Historical Figures: Santiago de Liniers
My first Wikiedit! Also an addition to our *Argentina Lore. Hope you like it!
The Colossus Of The New World - a worldbuilding project
- Thread starter Višeslav
- Start date
My first Wikiedit! Also an addition to our *Argentina Lore. Hope you like it!
Looks great!
The information is good and I'm glad to have some more things to threadmark. As important and interesting as they may be, I wouldn't want to just have our discussions here. Do you plan on filling in that space or should I threadmark it now?
I might fill it eventually, but I don't see why couldn't you just threadmark it now and then I'll edit it later. If you want of course. Or we could wait until I have a bit more free time and I can make a full page for it.
Thanks for posting! I'm gonna finally finish up the Californian History thing I was writing up!
This reminds me, I need to continue worldbuilding the rest of Argentina
I'll do some research but I can't tell you anything (or research anything) right now.
edit: wait no, James Buchanan. Yeah, he seems like a good candidate, I would say him winning a bit earlier than OTL seems plausible, especially considering TTL electoral cycles would likely be out of sync with OTL. He leans a little pro-southern, which might be less useful to him TTL, but held a lot of important positions OTL, and was good at climbing the ranks. I could see him being president.
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History: Mexican-American war
THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR
The Californias (comprising of Alta and Baja California) were a region that saw very little activity during the colonization of the Americas. It was charted and explored, and claimed as Spanish domain since the early 17th century, but was scarcely settled. A majority of the settlements in the Californias during its time under New Spain were the result of religious missions (mostly Jesuits and Franciscans), a trend that continued until the recognition of Mexico's independence by Spain. From then on, the Californias was administered as a territory of Mexico, where the populace was misrepresented by governors chosen by Mexico City. These governors tended to focus mainly on the major populated areas -- the couple cities of which a majority of the sparsely populated territory's population resided.
By the 1840s, settlements had begun to appear throughout the coast of California, spurred by the concept of better representation in light of increased urbanization: as such, former missionary settlements seemingly exploded with population overnight. There was an exodus of persons from the interior of the territory to the Pacific Coast, and with that came new settlements among the rivers of California.
In 1851, a team of laborers were working on constructing yet another house in yet another settlement that would soon be abandoned. One of these men, relaxing by a river in the shade for a quick break, saw something glisten in the water. He quickly waded through it, and grabbed some gold sitting in the river bed. This, probably fictitious, account is often stated as being the beginning of the California Gold Rush.
The Scent of Gold:
American advertisement for a clipper ship to California for gold.
The Declaration:
Davy Crockett, first President of the Republic of California
These arguments did have some effects. Despite the majority of the Statehood Regiments being White Americans, there was a substantial minority of Californios who also took up resistance against the Mexican government. Whether or not the United States would react to the California War of Independence was an unknown, but it was a risk that the Society was willing to take.
The Slaveholders War:
Back in the USA, there was much astir about the situation in Mexico. President Buchanan, following his advisers, proposed that the United States intervene in the affair on the side of the Californians. His petition was met with general positive responses, and by February the United States agreed to assist the Californian revolutionaries. However, due to the inappropriate timing, most of the Northern states were still thawing off from the near-ending winter, leading to the hotter South beginning to mobilize first.
In an ironic twist of fate, the winter weather began one of the worst sectional flare-ups in American history, as the South began to go all-in. Streetside politicians made boisterous claims of "All of Mexico for the Glory of America!" and other such things. These speeches often exploited the anti-Catholic sentiments at their unfortunate peak in American culture, and as such were wildly popular in both the North and South.
However, this was not the status quo throughout the course of the war. What changed the near-universal support of the Mexican War was the speech orated by Mississippi senator Jefferson Davis, which a section goes as follows:
"It is of critical importance that the economically-minded
men of Congress -- and here I refer to those enterprising
minds within these walls, as well as the slaveholders of my
fellow Southern States -- be recognized and addressed. Fi-
rstly among these is the industrial importance of Mexico. Her
coasts are pristine, her rivers are rich, and her people cry for
freedom. And freedom we shall give! For freedom is what our
Union of States stands for! For freedom is what brings us pr-
osperity! Her northern portions are as ripe for labor as the
valleys of Alabama and Mississippi -- as rich for cotton as
thereabouts, also. Her southern portions are rich with cof-
fee, and the rest of her is also filled with crops of abundance.
