The bullet of providence, an Acadian Timeline

Thanks! Exam where, as always, a big load of works but they are over and I finally have some time to do more enjoyable stuff, including writing!
 
Newfoundland’s interlude part one: The revival of the French Shore

Louis Cormier, fisherman of career and Acadian of culture looked to the product of is last exit in the open sea for the season with a satisfied grin. Fifth son of a poor fisherman he was forced to be creative in is research of a way to live since there was only one boat and one fishing zone to be inherited from his father. He then remembered tales, told late in the night in the family house, of the time the French were still a power in this part of the world, especially the one about the tons of fish fished by settlers who lived on the southern coast of the island of Newfoundland. He never regretted his decision to move there, the tales quickly revealed to be true and Louis Cormier started to hope to be able to finish paying is boat more quickly he ever thought possible.

The extremely high birth rate of the Acadians during the 19th century was a benediction to the community in many ways but it would be lying to say that he didn’t create his share of problems. These problems were usually concentrated in the North of New-Brunswick were a population of poor fisherman how was constantly growing started to find they increasingly smaller personal fishing zone insufficient to make their family live. The younger sons were forced to exile themselves, some didn’t go far, settling in the cities of Southern New-Brunswick and Nova Scotia, some preferred to go try their lucks in the factories of New England and some others, the smaller but far from insignificant group, wasn’t able to resolve himself to the lost of their father’s way of life and looked to Newfoundland for new fishing territory. They settled in what was formerly known, and will be once more, as the French Shore.

Louisiana’s interlude part two: The Free Soilers of the South

‘’One must not, however, made the mistakes to think of all southerners as bad man. They are many down there how share our ideals and believe in the justice of our cause, sadly, their voice are covered by those of the representative of the slavocratic interests. In one good region in Louisiana, however, the one known as Peruviana, we can see the common man, owner of small business and famers, fight the abomination. The good, civilised and courageous Indians of Peruviana are the Free Soilers of the South.’’ William Lloyd Garrisson, 1839.

The years following the passing of the first generation of Quechua living in Louisiana saw their community, slowly but significantly climb the social ladder. Some managed to buy the land they were working on, some started small business serving their folks and some nearby Anglo-Saxon. All in all, however, their rises were still blocked by the local aristocracy, who preferred poor Quechua to affluent one. They quickly learned to hate them and the institution how gave them their power and riches: Slavery.
 
The Maritimes of the bullet of providence in Anno domini 1860:

Nova Scotia: The oldest colony in the region, Nova Scotia, contained the cultures centers of both the Acadian and the British communities of the Maritimes: Grand-Pré and Halifax. Around these two great cities and these two communities were organised the life of the Nova Scotian society. Halifax, greatest British cities east of Lower Canada, second port of the empire after London and heartland of the British communities, was the center of coastal Nova Scotia: a rich and commercial area how was the pivot between Europe, central Canada and the East coast of the USA. This area provided the bulk of the English-speaking population of the colony, who can be numbered at 65% of its total population. By contrast, Grand-Pré, first true Acadian city, center of the cultural heritage of the Acadian community and home of the catholic primatiate of the Atlantic, was the center of the agricultural hinterland of the colony. This area functioned as a breadbasket for the commercial coast of Nova Scotia and contained most of the Acadian population of the colony, population who numbered 35% of the population of Nova Scotia.

New-Brunswick: If the cultural and religious center of Acadia was in Nova Scotia, in Grand-Pré, is political head and economic long was in New-Brunswick, in LeCoude. With an Acadian majority of 70% how ruled the entire province except it southwest area New-Brunswick is the center of any political power that could possibly be mustered by the Acadians at the time. The colonies was divided in 4 regions, each having is own economic and political importance. The north of the colony, very poor, lived mainly in agricultural and fisheries, the center of the province provided timbers and mining products, the southwestern coast of the colony, organised around the city of Saint-John and providing the bulk of the English-Speaking population of New-Brunswick, made is money by transforming and shipping the product collected in the center, last but not least, LeCoude and his surrounding, only true bilingual city of the province, was the home of the politicians and public servant of the colony, being is capital, and was a railroad center connecting Halifax with central Canada and the American East Coast. As in Nova Scotia and into the two other colonies of the region, the political scene was dominated by the people how fought victoriously for responsible government.

Cap-Breton and Saint-Jean Island: Apart from politician, public servant and businessmen in the shipping business living in the capital cities of Charlottetown and Louisburg the, almost exclusively Acadians, inhabitants of the two insular colonies were fisherman and farmers.

OCC: I decided to make this little summary of the situation because I am arriving at a turning point, both in the history of these ATL Acadians and of my writing process. We will take the time to check what is happening in Louisiana and after that it will be time to talk about the birth of ATL Canada. With confederation around the corner the butterflies are bound to escape the Maritimes and to spread all around Canada. The number of details I will need to take care off will grow accordingly.
 
Any idea on population levels at this point?

