Our Fair Country: The Commonwealth of New England
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The State of East Tennessee
This is a cross-post from my entry into the MotF 174 contest.
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Forged in the fires of the American Civil War, the State of East Tennessee is the result of the steadfast resistance of pro-Union partisans in eastern Tennessee who were able to secure the liberation of much of the future state from the Confederate Army before the arrival of Union forces. The Confederacy never maintained full control over eastern Tennessee, although Kingsport was used as a munitions depot for Confederate General Richard Taylor's Invasion of Virginia during 1866. With the defeat of General Albert Johnston's Army of Tennessee at the Battle of Chattanooga, all Confederate forces had been repelled from the state, and would never mount a serious offensive into East Tennessee. With the war still dragging on, and eager to show their loyalty, the eastern counties of Tennessee voted to secede from Tennessee and petitioned to re-enter the Union as the State of East Tennessee. Despite the objections of western Tennessee, President Lincoln and the National Democratic Congress approved the petition, and East Tennessee entered the Union as the 33rd State. East Tennessee was long considered part of the "Workingman's Coalition" of states, which would lend their Electoral Votes to Social Labor and its predecessors, and sent left-wing politicians to Hamilton. In recent years, the state has begun to drift to the Nationals, with incumbent President Janet Yellen narrowly winning the state in 2016. Congressman Dan Eldridge of the fourth district also won re-election by only a few thousand votes. Strong population growth in East Tennessee's rural counties and the expansion of Knoxville and Chattanooga's suburbs beyond the borders of the City-County have caused both Knox and Jay Counties to in recent years lean towards the Nationals.
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Forged in the fires of the American Civil War, the State of East Tennessee is the result of the steadfast resistance of pro-Union partisans in eastern Tennessee who were able to secure the liberation of much of the future state from the Confederate Army before the arrival of Union forces. The Confederacy never maintained full control over eastern Tennessee, although Kingsport was used as a munitions depot for Confederate General Richard Taylor's Invasion of Virginia during 1866. With the defeat of General Albert Johnston's Army of Tennessee at the Battle of Chattanooga, all Confederate forces had been repelled from the state, and would never mount a serious offensive into East Tennessee. With the war still dragging on, and eager to show their loyalty, the eastern counties of Tennessee voted to secede from Tennessee and petitioned to re-enter the Union as the State of East Tennessee. Despite the objections of western Tennessee, President Lincoln and the National Democratic Congress approved the petition, and East Tennessee entered the Union as the 33rd State. East Tennessee was long considered part of the "Workingman's Coalition" of states, which would lend their Electoral Votes to Social Labor and its predecessors, and sent left-wing politicians to Hamilton. In recent years, the state has begun to drift to the Nationals, with incumbent President Janet Yellen narrowly winning the state in 2016. Congressman Dan Eldridge of the fourth district also won re-election by only a few thousand votes. Strong population growth in East Tennessee's rural counties and the expansion of Knoxville and Chattanooga's suburbs beyond the borders of the City-County have caused both Knox and Jay Counties to in recent years lean towards the Nationals.
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Witch0Winter
Banned
It's so beautifully done, I think I might cry. I'd really love it if some day we got write-ups on some of the individual unique states that the US has. I'd be fascinated to know what goes on in East Tennessee.
Heck yeah! I forgot about the Air Force. I'll do a wikibox of it... sometime soon.
Thank you! I will actually add the description I put in the thread, because it gives some indication of what's happening in East Tennessee. This was really fun to do, so I might be doing some more U.S. states as a side project sometime!
I like It it also adds to the Interesting USA party system like with Illinois being competitive. Basically, this reminds me of West Virginia but with a better Left-Wing sense of allegiance.
Listen... look... I'm really bad at leaving this alone. In my justification, I made this for MotF, not OFC
But yeah! East Tennessee is very much like West Virginia politically, and is a stand in for the general "Appalachia" state that's missing with West Virginia not existing.
