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Lecture Notes Part 1
*There is a murmur as the audience settles into their seats. The murmur begins to die down as the professor emerges from the wings and lays his notes on the table. There is still the quiet murmur of some as he takes a long sip from his water bottle and finally sets it down. He reorganizes his notes and looks up at the audience and smiles. He taps his mike once and clears his throat. The murmur dies instantly.*


Thank you all for attending today. I know that to some of you this lecture is merely waning on past issues and more ‘what ifs’ than actual fact, but I assure you that this lecture may hopefully alleviate your fears of boredom. Today we are going to be studying that age old phrase that holds so much ire for modern young people. Of course most of you should know that I am referring to the scourge of the 1800’s, Manifest Destiny. That old belief of America’s right to the whole of the North American continent and the inherent right, well the near religious belief, that America was all of North America and not just one nation on the continent. We today know that we have paid the price for such foolishness and hubris on the part of our fellow man.

That being said, it is important we now look back on when this all began. Wa-a-y back in the 1840’s just before the Democratic National Convention leading up to the election of 1844…

-Excerpt “The Price of Dreams” lecture by Professor Abraham Blake, University of Salt Lake City-

May 26th 1844, Baltimore

Dear Mrs. Sarah Polk,

I regret to inform you of a terrible accident involving your husband a day previous. Your husband was riding to meet members of the Democratic Party for the convention when his horse was spooked from under him and he fell from it striking his head against the street. He did not awaken immediately after the accident nor did he respond to attempts to wake him. We immediately rushed him to the local doctor and attempted to have him revived. The doctor said that he may be dead. It was only after fitful stirrings a few minutes later that we were sure he was alive. At present I am unaware of how serious the condition is but I will continue to keep you informed.
Yours sincerely,

Andrew[1]


[1] This is a character completely of my own invention for the express purpose of writing this letter.
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Greetings! This is a TL that I was plugging away at recently when I began thinking about Manifest Destiny and some of the problems it might pose for the United States if it went too far shall we say. This is going to go into a different Mexican war and a much different Civil war for now which is what I am concentrating on. I may be slow updating due to other commitments but I hope I can have people enjoying this TL.

Any thoughts and comments are always welcome.
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