The Story of the South

TFSmith121

Banned
And yet amazingly enough, none intervened historically...

A weakened United States would benefit Britain, France, and Spain at least.

And yet amazingly enough, none intervened historically...

You might consider why that was.;)

Offensive warfare at oceanic distances against peer opponents in the industrial era in the Nineteenth Century... tended to end poorly for the combatants at the far end of the supply line.

May want to consider this maxim, as well:

“No one starts a war--or rather, no one in his senses ought to do so--without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by that war and how he intends to conduct it.”

Even in the Nineteenth Century, nation states didn't go to war for the hell of it.

Best,
 
I'm not sure the French had the power projection to break the Union blockade, what was there fleet like during this period? Also, the French being even more tied down than OTL seems almost guaranteed to provoke something from the Prussians, it's too good of an opportunity.

The French had one of the most powerful navies at the time. As for Prussia, they'll be covered later.

And yet amazingly enough, none intervened historically...

You might consider why that was.;)

I know why the nations of Europe didn't get involved, I've done my research.

Offensive warfare at oceanic distances against peer opponents in the industrial era in the Nineteenth Century... tended to end poorly for the combatants at the far end of the supply line.

May want to consider this maxim, as well:

“No one starts a war--or rather, no one in his senses ought to do so--without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by that war and how he intends to conduct it.”

Even in the Nineteenth Century, nation states didn't go to war for the hell of it.

Best,

I know that European intervention was unlikely, but I'm writing about the unlikely scenario that Europe does get involved.
 
US History Classroom at George B. McClellan High School, City of New York, New York, United States of America, August 19, 2015

Teacher: Good morning Class!

Students: Good morning Mr. Stanton.

Teacher: I know school just started yesterday and you're not thinking about history, but does anyone know what happened on this day 150 years ago?

(Complete silence from classroom)

Teacher: On August 19th, 1865, a ceasefire was signed between the US and the Confederacy, ending the War of Secession that had been raging for over four years.

(One student raises his hand)

Will: So did we win?

(A number of other students were curious as well. Mr. Stanton was very disappointed, not so much with Will or the other students, but with the fact that he lived in a society where people who were almost adults never learned about the War of Secession.)

Teacher: No, we didn't win, in fact, our defeat was a crushing blow to national morale for years afterwords. We should have won, but the Confederates got outside help from Europe. If we had won you wouldn't need passports to go on vacation in North Carolina.

(Another Student raises her hand)

Mary: Why were we fighting them?

Teacher: So in 1860 everything that was North of Mexico and South of Canada was part of the United States. In 1860 a man named Abraham Lincoln was elected President and most of the slave-holding states left the nation in protest and formed the Confederacy. But we'll get to that later in the year. Today we'll be learning about the English settlers in Plymouth. I could talk about the War of Secession all class period but you've got to remind me to stay on topic. And no, I wasn't alive during that war, I'm not that old.

(After school was over, Mr. Stanton went home and started gathering documents from Union and Confederate soldiers, generals, and politicians, for the students to analyze for when he would start teaching on the War of Secession in a few months, knowing fully well that most of his students wouldn't read them.)


This seems rather fanciful.

You can argue that not many students have that much interest in history all you want, but the fact is that these kids, in HIGH SCHOOL should have at least known of the basics of this in PRIMARY SCHOOL.

Ok. You have two nation states next to each other who both at least have the same first damn 15 Presidents.

Never mind that the damn school is named after George McClellan of all people. If you don't know who he is, and what he did, before you enter the school then you seriously have some damn problem revolving an inability to learn and just general laziness.
 
I'll get the next update out soon. Unexpected things have happened recently that will slow down the speed at which I write.

This seems rather fanciful.

You can argue that not many students have that much interest in history all you want, but the fact is that these kids, in HIGH SCHOOL should have at least known of the basics of this in PRIMARY SCHOOL.

Ok. You have two nation states next to each other who both at least have the same first damn 15 Presidents.

Never mind that the damn school is named after George McClellan of all people. If you don't know who he is, and what he did, before you enter the school then you seriously have some damn problem revolving an inability to learn and just general laziness.

