Chapter 3 – Death of an Empire
President Lincoln was greatly concerned with the ongoing Reconstruction efforts in the former Confederacy in the Spring of 1867. While progress was being made, including the final repair of all main railroad lines throughout the south, a group calling itself the Ku Klux Klan had been tormenting negroes across the region. Initially little was done, as the Federal government first needed to secure the south as a whole before targeting these agitators. The one thing in the negroes favor, is the Slave Reparation Act. President Lincoln used the Federal Troops stationed throughout the south to trumpet the law once it passed and to use them to aid former slaves in moving to the Oklahoma (and later Nicaragua) territory. The other thing President Lincoln pushed Congress for was the establishment of a federal chartered college, technically it would be open to all races and genders, but it was really being created to help free blacks get an education. It was originally planned to be housed in Washington, D.C., however, O.O. Howard, a Union general that was currently in charge of the Freedmen’s Bureau, suggested opening it up in the Oklahoma territory. Thus, with Congressional legislation in April 1867, Howard College(now University) was formed in Oklahoma City, the capital of the new territory. It is viewed as the black equivalent of Harvard or Yale, producing well educated men and women to this day. During this time, Frederick Douglas accepted the position as first President of Howard College and relocated to Oklahoma, believing he would be of more use to aiding his newly freed brethren in learning how to live like a free people, knowing they would need help understanding even basic things like earning a wage and paying taxes.
As for the KKK, their actions ended up causing the former slaves to begin fleeing in droves even faster than Lincoln anticipated after the passage of the Slave Reparation Act. Many southerners, especially the poorest and those without land, were fine with this, seeing the former slaves as a constant reminder of what they lost. The former Plantation owners, however, were furious and eventually started fighting against the Klan because they had driven away all their cheap labor that they had planned to use under a scheme of sharecropping. The KKK, in its haste to torment the now free blacks, had essentially put the final nail in the coffin of the former landed gentry of Southern Plantations, hastening a greater redistribution of wealth. This was due to the fact that the former slave owners of the south were now going to have to pay a larger wage to get hands to work the land for them. In the end, the Klan was undone by the very people they were supposedly representing rather than by Congressional action. The few attempts to cause issues in Oklahoma was beaten back soundly by initially US Army units and then later, Rangers patrolling the borders made up of former black union army veterans that were now providing law and order to the new territory. While there are remnants of the Klan still in existence today, due to the heavy backlash by the landowners that controlled the ante-bellum south, they never grew beyond a regional nuisance in the deep south states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Mostly in Louisiana, as it had the largest black population in the United States outside of Oklahoma and Nicaragua, followed closely by a large group of freedmen in New York City and Philadelphia. In the end, the Klans actions led to the southern land owners and states seeking cheap labor in Europe, leading to large Italian, Irish, and even Eastern European Jewish(though most Jewish immigrants ended up in Northern cities like New York or Chicago) populations in cities like Birmingham(AL), Charlotte(NC), Atlanta(GA), New Orleans(LA) and Richmond(VA) due to the textile and manufacturing plants in those locations, as many immigrants brought to work the fields would leave as soon as they could afford to due to the backbreaking nature of the work. This continued on until immigration was greatly restricted at the dawn of the 20th century, causing many poor whites to slowly gain better wages once the cheap labor dried up. This would lead to an end to most sharecropping by the end of the 1920s.
One thing Lincoln had been planning on since the Treaty of Washington was to try and find a way isolate the French in Mexico to prevent their influence from extending outside of Mexican borders. What he hadn’t anticipated was how the events in Europe would end up doing the work for him. Just 6 months after signing the treaty, the first chink in the armor of a French Mexico happened with the birth of the North German Confederation on August 18, 1866 with a Treaty of Alliance between several north Germanic states with Prussia. In the Spring of 1867, on April 16th, a formal Constitution was adopted that governed this federation until its dissolution in 1871 upon the formation of the German Empire. This new Confederation greatly worried Napolean III and he began slowly shifting resources away from Mexico back to France in anticipation of a potential conflict after witnessing Prussia defeat Austria in 1866. This greatly hurt Maximilians’ rule in Mexico, as he had not had time to properly secure his position and win over support of the Mexican people. Which is why, after losing too many men and financial support from France, the inevitable rebellion began (or second rebellion in reality), led by Benito Juarez. This follows earlier attempts during 1862 that led to a victory now remembered as Cinco De Mayo, at the Battle of Puebla. With French support it was suppressed, but with their withdrawal, Maximilian could no longer stop open revolution. Thus it was, that Maximilians reign ended with his overthrow and execution by firing squad on June 19th, 1867. Also known as the Birth of the Restored Republic of Mexico under Benito Juarez leadership.
