how it happens. Some kind of nexus between the Oregon territory and a rejection of the Durham report after the 1837-8 rebellions? Martin Van Buren goes to war to avoid the Panic of 1837? Question: does the Canadian annexation include all of OTL Canada, including what was owned by the HBC and British Columbia?

Interesting that we get a Mexican War in addition to a Canadian annexation. The Canadians become expansionist or simply see no reason to put a damper on the desires of others and who doesn't like free land?

I can see the compromise spirit mentioned above, but I always thought that the Canadians would be more anti-slavery, given the role of Canada in stories of the Underground Railroad. Though I suppose that says nothing about the opinions of Canadians. Perhaps the Canadians see that they can effectively become powerbrokers between (old) north and south. Very interesting. I don't think I've ever seen that dynamic in a Canadian conquest TL.

Also, my bet is that Lincoln becomes some kind of transcendentalist poet, a la Emerson, Whitman, and Thoreau. Ironic, if so, if he pens something like O Captain my Captain.
 
HueyLong

Interesting, Would take a POD to enable a successful American conquest. Either something really pisses off the Canadians that their prepared to accept US control, which would take a lot, especially for the French, or a serious problem for Britain that prevented them giving any real support to Canada. Think one of Grey Wolf's old TLs had this in the form of a civil war in Britain enabling the US conquest. Have to see how things develop.

Steve
 

HueyLong

Banned
October 21, 1844
Westminster, London
Scotland Yard

Frederick Augustus felt like a Chartist. He faced a man, working-class by his build and clothes, who may have once been a Chartist. But now he was a plainclothes officer of the Royal London Constabulary [1], that dreadful agency formed in the Troubles. He had that snobbish look some common Royalists always seemed to get.

"Freddeh, yeh are guest by th' goo'will of Parliament and 'e King.", he scowled and Frederick Augustus winced at the man's dialect. "And 'at good-will, its.... gonna dry up, y'understand?"

"We got us a peace, Freddy. It di'nt get your nigger friends their freedom, but oh, boohoo for them. Nah, yeh can either stop printin' 'at piece o' ass-paper or...." The man let the threat go by, letting Frederick Augustus see the pistol slung on his belt.

"We coul' juss give yeh back to the United States, yeh kno' 'at? We 'afta by the treaty, I gathe'. You and the niggers what got free in the Charleston raid."

"Will your North Star quit printin' the trash about our peace in the United States?"

Frederick Augustus took a moment to look at the gun, his own integrity, and all his images of slavery.

"Yessir, it will. I will continue to cover the fight against Cape Town however, and if there's a premature peace there-" Frederick Augustus' voice rose and fell with all the honeyed tones of an orator.

The officer brought a back hand to the face of Frederick Augustus. Frederick spit blood on the cold stone floor.

"Pretty talk for a nigger. If we make peace 'ere, me make peace 'ere. And yeh'll praise your good British masters any'ays, y'understand?" The man laughed. "But yeh're lucky 'ere, Freddy. Ain't nobody stoppin' that war. Damnboers is just about as hard to kill as any of the niggers down 'ere. So not hard at all."

"Kinda like the niggers up here." The officer smiled a sickening smile, and led Frederick out of the dank cell he had been held in.

"Speak pretty for us, nigger." And he let Frederick Augustus walk out into the streets of Westminster, let him wander somewhat free back to the North Star office.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Frederick Augustus had known the country was going to hell. Every country seemed to be going to hell.

He'd gotten dragged into the country in '42. That was after Queen Victoria got shot and before the grain ran out. He'd feared for his life as the British officer dragged him to the Bahamas. Thought he'd find himself on an auction block. Or in the gallows, if the British knew how many British men he had killed as the cook for that privateer.

But anyways, a British officer had some abolitionist sympathies and being impressed with Augustus's speaking voice, had arranged for Frederick to be sent to London.

Frederick had stood before Parliament in '43 to call for a renewed push in the war against the United States. That had resulted in the Charleston Raid, doomed as it was, and had nearly led to Augustus' political suicide. But then Parliament put down "defeatist" riots that year, forming numerous Constabularies and they seemed perfectly content pushing for a bigger fight in Canada and elsewhere. There was talk of a landing from Newfoundland, and a raid on Washington.

