When Wars Collide (Tyler Dies in 1844) - a TLIAD

[FONT=&quot]What now? And what about that Lollard Reformation one?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I’m offering to let anyone who will continue it more in depth do so, keeping what little I’d done, as I think Charles IV dying in 1393, which I have John of Gaunt being King butterflying into, is also interesting. I just lost interest and even lost the TL for a couple years. But, if someone can really expand it from where I went and take it much further, it’d be great.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Okay, so what’s this?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Well, I’d pondered what Thande did with British PMs, but I don’t think I can – I have to beat 10 in 16 years like Emperor Julian had in “Ruins…” to do so.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]You said Emperor Julian was leader in the clubhouse, yeah, though only Tyler’s death and one other would stand in the way of tying it, counting Van Buren for a bit of 1841 and Buchanan in 1857. But, breaking it, yeah.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Right, and this is different enough from my “Webster as Harrison’s VP” one.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]But, you still haven’t said what this is.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Well, someone in another thread said they’d started to think about Willie Mangum as President but a search revealed nothing under that screen name since that post a year ago.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]So, how is this different from your other one?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]You’d be surprised – no Texas annexation in 1845, but usually people like to leave it independent, whereas here…[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Wait, so the wars that collide…well, that could be interesting.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Yes, but it’s also to maybe get someone to take the Lollard one up. So, you’re not going to bug me about these TLIADs being originally British political ones?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I’ve give up hope. Besides, I have a feeling if you did one it’d be the Lollard one.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Which I’ll also post what I had of that. It would be an English TLIAD, though..[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]How can you do that? English is a totally different subject from History.:D[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]That sounds like the start of a theme in one of those [/FONT][FONT=&quot]comedy [/FONT][FONT=&quot]weirdness tapes for my nieces and nephews, with "stuffed animals" doing different voices. I think I better get started before we decide to fill this entirely with that kind of silliness.[/FONT]
 
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[FONT=&quot]Part 1 – “Okay, I guess Tyler *was* President…”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]When Mangum first took office in February, 1844, the nation was in shock. A second President had died in a single 4-year term.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]They hadn’t thought of John Tyler as President during this lifetime, but it’s said that this often happens to those who die young, or in sad circumstances. And, the explosion on board that US Navy ship certainly counted as one. It killed President John Tyler as well as several others. And, while talk may not have occurred abou it had he not died, out of respect and a quiet thankfulness, now Whigs felt comfortable admitting that yes, John tyler had, in fact, been President.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The Constitution hadn’t been clear there, but it had said that Congress could make a law about who should act as President should both offices be vacant – which they spun to mean that the V.P. hadn’t acted as President. Willie P. Mangum, however, was clearly simply acting as President till a new election could be held late that year. Since it was already the end of the normal cycle, whether it would have been for a normal 4-year term anyway didn’t matter. Although, Constitutional scholars decided it probably would.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]His first job as Acting President was to bring back Secretary of State Daniel Webster, who had left after finishing negotiations on a treaty with England over the Maine boundary. Abel P. Upshur, his predecessor, had also been killed in the explosion. Webster had agreed to continue work on the Oregon Treaty just as he had done negotiating the boundary with Maine and Canada, but while Upshur had been instrumental in working on the treaty annexing Texas, Mangum decided it should be shelved..[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The main issue was this. Mangum had supported annexation a little, but agreed with Henry Clay to oppose it – and for good reasons. It would not only possibly split the Whig Part, which had just now begun to coalesce after 8 years earlier having candidates from each different region, it would also threaten North Carolina cotton prices and possibly incite war against Mexico. Oh, it was mostly party unity he sought, but still, when the treaty to annex Texas came to him, he realized he should try to delay it as long as possible. And, Webster now was a strong opponent because he didn’t want to see it become a slave state. He went back to the Texans throwing in a provision concerning gradual emancipation, knowing they would never agree to it. Though Webster was starting to realize he couldn’t get salverya blished all bby himself, he could still try to prevent it from spreading.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Mangum was, however, only Acting President. This was clear in the Constitution in the event both the executive offices were vacant. However, he also eulogized John Tyler, stating that, in the end, he had been the President. This, he felt, would soothe Democrats a little.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Henry Clay would be the Whig candidate, there was no doubt about that. The Democrats’ candidate remained to be seen. John C. Calhoun strongly supported Texas annexation. Andrew Jackson was still alive and kicking in Tennessee, and he was pushing for a Democratic candidate who would support annexation. However, he hated John Calhoun for the earlier Nullification battle and hoped anyone could be found besides him.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]However, Martin Van Buren was the frontrunner, and the only way he would lose was if there was a rule saying a candidate had to get 2/3 of the vote. A Mississippi Democrat tried to push for that rule to be instituted, but in the end, he failed by a few votes – there wasn’t the fear of Britain trying to annex Texas that Tyler might have revved up, and it was felt that if it wasn’t annexed now, it would only be 4 more years – at the most.(1)[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]However, while Van Buren selected James K. Polk as his Vice President,(2) a man who supported annexation, Jackson and Calhoun insisted on annexing Texas immediately. Hence, Jackson found himself considering his old nemesis Calhoun for the Presidency; although privately he wished he could support someone else. He tried to find someone among Democrats who would support it. He quickly found one in Lewis Cass of Michigan.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Cass seemed like an ideal candidate – a Virginian-born man who favored slavery expansion, even into new territories (popular sovereignty), he was opposed to Van Buren yet would be more appealing to Northerners, since he was now running from Michigan.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Jackson encouraged Cass to also nominate Polk for VP, a move similar to how he and John Quincy Adams had both chosen Calhoun 20 years earlier.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Cass drew Southern Whigs to vote for him as well as Southern Democrats, but he didn’t quite have the pull Van Buren did, despite Jackson, in his last months, expending energy to get people to support Cass and to remind people of the economic turmoil Van Buren had “caused,” though it was really Jackson’s policies which had done it. Still, van Buren took enough he managed to come in a close third to Cass. Yet, Cass also took enough Western votes from Clay to send the election into the House for the first time in 20 years and 3rd overall.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The Democrats had split New York, giving Clay that state, but Cass took Tennessee from being what surely would have been a Clay win and captured it thanks to Jackson, leaving Clay with 126 electoral votes – Maryland was close enough 2 electors in the Clay state went for Cass. Cass’s popularity in Michigan gave him that state plus slaves states that didn’t go for Clay, though Virginia was very hotly contested, and Maryland was very close, too, as noted; it wasn’t uncommon at this time for that state to split its votes. Cass’ desire for Westward expansion drew enough votes away from Clay that he lost both Indiana and Illinois to Van Buren, as voters seemed torn between that and Clays’ American System. The final tally was Clay 126, Van Buren 75, Cass 74. Since both Democratic candidates had chosen Polk as a running mate, he would be the new Vice President.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]This time, ironically, it was Clay on the receiving end of help to become President. Van Burenites were concerned about the growing role of the pro-slavery faction in each party, and so – despite his concerns about Clay – he approached him after the first ballot, which because of the number of Democrats in Congress saw Clay and Cass deadlocked, with Van Buren having only a handful of states; Illinois and Indians had abstained, torn between Cass and Clay, though even if both had gone to Cass he’d have still needed a couple others to win.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“I know we might still end up with you as President anyway, Senator Clay, but I don’t know – Cass might not be able to get enough Democratic states, but that could just mean a deadlock where they let Polk become President on March 4 if none of us can get a majority, and I’m afraid with Cass drawing Southerners away, he could win instead,” Van Buren said.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Clay returned, “I might be able to work a deal with some, but it would be hard, and I also don’t want Polk as President. I do fear war with Mexico could erupt, and we need to get the situation straight with Britain over Oregon first.” He waited to see what Van Buren offered.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“I will throw my support to you, ask my states to vote for you – I suspect the Southerners in my party would never vote for me, and it appears you did receive a majority of the popular vote, or at least close to it.” He had, in fact, gotten between 46-50%. “In return I only ask for you to agree to no National Bank – only state ones. Your National System can be run well enough without another Bank of the U.S..”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Clay was always the Great Compromiser. “Agreed. And, I shall not support Texas annexation. However, I would like some national savings to allow slaves to be relocated once freed,” Clay remarked in return.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Van Buren hemmed and hawed. “I suppose… perhaps an act of Congress which provides for that. We must try to keep the balance between free and slave states,” he remarked.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“Certainly; Iowa and Florida are quite possible to keep the balance.” Clay smiled. “I wonder what people will say about another ‘Corrupt Bargain’?”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“I prefer to think of it as the Constitution working. You did, after all, get more votes, and very nearly won a majority of electoral votes” Van Buren said.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“Very true. I only hope I can survive 4 years with Polk as my Vice President without pulling my hair out. We both recall the stories of Adams and Jefferson,” Clay remarked.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]“And the more recent clashes in President Jackson’s first term,” Van Buren replied.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]With that, Henry Clay was elected President by the House.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot](1) OTL it passed by only a few votes, the noted differences would be enough to get just a few delegates to change, but it would be enough.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot](2) Polk originally hoped to be the running mate, but also, this promise would soothe a couple delegates into not voting for the 2/3 rule, which barely passed OTL.[/FONT]
 