Now that I think about it I realize that it isn't very realistic. I probably should have made them Middle School Students. I based them partially after someone I met in college in South Carolina who was unbelievably ignorant of US history and didn't even know who Jefferson Davis or Stonewall Jackson was (despite being very pro-Confederate). He literally could not even name 5 US Presidents (he named Washington, Lincoln, Bush II, and Obama). I knew another person from Kentucky who hadn't heard of the Confederacy and he was a teenager.
 
I'm not a big fan of Confederacy timelines. It's an area that has been done to death, and only rarely does anyone manage to come up with an interesting new idea or insight.

Having said that, it's your timeline. My advice is to keep on pushing through. Don't get too bogged down in discussion. And good luck.
 

TFSmith121

Banned
The issue is the suspension of disbelief

I know why the nations of Europe didn't get involved, I've done my research. I know that European intervention was unlikely, but I'm writing about the unlikely scenario that Europe does get involved.

The issue is the suspension of disbelief; for historical fiction and/or speculative fiction/alternate history to be successful, the world-building has to be reasonable, and without laying a solid foundation, expecting the reader to accept the changed circumstances is challenging, to say the least...

Best of luck.
 

Lateknight

Banned
The issue is the suspension of disbelief; for historical fiction and/or speculative fiction/alternate history to be successful, the world-building has to be reasonable, and without laying a solid foundation, expecting the reader to accept the changed circumstances is challenging, to say the least...

Best of luck.

True I have to say though you know more about the civil war then anyone else I know I think others don't know enough to see why it's so wrong.
 

TFSmith121

Banned
Thanks for the kind words;

True I have to say though you know more about the civil war then anyone else I know I think others don't know enough to see why it's so wrong.

Thanks for the kind words; it's sort of the "sucessful ZEELOWE" meme - it's possible, one can suppose, but only if the British, from George and Winston on down, are all replaced by puppets...

Which an author can do in fiction, of course, but it tends to leave those with knowledge of the individuals being used rather dissastisfied, and raises the question of why not simply setting the story the author wishes to tell in a fantasy universe. It's rather freeing, among other issues.

There's a reason Tolkien created his saga, rather than write historical fiction set in South Africa or the Western Front.

As John Updike said about some of EL Doctorow's more fervent imaginings, "It smacked of playing with helpless dead puppets, and turned the historical novel into a gravity-free, faintly sadistic game."

My opinion is those who lived and bled and died to create the world we enjoy today deserve better than that.

Best,
 
I'm not a big fan of Confederacy timelines. It's an area that has been done to death, and only rarely does anyone manage to come up with an interesting new idea or insight.

Having said that, it's your timeline. My advice is to keep on pushing through. Don't get too bogged down in discussion. And good luck.

Thanks:). I know that I'm being very unoriginal here and I honestly want to get through the war quickly so I can write about the post-war Confederacy and United States.

The issue is the suspension of disbelief; for historical fiction and/or speculative fiction/alternate history to be successful, the world-building has to be reasonable, and without laying a solid foundation, expecting the reader to accept the changed circumstances is challenging, to say the least...

Best of luck.

I understand what you are saying. I think what I'm writing is one of the more realistic scenarios in which the South wins. I'd say it's more likely than some others I've seen (I'm thinking of The Black and the Grey, though I did enjoy reading that TL despite the implausibility).
 

TFSmith121

Banned
Fair enough...

I understand what you are saying. I think what I'm writing is one of the more realistic scenarios in which the South wins. I'd say it's more likely than some others I've seen (I'm thinking of The Black and the Grey, though I did enjoy reading that TL despite the implausibility).

Fair enough... good luck.
 
Three Offensives and One Election​

Though the Confederacy and its allies had inflicted several humiliating defeats on the Union, hope was not yet lost. Lincoln was determined to continue the war until the Union was preserved. Ulysses S. Grant, Commander of the Army of the Potomac, would begin a campaign in the Summer of '64 with the goal of taking Richmond. Lincoln had a vested interest in the success of Grant's invasion of Virginia because he thought that a decisive Union victory on the battlefield would ensure a Republican Victory at the ballot box in November. Over 100,000 Union soldiers would cross the Potomac on July 4, 1864, many of whom were African-American. Thousands of volunteers from Italy and various German Kingdoms participated in the campaign as well. On the Confederate side, Robert E. Lee commanded the Army of Northern Virginia. Lee's forces numbered around 60,000 Confederate troops. In addition, over 10,000 Spanish and French soldiers were present in the campaign. Union forces won many minor engagements in the opening weeks of the invasion. On August 10, Union troops assaulted Confederate positions at Spotsylvania Courthouse and forced the Army of Northern Virginia to retreat, though the Union casualties were higher at 9,000 versus 5,500 Confederate casualties when the battle ended on August 15. Lee retreated to the small town of Ashland, which was about 20 miles North of Richmond, and the Army of Northern Virginia dug in. The Army of the Potomac would assault the town twice and fail both times to break through the Confederate, Spanish, and French defenses.

