The Unwritten Letter

Henry Clay's Decision


The pale light of a July morning filtered through Henry Clay's windows. “Damn Texas” he thought as he crossed out another sentence. Ever since the the Texians had sent Santa Anna crawling back to Mexico with his tail between his legs slave owners had been advocating for its annexation. Didn't they realize that annexing Texas would tear the nation apart? Yet Clay owned slaves and he knew that if he didn't moderate his position on Texas his already fragile support in the South could collapse. Clay realized that he wouldn't be able to get any more work done without some sleep. As he stood up to go to bed he came to a frightening realization: if he did moderate his position northern Whigs might accuse him of bending to slave power. He couldn't let that happen. He quickly grabbed his pen and drew a big X through the letter. The letter would never see the light of day.​

(On an unrelated note does anyone know how to make an electoral map, preferably one that could add states that don't exist IOTL)
 
The Election of 1844


“Today I stand before you as President; but first an foremost as a humble servant of you, the people.” Henry Clay repeated this line in his mind as the stagecoach that carried him and President John Tyler to the swearing in ceremony. Clay also reflected back on the early morning in July where
he had made the fateful decision not to send his Alabama letter. It had been that decision that had led to his razor thin victory over James K. Polk. Clay could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he got out of the stagecoach and slowly walked up to the Chief Justice. After his swearing in he stared out into the crowd and began to give his address. “Today I stand before you as President...”​

Clay and the Whigs had wanted the election of 1844 to be about domestic issues, but in the end it was considered a referendum on the annexation of Texas. The issue nearly split the Democrats in two. Former President Martin Van Buren attempted to retake the office. The only problem was that Van Buren was an anti-slavery and anti-annexation candidate in a pro-slavery and pro-annexation party. On the day of the convention the Democrats reinstated the rule that said a candidate needed 2/3rd of the vote to be the nominee. Although Van Buren got the majority of the votes he was unable to gain a 2/3rd majority. The only person who people could agree on was a southerner named James K. Polk. In opposition to both Van Buren and Clay Polk declared himself fully pro-annexation, even declaring his support for taking the Oregon Territory up to the 54 40 North Parallel. Many people saw Polk's declaration as a sign that he was willing to balance out the expansion of slave power with a free state.​

Like most campaigns of the day this campaign was vicious. The Democrats accused Clay of being a debauched womanizing duelist, as well as an abolitionist. For their part the Whigs characterized Polk as a nobody whose secret goal was to force slavery down the throats of Americans. To add to the viciousness the anti-slavery Liberty Party called Clay a “Slaveholder and a Murder” due to his reputation for dueling and his ownership of slaves. In the end Clay's decision not to compromise on annexation kept the Liberty Party at bay and he won the key state of New York, giving him the necessary electoral votes.​


Whig (Clay/Frelinghuysen): 146

Democrat (Polk/Dallas): 129

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The Treaty of Austin


The mood in Texas President Anson Jones' residence was grim. After several minutes of silence Secretary of the Treasury John Greene spoke up. “We are running out of money, we have massive debts, and the United States won't help us. If we can't get a deal with someone we're going to default.” Anson Jones turned to Secretary of State Ashbel Smith. “Are the British still willing to host talks with the Mexicans?” Smith nodded. “Go to the British Consul and tell him we have a deal.” Jones put his hands on his temples and rubbed them. If they got lucky, he thought, the Texian people wouldn't kill them and maybe Texas get both out of debt and gain independence.​

Clay's victory spelled the end of Texas annexation. President Tyler had been conducting secret negotiations with the Texian government but many in Congress saw Clay's victory as a sign that the American people didn't want Texas. At any rate there was no way that they would be able to get a treaty through Congress before Clay came into office. For the government of Texas this was a nightmare. Years of war and financial mismanagement had left Texas with massive debts. To compound its problems Texas could not get peace with Mexico and without any American intervention the only way that Texas could gain peace was through Britain. However, the British refused to help Texas gain independence unless it banned slavery.
The situation came to a head on March 28th, 1845 when Ashbel Smith met with the British Consul to begin to negotiate peace (a Mexican diplomat arrived by late May). Despite the fact that Smith was given explicit orders not to agree to ban slavery rumors began circulating that the real purpose of the mission was to surrender slavery in exchange for independence; the theory being that the Texian government wanted to see slavery ended so that after independence they could break the power of the rich planters and pave the way for “Whig like” industrialization programs. On July 3rd Smith presented Congress with the treaty and things reached a breaking point. The proposed Treaty of Austin would give Texas its independence with borders fixed at the Rio Grande boundary up to the border with the state of Chihuahua, and Texas had to drop its claim to Nuevo Mexico. Unfortunately the British would only agree to make a deal if the government of Texas agreed to ban settlers from bringing their slaves across the border and put quotas on the number of slaves that could be imported. After Smith read the treaty out to Congress word quickly spread across the state. A wealthy planted named Leonard Allen was so outraged that he purchased a printing press and began to print pamphlets denouncing the treaty as “A British plot to end slavery and prostrate Texas to the Empire” and Ashbel Smith as “A Negro lover and a British pawn.” On July 15th, the day the vote for the treaty was scheduled, a crowd of protestors gathered outside the Capitol Building. Things got more and more out of hand until one of the protestors walked up to the militia who were guarding the building and shot one of them. The militia fired back and in the confusion several protestors pulled out their guns and began shooting. After 5 minutes the militia retreated into the building to regroup, leaving 5 dead militia, 10 dead protestors, and an unknown number of wounded.​

Citizens flocked towards the Capitol Building to join the protests. The mob surged towards the doors and windows of the Capitol when the militia inside flung open the doors and began to fire. Men fell left and right, their blood seeping down the steps. Even after 3 volleys were fired the mob was still coming and shooting. After the militia again retreated they received the news that the building was surrounded and decided to surrender. Even though the militia came up with their hands up angry protestors opened fire on them. Most of the militia were cut down before they could even get to their guns, and the resulting shootout killed all of the rest. Although Congress had fled when the shooting started the mob went on a rampage, smashed everything they could, and set the place on fire. Another part of the mob reached the President's house, found it abandoned, and burned it to the ground. For the next 2 days fire burned through the Texian capital as rioters attacked government buildings and lynched those who were thought to support the treaty. After 2 days the Texian Army arrived and fired several cannons into the city as a warning. All but the most die hard radicals laid down their arms. To placate the citizens martial law was not declared and only those who were involved in the murder of private citizens were arrested. The rioting left most of Austin in ruins, with around 800 people killed. 25 people were tried for various lynchings and 15 were found guilty and executed. Leonard Allen was later tried for various charges including inciting the riots, but was only convicted of defamation against Ashbel Smith and sentenced to a short prison term. The rioters did get their wish: the treaty was rejected and the Texian government was forced to continue the negotiations.​
 
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