[FONT=&quot]Part 2 – The Catcher Had Hands of Clay[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The Clay Presidency, which some had hoped for since 1824, had finally come. He pushed hard for internal improvements, but Polk’s presence as Vice President created major issues.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Polk tried to be what John Adams had failed to become; since he was of the other party, he became a vocal leader and in this case, the Opposition Spokesman. This didn’t sit well with many people, of course, and meant the Clay Presidency was in danger of being a do-nothing one, like a gifted baseball player with hands of clay, as the double-meaning joke would go later..[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Oh, things got done, a very modified set of internal improvements got passed, and a treaty with Britain over Oregon was agreed upon with the border the same parallel as at the Great Lakes and kept right on going, rather than what Polk proposed, the 54’40” line. Polk also proposed things such as Texas annexation and purchase of more land from Mexico and even Cuba, while Clay was working on negotiating a compromise tariff. Polk’s voice meant that Clay used all his energy just keeping tariffs rather high – the minor lowering still angered Southerners who wanted a much lower tariff to increase trade, something Polk had insisted upon. [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]It got to where Polk’s agitation for slaveholding powers became so acute, Clay couldn’t get much work done and seemed quite anti-slavery by comparison, though he was more for just holding to the status quo. This, in turn, continued to fuel Southern agitation.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]President Mangum had appointed Whigs – one Northern, one Southern – to the Supreme Court. Clay, likewise, was appointing Whigs, but it took every inch of his strength to compromise and work things out amongst all the various factions.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Once the 1848 elections began to be contested, he and Polk found themselves as rivals for the election in their various parties, but each was worn out from their clashes, Clay from bickering and tirelessly working with people trying to hammer things out, Polk from stumping for the opposition’s plans.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Iowa and Florida had maintained the balance between free and slave states, but the admission of Wisconsin became a divisive issue in the 1848 election. Many began to protest that Texas should be admitted if only to balance the slave and free states. Clay considered budging because of that, but Daniel Webster refused, while Calhoun kept pushing for more and more, including the popular sovereignty suggested by some.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]This gave rise to questions of who would run in ’48. Clay was desired by quite a few, and given much credit for holding the country together; he would later be viewed as a great President for that, with the what would come soon. However, he was clearly tired of the office and wanted to retire back to the Senate if not totally. He was now 71 and older than any other President ever had been. He could get a Senate seat in March of 1849, and was told it was his for the taking by those back in Kentucky.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]However, Vice President Polk, despite being rather tired himself, was called upon by Democrats to carry the mantle. He reluctantly agreed. When Lewis Cass declined the Vice Presidency, Polk pushed for James Buchanan, a Northerner to balance the ticket but one who was not afraid to give in to the Southern faction – and the Southern faction was growing very loud, causing Martin Van Buren and others to branch off.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Daniel Webster – who was anti-Texas admission – wound up receiving the Whig nomination, since Clay had refused. Even Southern Whigs were beginning to desire its admission, but the concerns over cotton competition were there, and so was concern in North Carolina that the states of the Deep South were mulling secession if they didn’t get their desires met.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Polk was likely to win, anyway – Webster was easily painted as too aristocratic, looking back, it was said, to “the days of the failed Federalists.” “This nation desires progress and expansion,” Polk declared. “We may face war if we annex TExas, but so what? We can win, and perhaps Mexico will sell us more.” He pledged to try, just as they had with Louisiana and Oregon.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The discovery of gold in California in 1848 turned a likely easy win by Polk into a landslide of monumental proportions. Martin Van Buren’s Free Soil ticket, despite his being a Democrat, was the harbinger of a major shift as he drew more votes away from Webster. Webster won only Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, for 26 Electoral Votes. While Polk may well have won Maine and New Hampshire anyway, Van Buren definitely drew enough votes away from Webster to give Polk Vermont.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The most shocking of all was that Van Buren, thanks to his New York base,and opposition to the Whigs, won New York with 36.2% of the vote!(1) He did so on claims that Polk would draw them into war, that he was the true Democratic candidate, one who opposed expansion of slavery (and, to draw the Free Soilers, admitted he was privately opposed to slavery itself), and that Polk – because he represented rich slaveowners – was as much of an elitist as Webster. It was a very close match, but as Webster and Polk ground each other down, Van Buren used his apparatus to win his home state.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]That Van Buren finished with only one state versus 3 for Webster was lost on Southerners who only were worried about one thing – a party labeled “Free Soil” had finished second. Even though Webster’s views, by now, were pretty close to Van Buren’s, as he wasn’t denouncing slavery much anymore but only trying to keep it out of the territories. And, Van Buren had seemed to some more likely to be able to work with an increasingly Democratic Congress to avoid causing strife over Texas.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]However, more of the country was catching Gold Fever, and that would provide a whole new set of problems for President Polk and his successor to deal with.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot](1) He finished 2nd OTL ahead of the Democrat Cass, but here he’s getting even more votes from a Democrat while also getting 8-10% of the Webster vote because Webster is more elitist.[/FONT]
 
