Who should become the first president of new england?


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What's YACW?
Yet Another Canada Wank, it was a TL based on British victory in the War of 1812 like this one. As the title says, it was a Canadawank TL that sought to create a major power Canada that would still be recognizably Canada, with a POD in IIRC 1793 (French Royalist refugees moving to Lower Canada, giving the British a slightly larger manpower pool for Militia/Fencibles, manpower that is also hostile to republicanism). Like Sarthaka's TL's it was well-thought out and well-researched.
 
Chapter 30: The Reign of Terror.
Chapter 30: The Reign of Terror.

***

February 12, 1829

Nashville


Abraham ‘Abe’ Lincoln was quite put out as he looked at his stepmother. Sarah Lincoln was sighing back at him and said “Abe, my dear boy, I know you like to aid your father, but he is currently attending a farming agrarian meeting with the other farmer committees of the nation. He will be fine. You do not need to escort him.”

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Young Abraham Lincoln

“But mom!” Abe whined. “The meeting sounds so interesting! I want to attend it as well.”

Sarah smiled at Abe and ruffled his hair. “Maybe in the future. But not now. I need you to go to Nashville town hall, and submit your application for Nashville College. We didn’t migrate all the way here for your education to suddenly flunk!”

Abe let out a breath of air and nodded. “Next time I will be allowed right?”

“Yes you will I promise.” Sarah nodded, smiling at her stepson.

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Sarah Bush Lincoln, Abe's beloved stepmother

Abe smiled back winningly and took the application letters, and started his slow walk towards the town hall. After fifteen minutes of slow walk, he stopped in front of the town hall. What was once a welcoming town hall, had turned quite grey, and well, unwelcoming? The men and women coming out of the town hall all seemed wary and on edge as well. He took a deep breath, and slowly made centered his tie, and then walked inside the town hall. The hall was sprawled with people, and Abe looked around, before managing to see one of the help desks.

“Good sir, can you tell me, where the Nashville College delegation table is?” Abe asked in a neutral voice. The Helper looked at him with half an eye and yawned before pointing at one of the desks. Abe thanked the helper and turned towards the college’s table, and waited in line among prospective students.

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Map of Nashville in its early days

After ten minutes of bored waiting, Abe finally got to meet the professor who was taking the applications. The professor looked at him critically before cracking a small smile. “Mr. Lincoln, I remember you coming to pick up your form! I knew your father from my olden days, so I have high hopes for you!”

“Thank you sir! I have studied a lot for the entrance exam. I hope I can make it into the college.” Abe nodded as he passed the application papers to the professor. The professor took the papers and scanned them once, and then put it into the pile next to him. The professor handed him a new set of papers and said “Come to the entrance exams with this set of papers, Mr. Lincoln, and I hope you will be able to join our fine institution!”

Abe nodded, and took the papers and exited the town hall. On his way home, he saw a peculiar event. Abe flinched as he heard the cries of a female slave, as the slave wailed. Abe craned his neck against his will towards the side, and saw a slave owner kicking the slave away.

“Please, master! He is my son!” The slave wailed as she wrung her hands.

“This son will cost me more money! More revenue gone down the drain!” The slaver snarled. “The least you can do is sell the child and give me more revenue you little snit!”

The slave wailed and sniffed and cried and Abe tore his eyes away and saw the Slaver looking at him.

“What ya looking at lad? Get out of here!” The slaver snarled, and Abe increased his pace of walking. He took a small gulp and turned away, biting his lower lip.

Later that afternoon, as he sat down in the living room, Sarah came inside his room and asked “Abe, I have called you multiple times already! Your afternoon diner is ready!”

“Mom…..” Abe murmured. “Why did the Feds rebel?”

“What’s with this sudden question son?” Sarah asked surprised.

“No, it’s just….that I saw something on my road home from the hall.” Abe replied softly.

“Well…..I guess, the agrarianism economics followed by the Southern dominated government did not sit well with the Feds. They also mentioned something about the government being unwilling to ban slavery.” Sarah answered thoughtfully. “Something about irreconcilable differences as well.”

“It almost led to war with the United Kingdom didn’t it?” Abe asked again as he looked at his notebook.

“Yes. Apparently, the Brock came down commanding an army, calling the Americans to cease the war.” Sarah nodded. “The mere mention of that man led to our politicians wetting their pants!”

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a painting of Brock meeting Edward P. Gaines at the New York Border.

“Heh!” Abe chuckled. “I just….well, we lived in the FSA throughout the civil war, and well, I was young, and I didn’t really understand what they were fighting for really. And today, I can say, that maybe I understood why they fought.”

“Oh really?” Sarah asked titling her head to the side. “What happened?”

“Just…..an incident with a slaver.” Abe shook his head ruefully and sighed. “Perhaps, if I had been older, I could have joined the Indiana Militia no?”

