This Guilty Land: A Post-Civil War Timeline
- Thread starter treefreak32
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Hey, just popping in to let everyone know that an update for this should be coming soon.
Nice to see this timeline will get back into action fairly soon. Also, I wonder if Tennessee in the last decades of the 19th century will revert to its February 1861 levels of pro-Union sentiment in the eastern half of the state. Even Nashville (or at least Davidson County) opposed secession at that time based on some maps I’ve been looking at. There’s also the counties along the Tennessee River in the western half of the state that opposed secession too which is quite unfortunately overlooked.
Unlike most Confederate states I can imagine Tennessee developing a decent-size industrial base in Knoxville, Chattanooga, and even Nashville. Of course I can’t see industrial slavery being prominent since plantation culture didn’t dominate Tennessee in the same way it did in most Confederate states and the majority white population won’t be happy with slaves taking their jobs in the factories. Between this, North Carolina having a similar situation in the western and central portions of their state and being the state that was most apathetic towards secession and slavery, and Louisiana and Texas discovering oil in the early 1900s, I can see a Confederate civil war breaking out and making it even less stable in the long-term.
Unlike most Confederate states I can imagine Tennessee developing a decent-size industrial base in Knoxville, Chattanooga, and even Nashville. Of course I can’t see industrial slavery being prominent since plantation culture didn’t dominate Tennessee in the same way it did in most Confederate states and the majority white population won’t be happy with slaves taking their jobs in the factories. Between this, North Carolina having a similar situation in the western and central portions of their state and being the state that was most apathetic towards secession and slavery, and Louisiana and Texas discovering oil in the early 1900s, I can see a Confederate civil war breaking out and making it even less stable in the long-term.
Chapter 15: A History of the Maritime Union
Chapter 15: A History of the Maritime Union
PEI's Province House, where the very first meeting regarding the foundation of the Maritime Union was held.
The Maritime Union was formed from three British Colonies: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, due to a growing interest for economic solidarity and as a means of creating a stronger bulwark against the other nations of North America.
In 1864, the plan had emerged as a proposal by Nova Scotia and New Brunswick’s respective governments. Prince Edward Island, having already gained responsible government and being in a state of economic plentitude, had little interest in the affair. They did not think of themselves as being much like their fellow colonies, seeing more benefit in trade with the two nations comprising the formerly United States. After much deliberation, the Island was convinced to attend the meeting only on the promise that the meeting would be held in Charlottetown, so as to prevent them from having to travel.
At this same time, the Joint-Premieres of the Province of Canada heard of this and asked to attend the meeting. George Brown and Antoine-Aime Dorion of the “Clear Grit” Liberals wanted nothing more than observer status, which was granted to them rather reluctantly by the Maritimes. Newfoundland was similarly invited, but chose not to attend.
The Co-Premiers of The Province of Canada
The Charlottetown Conference was largely a disaster. The city had been booked-up to the brim with visitors eager to see the Circus which was in town. As such, the last-minute additions to the event from the Province of Canada were forced to sleep on their ships. As well, their observer status was one they found rather dull and uninteresting, as they were relegated to standing on the balcony of the colonial building and observing discussions between the Maritimes. They failed to truly ingratiate themselves with the other colonial leaders.
Brown and Dorion had also not invited their opposition, a faux-pas by comparison with the other colonies, who had delegates from both parties present. The opposition to Brown and Dorion, John A. MacDonald and George-Etinenne Cartier, were eager supporters of a Pan-Colonial Confederation, and Brown feared their presence may lead them to gaining an upper-hand of sorts in negotiations. MacDonald was himself engaged in controversy at the time due to his steadfast desire for close relations with the Confederacy, who he had provided some small support to during his career, and who were expected by many to win the Civil War.
By the end of the conference, little had been accomplished. Prince Edward Island showed little support for Union, despite their own Premiere, Colonel John Hamilton Gray, being open to the idea, and even suggesting that the Canadians might also be allowed into the Union. Still, it would take more than the support of the Premiere to make something like that occur. The Canadians were displeased with the situation as well, finding that, with no Union seeming possible, their time had also been wasted.
By 1868, things were different. The Confederacy truly had won their independence, and the doubts of many of the delegates regarding the threat of manifest destiny seemed to have been vindicated. Still, the idea lingered. Prince Edward Island’s economy was beginning to decline as the shipbuilding market turned from wood to steam, and the costly railway project the Island was engaging in was beginning to drain their pockets. Thus, a second Charlottetown conference was held, and here success was found. The Canadians did not attend at all this time, but Prince Edward Island was more receptive. They desired for Charlottetown to be the capital of this new state, which was entertained at this point. It was decided a second conference would be held, and indeed, two months later a conference was held in Halifax, where the initial constitution was written.
In 1870, the economic issues Prince Edward Island was experiencing were exacerbated, and they needed a Maritime Union even more than usual. The crown advised the Maritimes against making Charlottetown the capital, as it was coastal and in decline, so Fredericton, New Brunswick was chosen. The Maritime Union was formed thus on the 19th of February of 1870, with news reaching the front pages the following morning. Queen Victoria appointed Charles Tupper as the first Prime Minister, and he soon declared an election which he proceeded to win.