Ulysses_Grant.jpg

(Ulysses S. Grant, commander of the Army of the Potomac)

In the Western Theater, the Confederacy and it's allies were beginning two offensives. One would be into Tennessee led by Braxton Bragg and the other would be the New Orleans campaign led by P. G. T. Beauregard. Bragg's forces would engage the Union army commanded by William Tecumseh Sherman. The two armies would fight a series of skirmishes in the Western part of the state but the most significant would be the Battle of Grand Junction from October 1-5. The Confederacy would defeat the Union forces forcing them to retreat to Memphis after suffering high casualties. Tennessee native Nathan Bedford Forrest lead a cavalry division at the battle. Bragg's forces pursued Sherman's army to Memphis. The city was captured by the Confederacy on October 30, 1864, after a two-week long battle and Sherman fled to the Jackson purchase in Kentucky. The New Orleans Campaign would be longer and would feature a high number of foreign soldiers. In addition to the French and Spanish troops participating in the campaign, volunteers from Britain, Portugal, Brazil, Prussia, and other nations were fighting under Beauregard's command. Some of the volunteers came from as far away as the Ottoman Empire. Confederate, Spanish, and French forces defeated the Union Army at Clinton in July, Port Hudson and Greenwell Springs in August, paving the way for the capture of Baton Rouge in September. One small battle in the campaign that lasted 7 hours on October 5, 1864, would be remembered, but not for it's strategic importance. In the battle of Plaquemine a regiment of free blacks defended against an assault by a Confederate Cavalry division that had a large number of volunteers, some of whom were from the Ottoman Empire. The soldiers held their ground against the attackers and the battle was a minor Union victory. The actions of the regiment would be celebrated by many in the North after the war and the story of their bravery against the Confederates and their "Islamic allies" would be be used to advance the cause of civil rights for African-Americans. The minor Union victory would not stop Beauregard's advance and New Orleans would be surrounded and cut off from help by the end of November and the City would fall to a joint Confederate, Spanish, and French force on January 15, 1865.

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(Left to right: Braxton Bragg, P. G. T. Beauregard)

Meanwhile up North, the general public was not satisfied in Lincoln's handling of the war. Lincoln was renominated at the Republican National Convention in 1864 despite a challenge from Radical Republican John Fremont. Hannibal Hamlin was renominated for Vice President. John Fremont Proceeded to run on an "Independent Republican" ticket. Representative Thaddeus Stevens was nominated for Vice President. War Democrat General George B. McClellan won the Democratic nomination against Peace Democrat Thomas H. Seymour. To balance the ticket, Representative George H. Pendleton of Ohio was chosen as the Vice Presidential candidate. The end result was a victory for McClellan/Pendleton ticket due to a split vote among Republicans. Though Lincoln had been defeated, President-elect George B. McClellan still intended to see the Union through to victory.

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McClellan/Pendleton: 48% of popular vote, 156 electoral votes
Lincoln/Hamlin: 43% of popular vote, 72 electoral votes
Fremont/Stevens: 8% of popular vote, 5 electoral votes
 
