Darn, here I was hoping that the Congolese being made American citizens might have resulted in statehood.
At least we still have California to carve up
At least we still have California to carve up
Union and Liberty: An American TL
- Thread starter wilcoxchar
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That was a very interesting but rather grim development. Slavery unnoticed 50 years after the civil war!
I hovered the Mouse over my Username for about 5 Minutes I Think and I didn't see a Drop-down Menu yet. How long should I hover the Mouse for?
So I admit that I'm a little late to the party, but congrats on officially finishing your timeline! It's been a wild ride.
Any chance that one of the epilogue posts show the final borders for the Californian states?
It's been a wild ride.Any chance that one of the epilogue posts show the final borders for the Californian states?
Damn, no 2nd Great War but we can hope, can we? What about airplanes in the Great War and naval development during the Great War and after?
but we can hope, can we? What about airplanes in the Great War and naval development during the Great War and after?Well I thought today was the 8th anniversary of Union and Liberty. But looking at the first post it was on the 4th, not the 9th. So a belated happy 8th anniversary of my so far greatest work! And another thank you to all my readers and commenters. I should have the next epilogue post up in the next few days.
Epilogue Post #3
I'll add footnotes tomorrow but here's the next epilogue post!
Epilogue Post #3
The Second Coming:
The large crowd of nearly fifteen thousand jostled each other to get a better look at the speaker. He did not have the boyish looks he had two decades ago. His hairline had receded beyond the crest of his head, leaving the January sun gleaming off his bald head. Wrinkles crawled their way across cheeks. His eyebrows were bushier and the hair above his ears stuck out haphazaardly. But aging from forty to sixty would do that to any man. One thing, however, had not changed with age. Below those bushy eyebrows, the same fiery gaze wandered over the assembled Demoinians that had inhabited those eyes in 1896 and 1900. William Jennings Bryan clutched the podium as he leaned into the microphone.
"Two decades ago, I had the grandest opportunity afforded any man in these great United States of ours. I had the opportunity to serve you all as your President. Thrust into the spotlight of the presidency as I was, I did my utmost to guide this nation as you the people of this great land saw fit. In those two years, there were both successes and failures. In my youth, I admit I made mistakes. I paid dearly for those mistakes as you, the American people, saw me unfit to govern you and cast me out. I hold no grudge for that action."
Bryan began the momentous speech with a great show of humility. In accepting that his youth and inexperience had led to mistakes, the former president evoked the spirit of humility that had supposedly inhabited George Washington. As Bryan's speech continued, the fire in his speech roared to match the fire in his eyes. He railed against the imperialist policies of Presidents McKinley, Roosevelt, Warfield, and Oliver. He called out the Progressive Party for betraying its populist roots and veering toward the spectre of centralizing socialism. At last, in his speech's final words, William Jennings Bryan fell back on the old canard that had helped propel him to the presidency once before - gold. "I carried the burden of the working man with me to the White House. Twenty years ago, the bankers and trusts of this nation did crucify me upon their cross of gold. But let this be known! I have been entombed for long enough. Now I rise again, and I shall continue the fight for the people that build this nation, the working man of America! I come before you a wiser man than I once was, and with your help we shall return this country to the hill our shining city was founded upon!"
The speech held in the Demoine capital of Waterloo would launch one of the greatest political comebacks in American history. The famous "cross of gold" speech was soon wired throughout the nation, launching William Jennings Bryan's 1920 presidential candidacy. Bryan, now sixty years old, threw himself into the campaign with the same vigor he had shown during his first runs for office. While Bryan himself criss crossed the country multiple times during his campaign in 1920, he also had the help of a pioneer in the emerging radio and film technologies. In 1915 when Bryan was in Washington for activities with the American Anti-Imperialist League, he met radio pioneer Lee DeForest, who was then working at the Tesla Technological Institute as a radio operator in Fort Reno. DeForest and Bryan became quick friends and years later, after DeForest found private success in Milwaukee with the DeForest Radio Company, Bryan sought out DeForest to help manage his presidential campaign. With DeForest utilizing the pioneering national radio broadcasts and an innovative way to reproduce sound on the same film used for the picture, Bryan's 1920 campaign embraced both the energy of Bryan's whistlestop tours and the emerging new media to bring the campaign directly to the American public.
Bryan used his innovative campaign to easily outfox his contenders for the Republican nomination. Bryan's major competition for the Republican nomination were New Jersey Senator Joseph Freylinghuysen Jr. and John Weeks of Massachusetts. Bryan leveraged his experience of being a former president with being the only Westerner in the Republican race to great success, even in the urban areas of the Confluence region. At the Republican National Convention in Indianapolis, Bryan reiterated the Cross of Gold speech during his acceptance of the nomination. For a second time, William Jennings Bryan ran the presidency leading a Republican ticket. And for a second time, he would win.