[FONT=&quot]Part 3 – “See, That Was Easy… Wait, What?!”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]President Polk, upon taking office, met with Congressional officials and immediately set about reducing the tariffs that had so angered Southerners throughout the ‘40s and also pushing for a resumption of the treaty which John Tyler had worked on annexing Texas. Congress remained in special session for over a month and returned again in October. The number of Whigs in both houses might have made it difficult in 1844-5, but now there were enough Democrats, as the Whigs began to dissolve and reform themselves, that there was sure to be passage. The last 2 Congressional elections of made that certain.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]This was fortunate, since Wisconsin had been seeking admittance for years. A bill to admit Wisconsin as a free state was authorized, with the entire Wisconsin Territory being admitted, that being all the land east of the Mississippi River not yet accounted for. While Polk’s Secretary of State went to work on revisiting the Texas treaty, Polk sent an emissary to Spain to negotiate for the purchase of Cuba. He knew that there would eventually be more states entering the Union, and he wanted to be ready. While Spain rebuffed the original offer, he felt it was possible the U.S. could get it.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]However, Polk’s big problems began when the evolving Whig coalition with a number of other parties drew a very famous person – Martin Van Buren.(1) Van Buren led a number of Democrats from the North with him, and Polk was afraid that meant more voters. While its tenets weren’t clear yet, the lack of slavery in the territories and the quashing of the growing power the slaveholders had were the main ones.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]They included not admitting Texas, but they realized that it was now mostly a done deal. Indeed, as party meetings continued, in November of 1849, the Senate received and approved the treaty admitting Texas as a slave state, with Wisconsin admitted as a free state the next day.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]There were also loud voices within the newly forming Freedom Coalition, as some called them, who claimed that slavery should be ended. Van Buren didn’t think that should be forced but he was beginning to think some gradual, compensated emancipation could be tried. His victory in New York had emboldened men like William Seward, while also helping moderates like Millard Fillmore who simply wanted to limit slavery to where it was. The Coalition was becoming incredibly strong in New York. Texas’ admission, at least, had kept the Missouri Compromise going, but the next bit of news was destined to douse that optimism. Rebels in California, just like those in Texas 13 years earlier, sought admittance to the Union – as a free state.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Some considered that it could be split into two. Having the Missouri Compromise line stretch to the Pacific was definitely an option, but what would they do about the Northern territories which had been gained in the Louisiana Purchase onward? Not only that, but there was no guarantee the rebels would hold any territory below the line when all was said and done. Southerners insisted it be split at a minimum, or not admitted at all, ready to prevent it fior years just like the North had Texas. Northerners insisted it be totally free.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The South also insisted on a strict Fugitive Slave Law, which the North wasn’t willing to abide by. In return, the North insisted on one of Webster’s campaign promises, ending the salve trade in the District of Columbia. Even some Southerners liked that idea, feeling it was unbecoming of the U.S. to have it occur in its capital.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Polk had worked tirelessly at Vice President, and while he hadn’t been as busy then as he was as President, even that had taken a toll on him. Now, it was just too much – he died in May of 1850. It seemed that William Henry Harrison had begun a fad.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]James Buchanan was now the 14th President of the Unites States, with the counting of Mangum (this was begun late in Clay’s term since it seemed he’d done enough to warrant being counted, so there is no truth to the persistent story that it was done to skip the number 13). Vice President Buchanan had to deal with the confusion regarding the Compromise of 1850 – Henry Clay had presented an idea which had been loathed by extremists on both sides and rejected.(2) [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Buchanan tried to push for Clay’s idea, but Buchanan was a popular sovereignty/states’ rights supporter, and he expressed concerns, among other things, about opposition to Texas’ insistence on its New Mexico holdings, those being the lands Texas had claimed when it was the Republic of Texas, and which the U.S. now found itself disputing with Mexico over.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]As if it wasn’t already disputing with Mexico over California, trying to support their fellow Republic verbally since these “rebels” were all U.S. citizens, while at the same time trying to avoid letting that be a prelude to war; privately, Buchanan hoped that the California situation would go away. He wrote in his diary, “If they wish to carve out a new nation on the west coast as we did the east, they are to be praised for their industriousness, but it would be harder for us, in our current state, to support them than it was for France to support us. However, thankfully, Mexico is not the Great Britain of 75 years ago, either.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Mexico also had trouble with the Mormons – more on that later, though. [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Buchanan tried to buy the territory from Mexico. Well, okay, it wasn’t quite that simple. He was really in a quandary. On the one hand, he supported Texas’ right to retain that bit of land out to the Rio Grande, but on the other hand, he felt if they relinquished it, there could be more slave states created.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Of course, there were those who insisted that slavery be outlawed in all territories – the Wilmot Proviso was added to the compromise and it was rejected, and even a later compromise seemed like it would never work.(3)[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Texas was threatening war over its New Mexico holdings. With people in South Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi already talking secession, that was a major problem. Those who recalled Andrew Jackson’s laying down the law during the Nullification Crisis begged Buchanan to do the same.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Then, it got worse. Mississippi Senator Henry S. Foote, upset at Missouri’s Thomas Hart Benton’s railings against slavery and any sort of compromise that would help it, eventually pulled a gun and shot Benton on the floor of the Senate before he could be wrestled to the ground.(4) Foote was summarily expelled from the Senate for this, but even this caused outrage because his fellow Southerners felt he was defending the cause of slavery. That outrage seemed much worse because Benton died of his wounds a week later.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]However, disgraced as Foote was, he was also a Unionist, and some of the talk of secession had already begun. So, the Fire-Eaters in Mississippi were more than glad to agree that he was disgraced and now charged with murder, and that meant they could go forward with their plans.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]That summer, President Buchanan sought some to keep the U.S. together, and found himself hoping for war with Mexico. War Hawk Lewis Cass, in fact, proposed that some incident be used to try to keep the country together. Foote’s actions had left a serious stain on the Senate, and on the nation. One that, while it wasn’t the only reason compromise couldn’t be reached, definitely created a lot of hard feelings that were slow to be erased.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot](1) Though he didn’t jump parties OTL, this party isn’t totally ready to abolish slavery, though there will be major elements that do. [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot](2) As he did OTL.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot](3) Indeed, even OTL the Compromise of 1850 was rejected as one big thing before it was passed in several smaller bills.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot](4) OTL, he was wrestled to the ground before firing. It’s not certain how good a shot he was or where he was standing, but if he’s upset enough he might fire immediately instead of likely just threatening Benton, since there was obviously time to wrestle him to the ground. And, Benton being older, it’s quite possible he’d die from it..[/FONT]
 
[FONT=&quot]Part 4 – The Distraction War[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]President Buchanan enjoyed the idea from Cass, who had favored war with Mexico years earlier(as had Polk.) Buchanan used earlier clashes between Mexicans and Texans (albeit beyond the Nueces), as well as reports received about California settlers being fired on, reports which came after the declaration of war was sought. He felt that having a common enemy and goal would halt the sectional crisis, and so war with Mexico was desired.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]In theory, it was a good move – it could have solidified the nation behind an increasingly difficult problem, leading to national unity. Lewis Cass felt that popular sovereignty would help in the New Mexico Territory to allow it to become another slave state, and so couldother states – even those above the Compromise line. As much Mexican territory as necessary could have been taken to form different states.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]This, however, did little to support national unity. In fact, in some places it did the opposite.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]When John C. Calhoun died around this time, it didn’t have a huge impact as Senator Cass still supported it. This continued support of it meant enough Northerners did, too, that the measure passed rather easily. However, it was still a somewhat unpopular war - unless, of course, there was a promise not to allow slavery in those territories, which the Wilmot Proviso would have prohibited. Even in New Mexico.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Still, it galvanized some. However, there was even conflict within the ranks of the Army; did the U.S. focus on the West, where John Fremont was, or on the Gulf? Then, there were men like Mississippi’s Governor John Quitman who insisted that the South should leave the Union if the North wasn’t going to return their slaves when they escaped.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The elections of 1850 made it worse. The war’s unpopularity in some parts of the North led the new Freedom Coalition to gain quite a few seats. (Ironically, word hadn’t yet reached California, as it was only a couple months after the Declaration of War.) It was only a loose coalition for now, but the coalition was growing day by day as opposition to the war continued to fester.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Then, Quitman continued as governor(1) and became close to several South Carolinians and others who espoused secession. He wished to resume the slave trade, in fact, as did a few others. When the Nashville Convention – which followed a Mississippi one – of Fire Eaters found their desires being unheeded, Quitman suggested that the Southern states should fight alongside the United States “as allies, considered to be a separate nation.” The loudest voices for Unionism in Mississippi had been silenced(2), and that state, behind Quitman and other secessionists, was now totally behind the idea of secession thanks to the vitriol that had come from anti-slavery people since Foote’s shooting of Benton on the Senate floor, an act Northerners said was “more worthy of the barbarians.”[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The Election of 1850 brought even more Free Soilers and even anti-slavery Republicans, as some called themselves, into the Senate and House(3). Indeed, in the House, there was now a slight majority of non-Democrats. Ironically, even the couple Know-Nothings, normally anti-immigrant, joined the coalition when it was shown the German immigrants often seemed very supportive of the Union and against slavery. And, the Irish could possibly be counted on not to support the war against Mexico.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]This would be crucial, because in March of 1851, the House voted on a resolution to end hostilities with Mexico. It wasn’t a cutting off of funds, more of a no-confidence vote in Buchanan. While it failed narrowly, this set in motion some other things.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]California had been an independent republic for some time and had insisted on being a free state. A compromise was reached wherein it would be a free state and was admitted that way, while Texas was stripped of its western lands, which could be yet another slave state. Even though it was very unlikely there would be any big salve plantations on that land, and people there might not accept being a slave state. With the hope that it would be open season for either, pro and anti-slavery people began rushing in, and violence began occurring on both sides, especially by the savery advocates.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Texas felt it was fighting for those lands, and Southerners feared that this could become a free state, there was so little land for plantations, even if this “New Mexico” was admitted as a slave state immediately. By the same reasoning, there could be an argument made that there would be no more slave states, for the simple reason that Deseret, the home of the Mormons(4), was claiming so much land that the U.S. could possible say, “Okay, you stay independent, we don’t want Mormons in our country.” Or, admit them as one big free state. Either way, there was still a whole lot more land above the Missouri Compromise line.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]A third Southern convention was held in late May, 1851. This California Compromise had been “forced down their throats,” it was claimed, supported by only a few Southern Whigs. Stephen Douglas had proposed allowing California to be free but then letting slavery into any territory that wanted it, but this had been quashed despite Buchanan’s support. Southerners kept insisting on more, and didn’t even like the possible removal of the slave trade from Washington, D.C... Southerners were not happy with the Missouri Compromise and demanded that something be done. They didn’t want to wait for Congress to reconvene in December of 1851 as it would normally do.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]President Buchanan called Congress into emergency session in July, 1851. Clay was ill but came anyway, hoping to help work something out. However, despite all his hard work he died in early August, 1851. He is reported to have said at the end, “I have failed my country. Let this not be the end of the United States.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]With Congress not helping them or enacting a strict Fugitive Slave Law, the states met again later in August in Columbia, South Carolina. A resolution was adopted and sent back to the member Southern states, stating, “We shall, if secession is decided upon, continue to fight as allies of the United States in the war against Mexico.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]By late in October 1851, Mississippi, led by Governor Quitman, had seceded from the Union. South Carolina (on the same day), Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, Georgia, and Arkansas followed.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Georgia was delayed a number of weeks by an election in that state which elevated Howell Cobb, an outspoken supporter of secession, into the Governor’s mansion. In Texas, where Sam Houston and Elisha Rease were galvanizing Union supporters – but they had to fight Mexico and Texas, just as the U.S. did, while trying to get Texans to reconsider, saying,the New Mexico lands were not worth this.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]On the other side, Sterling Price was leading a bunch of people who wanted Missouri to secede, though their legislature didn’t vote to. Price ended up quitting and becominga rebel leader in that state. And, Tennessee’s former governor, who had just been defeated, was so against the Union he took up arms for the South as the state, like Missouri, had its own Civil War, though there was much less support for secession in Tennessee.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Virginia’s John B. Floyd and Virginia’s other fire-eaters pushed hard for secession, even though they would be surrounded by Union states, touching off a civil war in that state, too, with most of the U.S.’s best forces fighting Mexico.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
Some very memorable political cartoons rose from the last year and a half of Buchanan’s administration.