With the Providence of God we shall own these lands, and wit-
hin His Providence we shall succeed in utilizing all of her abundance."
The connotations of the Mexican-American War helping slaveholders had been a lurking beast behind the scenes, but those in the mostly abolitionist Northern United States had instead chosen to focus on the more decidedly egalitarian and pleasurable matters of the war -- the liberation of the democratic California being the most prominent in these interpretations. However, with Davis' speech (and a numerous amount of speeches made in the Halls of Congress similar in meaning and language as Davis'), this more ugly aspect of war reared its ugly head, and finally the slightly more war-hesitant North started to fight back.men of Congress -- and here I refer to those enterprising
minds within these walls, as well as the slaveholders of my
fellow Southern States -- be recognized and addressed. Fi-
rstly among these is the industrial importance of Mexico. Her
coasts are pristine, her rivers are rich, and her people cry for
freedom. And freedom we shall give! For freedom is what our
Union of States stands for! For freedom is what brings us pr-
osperity! Her northern portions are as ripe for labor as the
valleys of Alabama and Mississippi -- as rich for cotton as
thereabouts, also. Her southern portions are rich with cof-
fee, and the rest of her is also filled with crops of abundance.
With the Providence of God we shall own these lands, and wit-
hin His Providence we shall succeed in utilizing all of her abundance."
The Yanks Back Out:
Protest to the Mexican-American War was originally obscure, but still present. Pages defaming the war effort were occasionally seen in abolitionist newspapers at the time, but these hardly were in the public's mind at the time. "I am dismayed," wrote prominent freedman Frederick Douglass, "to see that many a man will continue his life as though this war is not abominable and misguided."Following Davis' speech, finally public outcry poured in. It came from writers -- like writer Henry David Thoreau, who refused to pay his taxes in an act of rebellion: "I have heard some of my townsmen say, 'I should like to have them order me to help put down an insurrection of the slaves, or to march to Mexico -- see if I would go'; and yet these very men have each, directly by their allegiance, and so indirectly, at least, by their money, furnished a substitute," he described in his pamphlet, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience.
The pamphlet, and Thoreau's practices, caught on in a minority of Northerners, nicknamed "Disobedients." These Disobediants acted through public and private protest, some following in Thoreau's footsteps by refusing to pay taxes, while others formed citywide marches in protest. The most important acts of defiance came from the political world, however.
It is a breezy September afternoon in Philadelphia. The Congress is in session, and addressing Congress is Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner.
"Are we already so far gone from our principles
that we have begun to become the very thing
that inspired us into creating these United St-
ates? Have we so soon become corrupted by
evil men and corrupting forces who, like Anti-
christs of the Holy Book, appear before us and
whisper cruel lies into our ears? who twist our
powers and abilities into the powers of evil? Nay,
says I, nay we are not yet. For so long as this C-
ongress has power: so long as the Rights of the
People are respected: and so long as we have the
rights to call out these evil actions as the evil acts
that they truly are.
...
In this war of conquest, of restless national glutt-
ony, we have become driven by the slaveholders,
like horses by coachmen. These wicked men are d-
riving us to rape the virgin earth of Mexico, to try to
spread the evil seeds of slavery onto the nation. Th-
ese men are almost infatuated by slaveholding, as l-
usting as slovenly drunkards towards innocent maidens."
Eventually, the lengthy speech ends. It is met by a minority of cheers and polite applause, and a majority of hateful boos and rudeness. The following afternoon, after yet another day of little progress, Congress had been dismissed. The ladies left first, as was customary. As the last flowing dress left the building, the Congressmen started to stir, including Charles Sumner. As he got up, he found another intruding his path -- a Southern representative. "Ay," spat the disgusted Southerner, his walking cane gripped in a hand. "You filthy cross-breeder wants to preach to the choir about the unholiness of slavery and of war, for what? Reckon we have a darkie-lover in our midst," he said. By this point, most of the Congress remained seated, deathly silent as they waited for something to happen.