Hummm, Using the OTL population of the area I will put New-Brunswick around 400 000, Nova Scotia at 450 000, bigger then OTL even without Cape-Breton, Ile Saint-Jean grow onnly very slightly from OTL, 90 000 inhabittants, is capacity to make people live still depended, mainly, on the agricultural technology of the time and the infamous abstentee landlord system how so plague to colony before the 1870's is, sadly, not butterflied, Cape Breton is still barely populated at 15 000, the only colony less populous then OTL, the reasons wich I will treat of later on.

The populations of Quebec and Ontario are not different from OTL yet but, if only to be able to compare I think it is a good idea to include them here: Quebec was at around 1 111 000 and Ontario 1 396 000.
 
Louisiana’s interlude part three: Let it burn

With an intense satisfaction Simon Santamaria, son of Garcias grandson of Diego, was looking at the flames that were licking what was once a great seaport. The last years were full of momentous events for the inhabitants of is native Peruviana, this small and courageous community whose inhabitants were working days and night to climb the social ladder. Simon life, was in many way, the results of these efforts, efforts who allowed is family to pass from agricultural workers not so different from the black slaves he could see from his fields to small business owner.

Even these small improvement was, however, to much for the landowning aristocracy dominating the state, ‘’THEY USURP THE PLACES OF REAL WHITE MEN’S’’, ‘’THEY WILL GIVE IDEA’S TO THE SLAVES’’ they were yelling. Their hostilities naturally made the Quetchua hostile to the institution that was the cornerstone of their power: Slavery. Simon remembered the moving speeches made by are father to a gathering of a few friends, how he was speaking of the dignity and freedom that was the God-given rights of every man on earth. He also remembers the magnificent smile who lighted is face when, on is deathbed he learned about the election of the republican candidate for the presidency, Abraham Lincoln.

Alas, Lincoln victory provoked the rebellion of the slavers, Simon saw the houses of is peoples been pillaged and burn by the soldiers of the so-called confederacy, he remembered how they were forced to flee to the marsh to have a chance to survive, how they faced starvation and how they were saved at the last minutes by Farragut’s Landing at New Orleans. Simon served latter on as lieutenant in the US army, fighting with Lieutenant General Grant at Vicksburg and Chattanooga, with Sherman at Atlanta and walking to the Atlantic with him. Witch brought him back at this belled night were he was standing in Charleston and looked at the fire who was consummating the heart of slaves powers. Vengeance was, indeed, a sweet thing!


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Ruin of Charleston after her fall to Sherman forces


The Civil war is considered by most Louisianese historians as the greatest turning point in the history of their states. The Union victory and the destructions of the hold landowning aristocracy who was governing the state before paved the way for the ascension of the Quechua-African American coalition who still dominated the state today and make Louisiana so different from his fellow southern states.


OC: OK guy's from now on I will do my best to have at least one update a week but no promess :D

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Chapter 8: The revelation


John A. MacDonald was a very tired and exasperated man on that fateful night of 1865 and when MacDonald was exasperated or tired, or happy, sad or excited for that matter he copped with it by entering a state of drunken stupor.

After all, whether he drank or not, every day was full of headache for the most prominent leader of a, state? Country? Colony? as dysfunctional then United Canada. As the leader of the Bleu-Tory coalition MacDonald was almost always confronted by a majority of hostile MP from the Parti Rouge from Lower Canada and the Grits from Upper Canada. With the number of MP’S that they were gathering they should be able to get MacDonald out of power and to form a stable government but, there was the catch, these two parties were formed with French and British nationalist and hated each other! This hatred was the origin of the present gridlock which affected United Canada. Some talk of creating a two-province federation as a way to break the gridlock, many of the Grits and the Rouge demands were of a more local character, but the recent American Civil War showed to everyone the danger inherent to a federation with only two regions.

If only MacDonald problems were limited to bickering in parliament is live could have been bearable but the relation of United Canada with the rest of the world were equally dysfunctional. From the exterior the citizens of United Canada asked mainly three things: commercial relationship and, from London, more autonomy and territory in the west for colonisation. The imperial put as a condition to these two last desire, and to allow Canadian businessman to trade more merchandise with the USA, that United Canada do something on the defense front, the half-support Britain gave to Richmond during the civil war making their relations with Washington quite tense and the Fenian Brotherhood launching raid on the Canadian border from time to time. The perspective of some significant trade deal with the others British colony of the continent seemed pretty dim too: British Columbia was separated from the rest of the continent by the Rocky Mountains and by thousand kilometres of sparsely populated territory and the economic rivalries between the Atlantic colonies was sufficiently ferocious that dealing with one of them will inevitably bring the discontent with the others.

The most frustrating was that, every time he looked drunkenly at a map of the continent could sense that there was one obvious solution but that he was unable to find it, one thing that will allow the gridlock to cease, commerce to flow, make London happy and maybe allow everyone to go past their petty disputes, something obvious but that, for some reason, he could not figure out. And then it strict him as a Thunderbolt and 10 000 pounds seemed to be lifted from is shoulders, chance to escape is misery and to go down in history as a truly great man. McDonald quickly found a piece of paper and began to write it down; it will be a shame to wake up having forgotten everything about it!

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