Fun update, really exciting to see the alternate detail on one city being very imaginative. It reminds me of the Gaslamp District in San Diego which has a similar concept.
Union and Liberty: An American TL
- Thread starter wilcoxchar
- Start date
Was planning on having the next update finished today, but it's not done yet. I might be able to get it finished, but probably not today. I'm going to be out of town tonight, but I will have it finished by tomorrow or Sunday.
Wilcox! You're back! Looking forward to the update, I'm happy to read it whenever you post it.
Part Eighty-Two: Consequences of the Silver Depression
It's update time! Footnotes will be added later tonight.
Part Eighty-Two: Consequences of the Silver Depression
Striking Forward:
The Silver Depression, along with having a devastating effect on the United States economy, created significant social problems and pressures as well. Particularly, the tensions between corporations which were becoming increasingly consolidated and labor and worker organizations continued escalating as worsened economic conditions continued. Renewed efforts by President Cleveland and Democrats in Congress to put the United States on the gold standard only increased labor unrest in the western United States as miners decried the potential loss of their silver profits.
The unrest resulted in several strikes during Cleveland's presidency and throughout the 1890s as unrest among miners in the west grew into a general labor unrest in the entire country. In 1890, the first major railroad strike in the United States hit the Missouri and South Platte Railroad. On May 1st, 1890, railroad workers in Saint Louis, Chicago, and Saint Joseph planned demonstrations protesting wage cuts and extensions of work hours enacted by the railroad as part of the Silver Depression. Within a week, workers on the Union Pacific Railroad also started striking and the strikes had spread through much of the Old Northwest. The strikes lasted just over a month as the strikes were put down by company-paid militias and federal troops.
Despite the growing threat of strike to the country's economy and a backlash among the Democratic administration, there were some advances in labor conditions during Grover Cleveland's presidency. These advances primarily occurred at the state level, such as in New Jersey. Spearheaded by Republican governor Leon Abbett[1], several bills were proposed and passed by the New Jersey state legislature in the early 1890s. In 1891, New Jersey became the first state to ban child labor in factories. The law required that people working in manufacturing facilities had to be over the age of fifteen. Abbett also signed a minimum wage law into effect in 1893, but the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Stephen Johnson Field held that a law enforcing a minimum wage violated the right to freedom of contract guaranteed under the due process clause of the Fifteenth Amendment[2].
Oregon Ho!:
The Silver Depression also created a new wave of westward migration. As economic conditions worsened, many lower class workers, especially from the Old Northwest and the South traveled on the railroads west to Oregon Territory. They were joined by prospectors following the discovery of silver and gold deposits in Kootenay. With this new influx of people along with a small but steady stream of immigrants from Asia, cities along the Pacific coast and the Columbia River boomed in the 1880s and 1890s. Tacoma, Astoria, and Langley developed into important ports for the United States with Tacoma serving as the primary Pacific port for the country during the early 20th century.
In 1891, Congress passed the Enabling Act of 1891, which allowed for the territorial legislatures of Oregon and Kootenay to create state constitutions and be admitted to the union. Cleveland passed the act in the hopes that with the large amount of immigration from the pro-Democratic southern states, the new states would give a more Democratic representation in Congress and give the Democrats more votes in the 1892 election. Oregon and Kootenay were both admitted as states to the United States in October of 1891. However, with continuing discontent over the slowly recovering economy and the influx of East Asians, the two states went Republican in the 1892 election.
[1] An OTL Democratic governor of New Jersey who did a lot to advance working conditions in the state.
[2] I loosely based this case on OTL's Lochner v. New York.
Part Eighty-Two: Consequences of the Silver Depression
Striking Forward:
The Silver Depression, along with having a devastating effect on the United States economy, created significant social problems and pressures as well. Particularly, the tensions between corporations which were becoming increasingly consolidated and labor and worker organizations continued escalating as worsened economic conditions continued. Renewed efforts by President Cleveland and Democrats in Congress to put the United States on the gold standard only increased labor unrest in the western United States as miners decried the potential loss of their silver profits.
The unrest resulted in several strikes during Cleveland's presidency and throughout the 1890s as unrest among miners in the west grew into a general labor unrest in the entire country. In 1890, the first major railroad strike in the United States hit the Missouri and South Platte Railroad. On May 1st, 1890, railroad workers in Saint Louis, Chicago, and Saint Joseph planned demonstrations protesting wage cuts and extensions of work hours enacted by the railroad as part of the Silver Depression. Within a week, workers on the Union Pacific Railroad also started striking and the strikes had spread through much of the Old Northwest. The strikes lasted just over a month as the strikes were put down by company-paid militias and federal troops.