The 1920 election was not quite as dramatic as many popular historians have made it appear. The nomination of governor Sidney Johnston Catts of Florida by the Democratic Party, in many ways Furnifold Simmons' ultimate revenge on Edwin Warfield and George Oliver, saw the Democratic Party quickly removed from the picture in many states outside the South. The nomination of Catts, while appealing to the nativist sentiment that grew in the United States during the 1910s, actually did more to help Bryan than it did the Democrats. Standing next to Catts' wild theories about the Pueblan Papacy, including a plot which Theodore Roosevelt was supposedly complicit in to incite a general takeover of the United States from Cuba and the California District, William Jennings Bryan appeared downright saintly. Former President Bryan still played up his appeal to "maintaining the society that has allowed America to prosper", but was more subtle. For instance, Bryan was able to weave his anti-imperialist rhetoric with his religious fervor in calling for a restoration of Californian independence, "righting the unjust invasion by President Roosevelt" while subtly insinuating that Californios would dilute the character of the United States.
The broad appeal in the heartland of the country allowed Bryan to outmaneuver Progressive candidate Amos Pinchot. Pinchot had already been weakened after a bitter primary to fend off Herbert Hoover for the Progressive nomination, and the selection of Champoeg's Willis C. Hawley as Pinchot's running mate did not help matters. After a lacklustre campaign from both the Democrats and the Progressives, William Jennings Bryan returned triumphantly to the White House with a comfortable 279 electoral votes. Catts was also hurt by the presence of the Cuban Partido Liberal, which like the Conservadores in 1912 nominated a national candidate for president. The Liberales nominated Cuban governor Alfredo Zayas y Alfonso with running mate businessman and cigar magnate Carlos A. Ybor of Jackson. With the extreme anti-Catholicism from the Democrats, the Liberals won not only Cuba but the state of Jackson as well. In this, the 1920 election also solidifed the separate party system in Cuba, with the Conservadores and the Liberales becoming the two main parties in the state.
Epilogue Post #3
The Second Coming:
The large crowd of nearly fifteen thousand jostled each other to get a better look at the speaker. He did not have the boyish looks he had two decades ago. His hairline had receded beyond the crest of his head, leaving the January sun gleaming off his bald head. Wrinkles crawled their way across cheeks. His eyebrows were bushier and the hair above his ears stuck out haphazaardly. But aging from forty to sixty would do that to any man. One thing, however, had not changed with age. Below those bushy eyebrows, the same fiery gaze wandered over the assembled Demoinians that had inhabited those eyes in 1896 and 1900. William Jennings Bryan clutched the podium as he leaned into the microphone.
"Two decades ago, I had the grandest opportunity afforded any man in these great United States of ours. I had the opportunity to serve you all as your President. Thrust into the spotlight of the presidency as I was, I did my utmost to guide this nation as you the people of this great land saw fit. In those two years, there were both successes and failures. In my youth, I admit I made mistakes. I paid dearly for those mistakes as you, the American people, saw me unfit to govern you and cast me out. I hold no grudge for that action."
Bryan began the momentous speech with a great show of humility. In accepting that his youth and inexperience had led to mistakes, the former president evoked the spirit of humility that had supposedly inhabited George Washington. As Bryan's speech continued, the fire in his speech roared to match the fire in his eyes. He railed against the imperialist policies of Presidents McKinley, Roosevelt, Warfield, and Oliver. He called out the Progressive Party for betraying its populist roots and veering toward the spectre of centralizing socialism. At last, in his speech's final words, William Jennings Bryan fell back on the old canard that had helped propel him to the presidency once before - gold. "I carried the burden of the working man with me to the White House. Twenty years ago, the bankers and trusts of this nation did crucify me upon their cross of gold. But let this be known! I have been entombed for long enough. Now I rise again, and I shall continue the fight for the people that build this nation, the working man of America! I come before you a wiser man than I once was, and with your help we shall return this country to the hill our shining city was founded upon!"