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Independence

As the year 1865 began things looked bleak for those who wanted to preserve the Union. Memphis had been captured, New Orleans was about to fall, and Grant's advance in Virginia had been halted. George B. McClellan was sworn in as the seventeenth President of the United States of America on March 4, 1865. Though he was at odds with the peace movement in his own party, he was aware by this point that a total defeat of the Confederacy was unlikely. And he became focused on trying to keep as many states in the Union as possible. Recent Confederate victories had emboldened sympathizers in Kentucky and Missouri and guerrilla warfare had become a growing problem in those states. General Bragg would also begin a Confederate offensive into Western Kentucky in late March. President McClellan was determined to keep Kentucky in the Union and entertained the possibility of keeping Tennessee as well. Bragg's forces defeated Sherman at Benton on April 10 and captured Paducah a few days later. Bragg then advanced into Southern Illinois where there were many Confederate Sympathizers. William Sherman stopped Bragg's advance at the Battle of Metropolis from May 4-11, in which 14,000 Union and 9,000 Confederate soldiers lost their lives. Sherman then drove the Confederates out of Kentucky and back into Tennessee. He was then given orders by McClellan to retake Memphis. Sherman's forces were defeated at the battle of Durhamville from May 27-June 3 after suffering high losses and high rates of desertion. Many Union soldiers were conscripts who say no reason to continue risking their lives in a "losing war." Morale was low for Union soldiers across all theaters of the conflict.

In the Spring of 1865 Grant made one last attempt to break through Confederate Defenses in Virginia. He decided to avoid Ashland and attack Confederate positions at Fair Oaks commanded by General Stonewall Jackson, about 10 miles east of Richmond. 70,000 Union troops fought 40,000 Confederate and 5,000 Spanish troops at the Battle of Fair Oaks from May 8-20. Casualties were high on both sides but once again the Confederates held their position and the Union had to retreat once more. After the battle, Robert E. Lee decided to capitalize on the Union's weakness and go on the offensive against the Army of the Potomac. After a series of small battles and skirmishes, the demoralized Army of the Potomac retreated back into Maryland on June 21, 1865, ending combat operation in the Eastern Theater. Around this time riots began to erupt in every major city in the North, with the people demanding an end to the war. Some of the last battles in the War of Secession were in the far west. Confederate forces, led by General John B. Magruder, had begun an invasion of the New Mexico Territory in February to reinstate the Confederate government of the Arizona Territory. Mesilla was captured on March 20 and Magruder's men advanced westward. On June 1, Tuscon fell to Confederates and on July 11 Yuma fell. This encouraged southern sympathizers in California who organized in Los Angeles and attempted to secede from California and join the Confederacy. Federal troops were sent in and the secessionists were placed under arrest. On August 9, Federal troops recaptured Yuma after a short battle against Magruder's army.

Pressured by the American people, Congress, Vice President Pendleton, and the British, McClellan knew that the war end soon. On August 19, 1865, a ceasefire was agreed upon, ending the four year long War of Secession, also known as the War of Southern Independence. American, Confederate, Spanish, French, and British dignitaries would meet the following year at Ottawa to determine condition of peace and territorial changes. The Confederacy had won it's independence, and there was celebration throughout much of the South. But much of the now independent Confederacy had been devastated by the war and would have to spend the following years rebuilding. In the North there was bitterness over the hundreds of thousands of lives lost for what seemed to be no gain. Many in the North believed that the Confederacy would collapse in a few short years and the Southern States would be begging to return to the Union. President McClellan seemingly shared this delusion. Others in the North looked for people to blame. Many blamed the Republican Party for starting the war. Others blamed Catholics because the Papal States were one of the first nations to recognize the Confederacy. Others blamed Jews, partially because the Confederate Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin, who was present at the negotiations in Ottawa, was Jewish. Anti-Semitic conspiracies about the "Jewish-funded" Confederacy would spread throughout the North in the years following the war [1]. There was also a rise in racial tension as slaves who were freed by Union troops were brought back up North, angering many Northern whites. On April 13, 1866, the Treaty of Ottawa was signed between the United States and the Confederate States, France, and Spain. It's provisions were:

-Maryland, District of Columbia, Kentucky, Missouri, and the northern New Mexico Territory would remain under the control of the United States.

-The Indian Territory and The southern New Mexico Territory, would become part of the Confederacy.

-All prisoners of war would be released.

1: Sadly, a number of people actually believe this today OTL
 
So, Lincoln loses the election, and then McClellan comes in, but has to make peace. I somehow do not see McClellan's reputation to be that much better than Lincoln's in this TL to be honest. Lincoln may have cocked it up, so to speak, but its McClellan who lost it all in the end - and it's a lot harsher in this TL than in OTL


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(Ulysses S. Grant, commander of the Army of the Potomac)

Why use a civilian photo of Grant? There are plenty of military ones to choose from that would suit better, considering the photo description.