A cartoon supporting him used the notion of divide and conquer to show the US and Southern states gobbling up Mexico, with Deseret a dog getting table scraps. This prompted a reply showing the same types of people fighting each other over a pig while another creature sneaks away underneath it.

Another featured someone representing Mexico asking how many countries were at war with it and officials who kept losing count.

Then, there was an old eagle named Van Buren watching younger ones vying for supremacy and mulling how it should show them how to get things done.
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Virginia was shown in one as an ostrich burying its head in the sand, ignoring the fact they would be surrounded if they seceded and that some of the best Virginian generals were pro-Union – only to get its head down below the ground and see President Buchanan with his head also down there. “Mr. President, what are you doing here?” it asks.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Virginia was sure to be surrounded because North Carolina, led by Governor David Reid, had enacted voting reform to allow more white male voters just as had been done in Michigan. Despite strong Whig opposition, he’d won, which surprised many Democrats. His reform-mindedness and strong union support actually made him a dark horse for the 1852 election, in some minds.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]It sure wasn’t going to be Buchanan. The only good thing that could be said of him was what Congressman Abraham Lincoln of Illinois(5) famously said, amongst those who called for Buchanan’s resignation if not his head, “I do not begrudge him. He is the third man to reach the Presidency not through his own making, and apparently he was not ready. I feel it is best never to attribute to malice what can be blamed on incompetence.”(6)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]-------------------[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](1) OTL he resigned to defend himself against charges of violating the Neutrality Act through supporting a filibuster to Cuba. TTL Cuba is actively sought via purchase, so there is no filibuster and thus no charges are brought.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) Or, in former senator Foote’s case, disgraced; since he beat Jefferson Davis OTL for the office of governor, Quitman is able to rile the people up even more and secessionists are able to retain the seat.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](3) OTL Democrats made gains and a number of Free Soilers lost their seats. Here, they retain them and some are even added.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](4) Remember them? They moved out to Utah in 1847 OTL before the war ended and did claim much of Nevada and Arizona and a few other small sbits of states OTL in 1849.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](5) OTL he won a seat a few years earlier but lost it. Here, he doesn’t win in the Democratic landslides but instead takes part in the coalition of Republicans that wisn a bunch of 1850 seats.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](6) Said by Mark Twain OTL, but it also feels, in different circumstances, like something Lincoln might have said.[/FONT]
 
Interesting. I liked your Webster as Veep TL, but this one feels a little off. The grammar and writing style doesn't seem to flow very well. Still good, just weird.
 
Interesting. I liked your Webster as Veep TL, but this one feels a little off. The grammar and writing style doesn't seem to flow very well. Still good, just weird.

Thanks, that's the problem with trying to do this in a day. The weather here is yucky, there is once again ice all over preventing even walking, I don't have anything to do for work right now, and it is just as much to se let people know about that Lollard one, as well as being something that just sprang up, as noted, becasue i was trying to see if I could beat 10 President in 16 years. When I couldn't, I just went with this to not have wasted the time trying to figure stuff out.
 
Part 5 – How Did We End Up Here?

Several places were asking that question as 1851 drew to a close. How had they ever ended up there after things seemed so calm just 8 years ago?

President Clay, not wanting to anger Mexico, had not only not annexed Texas, despite many calls for it, he also suggested that settlers remain in Oregon Territory. This was somewhat fortunate as the Mexican government had been considering cracking down on settlers in the Northern California area.(1) Some would eventually go down, anyway, people being what they were, but only because of a distraction.

American settlers weren’t entering Northern California much in 1846, but Mormons were entering what they called Deseret, settling near the Great Salt Lake. They’d begun this journey without really consulting anyone, but U.S. authorities didn’t totally mind, as they would then be Mexico’s concern. So, when the Mexican government heard of this, they thought the Americans were doing an end around and – once they learned how many there were – they kept General Jose Castro in California and sent an army under General Pedro de Ampudia His harsh actions against the Mormons led to calls for his ouster, especially after a bloody counter which led to his retreating from the Great Salt Lake region.

Battles with the Mormons continued for months, while more and more American settlers began to pour into California once they heard how preoccupied Mexico was with the Mormons. General Castro had been forced to lend numerous of his soldiers to the fight against the Mormons, which allowed more and more American settlers to pour into California. It was here that gold was discovered, and soon that flood became a torrent.

The Mexican government might have been happy, but General Santa Anna asked the Mormons for help getting through to Mexico City, and he overthrew the Mexican government later, in 1849, as a result of Mexican losses in the California War of Independence. He then sent his military to seize the gold fields that had been discovered.

John C. Fremont – as Texans had done before him – became an American leader of rebel settlers to Mexico, and fought until a decisive battle later in 1849 in which general Pico was captured. He surrendered in return for not being executed, which he feared would be done. California independence had been won, and Santa Anna humiliated.

Santa Anna was overthrown one last time in 1850, and soon, a provisional government was set up to meet with the one in California; they agreed to terms of independence. California had even earlier requested annexation by the US as a free state; now that they’d been granted their independence they had more leverage, of course. This Californian Rebellion, then, had been one of the main factors in the increasing sectional strife.

Mexican forces had continued to clash with Americans around the Nueces. President Buchanan, seeing a chance for a unifying war, wanted to ensure New Mexico was America’s, while Fremont wanted to claim Los Angeles and San Diego for sure and also possibly Baja California. It was Texas which Buchanan had used as a pretext, but he also wanted to throw a bone to the Whigs and promise more territory for California.

Fremont had already solidified much of present-day California, but by the time he got orders that the U.S. had declared war, he was already planning to move on Los Angeles and San Diego. In February, 1851 he did so, routing the Mexicans. Commodore Perry also began a series of raids that would continue on the Pacific coast of Mexico throughout 1851.

Meanwhile, General Stephen Kearney moved south from Texas and crossed the Rio Grande early in 1851. His age had shown almost right away, but he marched onward, hoping that this could, indeed, bring the sides together in the sectional conflict. He experienced the same sickness his soldiers did, however, as the weather grew hotter, and he died in June of 1851.(2) They had suffered heavy losses – as had the Mexicans – earlier in the Battle of Monterrey.

His death confused things in the field, but the Texas companies that took over performed well. In August, then, they repelled Mexicans at the Battle of Buena Vista, but as news began to arrive concerning the secession, the military fell apart, as Jefferson Davis led Braxton Bragg and numerous others to march back to Texas and to what they cited as a defense of their “new land.”

Then, they found themselves marching right back again, as Davis was ordered to fight alongside the U.S. as “allies.” President Buchanan had apparently ordered the Army to treat it as such until things were “ironed out,’ as he still hoped to see the nation put back together, and the Southern states had promised to be allies. However, in the chaos, the U.S. had lost valuable opportunities to seize the advantage in that theater.

Though General Joseph Lane, a supporter of slavery, willingly welcomed them back, and held a procession to show that he found himself equal with the “fine army of the Texans” ((and of the other Southern states), others refused. U.S. Grant, for instance, requested and received a transfer to Winfield Scott’s army, and wound up going with a large number of other men, because he feared that the military, as it stood then, “would spend too much time agonizing over issues of trust now that the states have seceded.” He was a welcome replacement for Robert E. Lee, who left with a number of others to defend his native Virginia, though it is said he agonized over which side to support as he sailed.

(An interesting what-if is that General William O. Butler, Kearney’s second in command before Monterrey, had been wounded in battle and still out of commission. Had he been there, they might not have reached an understanding – but, then again, the Kentuckian might have been willing to accept them. He was willing when, under Scott, he offered to take over if Scott felt the need to return to Virginia with the others.)