Then Montreal was captured, and Parliament took an about-face. A Queen and a Continent seemed to large a price to pay for what little they had gained.

Frederick had found some sympathy still in 1844, but most Britons wanted to look away from Canada, and start putting the home country back into order. And kill the Boers, who were far more disagreeable to the Britons of all classes. And the Irish, who had been stirring ever since the first shot was fired in Canada.

Then Frederick's office was burned out and he had moved elsewhere and now this......

The North Star wouldn't print another edition. Not for awhile at least.

[1] A gendarmie, like on continental Europe, and in the tradition of the Royal Irish Constabulary.
 
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HueyLong

Banned
Very interesting style! Letting us guess as to a possible POD. Hmmm...

I like the idea of the Canada being annexed, though I can't wait to find out more about how it happens.

The next update will show some more of the Canadian War, and the eventual plans for annexation.

Some kind of nexus between the Oregon territory and a rejection of the Durham report after the 1837-8 rebellions? Martin Van Buren goes to war to avoid the Panic of 1837? Question: does the Canadian annexation include all of OTL Canada, including what was owned by the HBC and British Columbia?

You are getting close with the POD guesses.

Excepting Newfoundland, yes. Oregon is a funny case- it resembles California from OTL's Mexican-American War. (Look at where Fremont was in the early 1840s)

Interesting that we get a Mexican War in addition to a Canadian annexation. The Canadians become expansionist or simply see no reason to put a damper on the desires of others and who doesn't like free land?

The Mexican War comes up later, but its inevitable based on merchant's desire for California, the Army's desire for expansion and the South's initial feelings of inequity.

I can see the compromise spirit mentioned above, but I always thought that the Canadians would be more anti-slavery, given the role of Canada in stories of the Underground Railroad. Though I suppose that says nothing about the opinions of Canadians. Perhaps the Canadians see that they can effectively become powerbrokers between (old) north and south. Very interesting. I don't think I've ever seen that dynamic in a Canadian conquest TL.

But just as in the Midwest of OTL, the presence of an Underground Railroad did not really imply abolitionist fervor. It was usually a few dedicated individuals with some religious justification behind their actions. Less common in Canada, really.

There is one thing skewing Canadian votes- they inherit the British tradition of abstentionism. And thats all I'll say for now.

Also, my bet is that Lincoln becomes some kind of transcendentalist poet, a la Emerson, Whitman, and Thoreau. Ironic, if so, if he pens something like O Captain my Captain.

Ha, you guessed it. But his most famous poem will be over the Mexican War.
 

HueyLong

Banned
January 5, 1843
Springfield, Illinois

"Amen," Lincoln breathed easily. The labor was done. He folded his paper, placing it in a plain, manila envelope and pressing a wax seal to it.

That would hopefully be a week of pay. All for contributing to a weekly up in Chicago. And it had only nearly killed him, churning out verse like that.

He had quit taking cases as a lawyer. Just.... couldn't work up the strength to stand in front of people. And Speed's general store? Fell under in debt. Lincoln was no businessman.

This.... the writing.... was all he had. And no one had ever said a man of letters had things easy.

He took a shot of hard whiskey. He wondered if he would have enough money for the next week. Wondered if he would have enough writing.

"And I walk as a companion of the dead." The weekly loved morbid images, and Lincoln had been more than willing to provide them. "Cold cracked lips break the bread," he mumbled. Something else to send out, maybe?

The weekly published morbid poems under a column labelled Soldier's Verse. It was a Peace Democrat paper, and thought the morbid and shocking would convince people the war was a mistake. Lincoln agreed with them about the war, but their other politics..... not so much.

Lincoln still attended some Whig meetings but.... he usually left sickened. The men there were such.... opportunists. So worldly, so willing to abandon the ideal for the real and the dirty. The two years out of politics had made Lincoln..... impolitic.