American elections are very competitive. There's no "southern strategy" and voting is skewed towards demographics. It's more skewed towards urban/rural and policy matters. Since the Confederacy's shit was NEVER tolerated there was never the rise of racist southerners, and African Americans were never disenfranchised. The civil rights movement was much more muted and it was a cultural movement, not a political one.
First off, great map! It's extremely visually appealing! Secondly, East Tennessee's flag is awesome, does this mean that other American state flags are an improvement from OTL counterparts? Considering that reconstruction goes better ITTL and civil rights to African-Americans happen sooner I doubt that the Lost Cause mindset is as prevalent so what does this mean for southern flags that have Confederate symbols in OTL?
Barbara Bush
Barbara Bush was the former Lieutenant Governor of Maine, wife of former Prime Minister George Bush, and mother of incumbent Long Island Premier Neil Bush. She was born Barbara Pierce in Brooklyn, Long Island to an American mother and New England father, Marvin Pierce. Through her father, she is related to New England's second Prime Minister, Franklin Pierce. She was known as "New England's Grandmother" during her husband's tenure as Prime Minister, and she took a high profile promoting literacy in both English and French across the country. A non-native speaker herself, she learned French as part of the literacy campaign and inspired thousands with her down to earth attitude and willingness to help. After her husband lost the 1990 General Election, the Bushes moved to their summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine. For her tireless efforts at promoting literacy and being a strong public figure, Maine Premier Angus King offered her name as Maine's Lieutenant Governor in 1994, which she accepted. She served in the role for four years, where she hosted Queen Elizabeth II during her 1996 tour of New England. Coincidentally, she had also hosted the Queen during her 1989 visit to New England, but this was done in a supporting role to her husband's premiership.
Bush peacefully passed away on 17 April 2018 at the Bush Compound in Kennebunkport, Maine surrounded by all of her surviving children, her husband, and multiple of grandchildren. Prime Minister Regan offered his condolences saying, "This country, and this planet, have lost a gracious soul, and a tireless advocate." Former Prime Ministers Kirk, Carcieri, Kerry, Dodd, and Weicker all offered similar words of support. Her death was also noted by Queen Elizabeth, who issued a statement praising her "years of public service" and noting that she was "one of the best New England has ever had to offer. The Commonwealth mourns her." In a rare show of support for one of the highest profile wives of the Prime Minister, Regan ordered the country's flags to fly at half-staff for the remainder of the week.
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This is an exception that I had to do.
I'm guessing that there's no real 'First Lady/Gentleman' position in New England? I know parliamentary democracies generally don't have such a position, but it would've been interesting had that been one of the American influences on NE.
Thank you! And no, East Tennessee's flag is an exception. All U.S. State flags are still ugly, and even ET's breaks the rules still "no state seals on flags."
There is no Confederate imagery on any southern flag.
There is no such title, although "First Lady" is informally used. The spouse of the Prime Minister has no real functions and isn't known to take on a project of their own, which makes Bush exceptional in that regard.
Congress does indeed still meet on the first Monday in December. Congressional and Presidential dates/times remain unchanged from Hamilton's first term in office.
Several have, but none in the 1900s or 2000s, and even then only once after the Civil War.
Oh well.
Interesting. So what do the southern flags look like? I'd assume this means that Confederate imagery (like the Confederate flag being flown in front southern government offices) isn't very common as well?
When I get the chance I'll try and mock some of the flags up quick.
Confederate imagery is regarded akin to the display of the Nazi flag in the U.S. today. It is not the same, but it's a very similar, visceral gut reaction of "what, what? this person is clearly deranged." The "Southern Democrats" that are well known throughout U.S. History died in 1872 when the Union boys didn't leave until the 1900s. African-Americans were well educated, held a lot of political power/wealth, and it made it impossible for the racists to rise up again. The National Democrats retained their coalition throughout the South of poor white farmers and African-Americans until the 1940s when that political order was shattered by the rise of the Workingman's Coalition, which banded together rural poor farmers and urban industrial workers to elect Progressives and Social Laborites.
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