So, the Kearney forces, now under General Lane and a very prideful Jefferson Davis as one of the leaders of one of the Southern armies, were at a standstill as they realized that they needed a combined military structure to fight together, something Lee and Jackson likely recognized in choosing to return to Virginia. Meanwhile, another Virginian, Winfield Scott, found real trouble.

He’d been ordered by President Buchanan to open up a 2nd front, especially with General Kearney’s ill health it seemed wise. The Siege of Veracruz went smoothly, and Grant was gladly reassigned to Scott’s group as they approached Puebla. However, they soon received word of the secession, too, and while the troops gladly held together to seize Puebla, with quite a few sick of yellow fever, injured, and just plain ill, Scott stopped there and rested. It was apparent to him that quite a few of his soldiers, hearing what was going on in Virginia, wanted to go home. He’d received clearer orders, with them not coming quite as fast, about what to do – hold the lines together as allies – but how could one do that when one’s own home state was being thrown into a major quagmire by competing factions.

So, while there was success on the West Coast of Mexico, the Mexicans saw 1851 come to a close with General Lane and General Scott stalled, and while lane didn’t totally mind going ahead, Scott seriously wanted to go back and get Virginia back into the union. Well, that is, all of Virginia, Buchanan was trying to throw every idea he could out there, including having the Cosntitution guarantee slavery, but by now he was facing more and more opposition from the Freedom Coalition, a few of promised their own filibuster if such an idea was ever agreed to. Van Buren even considered his own return to Congress, a la John Quincy Adams, in an effort to try to keep the country together, as he saw it falling apart. The Fire Eaters,he reasoned, would never agree to rejoin now that they had tasted independence.

It seemed that, while President Buchanan was ambivalent about forcing the states which ahd seceded back into the fold, Tennessee and Missouri each had properly elected Unionist government and were being beset by rebels. He pledged to protect those states, and called citizens back to defend them from the armies which had been compiled in Mexico. He also
wanted to pacify Virginia, and yet didn’t want to call John Wool away from Oregon, where he was performing a valuable service in connecting with California and also preventing any acts of genocide in the Northwest by volunteer militia.

Buchanan had his work cut out for him; anything he did, it seemed, would be second-guessed to death, and there were no good answers. [FONT=&quot]He believed that secession was illegal, but that stopping it was also illegal. The popularly elected Unionist governments in Tennessee and Missouri and the questionable election in Virginia were the only things causing Buchanan to support the Unionists in those states.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Indeed, Martin Van Buren was invited to be the President of the Coalition Convention, whose full name was Coalition of Whigs, Free Soilers, and Others Interested in the Maintaining of National Integrity and the Prevention of Rule by Slaveholding Elite.” Even COWFSAO sounded really lame, which is why the first order of business was to adopt a name. Since some had taken to calling them Republicans, that became the agreed upon name for now, but with people of such diverse views as Van Buren and Webster on other issues, they needed to hammer something out to prevent the Democrats from winning in 1852.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Democrats, meanwhile, realized they needed help. Their President pro tem, William R. King had resigned the Senate with his state seceding, so now they turned to David R. Atchison as the head of the Senate, though many Northerners wanted Lewis Cass, and the debate simply over who would be the new President Pro Tem was very fierce. However, what solved it was that Secretary of War Zachary taylor, who had been quite ill, resigned – he would die a few weeks later after trying to mount up the strength to fight against the secessionists himself.(3) Cass was asked to succeed him – a move designed as an olive branch to show that Buchanan really did want to fight the secessionists; or, at least those in states with proper Unionist governments. William Marcy, meanwhile, as Secretary of State worked to convince European powers not to recognize the South, which he argued was too disjointed for now, anyway.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]This let Atchison, a die-hard slavery supporter, continue to proclaim the need to fight anti-slavery forces with ‘extreme violence,” to the point some wished he would join the Missouri rebels. He was, in fact, arguing that Buchanan should not even be fighting in Missouri or Tennessee, and was, in an underhanded way, aiding Sterling Price and the Missouri rebels. Jesse D. Bright of Indiana even supported him, and when Atchison was finally removed from the Senate in May, 1852, for deliberately waging war against Union forces, Bright took over as President Pro Tempore, as his protégé.(4) (Atchison had left, anyway, by this time, because of the actions of John C. Fremont, but more ont hat later.)(5)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]There was quite a bit of pushback from the Republicans with Atchison as President Pro Tem. Georgia’s new governor, Howell Cobb, had been Speaker of the House in the previous Congress, too, showing the “incredible power of the slavocracy,” as the Republicans put it. A battle had occurred between Linn Boyd and the Republicans’ Nathaniel Banks, but while the coalition held a very slim lead if everyone was put together, Boyd won the Speakership due to the Democrats having the plurality. A Kentuckian, Boyd merely established himself as a “strict Unionist.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]While the Republicans met, Democrats viewed Buchanan as a failure and sought to push for Cass as their next President. Some, in fact, sought to put Cass in earlier, since they could argue that Buchanan was guilty of “high crimes and misdemeanors” due to his “focusing on Mexico while the secession crisis was already about to burst open.” Buchanan had tried to “soothe the secessionists with fine words, but in the end could do nothing.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]This led some to suspect that Buchanan had maneuvered things to allow Atchison, and not Cass, to become President Pro Tem because “there is no way that we would ever impeach and convict Buchanan and let that man become President!” Although, in some ways, the opposite was true – had he appointed Atchison to a cabinet position, he might have been willing to do everything he could in the cabinet to ensure the split was permanent. Here, at least, Cass would ensure Governor John b. Floy’d secessionists would be ousted from Virginia and he would not be recognized as the continuing governor (there were concerns about the integrity of the recent election) and that Missouri and Tennessee were clearly and firmly in the union camp.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Buchanan’s cabinet shuffling prompted Congressman Lincoln’s comment about incompetence, and a further remark that “A man should not be condemned for that which he cannot do, only that which he will not do. This crisis is borne of one thing, the evil of slavery which permeates our society.” As he continued to advocate for Buchanan remaining, he noted that it was it wrong to oust the President for political reasons alone. “He is doing the best he can to hold our country together, in the same way that a squirrel might try to prevent a fox from getting into a henhouse.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Lincoln made a very impassioned speech against slavery at the Freedom Coalition Convention.(6) he was joined by illustrious men, rising men who seemed ready to be future Presidential candidates such as William Seward, and even newcomers such as Thaddeus Stevens. Van Buren found himself, according to his diary, “perceiving a tidal shift, that the mention of slavery in our Constitution is now not viewed as a means to keep it but a reason to get rid of it, as something whcih changes over time.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]He made particular note of the response of Stevens when he pointed to the Constitution’s mention. “We have here a case,” Stevens said, “of something which was included only to prevent the nation from splitting then as it has now. It would, in the minds of the Founders, not have stood then, but it may now, if we cause them to realize they must abide by the Moral Right which overrides any of our laws.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]So, who would be their candidate as 1852 opened? And, how would they handle the war with Mexico? They signed a joint resolution seeking peace, but wondered what kind of peace could be hand, when Mexico knew they were fighting a divided enemy that would soon see over one fourth of all their soldiers return home to protect their states after President Buchanan’s confused attitude toward Fort Sumter, which alienated both sides.(7)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]----------------------[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](1) OTL, General Castro was in the area and Mexico had issued a decree preventing non-naturalized foreigners from settling on its lands. Fearing an imminent attack by Mexican forces, John Fremont led a group of men to seize a Mexican government outpost in June, 1846. Here, they back of for the most part, though Mexico is still upset.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) He survives longer TTL since he doesn’t catch yellow fever in 1848 like OTL, but his health wasn’t as good if he died from it OTl in only his mid-50s, so it’s figured he might be a little weaker and then being a bit older he dies from sickness like his other soldiers were catching, just like the sickness that claimed some soldiers OTL in Mexico.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](3) Taylor, a Louisianan, is a logical candidate to appease the Deep South by his appointment to the cabinet, as well as someone a bit old to be commanding troops. Here, he lives about a year and a half longer because he wasn’t worn down by all the fighting, though OTl a few cabvinet members were sick as well as Taylor when Taylor died, so he is probably one of those who gets sick in 1850 TTL, too.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](4) OTl Bright was expelled as a Confederate sympathizer; here, there’s not the pressure to do so yet or the opposition in the Senate to expel him, since he’d be less likely to support secession in those states which have Unionist-elected governments, since they’re properly elected.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](5) enough Coalition forces and northern Democrats would be against Atchsion, a supporter of secession OTL, that once it became clear Buchanan wouldn’t be impeached and removed, he would step down to support Sterling Price, though partly because with Fremont around, the latter is sure to be freeing salves in Price-held territory, which will anger Atchison enough he’d resign.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](6) He seemed to have made a huge one in 1856 that wasn’t recorded, and been against it personally all along, but yet willing to discuss things politically rather than trying to end it right away, especially at this early stage. Given that even Van Buren found it wrong morally, it’s likely they would have common ground within the party.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](7) He does as in OTL and pull all forces out of US forts except for there, then send a ship to reinforce it, then pull that ship back when it’s fired upon.[/FONT]
 
