Wrapped in Flames: The Great American War and Beyond
- Thread starter EnglishCanuck
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One of the perennial issues with the idea of Indigenous autonomy is that there really was never any centralized authority to negotiate with. The different bands of a particular tribe would not feel bound by any treaty, and more often than not the negotiators would simply throw up their hands in frustration and have some chief sign and declare he had signed for the whole tribe, even though he had done no such thing nor had authority to do so. This caused many, many violent misunderstandings. Sometimes this was intentional by US negotiating teams (the lead up to the Great Sioux War for instance) but other times no one really knew what was going on with Indigenous politics.
The Comanche however, were never really interested in signing treaties. They often just did as they pleased, occasionally honoring some agreements when it came to trade, but little else besides. They (or certain bands) would give up raiding for a time, but their trade network depended on access to sources of slaves and horses, so they had little incentive to stop.
Interestingly enough though, the Kiowa peoples did have a principle chief who could speak for almost all of the tribe. They are the allies of the Comanche. Interesting isn't it?
Chapter 151: Menial Division
Chapter 151: Menial Division
“One could be forgiven in looking at Congress and the Senate in the start of 1868 and believing the Democrats commanded an unimpeachable majority in both houses. The Radical Democracy Party had swept in and put Congressmen and Senators from Maine, Massachusetts, Indiana, Nebraska and Michigan in office, while the Republicans struggled to maintain a united front in the sectional arguments, whether about the number of stars on the flag, railroad appropriations, or even fiscal policy. The Democrats had meanwhile swung back tentative control of both Houses, if only by a razor thin majority.
This however, failed to show the emerging cracks in all parties.
Though ostensibly united, the Republican Party had a deep schism. There were so called moderate Republicans, avowed enemies of the Radicals who had broken off and created the Radical Democracy Party. These were the ones who called themselves “Wigwam Republicans” in reference to the Wigwam meeting hall which had held the original 1860 session. These men stood by the original resolutions of the Republican Party and swore and voted by those principles. In short, they opposed the slave trade, demanded the construction of the railroad, opposed foreign adventurism, and demanded free soil for settlers. Most now had no objection to slavery in the United States, so long as it was contained in Missouri, Maryland and Delaware. They also supported free trade with the Confederacy, but a strong national army and navy. They, like the Democrats, also stood by the theory of State Sovereignty, whereby each state’s right to order and control its own domestic institutions was inviolate.
In most of this they locked horns with the second faction within the Republican Party, men who called themselves the “Stalwarts” of the party. They were Republicans who felt that they could not break ranks and join the Radical Democracy Party after 1864, for which many blamed Lincoln’s loss, but nor could they vote in lockstep with their brothers on everything. They had cast the votes to end the Bayard Flag Proposal, and maintained that recognition of the Confederate States was a bargain struck only by necessity. They agreed wholeheartedly with the Radical Democracy Party that the Confederacy was illegitimate, but they also demanded an end to slavery in all forms in the United States of America. That meant they sought to overrule state authority in most matters, and to them the doctrine of state sovereignty was heresy. There could be only one seat of power, and by consensus, it was in Washington.
Across from them was the Radical Democracy Party. Though something of a fringe party, at most commanding 500,000 votes on the national stage, but the votes of five states in the House and Senate meant they could not be ignored. Obstinate in almost every national debate, they opposed everything the Wigwam Republicans spoke for save for a strong national army and navy. The slave trade was anathema, the Confederacy was anathema, and even doing business with Britain was anathema. “Enemies of Slavers and Emperors all,” went one rallying cry amongst the Radicals. This extended to efforts to ban the flow of immigrants with ‘undesirable qualities,’ a nebulous term which could mean anything from Southern Europeans, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Chinamen and Jews depending on the man, putting bills to ban the immigration of all of the above at one point or another between 1865 and 1872. However, to them, the ultimate sin was any rationalization of the normalization of the relationship between the United States and the Confederacy.
“To recognize in perpetuity the nest of treason known so fraudulently as the so-called Confederate States of America would be as perverse as appointing Cain to the Supreme Court to rule on the vileness of murder,” Senator William P. Fessenden from Maine would declare. A microcosm of the Radicals, he would campaign against greenbacks, English immigration, and be a staunch opponent of free trade with Canada versus the rest of the world. Such quixotic notions tended to play well in certain states, but often failed at the national level.