The speech held in the Demoine capital of Waterloo would launch one of the greatest political comebacks in American history. The famous "cross of gold" speech was soon wired throughout the nation, launching William Jennings Bryan's 1920 presidential candidacy. Bryan, now sixty years old, threw himself into the campaign with the same vigor he had shown during his first runs for office. While Bryan himself criss crossed the country multiple times during his campaign in 1920, he also had the help of a pioneer in the emerging radio and film technologies. In 1915 when Bryan was in Washington for activities with the American Anti-Imperialist League, he met radio pioneer Lee DeForest, who was then working at the Tesla Technological Institute as a radio operator in Fort Reno. DeForest and Bryan became quick friends and years later, after DeForest found private success in Milwaukee with the DeForest Radio Company, Bryan sought out DeForest to help manage his presidential campaign. With DeForest utilizing the pioneering national radio broadcasts and an innovative way to reproduce sound on the same film used for the picture, Bryan's 1920 campaign embraced both the energy of Bryan's whistlestop tours and the emerging new media to bring the campaign directly to the American public.
Bryan used his innovative campaign to easily outfox his contenders for the Republican nomination. Bryan's major competition for the Republican nomination were New Jersey Senator Joseph Freylinghuysen Jr. and John Weeks of Massachusetts. Bryan leveraged his experience of being a former president with being the only Westerner in the Republican race to great success, even in the urban areas of the Confluence region. At the Republican National Convention in Indianapolis, Bryan reiterated the Cross of Gold speech during his acceptance of the nomination. For a second time, William Jennings Bryan ran the presidency leading a Republican ticket. And for a second time, he would win.
The 1920 election was not quite as dramatic as many popular historians have made it appear. The nomination of governor Sidney Johnston Catts of Florida by the Democratic Party, in many ways Furnifold Simmons' ultimate revenge on Edwin Warfield and George Oliver, saw the Democratic Party quickly removed from the picture in many states outside the South. The nomination of Catts, while appealing to the nativist sentiment that grew in the United States during the 1910s, actually did more to help Bryan than it did the Democrats. Standing next to Catts' wild theories about the Pueblan Papacy, including a plot which Theodore Roosevelt was supposedly complicit in to incite a general takeover of the United States from Cuba and the California District, William Jennings Bryan appeared downright saintly. Former President Bryan still played up his appeal to "maintaining the society that has allowed America to prosper", but was more subtle. For instance, Bryan was able to weave his anti-imperialist rhetoric with his religious fervor in calling for a restoration of Californian independence, "righting the unjust invasion by President Roosevelt" while subtly insinuating that Californios would dilute the character of the United States.
The broad appeal in the heartland of the country allowed Bryan to outmaneuver Progressive candidate Amos Pinchot. Pinchot had already been weakened after a bitter primary to fend off Herbert Hoover for the Progressive nomination, and the selection of Champoeg's Willis C. Hawley as Pinchot's running mate did not help matters. After a lacklustre campaign from both the Democrats and the Progressives, William Jennings Bryan returned triumphantly to the White House with a comfortable 279 electoral votes. Catts was also hurt by the presence of the Cuban Partido Liberal, which like the Conservadores in 1912 nominated a national candidate for president. The Liberales nominated Cuban governor Alfredo Zayas y Alfonso with running mate businessman and cigar magnate Carlos A. Ybor of Jackson. With the extreme anti-Catholicism from the Democrats, the Liberals won not only Cuba but the state of Jackson as well. In this, the 1920 election also solidifed the separate party system in Cuba, with the Conservadores and the Liberales becoming the two main parties in the state.
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And map (I didn't make any territorial changes to the map because I wanted to get this up today):
Awesome!!
The political developments in Cuba are very interesting, the Democrats seem to have been effectively kicked out. Though coalitions might still happen between the Liberales and the Progressives or Republicans. The Cuban party system might be exported to whatever states are carved out of California (unless the Bryan administration allows it to go independent, which I doubt). An interesting thought is that more parties there sooner the faults of the electoral system will become noticeable. It hasn't happened yet in the TL, but even with just three parties, it should be easy for candidates to win the electoral vote without winning the popular vote.
Are you planning to continue writing further elections as part of the epilogue?
Also, did I miss something, or was Warfield assassinated/died in office? I assume he was reelected in 1916 and, at some point, Oliver took over.
The political developments in Cuba are very interesting, the Democrats seem to have been effectively kicked out. Though coalitions might still happen between the Liberales and the Progressives or Republicans. The Cuban party system might be exported to whatever states are carved out of California (unless the Bryan administration allows it to go independent, which I doubt). An interesting thought is that more parties there sooner the faults of the electoral system will become noticeable. It hasn't happened yet in the TL, but even with just three parties, it should be easy for candidates to win the electoral vote without winning the popular vote.
Are you planning to continue writing further elections as part of the epilogue?