Ulysses_Grant.jpg
 
So, Lincoln loses the election, and then McClellan comes in, but has to make peace. I somehow do not see McClellan's reputation to be that much better than Lincoln's in this TL to be honest. Lincoln may have cocked it up, so to speak, but its McClellan who lost it all in the end - and it's a lot harsher in this TL than in OTL

Also adding to McClellan's troubles is that the Republicans still hold majorities in both houses of Congress.

Why use a civilian photo of Grant? There are plenty of military ones to choose from that would suit better, considering the photo description.

Thanks for pointing that out.
 
Davis' Confederacy

In 1866 the Treaty of Ottawa had ensured the Independence and sovereignty of the Confederate States of America. Although the CSA had won, it had been considerably more damaged by the war than the Union as most of the fighting took place in Confederate Territory. Grant's Army of the Potomac had employed scorched earth tactics in their retreat from Virginia in the last months of the war. Many Southern cities, like Memphis and New Orleans, were damaged in the fighting. The Confederacy was also heavily indebted to foreign powers such as France. The task of that generation of Confederates would be to rebuild the country. Thousands of slaves had also escaped the Confederacy from 1861 to 1866, most to the US but some to Mexico as well. The Declaration of Emancipation in 1864 meant that thousands of slaves were freed by late Union offensives in Western Tennessee and Northern Virginia. Other slaves had taken advantage of the chaos caused by the war to escape to freedom. However, at this time, many slave owners in the United States began to sell their slaves down south as they were concerned about the abolitionism now that most of the slave states had left the Union. Many Northerners moved to the Confederacy after the war. Some of them were slave holding families but the majority were simply Northerners with Confederate sympathies.

Though the fighting between the North and South ended in 1865, the Confederacy maintained a sizable standing army. Many were concerned about the possibility of another Union invasion in the future or of slave revolts and had an incentive to maintain an adequate army. 10,000 Confederate troops under the command of Nathan Bedford Forrest were sent to pacify the Indian territory where fighting had continued after the 1865 ceasefire. The presence of these troops helped Stand Watie consolidate his control over the Cherokee tribe. On July 27, 1866 Generals Forrest and Watie defeated what little remained of resistance to the Confederacy within the Cherokee nation at Fort Gibson. The Confederate government was biased towards the Cherokee tribe for it's contributions to the Confederate cause during the War of Secession. President Davis turned a blind eye towards Cherokee aggression against smaller tribes like the Seneca. From 1866 to his death in 1873, Stand Watie would seek to expand Cherokee claims at the expense of the other tribes in the Indian Territory.

Stand_Watie.jpg
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(Left, Stand Watie, Right, Nathan Bedford Forrest)

President Jefferson Davis was very grateful to France and Spain for their help in the war. France, Spain, and Britain would be the first nations to send ambassadors to Richmond and the CSA established embassies in London, Paris, and Madrid shortly after the cessation of hostilities with the United States. Jefferson Davis quickly recognized Emperor Maximilian as the ruler of Mexico and Confederate farmers would grow much of the food consumed by French soldiers in Mexico. The Confederacy would not send any troops to Mexico at this time, however. Napoleon, Florida is named after French Emperor Napoleon III. Davis was interested in Confederate expansion as a future possibility, but recognized that the nation was in no shape to expand it's borders in the immediate future. One of the few pieces of legislation that was passed in the post-war Presidency of Jefferson Davis was a bill that raised tariffs in the Confederacy. Though most Confederate politicians were philosophically anti-tariff, the majority recognized that tariffs would be a necessary evil to finance a standing army.

In accordance with the Confederate Constitution, Jefferson Davis was unable to run for a second term. In the Presidential election of 1867, three major candidates would run. Vice President Alexander Stevens would run for President, an office he had coveted for years. His running mate would be Secretary of War James Seddon of Virginia. Beloved General Robert E. Lee of Virginia would run for President with General P. G. T. Beauregard of Louisiana running for Vice President. In regards to public policy statements, Lee and Stevens were not very different. A radical fire-eater, Senator William L. Yancey of Alabama, would run for President. Edmund Ruffin, war veteran and Representative from Virginia, would run for Vice President with him. The two of them advocated territorial expansion and the reopening of the slave trade. Lee and Beauregard won a landslide victory, winning every state with the exceptions of Georgia and South Carolina. Davis would leave office as a hero of among the people and would be one of the most famous of the "Founding Fathers of the Confederacy."