Lincoln grabbed the Whig paper, from a tired storekeep at the crack of dawn. He kept an odd schedule, and the people of Springfield had taken to talking about the Spider Lincoln, skulking around in the dark alleyways. Some accused him of being a madman and a killer. Only one of which was true.

He took it back to his hotel room to read. The inn-keeper was kind enough to let him stay there for menial chores..... Lincoln was a farm boy, and he didn't let himself forget.

As always, he looked first at the sections on the Canadian War. There was a list of prisoner exchanges (There had been a great conflict between the two main generals over a prisoner policy. The Whig paper was pro-Scott, so pro-prisoner exchange.)

And he saw the name of his great friend and oh god but his store and not dead and amputated soul.....

Lincoln fainted, his head slamming, cracking against his oak desk.
 
@ Huey Long: RE your *Frederick Douglass update... so is slavery still around in Britain then? Because in OTL, it was outlawed in 1834. I suppose this sort of thing has been delayed by the war...
 

HueyLong

Banned
@ Huey Long: RE your *Frederick Douglass update... so is slavery still around in Britain then? Because in OTL, it was outlawed in 1834. I suppose this sort of thing has been delayed by the war...

Slavery is not around in Britain proper, but was reinstated in South Africa by the Boers. Which would be the reason for the war there.

Note that the society is still racist, and that many did not believe abolitionism should be a war goal with the US.

The Charleston Raid was the only real strike at the South, and led only to a handful of freed slaves.
 

HueyLong

Banned
July 12, 1844
Annapolis, Maryland
St. John's College

Zachary Taylor, wearing the Brigadier-General uniform Congress had technically denied him, paced the grounds of St. John's nervously, always sneaking a glance at McDowell Hall, where the Democratic bosses were deciding his fate.

Taylor had been an unenthusiastic Whig before the War.... and then he and that loose coalition had drifted apart. Taylor may have stayed out of politics if not for the offer of the Albany Regency.

Colonel Benjamin F. Butler of the Excelsior Brigades, New York Volunteers, had offered him the presidency after his successful capture of London. [1] And Taylor hadn't known what to think. But with Scott's own intense politicking and the relative dislike the Whigs had for the Hero of London.... Taylor had little choice but to throw his lot in with the Democrats.

And now the last of the Peace Democrats were stalling the convention as long as they could. But Van Buren, the twice failed presidential candidate, was about to have his own political organization pulled out from underneath his feet.

Oh sure, there were others running as well. Richard Mentor Johnson had tried, somewhat. But who would vote for a man who openly slept with black women? Then there were Andrew Jackson Donelson and James K. Polk, the Young Hickories, who were both pulling a lot of weight in the South. But Taylor had the war credentials the War Democrats were calling for, and could hope to pull the electoral votes in the Old Northwest, and the party knew that. Only Cass could compare, and General Gas had sat the war out.

Still, Taylor impatiently paced the grounds of the college, waiting for the final decision from McDowell Hall.......

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

August 12, 1844
Detroit, Michigan
1st Michigan Infantry Armory

Henry Clay. Wanted. Needed. This Nomination.

He had sat back in 1836, supporting the United Whig ticket of William Henry Harrison and Hugh Lawson White. And he had just accepted the Speakership when the Whigs won the Congressional election, where he had rather fairly took charge in distributing the spoils of office, making himself Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.

And then in 1840, even after the old fool let a war start, he had supported Harrison (albeit with Theodore Frelinghysen as vice-president, poor Old Cato had died in office). And he had finagled his way onto the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War.

And looking over the room, no one really forgot how scathing he had been of the war before and during. Afterwards, he had tried his best to secure his positions as safe ones, but the damage was done. He still took charge in setting up the spoils-systems the party would need in the territories. He had personally invited William Lyon Mackenzie here, hoping he would lead his Canadian Reform Party into the American Whig Party. And Henry Clay thought that reaping the spoils afterwards was just as good as supporting it from the beginning.

There weren't many other candidates though, Clay thought hopefully. William Henry Harrison, already old when he took the presidency, was a bit too gray, and his running mate a bit too stodgy. Webster had abandoned the presidency, knowing it was beyond him. Francis Granger had aligned himself with the Peace Whigs, and hadn't managed to pull himself out like Clay had. That just left Winfield Scott, who had a wall of uniformed men around him.