“You would have died.” Sarah sniffed. “Coffee and his men would have slaughtered my boy, and I would rather not have to live through that. But I warn you Abe. Keep these sympathies to yourself. If the government finds out……I have heard the results are nasty.”

“I can guess.” Abe murmured.

The next day Abe was walking towards Nashville College for his entrance exam, his head still pondering on the American Civil War as a whole. He was not really looking where he was walking when he bumped into someone.

He fell down flat on his face. Nursing his face, he stood up and said “I am sorry sir! I was not looking where I was going!”

“That much was obvious.” The man grumbled, and stood up. The man’s voice had a distinct Virginian accent. “Bah, it’s not your mistake only. I was not looking where I was going either.”

The man and Abe picked up their fallen books and exchanged them, finding their own books. Abe looked at the man with some amount of sheepishness present. “Once again I am sorry sir!”

“Like I said, I was not looking where I was going either.” The man answered in a gruff voice. The man saw the papers that Lincoln was holding and asked “You’re applying for the Nashville College?”

“Yes sir.” Abe nodded.

The man smiled slightly. “Heh, I study there kiddo. Maybe we will be able to study under the same teacher in the future.”

“Of course sir!” Abe nodded enthusiastically.

The man paused and asked “What’s your name kiddo?”

“My name is Abraham Lincoln sir. But most of my colleagues call me Abe.” Abe answered as he bowed his head in greeting. The man grinned and said “My name is Lee. Robert E. Lee. But just call me Lee. I am studying engineering in the college. Want to try my hand in the engineer corps of the army in the future.”

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Robert E. Lee

“Lee?” Abe asked as his tongue rolled with the name. Abe smiled slowly and said “Engineering? That’s brilliant! I luckily got a scholarship for law, though I may take Engineering as side subject in the college! If I pass the entrance!”

“Looking at the books you’re carrying lad, you will pass.” Lee stated as his eyes drifted to the books filled bag Abe was carrying.

Abe was about to reply when cries of anger and scared screaming interrupted him. Their heads turned towards the college where they saw staff members being dragged out by governmental officials. Abe was about to say something, when he felt Lee’s hands closing them.

Lee looked at him and said “Your not from around here are you kiddo? Probably somewhere north? This is normal kid. Get used to it.”

The staff members were dragged kicking and screaming into some carriages as the governmental officials tied them down. At the main door of the college, the Professor who had given Abe his papers huffed and shouted “What madness is this? Good sirs I must protest at this sudden arrest of many of my staff!”

“Damn it old man!” Lee cursed under his breath. Abe’s eyes widened as one of the governmental staff simply looked at the Professor and said “Professor Henderson, we have already explained it to you. Much of your staff members have broken the law on Censorship of certain subjects. Please, let us do your duty, and we will let you do yours.”

“Good sirs, those books only consist of recent events and history. The students need to know their history don’t they? The Federals may have been enemies of the state, but they are now history! And in order to make sure history does not repeat, we must teach it to our students. Good sirs, I must repeat, please, let me speak with your superiors. This must be a mistake.” The Professor cried out.

“You dare break the censorship law?” One of the governmental officials growled. “You authorized it?”

“The law speaks nothing about education!” The professor stood his ground.

“The law is the law!” The official cried out. “You may have found a loophole but must I remind you, that loopholes are illegal! Men, we have another target! Take the professor! We need him as well it seems!”

The men moved forward as the professor stumbled back, and tried to move inside the college. The men moved too fast for the old professor. They grabbed him by his hands, and dragged him kicking and screaming into the carriage. After a few horrifying minutes, the government official looked at the gathered students and said “You may continue on with your duties children. And learn from the mistakes of your elders.”

Abe’s eyes were wide open as Lee loosened his grip of Abe’s mouth as the carriage slowly faded into the distance. “That was close.”

“Close? What the hell was that?!” Abe cried out with his voice cracking.

“Happens every so often.” Lee murmured with a small voice. “Any mention of…the rebels leads to those kind of reprisals. Keep your thoughts to yourself Abe. Or else, that fate awaits.”

“What will happen to them?” Abe asked slowly.

“Well, sometimes they let the people go. But most of the times……well.” Lee hesitated. “Most of the times, those who are taken, do not return. And the ones who return, well they are changed men, shut out from public life, probably tortured.”

“Why do this. What does the government intend to do?” Abe asked.

Lee looked around and answered in a small voice. “Kiddo, they want to do what Rome wanted to do with Carthage. Stamp their legacy out. Remove them from history, like they never existed.”

“But that’s impossible.” Abe gaped at him.

“That won’t stop them from trying. Yesterday 19 people in the city were taken because of their links with the rebels. They will probably die. Nashville is just the start. The country is descending into madness.” Lee answered soberly.

“And here I thought I wanted to go into politics…..” Abe chuckled hollowly.