Also, did I miss something, or was Warfield assassinated/died in office? I assume he was reelected in 1916 and, at some point, Oliver took over.
I concur.
It is very interesting to see alternate political developments.
Those will be interesting to see if they ever pop up in future maps.
Part of me wants to ensure that the wishes of the Californians regarding sovereignty are respected and thus if independence is so desired it is allowed, but then again, Manifest Destiny and all.
That is an interesting point. I wonder how the Alt-Americans feel about it...
I wouldn't be surprised. I mean, I'm Sir Prizing and all, but Sir Prized is a different guy. Nice guy, but a little... jittery sometimes.
More seriously, I think Elections are a good topic to cover. They keep us updated on Political Leadership and let us know what some other major issues in the timeline are.
I wouldn't at all mind other subjects such as culture, technology, or the economy to be covered though.
The more parties, the better representation, and more tendency towards moderation! (and it's always good to see Bryan winning)
(and it's always good to see Bryan winning)Spotted a small typo, I think you meant Cuban Partido Liberal, or Partido Liberal Cubano.
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Epilogue Post #4
Epilogue Post #4
El Grito de Salinas:
If the crowning achievement of the first Bryan administration was the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment establishing nationwide popular election of Senators, then the crowning achievement of Bryan's second administration was the reversal of American colonial ventures. Following the revelation that slavery had continued in the American Congo long past its abolition in the rest of the country, a reaction against American imperialism slowly built within the Republican Party and even among some wings of the Progressives and Democrats. By the time President Bryan entered office in 1921, the discussion of the future position of the American Congo was already being discussed in Congress. A small camp supported statehood for the Congo Territory, but those efforts were quickly quashed by the Democrats. In a referral to the Insular Cases and a comparison to the Bahamas with the uproar over admitting a black majority state, the path to statehood for the Congo was closed almost before it opened. However, in the first year of Bryan's second administration, Congress passed the Hawes-Gruening Act to lay out a roadmap for home rule and eventual independence of the American Congo. The act allowed for the Congo Territory to elect its own governor and prepare a constitutional convention later that decade. President Bryan appointed Council Bluffs businessman George Wells Parker[1] provisional governor before the first election could be held, the first black governor of the Congo Territory. George Wells Parker traveled to Banana in the Congo Territory and in 1922, Parker became the first elected black official in the United States after his election as the territory's governor. After the drafting of a constitution later in that decade, independence was granted with the Congo General Relations Act in 1927, and George Wells Parker became the first president of the Banana Republic.
While there was general agreement that the status of the Congo Territory should be rectified, the status of the California Military District was more contentious. During the decade since the annexation of California, there had been a consistent low level insurgency among a majority of the Californio inhabitants against the American military occupation. Military governors Randolph Lee, Frederick Funston, and Leonard Wood kept calm for the most part in the cities, but the effort to police the vast rural areas of California were difficult. Even with the American military presence in the cities, acts of violence against the perceived American occupation occurred freuqnetly. After an explosion outside the Presidio de San Francisco in Yerba Buena in 1914, governor Funston cracked down on suspicious Californios, but this only escalated the insurgency against the military government through the rest of the decade. The American presence was not helped by frequent acts of violence by American soldiers against Californios. One of the most inflammatory incidents occurred on the night of December 15, 1914. Robert Stroud, an enlisted American navy man stationed in Alameda, murdered Pablo Torres, a local bar owner. Torres had kicked Stroud out of his bar earlier that night after Stroud began drunkenly insulting and fighting Californio locals. The highly publicized trial and sentencing did not help matters, nor did the successful downgrade of the conviction from first degree murder to manslaughter. Stroud was briefly imprisoned in the military penitentiary on Isla Alcatraz before being transferred to the joint prison in Fort Sloat, Oregon[2]. The murder of Pablo Torres became front page news in the Californio newspapers and sparked a brief wave of anti-Americanism in occupied California. The news of Stroud's trial also became a scandal in the capital with Funston's cracking down on rioting following the murder and Stroud's trial giving the anti-imperialists a story of American abuse of Californio citizens[3].