Despite the growing threat of strike to the country's economy and a backlash among the Democratic administration, there were some advances in labor conditions during Grover Cleveland's presidency. These advances primarily occurred at the state level, such as in New Jersey. Spearheaded by Republican governor Leon Abbett[1], several bills were proposed and passed by the New Jersey state legislature in the early 1890s. In 1891, New Jersey became the first state to ban child labor in factories. The law required that people working in manufacturing facilities had to be over the age of fifteen. Abbett also signed a minimum wage law into effect in 1893, but the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Stephen Johnson Field held that a law enforcing a minimum wage violated the right to freedom of contract guaranteed under the due process clause of the Fifteenth Amendment[2].
Oregon Ho!:
The Silver Depression also created a new wave of westward migration. As economic conditions worsened, many lower class workers, especially from the Old Northwest and the South traveled on the railroads west to Oregon Territory. They were joined by prospectors following the discovery of silver and gold deposits in Kootenay. With this new influx of people along with a small but steady stream of immigrants from Asia, cities along the Pacific coast and the Columbia River boomed in the 1880s and 1890s. Tacoma, Astoria, and Langley developed into important ports for the United States with Tacoma serving as the primary Pacific port for the country during the early 20th century.
In 1891, Congress passed the Enabling Act of 1891, which allowed for the territorial legislatures of Oregon and Kootenay to create state constitutions and be admitted to the union. Cleveland passed the act in the hopes that with the large amount of immigration from the pro-Democratic southern states, the new states would give a more Democratic representation in Congress and give the Democrats more votes in the 1892 election. Oregon and Kootenay were both admitted as states to the United States in October of 1891. However, with continuing discontent over the slowly recovering economy and the influx of East Asians, the two states went Republican in the 1892 election.
[1] An OTL Democratic governor of New Jersey who did a lot to advance working conditions in the state.
[2] I loosely based this case on OTL's Lochner v. New York.
Last edited:
Well it is TTL's Western frontier. Some people are probably also moving to California, since (if I am not mistaken) California at this point is enjoying good relations with the US.
Cool update Wilcox. I like this dude Leon Abbett. It is also interesting how the Republicans and the Democrats seem to be flipping around one term each. The Progressives will now make things more complicated but you seem to suggest 1892 is going Republican. (If thing happen more or less as OTL, the Democrats might not be back in power for a while).
Added some footnotes.
Oh, and one thing that I haven't mentioned but has some continuity stuff.
List of Chief Justices:
John Jay (1789-1795)
John Rutledge (1795-1795)
Oliver Ellsworth (1796-1800)
John Marshall (1801-1835)
Roger Taney (1836-1861)
Abraham Lincoln (1861-1879)
David Davis (1879-1889)
Stephen Field (1889-?)
Oh, and one thing that I haven't mentioned but has some continuity stuff.
List of Chief Justices:
John Jay (1789-1795)
John Rutledge (1795-1795)
Oliver Ellsworth (1796-1800)
John Marshall (1801-1835)
Roger Taney (1836-1861)
Abraham Lincoln (1861-1879)
David Davis (1879-1889)
Stephen Field (1889-?)
Part Eighty-Three: Births of Political Movements
Got another update done! Footnotes to be added tomorrow.
Part Eighty-Three: Births of Political Movements
The Birth of Women's Suffrage:
The women's suffrage movement in the United States began in the early 19th century. Individual women were the first to begin campaigning for the right of women to vote. Abigail Fairbanks, one of these early proponents, spread the idea of women's suffrage through a series of lectures she gave across the United States. Little action was taken, however, until the 1850s. The Worcester Convention held in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1852 was the first major convention on women's rights' and suffrage, and attracted over 250 people including then Massachusetts state assemblyman Charles Francis Adams, son of president John Quincy Adams. Four years later, another convention on women's suffrage was held in Bristol, Pennsylvania with Quaker activist Lucretia Mott and assemblyman Adams as the main speakers. The movement gathered some strength in some circles in the Northeast prior to the National War, but dwindled during the war.
After the National War, the women's suffrage movement began to gain steam again after the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Lincoln court's ruling on Fox v. Bennett. Some suffrage activists began claiming that the disenfranchisement of women amounted to involuntary servitude and was thus unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment. The York Convention in Pennsylvania in 1876 gave birth to the White Rose Movement[1], the first national movement advocating the right of women to vote. The movement grew across the country and in 1884 achieved its first major success, getting the Champoeg state legislature to pass a law in 1879 that "granted the right to vote in all statewide and local elections to both men and women". The movement gained traction more quickly in the less populated western United States, and Colorado and New Mexico Territory enfranchised women in 1880 and 1882, respectively.
As the White Rose Movement grew in strength, national political parties started taking notice. In the 1880 and 1884 elections, the small Equal Rights Party ran candidates for the presidential and Congressional elections in a few states, but did not receive very many votes. In the 1888 election, the newly formed People's Party campaigned with women's suffrage as part of its platform. The growing popularity of the People's Party in the western United States during the 1890s gathered acceptance of women's suffrage and led to more states passing laws granting women voter participation at some level of elections. By 1900, nine states had granted women full political participation, and five more had allowed women to vote in municipal elections.
