Triumphant: A Davy Crockett Presidency
- Thread starter Odinson
- Start date
Ah, right. Kinda hard to keep all the timelines I'm reading straight.
Chapter Fifty Two
1893-1909: California
The Dominion of California was divided by racial tensions during the 1890s and well into the 20th century. Under the Page Ministry, the Californian government evicted one third of the Chinese population without a care as to where they went, so long as it was outside of their borders. This earned California the scorn of her neighboring nations, such as Baja, Texas, and the United States. While many in Mexico were appalled at the actions, Mexico’s political leaders were reluctant to damage the economic relationship between them. In addition, there were many in Mexico who feared the “Yellow Peril” almost as much as the Californians. California’s actions also earned California condemnation from British Prime Minister William Gladstone. Alternatively, Prime Minister Rhodes of the Cape Colony praised Page for his efforts. While only a third of the Chinese population had been evicted, many citizens in the Dominion pressured those who remained to leave. Lynchings against Asian Californians increased exponentially, and only in very rare instances did law enforcement intervene. Further out west in what the Mormoms typically called Deseret, attitudes towards the Chinese was more somewhat relaxed as the Mormon population knew what it was like to be persecuted. That said, anti Chinese discrimination was still prevalent in the interior of California.
Prime Minister Page died in 1891 from an unknown illness, leaving the deputy prime minister Thomas J. Geary to fill the role. Geary would continue to hold the position of Prime Minister after the 1893 elections. Despite Denis Kearney being one of the major organizers for the Workingmen’s Party as well as one of its founders, was found to not have the proper temperament for the position. Geary remained Prime Minister until 1903, presiding over a period of Californian economic growth.
Prime Minister Geary
White and Hispanic Californians would have a nostalgic, favorable view of Geary Ministry as it was seen as a time of prosperity. Following him was George Cooper Pardee. And his ministry was a mess. The first major incident he was faced with was the San Francisco Bubonic Plague of 1903-1904. At first, he down played the plague, not believing it to be as bad as it was said to be. However, after a month he acknowledged the plague and placed the city under quarantine, having doctors be sent into the city to see to the people. Chinatown was largely abandoned, and it was dangerous for Chinese Californians to leave and go to other areas in the city. Having degraded into a slum, the neighborhood was hit the hardest, though no records survive of how many lives were lost. At the worst of the quarantine, proponents of the “yellow peril” began to blame the plague on the Chinese, saying that they had brought it into the city as part of a plot to weaken the “proud, Anglo/Hispano Californian race.” Angry racists at times stood at the edges of the slum, hurling insults and garbage at the minority residents. The San Francisco Plague would die down by the summer of 1904. Unfortunately for Geary, his ministry was rocked yet again by a 7.9 earthquake (as measured by modern moment magnitude scale) that totaled the city of San Francisco, causing several fires that destroyed what was left. Estimates for the death number hover at around 3,000 by historians. What followed the earthquake was chaos. Sailors of the Royal Californian Navy and local Royal Marines attempted to impose order in the city, but were unable to contain the intense looting and rioting while also assisting the fire department in containing the blaze. In the days after the quake, the Chinese Californians once again got the short end of the stick. Oftentimes, Chinese would have their allotted supplies stolen by the ruling class of Hispanics and whites. Other times, they were outright denied food, water, or medicine by officials.
The destruction of San Francisco was a heavy blow for the dominion’s economy. The city was the financial hub of the dominion as well as the heart of trade in the Pacific for the colony. During the quake, the San Francisco Mint was consumed by the earth, as well as multiple banks in the heart of the city as they were unknowingly build near fault lines. Much of the money was burned in the subsequent fires, and much of the gold was lost to the cracks. Faced with the greatest crisis in history as a British colony, Prime Minister Pardee was forced to seek a foreign loan. The Dominion of Canada donated $100,000 to the capital of Monterey, as did the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The United States government during the Beaver years declined, as did the Texan government. Instead, American business men began to rebuild and invest in the city, buying up great swaths of property in the city. Feeling that he had bungled his attempt to govern the dominion, the George Pardee government was brought down by a vote of no confidence in early 1907. Hiram Johnson of the Californian Democratic Party soon ascended to Prime Minister. He would hold this post until 1914.
Prime Minister Johnson
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Wow, it sucks to live in San Francisco during this period.
Hope things get better for the Chinese soon.
Hope things get better for the Chinese soon.
I'm predicting that America is going to be a more worker friendly nation than IOTL, considering the Labor Party and the fact that John Reed is going to become president. Also love the new update (although California has gotten wrecked pretty hard in pretty much everything.)
Something I just remembered; just over a year ago, I made this thread
AHC/WI: President Wyatt Earp
Guess the answer is have Davy Crockett get elected in 1832
AHC/WI: President Wyatt Earp
Guess the answer is have Davy Crockett get elected in 1832
When I found that thread a while back, I had the same thought. Thanks to this TL, and some interesting documentaries, I now have a growing interest in America's Wild West. Slightly off topic, have you seen the Biography documentary about the Earp brothers. I was psyched when I saw it at the library, and it turned out to be pretty good.Something I just remembered; just over a year ago, I made this thread
AHC/WI: President Wyatt Earp
Guess the answer is have Davy Crockett get elected in 1832
Never saw it, but I do have a HISTORY Chanel documentary on Wyatt Earp currently on my shelf, in addition to documentaries on Billy the Kid, Josef McCoy, and a Wyoming Range War, which in turn launched my interest in the late Mr. McCoy
May his soul rest in peace. He never wanted to partake in Sickles' rebellion.