“Kid, if you want to go into politics, migrate to New England or Louisiana.” Lee answered bluntly. “At least democracy there is not a sham. Or even go to British North America. At least even though you will have swear an oath of loyalty to their monarch, they do things democratically.”

“British North America? I do have a few relatives, refugees from the war who migrated there.” Abe murmured. “This side of our country disgusts me.”

“Welcome to the reign of terror lad.” Lee answered sadly. “People disappear, the governmental controls everything we try to do. Fear is the order of the day.”

***

“Mother, Father, you remember the scholarship scheme offered to me by the University of York, British North America?”

“Yes son. Why? I thought you didn’t want to take the offer? Why, what’s going on Abe?”

“I am going.”

“What about Nashville?”

“To hell with Nashville.”

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Abraham Lincoln, the 1st First Minister of Canada

***

“Mirroring their mother country, the reform movement in Great Britain had spread from Britain to the colonies as well. The colonies of Upper Canada, Lower Canada, the Maritimes, Australia, and New Zealand colonies all bristled for the reform to be applied to the colonies as well. The Tories were notoriously infamous for their position which could be explained as blocking any expansion of the reform to the Colonies as well.

Nonetheless, over the years, the Tories became more and more weak in their denial for the expansion of the reform to the colonies as well. However, as the Tories slowly started to agree to the notion that the reform needed to be expanded to the colonies, the ones who started to oppose this were not the Tories, but the colonial elite. Colonial elite in the small colonies present in Australia and New Zealand were small and scattered, and easily swayed. However that was not the situation in the Colony of Upper Canada and the Colony of Lower Canada.

The Chateau Clique in Lower Canada and the Family Compact in Upper Canada were powerful elites in the Colonies of Upper and Lower Canada, and held major power in the colonies. However, the home nation had never really been careful about the Family Compact and Chateau Clique. Largely because much of what they did toed the line on illegal on many occasions. Though many lords of the Chateau Clique and the Family Compact spoke out against the expansion of the reform into the British North American colonies, many people within the colonies themselves spoke in favor of it, with it’s most fiercest proponent being French Canadian, Louis Joseph Papineau. Papineau supported the Westminster government in their attempts to expand the great reform to the Canadas and called it a necessity. In his book, Une Histoire D’Amitie Anglo-Francaise au Canadas or A History of Anglo-French friendship in the Canadas, he writes:

…….To think, the people and the nation that Quebecois scream angrily at for separating us from the Metropole, is the country wanting to give us reform, but our elites, brazen as they are, want to stop reforms for our people. How disgraceful. It was the British insistence for reform that made me a British patriot right there and then……

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Louis-Joseph Papineau

In March 1829, the British government passed the ‘Colonial Great Reform Act’ implementing the Great Reform into the colonies as well, restructuring the colonial representations democratically, and revamping the political scene. This of course led to the major power deduction of the Chateau Clique and the Family Compact. And these angry elites would rise up in anger against their power being taken away in the ‘Rebellion of 1829’. The Rebellion had started.” A History of British North America, 1994.

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The Rebellion of 1829.

***
 
Alright ! I had been neglecting Canada a bit but no more! Whose up for a Canuck Lincoln?
Sounds good and the best place for him with the former United States such a mess. Also this rebellion is unlikely to have huge support as unlike in 1776 they're rebelling against measures likely to have broad public support.
 
Okay I have a idea. During this timeline opium wars can Britain take Taiwan and then have it be settled by Indian labors along with the Chinese? A mixed Sino Indian culture like that would be very interesting.
 
I admit I was kind of hoping Lincoln would be a great internal reformer; whether triumphant or martyr. Instead the AU a potential MVP to Canada.

And it looks like Robert E. Lee is not onboard with the new regime's agenda but is still entering the military. I wonder if he will play a big role ITTL

I imagine we will see more like Lincoln emigrating to neighboring countries. So another factor slowing their population growth. The university purge was a great example of the daylight horror of such regimes. And makes me think Calhoun will fall and be replaced by a more moderate dictator; this just doesn't seem sustainable at the time and place.

I will be interested in seeing what the Americans are doing on their plains frontier. I would think Calhoun would be encouraging development and colonization, which the masses likely would support for fear of losing that territory to their enemies in the future.
 
Methinks Lee is going to pull a Napoleon. He’s going to put down a rebellion or two, possibly several border skirmishes with Louisiana and/or Mexico, before marching into the capital to “restore order”.
 
What if he goes for the full Napoleon and has himself crowned King of the United States? Frankly, a proper constitutional monarchy would seem amazing after so many years of the sham democracy of Calhoun and Jackson.

There's also the idea of there being a "warlord period" following Jackson's fall where the United States temporarily collapses before Lee takes power and restores order.
 
Sounds good and the best place for him with the former United States such a mess. Also this rebellion is unlikely to have huge support as unlike in 1776 they're rebelling against measures likely to have broad public support.
Meh, it's like a reverse parallel to the 1836 rebellion more than the 1776 really
 
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