"Sir, get out of my--" spoke Sumner, only to be interrupted by a meaty slap, as the walking cane was swept across his face. The dazed Sumner tripped, landed on hands and knees, and was battered by the angry representative. Every contact of cane and body was met by a groan by the New Englander. Some fellow Congressmen finally stood, and headed by the lanky Illinois representative Abraham Lincoln. "Gentlemen, stop this squabble at once!" cried the shrill voice of the calmly Midwesterner, to which the assailant heeded no mind, as another Congressmen spoke for him: "Leave yourself out of this matter -- you have no business in this conflict, nor do I."
Cartoon displaying the attack on Sumner
Getting Out of the War:
While the Northerners were getting beaten in Congress, the Southerners were getting beaten by Mexicans. Northern armories provided a majority of weapons in war, and with the North trying to leave the war, it made fighting in foreign land relatively hard. By 1857 -- four years into the Mexican-American War, progress into Mexico had stalled significantly, going only far enough to conquer the Californias and some adjacent land.President Crockett of California was himself in a dilemma. Inheriting a role that was meant to be an interim in wait of American annexation, he began to fear what American annexation meant -- if it held that the freedom-loving Crockett's project would become yet another place for slaveholders and exploiters. Due to this, Crockett retracted his call for annexation to the United States, leaving the USA to occupy the northern half of the Californias -- approximately drawing the line at the 37th Parallel North.
Meanwhile, Northerners continued to protest the war. The recovered Sumner, risking his life once more, continued to preach the evils of slavery, and helped build the case for Northern states not supplying arms or troops. The Mutual Defense Clause, it was argued, applies solely to defensive wars -- meanwhile, the war with Mexico was an invasion, and not a defense, therefore making the Mutual Defense Clause not come into affect. Finally, in the early months of 1858, the three involved parties of Mexico, California, and the United States, agreed to meet.
The Treaty of Veracruz ended the long, unwanted war. America got ceded the lands she had occupied (becoming the states of Shasta and Utah), while paying financial compensation for damages to the army and for the land occupied, and both America and Mexico recognized Crockett's independent Republic of California.
The War proved to bring out the worst of sectionalism within the United States, as well as being one of the most noteworthy nationwide considerations of abolition in the country's history, making it an important (if unseemly) war. Further, it represented the worst period of Mexican-American relations, and the only time in which both of said nations were in conflict against one-another.
Flag of the Republic of California
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So, overall, excellent. There are some minor grammatical/spelling errors (faith instead of fate and things like that) but they're not really noticeable. The language the southern politician uses isn't too accurate, particularly "methinks" was to my knowledge already archaic by then (though, here it is used for irony/comedy when referring to Sumner as an N****r lover, and comedic use of Methinks lasted longer than serious use of the word, it is already very rare by the 1840s). I'd advise you to either have more accurate southern American English or just describe the essence of what he said, something like "hurled insults", "called him a cross-breeder", "blocked his path and spat a stream of insults at him before attacking Sumner with his cane" or whatever best fits the way you write.
Just make these changes to the southern talk (or show me that it is in fact accurate) and it's getting threadmarked.
If I may say something, as a non-american, can we please not turn this into "Mapping every single US election" thread? I've seen countless worldbuilding projects that inevitably fall into this type of ideas. And I understand that it's kinda important for the worldbuilding but it gets pretty boring for everyone who doesn't know much about American Politics
Alright, I'm hearing a fairly solid consensus against focusing too much on the US. That's fair. Most of these projects go really deep into North American lore but just skim the surface of the rest of the world.
Now, personally, I wan't thinking of mapping every election, just approximately one, but I guess that for that all we need is a rough idea of which states, if any, have the most influence vote wise rather than devoting a lot of time and effort to a one time thing.
On another, less Amerocentric topic, I was thinking it would be cool to have a little logo/symbol/icon for the TL, as quite a few graphics TLs do (fear nothing but god has the coat of arms of its republican britain,
Of Droughts And Flooding Rains has that little plant). I'm having trouble thinking of one though, any thoughts on that?