At the same time as Anglo criminals in California sparked the ire of Californios, Ibero and Californio criminals were lauded as nationalist heroes. Thieves who robbed the military officers and got away with it became "latter day Murrietas" in the Californio newspapers of Monterey and San Diego. When the Army took to transporting goods on the fledgling Californio rail network to expand its control over the remote San Joaquin Valley, a young man named Frederick Osorio gained notoriety for robbing said supply trains. Donning an iconic black domino mask and cape, Osorio filled the papers in the 1910s with stories of daring train robberies. Afterward he would distribute the goods he stole, usually foodstuffs, to nearby towns, especially those suffering from droughts. After one particualrly agile getaway where it was said he leapt from the roof of a train car to his horse at full gallop, El Diario de Alameda, nicknamed Osorio "El Zorro" after his quick and cunning robberies. Osorio was caught in 1917 in the small rail town of Tiburcio[4] and was sentenced to hang for treason and working against the American government. Frederick Osorio's hanging was just an example of the worst of Funston's military rule, and ignited weeks of protests and unrest in Alameda and around the California miltary district.
Along with El Zorro, one other Californio criminal stands out as an instigator of the so called second nationalist wave in California. John Peter Williams was born in Monterrey in 1899 to Jamaican parents who had come to California via Mesoamerica[5]. A West Indian, he grew up on the streets of Monterey. After the American authorities denied him a private taxi license in 1917, allegedly because of his race, Williams turned to stealing. In interviews later in his life, John Peter Williams would claim he was inspired by El Zorro and determined to help his fellow West Indians who were maligned in the poorer neighborhoods of the former Californio capital. Williams would sneak into the neighborhoods commandeered by the Anglo military authorities and Anglo settlers in Monterey. He operated mainly in the Del Monte neighborhood, but also burgled the mansion style houses in the Presidio and Pescadero districts of the city. After nearly thirty successful burglaries over the next three years including a shocking robbery of the provincial magistrate's house in the Presidio while he slept, John Peter Williams was finally caught while robbing an American shipping magnate's home in Pescadero overlooking Carmel Bay. Williams was surprised by the occupied residence as the businessman was supposed to be away, and he jumped from a second story window and broke his leg. Williams was caught hiding in bushes by Monterey military police after a half hour search of the surrounding area.
However, the arrest of John Peter Williams formed only half his legend. Williams was sentenced to fifteen years in the penitentiary at Alcatraz, an unusual sentence to a military prison for a civilian. However, Williams only remained in Alcatraz for a year and a half. In 1921, he managed to file down the bars on his window and repel down the sheer concrete wall before diving into San Francisco Bay in the middle of the night. He later turned up in Sauzalito, on the north side of the Golden Gate. It is unknown if Williams swam straight there from Alcatraz or swam to Yerba Buena and crossed the Golden Gate later in the night; either of which would be a remarkable feat. Either way, Williams remained a fugitive and hid out in the woodlands for the next several years. While he was not active in later Californio national activism, his legend spread as he gained the nickname of the Pajarero or 'Birdman' of Alcatraz for his flight from the prison. The idea of a West Indian outwitting American authorities was seized upon by Californio activists to endear the West Indians living in California to their nationalist cause. While Ibero chauvinism was present, Williams served as a rallying symbol and his blackness was overlooked for the time being.
The new sense of nationalist sentiment among Californios and the rise of William Jennings Bryan to the presidency gave a new hope for California. One of Bryan's first acts was to make the transition from a military to a civilian governance of the California District. Bryan denounced some of the abuses of American military authority under Frederick Funston, and he replaced General Leonard Wood with Herbert Hoover as Governor-General of California to signify the full transition from miltiary to civilian authority. While Hoover's restructuring of the California District improved the situation, the Californio nationalist swell was still rising fast, and Bryan and other anti-imperialists in Congress were already entertaining the idea of full independence for California. After President Roosevelt had annexed California, its governance had turned into a major drain on the American budget and many in Washington did not see much value in a lot of the land acquired in the annexation after the majority Anglo regions had been turned into territories. With the escalation of renewed Californio national spirit, the rising tide of anti-Catholicism and anti-imperialism in Congress and the presidency, and the questionable value of much of the former republic, the thought of a gradual independence for California gained traction during Bryan's administration.
William Jennings Bryan had wavered on running for reelection almost as soon as he entered the presidency for hte second time in 1921. By 1925 he would be 64, and Bryan was unsure if he would survive a second full term in office. However, he wanted to secure his legacy before then, and so fought hard to cement a path toward Californian independence during his term. One of the major contentions was how much of the former Republic of California should be restored. Any of the already carved territories were clearly not going to be included in this rump California, and for simplicity's sake the earlier provincial boundaries within the First California Republic were heavily taken into consideration. While almost no members of Congress had actually traveled to California, it was clear that San Francisco Bay was a major strategic harbor, and maintaining an American presence on at least the northern side of the bay with access to the Golden Gate was a priority.