[FONT=&quot]Part 6 – Unconventional Conventions[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The Mexican-American War and Civil War collided in 1852, but the latter caused the former to be put off indefinitely, even as President Buchanan refused to call the latter a war.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]President Buchanan wasn't sitting idly. Fearing the stigma of being the first president to get impeached around the New Year, before cooler heads (and those afraid of Atchison) prevailed, he tried to bring the wayward states back, though with promises he had little chance to fulfill. Although, one he did try to urge adoption of was giving Texas their New Mexico territory. That had support from many Northerners, since it would mean one fewer slave state, so once again, only California was a new state, as Northerners now had the support of Buchanan in not letting New Mexico become a slave state. However, while Sam Houston approved, few Southerners did.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Entering 1852, Lewis Cass seemed the clear favorite, but he had detractors. He was rather old. Plus, some Northerners like Bright preferred just letting the South go. Others felt Stephen Douglas would be better at working a compromise with the South or that his desire for expansion would work better with or without the South. William Marcy was also possible.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Douglas had wanted to work with passing the Compromise of 1850 as separate bills, but never got around to it because of the mess surrounding Senator Benton’s death and other issues. He had a variety of clever ideas, but his support of slavery in territories via popular sovereignty came with accepting restrictiosn on it, which Southerners disliked. Lewis Cass was more willing to accept it without restrictions, but it was clear that even Sam Houston, a dark horse contender as the leader of Texan Unionists, would have trouble appealing to Fire-Eaters, though at least he was clearly back in the fold with Texas promised the New Mexico territories. (Part of the argument between Douglas and Cass was that Douglas felt popular sovereignty could make New Mexico free, while Cass wanted it to be slave no matter what.)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The Republicans, meanwhile, actually looked hard at Former President Mangum. As news of the new nation that was slowly being formed in the Deep South came up their way, some felt a Southerner would be best to balance the ticket and also to prevent talk of totally giving up on Mexico; Mangum had privately supported Texas annexation in some ways and might be willing to accept some more added territory as slave states.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]However, the vast majority of the new Republicans didn’t want that. In fact, with most slaveholding states out of the Union, they began to propose laws providing for gradual compensated emancipation. While these weren’t out of committee yet by any means, it showed that there was a good cross-section of people who sorely wanted to end slavery.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]This, in turn, led to concerns on the part of some. They wanted to keep the slave states which had remained firmly in the fold. On the other hand, abolitionists claimed that the “United States, right now, does not stand for anything, it is just standing around waiting for the election, which is almost a year away, to see what should be done.” John Fremont brought men back East who were prepared to not only attack Missouri secessionists as requested but to free the slaves which were in them, which brought contention between Fremont and Buchanan and led to Atchison bolting the Senate in early May of 1852..[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]General William O. Butler finally took command of the army group which had camped near Mexico City as General Scott was asked to come and settle the disturbances in Virginia, which had grown into a full-scale civil war of its own. Scott and men like Ulysses S. Grant wound up fighting for what they claimed was the rightfully elected government in Virginia, but the outgoing Governor Floyd, who was supposed to have left office earlier that year, claimed that his side had won, which created a huge mess.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]At the same time, Fremont’s men arrived in Missouri in early May of 1852 and firmly defeated General Price. After a few more defeats, Price was forced to retreat to Arkansas, but in chasing him down there, he might have touched off even more hostilities.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Tennessee was the only place where the secessionists clearly lost, as they were routed in Memphis by forces led by Thomas Childs, who had been assigned to Florida but had left with his men when Florida seceded.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Childs and Fremont wanted to launch into the Deep South, they simply awaited word from Buchanan. Buchanan sent Fremont a harsh warning insisting that he stop freeing slaves in the rebel-held areas of Missouri.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Meanwhile, Democrats meeting in Baltimore had problems of their own. They couldn’t agree on a candidate.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Remaining, loyal Southern Democrats, fearing Douglas’ strong support combined with Marcy in New York and a few others, introduced a rule requiring that 2/3 of the convention agree on one candidate.(1) They were mostly supporters of Cass, who didn’t even have a majority at first, but would be willing to go for Houston or even Buchanan, each of whom got some votes. After a few ballots, nobody even had a clear majority.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]For one thing, William Marcy of New York had a large number of supporters in his own state. For another, Hosuton and even House Speaker Boyd drew quite a bit of support from the Southern wing. Noting that Polk had also been Speaker at one point, it was noted that Polk “could have kept this country together, and Boyd can do the same.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]However, all were wary of who the Republicans might choose. They cried “treason” every chance they could when it came to the secession crisis. When Buchanan met with Senator William R. King of the new Confederation Of America, or COA, many cried out that he was “in bed with the treasonous enemy.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Finally, in order to simply get a candidate decided upon before the Republicans started their convention, Virginia delegates voted on supporting Henry C. Murphy of Brooklyn.(2) Murphy promised to oppose the secession, thus supporting the War Democrats, but also promised to try and make peace in a reasonable manner and even work with Mexico to do so. However, the split in New York itself kept him from getting more than 1/3 – some were even afraid his name could imply he was Irish and Catholic though he wasn’t. It was mostly the new York problem.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]His numbers declining, Douglas realized he had little chance of being nominated without someone’s support. Trying to depict himself as a young henry Clay, he pushed more and more compromise ideas forward. When the Texas legislature only promised to return if Houston won, he pledged to push for Houston as his running mate. This was accepted, and Cass threw his support behind Douglas in return for appointment as Secretary of state. There would at least be popular sovereignty as he’d wanted. A message was sent to the Texas legislature that they would do “all they could” to get Texas admitted as one large state, a slave one. Douglas would then work for more states from Mexican cessions and Cuba, which could become two states.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Republicans derided the choice. The new coalition complained that the Democrats were “still in the control of the slaveocrats” and that a man “from a rebel state” being a “heartbeat away,” as the phrase they coined went, “was the great natural disaster possible, the most horrible running mate when it comes to human decency since Ahab chose that wicked Jezebel.” It didn’t matter to them that Sam Houston supported the Union, the stigma they tried to create was huge. While Sam Houston tried hard to dispel it, and it likely didn’t cost them the election, it was still one more thing that showed how trucky the situation had become for the Democrats.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]This galvanized the coalition, which Democrats felt would fall apart, into selecting the best man possible for the job. Senators from North Carolina and Tennessee (including former President Mangum) were deemed too willing to accept the continuation of slavery by those who opposed slavery; even the harshest critics of emancipation opposed men like John Bell of Tennessee, although Tennessee’s governor, William Campbell, was acceptable to some as Vice President.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]On the other hand, John Fremont was seen as too inexperienced politically and too brash; Thaddeus Stevens and William Seward seemed quite radical, although Seward was drawing a few votes. They preferred someone who had been more neutral on slavery, or at least not as vocal. Amazingly, some espoused former President Van Buren as someone who would draw Democrats – and who had drawn a fair amount of support in 1844 even with Cass opposing him.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Van Buren, to end to the madness that had crept into the Democratic Party, announced he would accept “if the situation was most dire.” He recognized that it might be needed, but there was a better man for the job, anyway, he felt.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]John McLean, a Supreme Court Justice, was willing to run if nominated. One Deep Southern justice had remained on the court but the one from Alabama had resigned, letting Buchanan nominate one more. McLean was concerned that his seat could go to a pro-slavery judge, but the way things were going, Buchanan wouldn’t have any nominations accepted. He was right.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]McLean, an Ohioan, was acceptable to all parties of the coalition. A very well-versed jurist, he easily used his quick legal mind to develop sound concepts for fighting the war and for governing the compensated emancipation proposal which they wanted but which would only be discussed later. He would gladly work as a moderating influence.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]There was concern that an Easterner was needed for the Vice Presidency. Still, Congressman Lincoln, also adept politically, was heavily considered. Seward declined to be Vice President, but George Briggs, former governor of Massachusetts, was considered much more a “man of the people” than his fellow Massachusetts Whigs, and had gained notoriety for his toughness on crime in capital murder cases. Although, some states’ rights advocates were leery of Briggs for having agreed that the Federal government should be allowed to call on states to send troops even if they didn’t favor a war, such as the Mexican one, all agreed that the Southern rebellion should have the Federal government able to compel states to send troops. Another interesting possibility was John P. Hale, a Congressman and Senator (currently serving there from New Hampshire) who had been a Democrat and switched parties to the coalition a few years earlier.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In the end, though, needing a bright young mind with McLean older, they chose Hamilton Fish, a New York Senator and former governor and Congressman, with New York a pressing need.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]A historian later wrote, “It was really hard - a person couldn’t easily avoid the topic like they used to, even a decade earlier – one had to take some sort of stand. However, they still didn’t have to admit to wanting gradual emancipation, and those who did could promise a hefty amount.” Indeed, Salmon P. Chase, a fellow Ohioan, was already drafting plans.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In the end, their quietness on that part helped them still win the slave states of Delaware and Kentucky, though a split in the former Whigs led to Democrats taking Tennessee. North Carolina was up for grabs right to the end. Fish did indeed secure New York for them, with Van Buren’s support also helping. “I had not sought this office,” Fish said, “but if it is the wish of my nation to elevate me to it, then I will certainly do the best I can to ensure that the values of our people are upheld.” He would have been in the Senate till 1857, anyway, after all.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In not picking someone like Hale, the Republicans had had to make a deal. The Free Soilers would remain within the party, and would see for certain an end to slavery in any territory “not now a State,” and also – though word of it would not get out before the election – an attempt toward gradual compensated emancipation.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In the end, the McLean-Fish ticket won, with the Free Soilers helping them carry New England and Michigan, the latter of which was a narrow win(3) partly because of anti-Cass sentiment. Pennsylvania also became a Republican win partly because Buchanan was so unpopular, partly because McLean had made the choice to abandon some of the Know-Nothing ideals to win some of the immigrant vote in places like New York City and Philadelphia, and partly because the Democrats didn’t have an Easterner.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Frustration over the war’s handling was mitigated by Douglas’ popularity in Illinois gave him wins in Indiana and Illinois. And, Mangum wasn’t quite able to give them North Carolina, as he also lost his Senate seat that year. It wasn’t as close as the 2 northernmost Great Lakes states, but a touch closer than Pennsylvania. Still, it was a very close contest in many states, with McLean being elected the new President with 156 electoral Votes to 89 for Douglas.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]McLean CT 6, DE 3, IA 4, KY 12, ME 8, MA 13, MI 6, NH 5, NY 35, OH 23, PA 27, RI 4, VT 5, WI 5[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Murphy CA 4, IL 11, IN 13, MD 8, MO 9, NC 10, NJ 7, TN 12, VA 15[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Not voting – seceded AL, AR, FL, GA, LA, MS, SC, TX[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]As one historian wrote, “Some blame the lack of the “Deep South” states, but that might not have made a big difference, too pro-Southern a candidate rather than Douglas – who would not have won with the Deep South at that convention - would have pushed Indiana and Illinois into McLean’s camp, and maybe New Jersey. The real fault lay in the 1852 Democratic Convention, where there was such uncertainty and bitterness that the candidates’ words were often used against them by the Republicans in the general election.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]However, now it was the job of President John McLean to start putting things back together. And, of Hamilton Fish to do a variety of things in support of it. The Civil War would keep everyone quite busy. COA President Qutiman already stated, upon learning of McLean’s election, “We shall no longer be allowed to go freely.” Jefferson Davis, who had been elevated from his position in the military to Governor of Mississippi(4) when Quitman was elected as COA President, began to prepare the state for a potential invasion.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]--------------------------------[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](1) A number of Southern states still remain TTL, including some from Virginia, and they would be trying to avoid war in their states as well as war in general.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) OTL Murphy lost to Pierce by one vote in a decision by Virginia delegates of who to push as a compromise candidate. Here, Pierce is fighting and Murphy is the man. A short bio as probably almost nobody knows who he is. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_C._Murphy[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](3) They would have combined to make it very close OTl in 1852, and Cass’ support of the South here is seen as more extreme.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](4) OTL he lost to the Unionist Foote, who here was disgraced by his near killing of Benton.[/FONT]
 