Clay spit tobacco on the Armory floor. The Jacksonites had elected an unscrupulous general, and Clay would be damned if he was gonna let his Party do the same. He unceremoniously strode up to the general, spit on his hand, and offered him a deal the way men did on the frontier- with a threat and then a reward. The threat? Political ruin if he failed in the election. The reward? Lieutenant General Scott.

Winfield Scott said he would resign from the nomination after putting forth a few ballots for the party delegates. Which made Henry Clay oh so happy, especially as all of the men in uniform cast votes in for Winfield Scott, and very nearly threw Clay out of the running. All of the absent Whigs in the Army of the St. Lawrence, off with the Hero of St. Lawrence, Robert E. Lee, cast their votes for Ol' Fuss and Feathers. Till Winfield Scott dropped out and, well.....

Henry Clay had his nomination.

[1] Ontario. Ol' Rough and Ready is not that Rough and Ready.
 

HueyLong

Banned
February 1, 1843
Outside Quebec City, Quebec
Army of the St. Lawrence HQ

Ulysses Hiram Grant stood groggily at attention. All of the officers seemed to have been called up for no reason known to them. Congressional Officer Key paced the ranks, watching all of the disgruntled officers assembled out front of Scott's tent.

Grant didn't care how many were watching. He pulled out a hip flask, wafted it in front of his freezing nostrils, and took a swig. Had traded with a Patriote for this, giving the blue-sashed Quebecker some of his unit's ammunition for a good stock of it.

The Congressional Officer stopped in front of Grant and smiled. Grant tried not to smile back, but the apple whiskey had warmed him too much.

"What have you got there, Lieutenant?" Key's voice had all the tones of a lawyer, with northeastern university all throughout.

"Pomme-cidre," Grant grumbled out as you did to the Patriotes, then as Key gave a questioning glance, corrected himself into English. "Apple whiskey. Quebeckers love the stuff."

Key smiled, and Grant felt compelled to smile like it. "And how do Americans like it?" Of course, Grant thought. Didn't have to do any Army work, had to drink in Quebec. Nothing else to do.

"I sure as hell like it. D’you?" And Grant waved the flask towards him, and Key snapped it up in his well-manicured hands.

Key took an overly large swig, and handed the flask back quickly with a burning look on his face. "Great Scott!” he wheezed out the praise of the General over the burn and then, "Grant's the name, right?"

Grant wondered if he wanted this man's good word and then nodded. Key started walking back down the ranks.

The officers milled about for a few moments before Winfield Scott appeared, far down the camp’s lane. A mountain of a man, an idol of a man, Winfield Scott was mounted on a bright white horse, flanked by his martinet standard guard, and he was followed by a raggedy collection of officers, in varying degrees of uniforms and rags. Prisoners.

Scott trotted his horse out in front of the officers and waited for them to make rank. Then, he started talking in his booming, soldierly voice. The men behind him looked even more anxious than the coldest officers. Grant’s eyes wandered to a badly carved wooden leg, stained with blood, and then averted his eyes.

“You men do not understand the price of our war,” He began. Grant felt the General’s eyes boring into his own. “You do not understand the loss of life and dignity your countrymen face. These men,” He waved an arm grandly to the men poorly assembled behind him. “… understand that price. They are your brothers-in-arms, and you will treat them as such.”

Grant didn’t recognize a face among the bedraggled, former prisoners. Scott continued. “Congressional Officer Key will assign you a brother from among these men. He will have the same rank, and he will enjoy all the same amenities. Such as your warm tent, which he has long been denied.” Scott looked near to tears. “That is all, men. Expect to see a lot of new faces.”

Key smiled, sighting Grant first. “Lieutenant Grant, you and Lieutenant Speed can get to your tent, on account of you’re both from Indiana.” Grant took a look at the man named Speed, saw the stump, and felt sick for a moment. Then he took the man’s hand in a firm shake, and started to walk back to his- their- tent.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Odd Facts of the Canadian War
Excerpted with permission
Lighthouse Publishing, New York
c. 1954

Not even Ulysses Hiram Grant, the first great Reform candidate, was exempted from the almost ironic twists of Canadian War relationships.