The new California border was finally settled in 1923 in the passage of the California Independent Governance Act and the Western General Organization Act. The WGOA, spearheaded by Senator Ernest Gruening, created two new territories. The San Isidro Territory had the same borders as the former Californian province of San Isidro on the western back of the Rio Bravo. The Sacramento Territory stretched all the way from the western border of Colorado to the Pacific, roughly containing with the former provinces of Espejo, Gran Cuenca, and Sacramento[6]. The remainder of the California Military District was abolished with the CIGA, and was reorganized as the Commonwealth of California. Herbert Hoover remained Governor-General for the time, but William Jennings Bryan's greatest legacy was now set in motion. As per the CIGA, in 1933 a decade after the creation of the Commonwealth of California, the country was granted independence as the Second California Republic. A celebration of the country's newfound independence was signified with a parade led by the new president Fulgencio Vallejo[7]. Vallejo led a grand parade from the city of Salinas to the restored capital city of Monterey to commemorate "El Grito de Salinas", a cry which supposedly launched the renewed efforts in the 1910s and 1920s for restored Californio independence. Though the origin of the Grito de Salinas is now lost to legend, it remains a cultural symbol of the nationalist resurgence in California.
[1] George Wells Parker was in OTL a contemporary of Marcus Garvey and black activist and historian in Omaha.
[2] Fort Nisqually was renamed Fort Sloat sometime since the Oregon War.
[3] The nationalism and clash between Americans and Californios in this section is a sort of mix between OTL interaction between Americans and local populations in the Philippines and the Panama Canal Zone. I'm mainly basing it off the Canal Zone since that's what I am more familiar with.
[4] Tiburcio is OTL Modesto, and is named after Tiburcio Vasquez, who in TTL became a minor politician associated with President Murrieta instead of a bandido.
[5] John Peter Williams in OTL was an accomplished thief in the Panama Canal Zone in the 1910s and 1920s. Williams mainly robbed Canal Zone officials, and became a minor nationalist figure, though racism toward West Indians in Panama at the time prevented him from being fully revered as a nationalist figure. See Borderland on the Isthums for more)
[6] The Sacramento Territory was later divided into the territories and later states of Tonapa, Sacramento, and Sonoma. I'll make a map with the new states later.
[7] Fulgencio Vallejo is a fictional person. I couldn't find a real person that fit what I wanted for the first president of the Second Californio Republic, but Vallejo is a let's say grandson of Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo.
El Grito de Salinas:
If the crowning achievement of the first Bryan administration was the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment establishing nationwide popular election of Senators, then the crowning achievement of Bryan's second administration was the reversal of American colonial ventures. Following the revelation that slavery had continued in the American Congo long past its abolition in the rest of the country, a reaction against American imperialism slowly built within the Republican Party and even among some wings of the Progressives and Democrats. By the time President Bryan entered office in 1921, the discussion of the future position of the American Congo was already being discussed in Congress. A small camp supported statehood for the Congo Territory, but those efforts were quickly quashed by the Democrats. In a referral to the Insular Cases and a comparison to the Bahamas with the uproar over admitting a black majority state, the path to statehood for the Congo was closed almost before it opened. However, in the first year of Bryan's second administration, Congress passed the Hawes-Gruening Act to lay out a roadmap for home rule and eventual independence of the American Congo. The act allowed for the Congo Territory to elect its own governor and prepare a constitutional convention later that decade. President Bryan appointed Council Bluffs businessman George Wells Parker[1] provisional governor before the first election could be held, the first black governor of the Congo Territory. George Wells Parker traveled to Banana in the Congo Territory and in 1922, Parker became the first elected black official in the United States after his election as the territory's governor. After the drafting of a constitution later in that decade, independence was granted with the Congo General Relations Act in 1927, and George Wells Parker became the first president of the Banana Republic.
While there was general agreement that the status of the Congo Territory should be rectified, the status of the California Military District was more contentious. During the decade since the annexation of California, there had been a consistent low level insurgency among a majority of the Californio inhabitants against the American military occupation. Military governors Randolph Lee, Frederick Funston, and Leonard Wood kept calm for the most part in the cities, but the effort to police the vast rural areas of California were difficult. Even with the American military presence in the cities, acts of violence against the perceived American occupation occurred freuqnetly. After an explosion outside the Presidio de San Francisco in Yerba Buena in 1914, governor Funston cracked down on suspicious Californios, but this only escalated the insurgency against the military government through the rest of the decade. The American presence was not helped by frequent acts of violence by American soldiers against Californios. One of the most inflammatory incidents occurred on the night of December 15, 1914. Robert Stroud, an enlisted American navy man stationed in Alameda, murdered Pablo Torres, a local bar owner. Torres had kicked Stroud out of his bar earlier that night after Stroud began drunkenly insulting and fighting Californio locals. The highly publicized trial and sentencing did not help matters, nor did the successful downgrade of the conviction from first degree murder to manslaughter. Stroud was briefly imprisoned in the military penitentiary on Isla Alcatraz before being transferred to the joint prison in Fort Sloat, Oregon[2]. The murder of Pablo Torres became front page news in the Californio newspapers and sparked a brief wave of anti-Americanism in occupied California. The news of Stroud's trial also became a scandal in the capital with Funston's cracking down on rioting following the murder and Stroud's trial giving the anti-imperialists a story of American abuse of Californio citizens[3].