[FONT=&quot]Part 7: Of Course You Know, This Means War[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]John McLean had a perfect life-long job, but he’d stepped down from the Court knowing his nation needed him in a more pressing role. As he expected, the Senate was too busy to confirm a nominee to replace him.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Approaching 68 years of age, he was grateful for the vibrant Fish, who he asked to attend at least some Cabinet meetings. The developing financial mind of Salmon P. Chase – also important in his cabinet for being such a staunch abolitionist - the legal mind of Attorney General Abraham Lincoln, and others led him to sense he had a superb cabinet on his hands. It was something which he’d need.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]His first order of business was negotiating with Mexico. General Winfield Scott and others had finally subdued the last of the rebels in Virginia in early December, and he’d requested that President Buchanan keep him there so that, in his words, he could “focus attention on ending the current rebellion.” Myriads of secessionists and even just plain slaveholders fled southward through North Carolina, which had requested neutrality and which sources said would probably let some COA cotton into its ports. McLean decided to ignore this and blockade the COA without bothering with north Caorlina – there still wouldn’t be near as much COA cotton as there was North Caolina cotton getting through, lest the North Carolinians lose their monopoly.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Scott’s coming out for the Republicans hadn’t helped them win Virginia or won him any fans, but they’d come to recognize Buchanan as a failure and hoped that McLean would at least allow slavery to continue.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]That was wishful thinking, though. Two proposals for gradual compensated emancipation, one of 5 years, one 25, were already floating around Congressional committees in early 1852. Debate raged as to whether the rebelling states should be considered – some in Congress were insisting that all slaves should just be outright freed with no compensation, especially with the new Congress and Senate being much more filled with Republicans, the Senate now controlled by them by a razor thin margin, and the House by a slightly larger one.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Fremont was quickly brought out of his “retirement” – he’d spent the time since Buchanan sacked him for freeing slaves campaigning for McLean . Fremont was sent into Arkansas, with the large garrison which had occupied Memphis, Tennessee attempting to cross down into Mississippi, while others were sent across the river. North Carolina requested that troops not be sent through their state, so Tennesse was used, with troops sent down through Georgia toward Atlanta. It would take a while, with Columbia used as the capital, but it was believed that the U.S. could win quickly. Arkansas pulled out of the COA in May once the invasion began, in order to ensure that – if gradual compensated emancipation did occur – their slaveholders would receive such compensation. They knew with some of the Memphis force and Fremont’s aggression they didn’t have much chance.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Meanwhile, tThe U.S. had faced intense pushback from the Mexicans as their own government began to get back in shape and Santa Anna was overthrown. Generals Joseph Lane and William O. Butler had been holding their own, with Butler actually attacking Mexico City, though the loss of numerous of his soldiers hampered him. After Santa Anna lost to him in a close battle, the Mexicans were able to recover.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]McLean was ready to call these forces home, as they had been very good at sharing the virtues of true democracy with the Mexican people but not much else. State Secretary Seward, who saw the chance to use his position as a stepping stone for the White House, just as numerous others had done, negotiated with the Mexicans a payment of a nominal sum for California, nothing for Texas east of the Nueces, and then more for the western part of Texas.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]New Mexico was finally admitted as a free state with the boundary defined thusly: Texas’ western boundary would be the Pecos River where it runs north and then west for a small ways, till it comes to a point where it goes mostly straight up to the western border of Kansas.(1) New Mexico would comprise everything between that line and the Rio Grande, with the northern border being a straight line continuing between Kansas Territory and Indian territory.(2)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]General Lane had spent the better part of a year clearing Comanche and other Indians out of that area. He is said to have quipped, “It’s nice to know where we are finally.” A general truce had been agreed to, but it hadn’t been certain where that would be. The Western border was eventually established as a straight line, more or less, going straight from the Caballo Reservoir along the Continental Divide to a point where the Chaco River is intersected by a river running south, and at that corner, and then following the Chaco up to the San Juan and followering the San Juan up to the New Mexico-Colorado border.(3) The Mexican-American War had ended with less success than the Americans had hoped.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]McLean also had to decide how to deal with the Mormons. He decided not to – they had never occupied U.S. territory while out West. In fact, he had Secretary Seward and others in the State Department mediate a settlement between Mexico and Deseret that would see it given the Great Salt Lake area but not a lot of width, whereas they had been claiming a vast expanse. The United States, in exchange for making peace with and helping Deseret pay off their indemnification to Mexico, got land from them and left the Nation of Deseret with a border that allowed the U.S. to keep a fort used for the Oregon Trail securely in the U.S. borders, hence the U.S. juts out a bit, then on straight lines around the Great Salt Lake and downward to whatever border Deseret and Mexico agree upon.(4) One U.S. official predicted, “They’ll ask for admittance within 5 years, but we won’t give it to them, not unless they accept our laws and ban polygamy.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Mexico, in the meantime, was invited to attack Texas to help the U.S. in its war against the COA. Mexico was promised that if it did that, the U.S. would pay more for Mexican land. Truth be told, though, Sam Houston and others had been helping Joseph Lane and fighting for control of Texas themselves. The only problem was, the U.S. Administration in Washington now opposed slavery, as bright men such as Seward and Chase were adamantly opposed to it and Fish was becoming more and more opposed by the day [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Therefore, as the U.S. worked out with Mexico how to help funnel weapons to Houston and company, they also reached an agreement – if Texas would re-enter the Union, the gradual compensated emancipation bill would extend to their citizens, too.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Texans were ambivalent, but most other Southerners were absolutely refusing to consider this option. North Carolina Whigs, however, leaped at it, and so, too, did their Democratic governor, who saw it as a chance to greatly enrich their state while South Carolina continued to go downhill with the potential of some very fierce fighting there.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]When Congress reconvened for the fall, they took time to set aside an area where free blacks might be able to go. It rose from a debate between President McLean and some of the Upper South members who had been quite opposed to the idea that the races could live together. “You do not oppose that, you oppose living together as equals” McLean contended. “That is a matter of taste, if you do not choose to live together period; if that is the case you should end your slavery this instant. However, the notion that the races can or cannot live together is one that does nto touch upon the law itself. And, the notion that you can only live with another race if you are superior violates the very laws of nature and equality upon which our nation was founded.”(5) McLean and his entire cabinet would be seen as among the brightest administrations ever.(6)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The proposal to gradually emancipate the slaves was presented to Congress in fall of 1853. The agreement would be spread over 10 years, and cover only those states not in rebellion at the time of its passage. To allay concerns about the Constitution, President McLean worked with several members of Congress to craft an amendment which would outlaw slavery.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In response to requests from ranchers, a treaty was negotiated setting the Navajo Nation as being within U.S. borders, and Seward negotiated to surround Deseret by acquiring the Colorado River Plateau and then the Mogollon Rim to be the border between the U.S. and Mexico. It would be combined with a triangulated portion of Nevada Territory to become the state of Jefferson eventually, with a n eastern border with New Mexico.(7) This allowed Deseret to feel protected from Mexican attacks and vice versa.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]---------------------------[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](1) OTl Kansas-Colorado border.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) OTL Kansas-Oklahoma border[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](3) Colorado is named after the river and has roughly the same border,s, though the western border is a bit further west to give the U.S. more land. TTL the Four Corners states will be Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](4) So, a narrower Utah but one which could stretch southward a ways. And, where the border between tribes like the Apache and Comanche is rather in flux for a while.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](5) OTL he said something similar to Justice Taney, that the races being able to live side by side was ‘a matter of taste, not of law.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](6) Indeed, while Lincoln chose Seward and Chase’ to keep his political rivals happy, here McLean chooses them because they are young, not quite ready to contend for the White House, and savvy concerning things he hadn’t covered as much in his time on the Supreme Court.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](7) So, Nevada is almost a perfect square TTL; the “triangulated part’ is about what was cut off from Arizona Territory OTL to be added to Nevada.[/FONT]
 