-Grant’s 1868 and 1872 platforms called for “clean, efficient government, free from the incompetence of the past.” In 1845, while stationed in Quebec, Grant was court-martialed for incompetence, and dismissed from the Army as a result.
- Grant met both of his opponents in the election of 1868 during the Canadian War. (Then Lieutenant) Grant was reported as a common drinking buddy of future President Phillip Barton Key during their service in the Army of the St. Lawrence. Their later enmity during the ’68 election would be described by one DC reporter as “the worst between any two candidates.”
-During a prisoner exchange arranged by General Scott, many officers of the St. Lawrence were assigned the guardianship of a prisoner. (Many had been dragged by the British all the way from Ontario, where General Taylor refused to exchange prisoners). Grant was given the care of Lieutenant Joshua Fry Speed, the American Party nominee of ’68. Speed, at the time Speaker of the House, said he couldn’t stand the thought of “sharing this marble city [Washington, D.C.] with that man.” Grant and Speed shared a tent for much of ’43.
-The founder of the Reform Party, William Lyon Mackenzie, described Grant in his personal diary as “….the worst the American nation has to offer.” Daniel Mackenzie, his son and at the time, leader of the Reform Party, described Grant as “….the best America has to offer its people.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------

February 2, 1843
Outside Quebec City, Quebec
Army of the St. Lawrence HQ

“How’d it happen?” It had taken till midnight, with all the Quebecker’s drink drained, for him to ask. Joshua Fry Speed just returned a glazed look at first, and then stared at the younger lieutenant for a moment.

“Bastard Brit aimed at me jess’right. Brit doctor tried to patch me up. He was nice enough, I reckon. But it ‘ad to go.”

Grant got more than a little pale. Speed laughed at the little boy soldier in his head, he hadn’t yet gone on to fight. But then, neither had he before this war.

“How’s it feel?” Grant grumbled out the words.

Speed gave out a laugh, the kind that bounces up and down with the warmth of a drunk. “It don’t feel like much o’nothing, most of the time. But it aches ‘afore a storm, and I know to get someplace warm. And most of all, Lyss, y’know how it makes me feel?”

“How’s ‘at?” Grant asked, and rubbed his beginning of a beard.

“It gives me a real bad itch to kill those damn Brits.”
 
Come on.... future presidents, an election, some war stuff..... what more do you need?

Well, I guess the problem for is the non-linear nature of the TL thus far. It makes it hard to comment to a certain extent.

I must admit, though, the idea of US Grant as an anti-corruption crusader borders on ironic hilarity.

I'm still curious to know more about how the Canadian War happens, though. The prisoners mentioned are American POWs recaptured from the British?

The idea of a "Congressional Officer" seems kind of scary. Almost like a political officer in a Soviet setting, unless this is an OTL historical artifact that I've never heard of. Also, did I misread or does the above post imply a competitive three way race for the Presidency? A viable American Three Party system, very intersting! I wonder what will become of the Electoral College or the power of the Presidency if often chosen by Congress.
 

HueyLong

Banned
It is going to solidify into a linear tract in just a few posts.... but you kinda need to see the War as you see the post-War reaction......

Funnily enough, in OTL, civil service reform was briefly considered as part of US Grant's platform. So, not as historically ironic as you'd think (although I do have some more such moments planned out)

As for the "Congressional Officer", it is a wartime creation of TTL's Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. (One was formed in OTL during the Civil War, so I don't think its hard to imagine in a Anglo-American War like this.) Congressional power over military matters wasn't broken in OTL until the Civil War, and this can be read as an attempt on the part of Congress to keep a firm grip on a large war. An update on the wartime politicking is next on the agenda.

And while the election of '68 is a three way race, I'm not going to say much more right now.

EDIT: Typo in Election 1844 update. Robert E. Lee is the Hero of St. Louis, not St. Lawrence.
 
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