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(Jefferson Finis Davis, 1808-1893, First President of the Confederate States of America, 1861-1868.)
 
The McClellan Years

George B. McClellan entered the Executive Mansion on March 4, 1865 and inherited a losing war that he would have to end. When he had first committed to run for President in 1864 a Union victory was still a distinct possibility. By 1865 this was no longer the case. And McClellan was well aware that he would be the one blamed for losing the war. Even though he was "the man who lost the war" the American people would be stuck with him as President for four years. His victory in 1864 was not a victory for the Democrats, as the split in the Republican vote was what allowed him to win the election. Republicans maintained majorities in the House and Senate. So for a while, nothing much was accomplished in Washington. President McClellan was open to moving the US Capital, considering the fact that Washington was right across the river from the Confederacy. A large number of Republican and Democratic Congressmen wanted to move the capital to Philadelphia. Others (including McClellan) wanted it to be at New York. And many Midwestern and Western Congressmen wanted to move the capital further west. Since Congress couldn't come to an agreement the issue would be postponed. There were more pressing concerns for the United States immediately following the war.

The Confederate victory ensured the survival of the institution of slavery for the foreseeable future in the South, but in the US, slaveholders saw the writing on the wall. President McClellan supported gradual emancipation and beginning in 1865 the US government began a program of compensated emancipation. Some slave owners took the offer, but others sold their slaves to the Confederacy or to Spanish possessions in the Caribbean. Other slave left the US and moved to the Confederacy. Others just held on to their slaves, especially as a proposed amendment banning slavery was rejected in 1866. This did not stop the push by abolitionists to end the institution of slavery once and for all in the United States. Slavery was phased out in West Virginia by the time of the ceasefire in 1865. Delaware passed a free womb law in 1866. Abolitionism also began to gain strength in the remaining slave states as slave owners and Confederate sympathizers left those states in large numbers. This was especially the case in Kentucky. Since a large number of pro-slavery Kentuckians moved to Tennessee (or were in prison), and some abolitionists moved to Kentucky, Republicans made massive gains in the state elections in 1866. In a shocking turn of events, a free womb law narrowly passed the Kentucky state legislature in 1867 and was signed by Governor Green Clay Smith. This led to race riots in Louisville and Lexington in which dozens were killed. This accelerated the process of the exodus of pro-slavery Kentuckians. In 1868 Kentucky would abolish slavery entirely. This led to race riots in Louisville and Lexington in which dozens were killed.

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(Green Clay Smith, Governor of Kentucky and abolitionist)

The abolition of slavery in Kentucky led to renewed efforts to end the institution once and for all. Representative Cassius Marcellus Clay of Kentucky (uncle of governor Smith) introduced an amendment to abolish slavery in 1867. Although Republicans kept their majorities in both Houses of Congress in the 1866 elections, they did not have the required two-thirds majority to pass an amendment. However, Democratic support for abolition was increasing. President McClellan had changed his mind on the issue and in 1867 supported nationwide emancipation. Many other Democrats joined him, though Vice President Pendleton still insisted that it remain a state issue. Much of the Democratic support for emancipation was a desire to take away an issue that Republicans could use to their advantage in the upcoming Presidential election. Opponents of the amendment, such as Daniel Voorhees and Alexander Long, argued that abolition would lead to the United States becoming flooded by slaves escaping the Confederacy. The Amendment was passed by Congress in the Summer of 1868 and would be ratified by the required two thirds of the state legislatures in January of 1869. It would be rejected only by Delaware, New Jersey, and New York. Ironically, the two remaining slave states, Missouri and Maryland, abolished slavery around the time the Amendment was passed by Congress. Slavery ended in the United States on May 1, 1869. 7 people in New Jersey and 231 people in Delaware were freed. The Peonage system in the New Mexico Territory was also abolished as a form of involuntary servitude.