In this time, the Province of Canada had been re-separated into Quebec and Ontario. The Liberals had managed to gain dominance for years, as John A. MacDonald’s death after being hit by a stagecoach while drunk had severely damaged the Conservative party.
By the mid-1870s, the Maritimes and central Canada had developed distinctly. The Maritimes, despite their rather conservative history, had developed a closer relationship with the United States, while Ontario and Quebec were somewhat more friendly with the Confederacy. When former President Pendleton went into exile, it was in the Maritimes. Quebecois nationalists began to see themselves as kindred spirits with the Confederacy, a people forced into an Empire they wanted no part in.
The Maritimes, whose union was formed partly as a means of resisting the creeping tide of yankee influence, were ironically becoming closer with their Southern neighbors in New England and the other areas of the USA. Britain did little about this, of course, as they knew it was inevitable, and because their former colonial subjects seemed no longer on the path to imperial ascension. In 1877, President Tweed visited Fredericton, where legend has it, according to an apocryphal story, he offered to buy the Maritime Union from Great Britain. Furthermore, the story goes that future Prime Minister and then-member of the Cabinet Andrew George Blair responded “Mr. President, I’m afraid Victoria would never accept, even for all of the money in the world.”
This is almost certainly an urban legend, but variants of it were long-popular among both American expansionists and Canadians who favored the United States to Great Britain. Still, the United States was, at this time, annoyed that they were unable to acquire many areas they felt would have been best owned by them; the Confederacy, Alaska, the former Hudson Bay Company Land, British Columbia. All of these were felt to be “rightful” American territories by many in the Union. Even as the US was expanding its control of the west, to many, it simply wasn’t enough.
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Good chapter, so we have a divided Canada instead of one that is united? That will be interesting, I wonder the USA will be able to expand northwards due to divisions throughout British North America? The line about the Quebecois becoming closer to the Confederacy worries me. Will we get a chapter on President Tweed soon? Keep up the good work.
Yeah, Canada is divided. In OTL, Canadian confederation began as just the notion of a union of the Maritimes, before Quebec and Ontario decided to basically force their way in. As much of this was driven by the outcome of the Civil War, altering the outcome has led to a divided Canada, given that the colonies are less concerned about an American takeover.
Tweed will definitely be getting some focus. Probably multiple chapters given how much I have planned for him and his Presidency.
Hmmm, so I guess there’s not just a Balkanized America but a Balkanized Canada too. I wonder if all this will trigger a wave of balkanization throughout Latin America from Mexico to Argentina and Chile (including Brazil).
If such a thing happens, how would the Europeans react to such a thing? With France being successful in Mexico, could we see more intervention from the other European powers?
I mean there's the Venezuela Crisis that happened IOTL with the precedent of France in Mexico ITTL there might be less of a will to compromise with Venezuela over its debt and the Europeans could instead do what the French did with Mexico. And also, keep in mind the US intervened IOTL in Cuba, Hispaniola, and Nicaragua over their debt issues, and with a weakened US here, who's to say Europe wouldn't do the same? Plus, maybe more direct foreign intervention in the War of the Pacific (or maybe not)? It's honestly anyone's game ITTL.
Going forward, I may speed through some events. Not skip them, but this TL has basically moved at a nail's pace and I'd like to move ahead, so expect some more general updates (though there'll still be plenty of detailed sections as well, I'm not gonna rush things that are interesting).
More stories of Tweed, Longstreet, The Napoleons, and more are right around the corner.
More stories of Tweed, Longstreet, The Napoleons, and more are right around the corner.
Chapter 16: The Rise of Southern Superstition
The Rise of Southern Superstition
The South was long a hotbed of religious conviction, much as the was the North. Americans trended towards God, it seemed. In the years up to the civil war, this manifested in differing ways. John Brown was a preacher, fought under the banner of religious liberation from slavery. Similarly, his foes were men of God by their own conviction as well. They proclaimed themselves champions of traditional morality and cited the mark of cain or curse of ham as justification for slavery. After the disuniting of their collections of states, their religious convictions shifted as well.
Churches in the North emphasized unity, emphasized God's human humility under God's reign. Abolitionist language crept further and was more prominent.
The South, by contrast, began to emphasize hierarchy, and stories of curses and victories upon the weak were increasingly popular. While doctrinal affairs weren't much effected, the language of religious leaders were.
"It could be said," one journalist wrote, "that a yankee could venture Southward and, upon listening to a Dixieland preacher, might be reasonably deceived to think the Confederacy worshipped a different God."
The Southern churches made significant strides to maintain control over their populace, and to preserve order. Any church preaching abolition was likely to be attacked and the pastor run out of town by an angry mob. This did happen once or twice: a remote mountainous preacher pr reverend would argue for abolition, and city folk would become livid. In cases like these, blind eyes were turned by government officials and the police. After all, slavery WAS the basis of their new state. Without it, what would they be?
With what would later be known as a "Third Great Awakening" came initial progress. This momentum which had fueled Brown and other abolitionists was great fire, and that fire needed to be harnessed by the South for itself, like Prometheus himself. This would come in the form of the rise of so-called Southern Spiritualism.
