New Timeline, Jackson dies at New Orleans

I _really_ like your exploration of Calhoun's character in this alternate scenario. I believe there is a recent biography called Calhoun: Nationalist or something like that.

...OK, apparently it's Vol. 1 of 3, the other two being Calhoun: Nullifier and Calhoun: Sectionalist; it was written in 1944; and it's the standard biography for beginning any study of Calhoun :eek:. Well, Borders had a shiny new copy of it last time I was in there. May be worth reading if you're going to write a Calhoun-centered story. Either way, I am very, very interested in seeing how the US evolves without the polarizing figure of Jackson. It sounds like the Era of Good Feelings gets a few more years? Will that mean that slavery is complacently accepted for a bit longer?

I'll bring up Indian Removal again, because that always seems like such a preventable tragedy. If Calhoun follows the economic policies of the nationalists, that may imply that he also follows their public lands policy - they wanted to sell land at a moderate pace to encourage higher prices and thus more government revenue. This would have led to a slow, steady rate of westward expansion. The Jacksonians preferred to sell land at a breakneck pace at rock-bottom prices in order to encourage rapid growth. Hence their passion for removing the Indians completely.

what about that movement called IOTL "Jacksonian democracy"? I'd imagine the forces are still present in TTL's USA that lead to mass political participation on a new, large scale. Who will be the first to take advantage of this new national fervor? Will we have "Harrissonian democracy"? "Van Burenian democracy"?

My one criticism is still with the maps. I still think it's more interesting to divide the Mississippi-Alabama region differently, the way you had it at first. And the election map seems too tidy geographically - in OTL, each candidate had his region of strength, but the votes did not break down so neatly by region as you have it. Also, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Delaware, and New York apparently divided their electoral votes. I'm looking at this map, by the way: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ElectoralCollege1824-Large.png.

Other than that, great job, and i'm interested in reading the next installment.
 
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I am most interested in this timeline. I have always thought of John C. Calhoun in a bad light. I did not know that before the election of 1824 he was an ardent nationalist.

The corrupt bargain is still there with Clay, Adams is the one who gets stabbed in the back. It will be interesting to see his responce and how Calhoun offers the peace feelers to Adams camp.

Good work and keep it up.
 
The corrupt bargain is still there with Clay, Adams is the one who gets stabbed in the back. It will be interesting to see his responce and how Calhoun offers the peace feelers to Adams camp.

No, Adams I think is done for. He was never much of a politician. If anything, he was a politician in the cast of the previous generation, his strength lying in milling about with elites, not garnering support of the whole people. Career-wise, he had been in Congress very briefly, many years earlier; most of his adult life he had been a diplomat either in Europe or in Washington as Secretary of State. He was good at dealing with ambassadors and czars, not voters. That he was ever remotely close to winning the presidency OTL was the result of a fluke of the system and backroom (not dishonest, just quiet and behind-the-scenes) dealings with Congressmen.

So basically, poor Quincy gets no more chances as President. I would hope that he would turn toward Congress as an old man as he did in OTL, and there take up a similar role as the stubborn, crotchety defender of racial equality.
 
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