[FONT=&quot]Part 8 – Where Do We Go From Here?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The U.S., some say, “got lucky.” “If Santa Anna doesn’t get involved, the Mexicans might have been able to keep even more land,” one historian noted. “Then again, all that spare land was being encroached upon by Deseret, by California, Mexico was having lots of trouble. Even without the U.S. barging in.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]President McLean lived to see the COA cut by General Scott’s march to the sea and then the intense fighting in South Carolina, which was made worse because, since North Carolina didn’t want troops in its borders, the South Carolinians fought tooth and nail to keep their state secure. It wasn’t until early 1854 that it was secured for the Union, by which time New Orleans had also been captured and the gradual emancipation law had been passed. The Upper South, however, dared not try to leave after seeing the damage wrought by Scott’s men as the COA practiced what amounted to slash and burn warfare to deny the Union ground.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The COA didn’t surrender till Governor Jefferson Davis of Mississippi surrendered late in 1854. He and several other promiment Fire Eaters made their way to Cuba – or, at least, tried to, not many made it. Those who did found themselves dying in Cuba’s uprising of 1868.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]McLean consistently argued that this had been done lawfully, and his points were good. the Vice Presidency, meanwhile, had suited the young Fish so well – since he didn’t have to do much – he stayed on for a second term, and saw McLean win a rather easy re-election over, once again, Stephen Douglas, who was credited for holding the Democrats together through the war and helping them keep up their appearance as a party of peace, which had only had one faction which caused the Civil War, it wasn’t the whole party.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Fish would become President in September of 1857.(1) Fish wound up winning re-election, the first President to succeed from the Vice Presidency and win a term in his own right. He became known as one of the greatest presidents, after Washington and McLean, and some say he even surpassed McLean. It was he who presided over the last of the salves being freed in early 1864.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]He also made sure that as much as possible was done to “support the common good of the people over industry and over their fellow man.” He not only pushed for an end to violence against the former salves, doing all in his power to organize separate areas where the freed slaves could live, he also insisted on helping immigrants by preventing merchants from crowding too many onto boasts coming to America.(2)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Deseret was a strange place, surrounded as it was by the U.S. just as San Marino was Italy. The other states around it tended to try to prevent Mormons from encroaching on their land. Eventually, facing very hard economic times in the decades to come, Deseret would accept being bound by U.S. laws and accepted admission into the union, the last of the three “Mexican Rebel States,” including Texas and California, to be admitted as U.S. states.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]After Fish retired, William Seward, did serve 2 terms as President, dying months after he left office(3), though in his 2nd a huge economic downturn hit, and the Democrats finally got back in power, with George McClellan winning a term before doing poorly nd eventually losing to the4 Republican challenger, Joshua Chamberlain, in 1876, as America tried to begin a slow move toward at least somewhat equal rights, though it wouldn’t be totally achieved till the 20th century.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]As one historian remarked, “The United Sates is resilient. It managed to fight two wars at least, one internal, one external, and win them both, ina way. Yes, they had lots of help – Santa Anna helped butcher things for Mexico a little, and Buchanan still had the COA fighting alongside them as allies for a good while. The COA didn’t include as many states as it could have, and they were sort of fought piecemeal at first, with Virginia being taken down because of a properly elected Unionist government, or at least one which probably won in very tricky balloting.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Plus, North America almost became fractured, and could have been – if Polk dies a bit earlier, there might not be a strong Democratic Party to push for Texas annexation, and perhaps they wind up fighting a Civil War with the Union still winning, but with Texas, Deseet, and California all independent nations. Those rebellions weakened Mexico, too, until the U.S. decided to fight it.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Still, the U.S. is resilient, and the land of the free and home of the brave had endured many things over the years, and keeps coming ut stronger.” [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]----------------------------[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](1) Yes, having McLean die 3.5 years early seems a bit much, but the stress of the Civil War and then the peace would be wearing on him a lot, plus he’d be 72 by this point.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) This happened OTL in the Senate, which merchants complaining that he was hurting them and Fish replying that he saw the welfare of people as being more important than that of business, or words to that effect.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](3) Yes, that puts him till after OTL’s death, but TTL he doesn’t suffer the assassination attempt or the carriage accident. So, it’s he, not Polk, who dies only a few months after he leaves office.[/FONT]

________________________________________________________

And, that's it. As noted, I'm going to post the Lollard reformation TL, "Morning Star Rises Early," which I actually don't have a name for, or rather what I have, soon and someone can just take it and run with it. Sorry thsi couldn't be as good but, as I said, it started out trying to figure out something else and i just decided to do this as I couldn't the other.
 
Good show. A few errors in the last part, like salves instead of slaves, or Fish be in the first veep to be elected President (in fact it was Van Buren the man so important early on).
 
Does the US buy more of Mexico? The Gadsden Purchase? Would be some other name now, like the Sonora purchase.
 
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