This movement was characterized by Christian syncretic adoption of ideas relating to folk beliefs. A popular book, published under a pseudonym, claimed to provide insight into the nature of Ghosts. Written in a pseudo-scientific manner, its unknown author claimed that Ghosts were tourists from Heaven, and that a slave owner would continue to own his slaves in the afterlife. This massive surge in popularity for ghosts stories led to many a charlatan grifter claiming to be a ghost whisperer, that through them the living could contact their deceased relatives. These folks raked in money from the gullible. While some churches rejected this all as blasphemy, the money that could be made in ghost whispering incentivised many a pastor to embrace this practice. Stories in the Bible supporting this practice were cited as evidence that this was a perfectly fine affair.
Of course, another belief regarding ghosts would persist, that of revenants seeking to complete some unfinished business. Many ghost whisperers would claim to be able to ward off the vengeance of the deceased, often using this promise as a means of blackmailing their clients. After all, they needed to know the details of the wrongdoings committed.
It was this superstition which would inspire a prevailing force of the age of American Nihilism.
Living in the border regions of Virginia, Marcus Radcliff was the son of a moderately well-off tool manufacturer and early adopter of industrialism. His father's factory provided a source of work for poor whites, and Radcliff Senior had always been rather sympathetic to Northern causes, not for moral reasons but because he believed that slavery would hinder industrialism. Marcus would hold this same belief. Marcus had been slightly too young to fight in the war, but his brother had died in it. Many of the men Marcus knew, either from the factory his father owned or from the university he attended, had fought for the Confederacy and had lost much. He noted that the poor men tended to have suffered more, noticed that their lives had only gotten worse since the southern victory. Had all of that death been worth it, after all?
One night, Marcus and his friends played a practical joke on a local man, a wealthy elitist and snob who had angered them. Dressed in ghost costumes, they had frightened the man greatly by claiming to be revenants. The man was scared half to death, and Marcus and the others were delighted. Marcus suggested to his compatriots that they do this more often. The wealthy slave owning elite they hated were the most fervent believers in these folk beliefs presented by ghost whisperers. They were a superstitious, cowardly lot, and would be easy pickings for further taunting.
Marcus was made chairman of a new organization, The Dead Boy society. "Our cause," the charter of this new organization read, "is to make sure that the South is forever haunted by the ghosts of the young men the wealthy threw away for their own selfish cause."
The Dead Boys. It is widely believed that the figure in the center is a masked Marcus Radcliff.
(AI GENERATED PHOTO)
Reports of the activities of the Dead Boys were varied and numerous. One account tells of them riding up to the front gates of a plantation owned by an aristocratic family, and of their ghost-faced captain telling the watchman that he was the ghost of the family's youngest son, that he had come to ask why he had had to die. The guard, panicked, shot a rifle at the "ghost", missing but sparking return fire from the armed Dead Boys, sparking a standoff between the Dead Boys and the inhabitants of the estate.
The Flordidian Chapter of the Dead Boys Society.
(AI GENERATED IMAGE)
Others told of the Dead Boys riding around the sides of wealthy homes, hooping and hollering and proclaiming themselves to be damnation incarnate.
What had begun as a group of jokesters became a genuine movement, an insurgency within the Confederacy. The Dead Boys were not traditionally violent, but were troublemakers of the utmost degree. In a sense, they were the ultimate culmination of the notion of American Nihilism.
"Why should we not drape ourselves in the cloaks of the dead? It is more than just to frighten the rich and stupid, it is more than just a bit of fun. We are our true selves in these vestments. To be born in Dixie is to be stillborn, a phantom, dead-on-arrival. We are corpses convinced of our own liveliness."
-Daniel Hoffman, Dead Boy of the Florida chapter.
CSA, you better be ready, as John Brown's ghost is marching on!
Very good chapter, I like the Dead Boy Society, a movement that is utterly opposed to the wealthy southern elite and their stranglehold over the CSA. I wonder what the government does in response to increase their actions of troublemaking to outright terrorism. How will the US respond to such a group, could we see people from the North join the Dead Boys Society? I like the religious aspects of this TL, I kinda like that America is going through another Great Awakening. Keep up the good work.
Nice to see a TL that accounts for the religiosity of the Union following a CSA Victory in the Civil War. It's not usually touched on much and when it is it's only in the event that the Blaine Amendment or something like that passes through Congress or other laws are passed to restrict Catholic and Jewish immigration to the USA in the late-19th and early-20th centuries as the USA becomes more nativistic.
It was important for me to account for. If it isn't clear, I'm very interested in the ways that culture changes and warps due to historical change. In order to do that, we need to look at actual historical trends. The North was religious, everywhere was fairly religious back then, and while it manifested differently than much of Southern religion, it was still prevalent. This chapter was meant to show that, as two nations, the divide becomes even stronger.
OTOH, the Northern Democrats ITTL remained strong so far, quite stronger than IOTL - so it is unlikely that the Republican coalition, more specifically its nativist faction, could achieve the level of dominance required to pass all those laws.
At the same time, banning Chinese immigrants would comfortably garner strong bipartisan support.