At this time, the Parliament in Great Britain was torn. A group known as “Little Englanders” were against further expansion of the British empire and were a driving force in allowing the sale of Rupert’s Land to the United States. They also were in favor of allowing British Columbia to be left to it’s own devices due to the distance between London and BC, wanting instead to focus on building up the British Isles proper, especially manufacturing in Manchester and similar places. However, there was enough backlash from the Rupert's Land deal that, along with public support from Queen Victoria, a new term was introduced for British Territories; Dominion. Parliament established the Dominion of Canada with the British North America Act that joined the provinces of Canada (split into Ontario and Quebec), New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia into a confederation with self governance. So it was that Canada became the first Dominion in the British Empire on July 1, 1867. While publicly most of parliament applauded this, privately the Little Englanders hoped that this would not expand to British Columbia, as they still felt it a waste of resources trying to govern and protect that territory.
Just a month later, President Lincoln received a surprise letter from the government in Santo Domingo. Tensions had been growing between Haiti and the only recently newly independent Santo Domingo, having just fought a war with Spain who had annexed them during the American Civil War. The Dominican nation had been greatly weakened during this time and in fact, now had a smaller population than even Nicaragua had prior to US intervention there. The President was unsure of how to proceed, as he didn’t want to have Spain try to come back or for further fighting on the island with Haiti but they were still ingesting Nicaragua and Rupert’s Land, not to mention Secretary Seward had been negotiating with Russia over Alaska, as Russia wanted to jettison the land to pay for debts that it had accrued due to the Crimean war. Lincoln decided to push the issue off to his successor, informing the Santo Domingo government that they should follow up with the next President as they simply could not take up the issue at this time. On August 28th, Secretary Steward finalized the treaty for the purchase of Alaska with Russia, it had been delayed due to the Rupert’s Land acquisition but now it was complete, pending approval by the Senate. While many would mock this purchase, calling it “Lincoln’s Folly” or “Lincoln’s Icebox”, the Senate still approved as many saw it as further proof of their Manifest Destiny over the North American continent. The US would take over the territory officially on January 18th, 1868.
Meanwhile out west, the Medicine Lodge treaty was concluded on October 21, 1867, signed by Great Plains Indian leaders and it forced them to relocate to the Sequoyah territory with small reservations carved out of the existing territory. Unfortunately, this would not end the Indian Wars.
As the calendar turned to 1868, Lincoln felt a sense of relief, knowing his time as President was almost up. Several key events, both politically and culturally occurred this year.
- On February 24th, the first Mardi Gras parade to include floats occurred.
- On May 30th, the first Memorial Day was observed in the US, it would be that way for a century before changing to the last Monday in May.
- On June 25th, Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana and Georgia are readmitted to the Union.
- July 25th, the Wyoming Territory is organized
- July 28th, the 14th amendment to the constitution is ratified, ensuring citizenship for all former slaves as well as guaranteeing Due Process under the law for all citizens, regardless of color.
- In September, the first volume of “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott is published.
- October 28th, Thomas Edison applied for his first patent, an Electric Vote Recorder.
- November 3rd, Ulysses S. Grant is elected the 17th President of the United States in a landslide.
Probably the most scrutinized of President Lincoln’s last acts, was his decision to issue a blanket pardon on Christmas Day, 1868, for all former Confederate rebels, except for Jefferson Davis. He would end up pardoned a century later. However at this time, Lincoln was not worried about public opinion since his term was almost over. The last great work of his administration was getting the 15th amendment through Congress in February of 1869, leading to a difficult ratification fight. Now as President Grant takes the oath of office, President Lincoln retires to Illinois to plan his world travels. He already hopes to restart his law practice once he returns from his trip. Sadly, that was not to be.
Notes: A little time jump here getting through 2 years and a couple of months. There will be bigger jump in next chapter, as that will pretty much cover the 1870s as a whole, maybe more.
And to reiterate, I understand this will likely come off as Ameriwank but that does not mean they are going to suddenly take over all the Americas. They will not be taking Canada nor will they claim any further territory from Mexico on south through Central and South America. Just in case anyone was worried that this just going to turn into Pax Americana. There will still be a Spanish-American war but I have a twist in mind that may confuse some people considering what has happened so far, at least that's my hope. I went into this hoping not to make some cookie cutter TL and plan to try to keep to that.
As for the story itself, here is a few notes in case you have any questions or complaints about certain things to help explain the logic behind them. Howard University was founded in January 1867, I moved that to April to coincide with the KKK issues being mentioned. As for the KKK, it formed in TN after the war and grew from there before being put down by Enforcement Acts after the 15th amendment was passed in 1870. This was not needed in this TL, thanks to the backlash from southern gentry. For the Jewish immigration, some may question the growth in the south but there were indeed small enclaves in south, Charlotte and Wilmington in NC for example both had small groups of Jewish families pre-civil war, and in fact, the Confederate VP was Jewish. Also, businesses did reach out to Europe for cheap labor post war, both north and south. As for the those in England against expansion see the following Reference for the “Little Englander” group.
Sage, Walter N. (1932). "The Critical Period of British Columbia History, 1866-1871". Pacific Historical Review. 1 (4): 424–443. 