At the same time as Anglo criminals in California sparked the ire of Californios, Ibero and Californio criminals were lauded as nationalist heroes. Thieves who robbed the military officers and got away with it became "latter day Murrietas" in the Californio newspapers of Monterey and San Diego. When the Army took to transporting goods on the fledgling Californio rail network to expand its control over the remote San Joaquin Valley, a young man named Frederick Osorio gained notoriety for robbing said supply trains. Donning an iconic black domino mask and cape, Osorio filled the papers in the 1910s with stories of daring train robberies. Afterward he would distribute the goods he stole, usually foodstuffs, to nearby towns, especially those suffering from droughts. After one particualrly agile getaway where it was said he leapt from the roof of a train car to his horse at full gallop, El Diario de Alameda, nicknamed Osorio "El Zorro" after his quick and cunning robberies. Osorio was caught in 1917 in the small rail town of Tiburcio[4] and was sentenced to hang for treason and working against the American government. Frederick Osorio's hanging was just an example of the worst of Funston's military rule, and ignited weeks of protests and unrest in Alameda and around the California miltary district.
Along with El Zorro, one other Californio criminal stands out as an instigator of the so called second nationalist wave in California. John Peter Williams was born in Monterrey in 1899 to Jamaican parents who had come to California via Mesoamerica[5]. A West Indian, he grew up on the streets of Monterey. After the American authorities denied him a private taxi license in 1917, allegedly because of his race, Williams turned to stealing. In interviews later in his life, John Peter Williams would claim he was inspired by El Zorro and determined to help his fellow West Indians who were maligned in the poorer neighborhoods of the former Californio capital. Williams would sneak into the neighborhoods commandeered by the Anglo military authorities and Anglo settlers in Monterey. He operated mainly in the Del Monte neighborhood, but also burgled the mansion style houses in the Presidio and Pescadero districts of the city. After nearly thirty successful burglaries over the next three years including a shocking robbery of the provincial magistrate's house in the Presidio while he slept, John Peter Williams was finally caught while robbing an American shipping magnate's home in Pescadero overlooking Carmel Bay. Williams was surprised by the occupied residence as the businessman was supposed to be away, and he jumped from a second story window and broke his leg. Williams was caught hiding in bushes by Monterey military police after a half hour search of the surrounding area.
However, the arrest of John Peter Williams formed only half his legend. Williams was sentenced to fifteen years in the penitentiary at Alcatraz, an unusual sentence to a military prison for a civilian. However, Williams only remained in Alcatraz for a year and a half. In 1921, he managed to file down the bars on his window and repel down the sheer concrete wall before diving into San Francisco Bay in the middle of the night. He later turned up in Sauzalito, on the north side of the Golden Gate. It is unknown if Williams swam straight there from Alcatraz or swam to Yerba Buena and crossed the Golden Gate later in the night; either of which would be a remarkable feat. Either way, Williams remained a fugitive and hid out in the woodlands for the next several years. While he was not active in later Californio national activism, his legend spread as he gained the nickname of the Pajarero or 'Birdman' of Alcatraz for his flight from the prison. The idea of a West Indian outwitting American authorities was seized upon by Californio activists to endear the West Indians living in California to their nationalist cause. While Ibero chauvinism was present, Williams served as a rallying symbol and his blackness was overlooked for the time being.
The new sense of nationalist sentiment among Californios and the rise of William Jennings Bryan to the presidency gave a new hope for California. One of Bryan's first acts was to make the transition from a military to a civilian governance of the California District. Bryan denounced some of the abuses of American military authority under Frederick Funston, and he replaced General Leonard Wood with Herbert Hoover as Governor-General of California to signify the full transition from miltiary to civilian authority. While Hoover's restructuring of the California District improved the situation, the Californio nationalist swell was still rising fast, and Bryan and other anti-imperialists in Congress were already entertaining the idea of full independence for California. After President Roosevelt had annexed California, its governance had turned into a major drain on the American budget and many in Washington did not see much value in a lot of the land acquired in the annexation after the majority Anglo regions had been turned into territories. With the escalation of renewed Californio national spirit, the rising tide of anti-Catholicism and anti-imperialism in Congress and the presidency, and the questionable value of much of the former republic, the thought of a gradual independence for California gained traction during Bryan's administration.