The Birth of Anarchism:
The Silver Depression enabled many smaller ideologies to rise into the mainstream as people around the world turned to more extreme political beliefs in the hopes of a recovering economy. Socialist ideologies such as Morelian collectivism and Progressivism gained popularity in the Americas among those who believed that the cause of the economic troubles of the late 19th century was too little regulation of businesses. There were also prominent thinkers who believed that the government was at the heart of the problem. Out of this belief formed the basic tenet of anarchism. But like all broad political beliefs, anarchism had many different branches.
The most well known anarchist ideology today is insurrectionism. Insurrectionism arose primarily from the works of Max Stirner and Bruno Bauer[2], who like Karl Marx were students of Hegel during the early 19th century. Stirner and Bauer's writings about the eventual overthrow of a statist system were influential on later insurrectionists and served as a call to violent action against world governments. In 1886, Emperor Wilhelm I of Germany was assassinated by Polish anarchist Janusz Opalinski[3]. Further attacks by revolutionary anarchists were made during the 1880s and 1890s against business leaders and other members of the state.
Other branches of anarchism urged not for a violent revolution against the state but for the voluntary abolition of the national government as a concept. Some of these ideologies had similar ties to some forms of socialism and advocated a return to solely local governance. Enrico Malatesta, a 19th century Italian anarchist whose works formed the basis for Poleisism, wrote that "the governing structure that best meets the needs of all people is that of the city-state or poleis." The poleis, according to Malatesta, was the point at which a people were most involved in social and political participation and therefore was the ideal entity for distributing goods to a people. Anarchist movements such as Poleisism continued to grew in the early 20th century, and became especially popular after the Great War.
[1] Named for the White Rose of York.
[2] Two OTL influential early 19th century anarchists, though I'm not sure what branch they'd fall under.
[3] Wilhelm's I death leaves Frederick III as emperor.
Part Eighty-Three: Births of Political Movements
The Birth of Women's Suffrage:
The women's suffrage movement in the United States began in the early 19th century. Individual women were the first to begin campaigning for the right of women to vote. Abigail Fairbanks, one of these early proponents, spread the idea of women's suffrage through a series of lectures she gave across the United States. Little action was taken, however, until the 1850s. The Worcester Convention held in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1852 was the first major convention on women's rights' and suffrage, and attracted over 250 people including then Massachusetts state assemblyman Charles Francis Adams, son of president John Quincy Adams. Four years later, another convention on women's suffrage was held in Bristol, Pennsylvania with Quaker activist Lucretia Mott and assemblyman Adams as the main speakers. The movement gathered some strength in some circles in the Northeast prior to the National War, but dwindled during the war.
After the National War, the women's suffrage movement began to gain steam again after the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Lincoln court's ruling on Fox v. Bennett. Some suffrage activists began claiming that the disenfranchisement of women amounted to involuntary servitude and was thus unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment. The York Convention in Pennsylvania in 1876 gave birth to the White Rose Movement[1], the first national movement advocating the right of women to vote. The movement grew across the country and in 1884 achieved its first major success, getting the Champoeg state legislature to pass a law in 1879 that "granted the right to vote in all statewide and local elections to both men and women". The movement gained traction more quickly in the less populated western United States, and Colorado and New Mexico Territory enfranchised women in 1880 and 1882, respectively.
As the White Rose Movement grew in strength, national political parties started taking notice. In the 1880 and 1884 elections, the small Equal Rights Party ran candidates for the presidential and Congressional elections in a few states, but did not receive very many votes. In the 1888 election, the newly formed People's Party campaigned with women's suffrage as part of its platform. The growing popularity of the People's Party in the western United States during the 1890s gathered acceptance of women's suffrage and led to more states passing laws granting women voter participation at some level of elections. By 1900, nine states had granted women full political participation, and five more had allowed women to vote in municipal elections.
The Birth of Anarchism:
The Silver Depression enabled many smaller ideologies to rise into the mainstream as people around the world turned to more extreme political beliefs in the hopes of a recovering economy. Socialist ideologies such as Morelian collectivism and Progressivism gained popularity in the Americas among those who believed that the cause of the economic troubles of the late 19th century was too little regulation of businesses. There were also prominent thinkers who believed that the government was at the heart of the problem. Out of this belief formed the basic tenet of anarchism. But like all broad political beliefs, anarchism had many different branches.