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(Daniel W. Voorhees, Representative from Indiana and staunch opponent of the Thirteenth Amendment)

McClellan did not accomplish much during his term as President. He knew that he would be a liability for the Democrats in 1868 and wisely chose to not seek his party's nomination. He gave land out West to the southern slaves who were freed by the Declaration of Emancipation. Some Western land was given to Southern Unionists who had escaped from the Confederacy after the war. Most Southern Unionists settled in Kentucky, Missouri, and Maryland however. Union War Veterans began to receive payments from the Federal government during the McClellan administration. McClellan was criticized by some for not enforcing the Monroe doctrine against the French in Mexico or the Spanish in the Dominican Republic. The President believed that the United States had seen enough bloodshed and wanted to avoid another war. He also believed that the Confederacy's days were numbered. He predicted that within the next few decades the Confederacy would collapse as the multiple states would secede, and he predicted that they would be begging to be let back into the Union.

McClellan would not seek his party's nomination, Vice President George Pendleton declined as well. New York Governor Horatio Seymour would defeat Senator James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin at the 1868 Democratic National Convention in New York. Senator Thomas Hendricks of Indiana would be nominated for Vice President. The Republicans would nominate Senator Benjamin Wade of Ohio for President and Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts for Vice President at their convention at Baltimore. It was an ugly campaign, with Seymour using racism to attack Wade. The main issues were citizenship for the freed slaves and extending the vote to African-Americans. The Democrats also brought up that Republicans had dragged the nation into a losing war. The tariff issue was still present as well, with Republicans supporting higher tariffs and Democrats supporting lower tariffs. The Democratic ticket narrowly won and Horatio Seymour would be sworn in as the eighteenth President of the United States on March 4, 1869.

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Seymour/Hendricks, 50.4% of popular vote, 121 electoral votes
Wade/Sumner, 49.5% of popular vote, 112 electoral votes
 
Lee's Presidency and US-CS Relations

In 1868 Robert E. Lee would become the second President of the Confederate States of America. Like Davis before him Lee was an independent, as political parties had not yet been established in the Confederacy. President Lee’s Presidency would be cut short when he died in office. During his term as President, the Confederacy was mostly at peace. Lee would oppose military alliances with any of the European powers. He thought it was important that the Confederacy “not entangle itself in the affairs of Europe”, echoing US President George Washington. President Lee also refused to send any Confederate troops to Mexico to support Emperor Maximilian against a popular rebellion led by Benito Juarez. He opposed the growing expansionist faction in Congress. He would on multiple occasions declare that "The Confederacy is a republic, not an empire." His support for industrialization was seen by some Congressman, most notably Representative Edmund Ruffin of Virginia and Senator Robert Rhett of South Carolina, as an attack on the institution of slavery. Large areas of Tennessee and Virginia had been impacted by the Declaration of Emancipation and the number of slaves in those states had dropped considerably. Some wealthy Southerners (along with some French industrialists) saw an opportunity and opened factories in those areas. Lee saw industrialization as being necessary for the Confederate economy and wanted a more modernized nation. He also sought to make sure the Confederate Army and Navy were using the most up to date technology and weapons. President Lee thought that it was of utmost importance that the Confederacy could defend itself and not have to rely on France for protection. Robert E. Lee would die of a stroke on January 25, 1870, serving as President for slightly less than two years. Though his Presidency was largely uneventful, his political philosophy would be followed by many Confederate Congressmen and Presidents long after his death. Lee would be succeeded by Vice President P. G. T. Beauregard who would continue his policies of modernization and independence in foreign affairs.

Relations between the US and the CSA would remain tense during this time. Hatred was directed both ways. This is not unusual for two nations who had fought a bloody war recently. Confederates would hate the North for damaging much of the country and for taking a large number of slaves from plantation owners. People in the United States were angry at losing the war and the anger against the Confederacy among the people was only increased when they learned about the Confederate prison camps like Andersonville in Georgia. Tens of thousands of Union soldiers were kept in overcrowded facilities and in horrible conditions in general. when they returned home in 1866 the nation was outraged. Of course, the people in the US had no appetite for war after hundreds of thousands had died in vain. The only actions of the US Military in the years following the War of Secession would be against Native Americans or to quell the civil unrest of the early 1870s. Individuals in the United States would also smuggle supplies and weapons to Republican forces in Mexico who were fighting the French. For the most part, the people in the US looked inwards and had no desire to be involved in foreign conflicts. In 1870 President Horatio Seymour appointed former President Franklin Pierce as the first US ambassador to the Confederacy. Shortly afterword President Beauregard appointed former US Vice President John Breckinridge as first Confederate ambassador to the United States.

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(Left, Franklin Pierce, Right, John Breckinridge)
 
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