William Jennings Bryan had wavered on running for reelection almost as soon as he entered the presidency for hte second time in 1921. By 1925 he would be 64, and Bryan was unsure if he would survive a second full term in office. However, he wanted to secure his legacy before then, and so fought hard to cement a path toward Californian independence during his term. One of the major contentions was how much of the former Republic of California should be restored. Any of the already carved territories were clearly not going to be included in this rump California, and for simplicity's sake the earlier provincial boundaries within the First California Republic were heavily taken into consideration. While almost no members of Congress had actually traveled to California, it was clear that San Francisco Bay was a major strategic harbor, and maintaining an American presence on at least the northern side of the bay with access to the Golden Gate was a priority.
The new California border was finally settled in 1923 in the passage of the California Independent Governance Act and the Western General Organization Act. The WGOA, spearheaded by Senator Ernest Gruening, created two new territories. The San Isidro Territory had the same borders as the former Californian province of San Isidro on the western back of the Rio Bravo. The Sacramento Territory stretched all the way from the western border of Colorado to the Pacific, roughly containing with the former provinces of Espejo, Gran Cuenca, and Sacramento[6]. The remainder of the California Military District was abolished with the CIGA, and was reorganized as the Commonwealth of California. Herbert Hoover remained Governor-General for the time, but William Jennings Bryan's greatest legacy was now set in motion. As per the CIGA, in 1933 a decade after the creation of the Commonwealth of California, the country was granted independence as the Second California Republic. A celebration of the country's newfound independence was signified with a parade led by the new president Fulgencio Vallejo[7]. Vallejo led a grand parade from the city of Salinas to the restored capital city of Monterey to commemorate "El Grito de Salinas", a cry which supposedly launched the renewed efforts in the 1910s and 1920s for restored Californio independence. Though the origin of the Grito de Salinas is now lost to legend, it remains a cultural symbol of the nationalist resurgence in California.
[1] George Wells Parker was in OTL a contemporary of Marcus Garvey and black activist and historian in Omaha.
[2] Fort Nisqually was renamed Fort Sloat sometime since the Oregon War.
[3] The nationalism and clash between Americans and Californios in this section is a sort of mix between OTL interaction between Americans and local populations in the Philippines and the Panama Canal Zone. I'm mainly basing it off the Canal Zone since that's what I am more familiar with.
[4] Tiburcio is OTL Modesto, and is named after Tiburcio Vasquez, who in TTL became a minor politician associated with President Murrieta instead of a bandido.
[5] John Peter Williams in OTL was an accomplished thief in the Panama Canal Zone in the 1910s and 1920s. Williams mainly robbed Canal Zone officials, and became a minor nationalist figure, though racism toward West Indians in Panama at the time prevented him from being fully revered as a nationalist figure. See Borderland on the Isthums for more)
[6] The Sacramento Territory was later divided into the territories and later states of Tonapa, Sacramento, and Sonoma. I'll make a map with the new states later.
[7] Fulgencio Vallejo is a fictional person. I couldn't find a real person that fit what I wanted for the first president of the Second Californio Republic, but Vallejo is a let's say grandson of Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo.
Awesome update, glad to see California (partially) got its Independence; I do, however, fear that the chapter of American colonialism, means California will become rather isolationist, and even xenophobic, which is also unfortunate. Hopefully, it receives some immigration for it to evolve towards a more progressive path.
BTW, I asked this last time but didn't catch an answer. You skipped over the 1916 election, Warfield would have been up for reelection but mentioned Warfield and Oliver both as presidents. Was Warfield assassinated or died in office? I assume he was reelected in 1916 and then Oliver took over.
BTW, I asked this last time but didn't catch an answer. You skipped over the 1916 election, Warfield would have been up for reelection but mentioned Warfield and Oliver both as presidents. Was Warfield assassinated or died in office? I assume he was reelected in 1916 and then Oliver took over.
Thanks! Corrected it. I always get that mixed up.The more parties, the better representation, and more tendency towards moderation!
Spotted a small typo, I think you meant Cuban Partido Liberal, or Partido Liberal Cubano.
Warfield won reelection and died in office.
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