The most well known anarchist ideology today is insurrectionism. Insurrectionism arose primarily from the works of Max Stirner and Bruno Bauer[2], who like Karl Marx were students of Hegel during the early 19th century. Stirner and Bauer's writings about the eventual overthrow of a statist system were influential on later insurrectionists and served as a call to violent action against world governments. In 1886, Emperor Wilhelm I of Germany was assassinated by Polish anarchist Janusz Opalinski[3]. Further attacks by revolutionary anarchists were made during the 1880s and 1890s against business leaders and other members of the state.
Other branches of anarchism urged not for a violent revolution against the state but for the voluntary abolition of the national government as a concept. Some of these ideologies had similar ties to some forms of socialism and advocated a return to solely local governance. Enrico Malatesta, a 19th century Italian anarchist whose works formed the basis for Poleisism, wrote that "the governing structure that best meets the needs of all people is that of the city-state or poleis." The poleis, according to Malatesta, was the point at which a people were most involved in social and political participation and therefore was the ideal entity for distributing goods to a people. Anarchist movements such as Poleisism continued to grew in the early 20th century, and became especially popular after the Great War.
[1] Named for the White Rose of York.
[2] Two OTL influential early 19th century anarchists, though I'm not sure what branch they'd fall under.
[3] Wilhelm's I death leaves Frederick III as emperor.
Last edited:
Neat update Wilcox. It seems that with the Progressive party steadily growing women might get the right to vote earlier.
Right now there are several big states in Europe in TTL but this seems to indicate that a few city states might arise here and there. Wonder which ones.
Right now there are several big states in Europe in TTL but this seems to indicate that a few city states might arise here and there. Wonder which ones.
Me? Looking for a Progressive victory in 1900
With ITTL's growing Catholic (and Ibero) population, it would be interesting to see a Catholic president early in the 1900s. Not sure if possible, although Cuba has been a state for a long time, but it be cool.
Your insurrectionists sound like a pretty bad-ass group. Radicalizing Bauer in particular and giving him a greater role is an interesting choice, given his fascination with christianity and Markan priority; thinking about the ways a further radicalization of Bauer could play out in terms of his demythologization of the christian texts playing an important and earlier role in radicalizing a european populace.
Likewise, a Stirner whose works are less existential and 'high brow' and more practical and praxis-driven would be fascinating to contemplate in terms of disseminating an Egoist Anarchism and similarly making it insurrectionist and militarizing it. There is a lot more to be done with these thinkers here in terms of taking their philosophies to their logical conclusions, as different outcomes of the european wars in the 1860's and 1870's as well as the global financial crisis play out against industrialization and urbanization. It is encouraging to see this here.
What of Bakunin? His 1814 birth puts him inside the POD and OTL would have been more insurrectionist than either Stirner or Bauer. I'd also be curious to see what changes might have taken place for Proudhon, given his role in the OTL French Revolutions of 1848. If i recall, your first forays into europe began a bit after this.
It's also a bit of a shame tht Kropotkin's 1842 birth may have been buterflied away.
Last, the rise of this political thought in a continental europe where Germany has played a more important role than in OTL will have significant repercussions down the line. A leftist insurrection in continental europe is only one potential outcome here
Likewise, a Stirner whose works are less existential and 'high brow' and more practical and praxis-driven would be fascinating to contemplate in terms of disseminating an Egoist Anarchism and similarly making it insurrectionist and militarizing it. There is a lot more to be done with these thinkers here in terms of taking their philosophies to their logical conclusions, as different outcomes of the european wars in the 1860's and 1870's as well as the global financial crisis play out against industrialization and urbanization. It is encouraging to see this here.
What of Bakunin? His 1814 birth puts him inside the POD and OTL would have been more insurrectionist than either Stirner or Bauer. I'd also be curious to see what changes might have taken place for Proudhon, given his role in the OTL French Revolutions of 1848. If i recall, your first forays into europe began a bit after this.
It's also a bit of a shame tht Kropotkin's 1842 birth may have been buterflied away.
Last, the rise of this political thought in a continental europe where Germany has played a more important role than in OTL will have significant repercussions down the line. A leftist insurrection in continental europe is only one potential outcome here
Me? Looking for a Progressive victory in 1900
The US will definitely have a Catholic president earlier than OTL. How much earlier, I can't say.
But there will probably be at least a Catholic candidate (possibly an Ibero) in the next decade or so.Thanks.
I haven't really decided on how much influence Bakunin will have. For now I didn't talk about him because this update was more focused on individual anarchism. I'll probably do an update on social anarchism later which will include Bakunin. Kropotkin, while he may still be born, won't likely grow up to be an anarchist due to butterflies. I might do something with either his imperial heritage or his surveying expeditions to the Far East though.
Thanks. Welcome back.
Hmmm. The next update might take a couple more days. I forgot that I'd have to update the populations before I do the census update.
I was just wondering, what is Jewish immigration to Palestine like ITTL? Is it greater, lesser, or about the same as OTL?