During the initial outline of the timeline, he was actually going to be president instead of Sickles. Instead, he got to be vice. I imagine he greatly regretted taking the position.
I'd actually be quite interested in what your TL first looked like, and the interesting things about it. I know that for the very first iteration of my Stonewall Jackson's Way TL, which was very different then what I ended up putting on this site, there was such massive differences with how it ended up, it would be unrecognizable. I could into more detail if you would be interested, and when I have the time to dig it out around for it.
In my first outline, it was much more boring as it would have seen the annexation of Texas and a limited Mexican American War that saw California staying with Mexico, but also completely ignored the other nations up until ww1. In it, Sickles didn't even have a coup, instead he just lost reelection. Never had a plan for it past 1920.
But in the current iteration, this timeline will last to the 1980s at the least.
Oh, and this timeline will also see some updates on Europe, China, and Africa by the time it reaches the 1930s.
Really? Hm. I'm gonna guess and say your original included a different Mexican Revolution? Or maybe the North full on annexing the CSA?
In my original (And please keep in mind, I originally wrote when I was first getting into history in general, and had just discovered this site), the CSA managed to gain their independence when Lee decisively defeated Grant at the Wilderness, and Johnston did the same to Sherman at Rocky Face Ridge, leading Grant and Sherman to consolidate their forces near Chattanooga, Tennessee, with Lee and Johnston doing the same. Then in a final battle, the Union Army is completely annihilated (So basically everything that happened was ASB). After that, it was pretty much ripping off Harry Turtledove's TL 191 with some slight variations, and it ended with the North conquering the CSA in the 1940s.
After coming to the realization that the above information was pretty much ASB (and also learning that phrase!), I completely reworked the TL. Despite that, the end result of that being roughly the same as what ultimately came to be, there were still some differences. Some of the more notable examples were that originally, I was planning on both A.P. Hill and Woodrow Wilson becoming president of the CSA as one point, Garfield was going to be a two-termer, and instead of being replaced by Conkling, originally James G. Blaine was going to fill that role, until I realized that Conkling was a better fit. Also, I originally had nothing planned for the Mexican Revolution, but I came up with some stuff after watching an interesting documentary about it. The Gold and Silver/Reform Party were not planned for the start either. Custer was also going to be a two-termer originally, and not have his revolt, instead being defeated in his bid for a third term by Teddy Roosevelt.
Also, I'm glad to hear that one of my favorite TLs on this site while go until at least the 80s. Great to know and I look forward to new updates for it.
Chapter Fifty Three
1893-1909 Baja
The period between the death of President Fry and the beginning of the First World War, The Republic of Baja experienced a time of peace. Diplomatic relations with the British Dominion of California became strained after the actions of the Page Ministry that saw mass deportations of their Chinese residents. The majority of Chinese who entered the country would find homes in the northern neck of the peninsula. Close to two thousand Chinese entered the nation. Besides settling in the mainland, many chinese would make their way to the colony of Tutuila, where they would find employment in the fisheries and on the fishing trawlers.
Once Baja crawled into the 20th century, Baja and Mexico reached an understanding in 1903 when Baja President George H. Sisson and Mexican President Limantour met in the city of Guaymas, Sonora to end the embargo Mexico had placed on the nation. Sisson and Limantour both believed that it was well past time to keep up a “childish rivalry.” Relations between the two nations continued to become warmer. When the Great War began in the early 20th century, Mexico and Baja found themselves fighting on the same side against the Central Powers.
The period between the death of President Fry and the beginning of the First World War, The Republic of Baja experienced a time of peace. Diplomatic relations with the British Dominion of California became strained after the actions of the Page Ministry that saw mass deportations of their Chinese residents. The majority of Chinese who entered the country would find homes in the northern neck of the peninsula. Close to two thousand Chinese entered the nation. Besides settling in the mainland, many chinese would make their way to the colony of Tutuila, where they would find employment in the fisheries and on the fishing trawlers.
Once Baja crawled into the 20th century, Baja and Mexico reached an understanding in 1903 when Baja President George H. Sisson and Mexican President Limantour met in the city of Guaymas, Sonora to end the embargo Mexico had placed on the nation. Sisson and Limantour both believed that it was well past time to keep up a “childish rivalry.” Relations between the two nations continued to become warmer. When the Great War began in the early 20th century, Mexico and Baja found themselves fighting on the same side against the Central Powers.
Glad to hear that the Chinese kicked out of California find a place for themselves in Baja.
Speaking of California and their current leader, Hiram W. Johnson, whenever I look at Johnson, I think he kinda looks like Dwight Schrute from The Office, at least face wise. Is it just me?