Against this divided house was the supposed juggernaut of the Democratic Party. By 1868 though, the Democrats were almost as divided as the Republicans.
Riven with factionalism, the Democrats were torn along regional lines. The New England Democrats, largely from the coastal states, were free trade and low military expenditure, while looking to reap the rewards of the completion of the transcontinental railroad. They were fiat money supporters, while the Western Democrats tended towards a large army and a gold standard. Neither faction of the party opposed the Confederacy however, and none were abolitionists. Each side, but especially Western Democrats, supported the theory of State Sovereignty. Though these were not enormous clefts in party ideology, the regional interests did not always support one another in the halls of Washington, and both flanks of the party seemed to be slowly drifting apart. However ideologically reasonable both sides might have been for now, each faction found itself in discord with the president.
President McClellan had managed to burn through any reserves of good will he held from his party after the events of 1867. They had not entirely forgiven him for the abandonment of Benjamin Butler, whose crooked dealings had covered many sins, and whose investigation threatened to expose the misdeeds of Congressmen and state governors. However, McClellan proved willing to move against his party, as well as unwilling to seriously enter the ring for them on the national stage. From the perception of the party movers and shakers, McClellan had forgotten who had put him in power.
Though the stink of the old Copperheads had mostly worn off, the faction within the party which had been for peace at any cost still had roots. Many men among them now found themselves further at odds with the President, while more wondered if it wasn’t time for new leadership. A rising number, though, looked at the feeble leadership of the party and mused whether or not they ought to support the Democratic Party at all, or whether it was time for something new…” - The Era of Hard Feelings, William Avery, Random House, 1989
Wow this really has been on a run lately, not that I'm complaining!
And it seems the coming election year will be every bit as much of a mess as I expected...
And it seems the coming election year will be every bit as much of a mess as I expected...
Maybe the Kiowa should apply to join Mexico. given the Emperor's relatively enlightened views for the time....
On the bright side, this continuing division might mean that the US moves away from the current structure of congress which favours a very small number of parties towards a parliamentary system where multiple parties having to make compromises to share power is the norm. In my experience and opinion, such systems are less vulnerable to corruption and turning into 'old boys clubs' entirely separate from political newcomers.
Hopefully another two out by the end of this week!
And oh yes 1868 will definitely be a fun time
Well... that might be possible if the Kiowa/Comanche hadn't spent the last few decades killing Mexican settlers and helping empty out the southwest... the Comanche were extremely opportunistic raiding into northern Mexico in the early 1800s through the 1840s. They caused a lot of bad blood and did such a good job wrecking the north of Mexico I can imagine that even Max's liberalism couldn't overcome such an ancient antagonism. They also do provide a useful buffer still for potential Confederate encroachment.
Thus far as much as people dislike the Comanche/Kiowa, they've got their uses.
The move towards a multi-party system is probably a good one. Though its going to be shaking out over decades. The Realignment Age (roughly 1872 - 1900) is going to shake up what we would consider the normal American political system that OTL existed unbroken post-Civil War. The 1868 election will probably be the most extreme since 1860, but past a certain point, third party candidates and splinter groups will be considered the norm.
I think that's probably more healthy than the 'big tent' politics the US developed OTL, but it also has room for a lot of anger and disappointment.
Chapter 152: Fenians Down Under
Chapter 152: Fenians Down Under
“The arrival of the Last Fleet was a cause of great concern in the Australian colonies. The 1,400 Fenian prisoners were largely men who had taken up arms in the fighting in Ireland and this excited considerable speculation about a ‘Kentucky column’ appearing from this wave of criminals. In point of fact however, most of them were ardent Irish patriots, but men poorly suited to organizing an uprising. Farmers' sons, small businessmen, and a few American veterans, they largely wanted to either escape to America or simply get on with their lives. The hundred odd political organizers would be the far more dangerous individuals, but the images of Irishmen with pikes slaughtering good Protestants in their beds was one which did not vanish easily from the minds of the British settlers.
In order to prevent a panic, when the Last Fleet arrived on January 18th 1868, it dispersed to ports where the Fenians were offloaded under guard and soon put to work on various public projects. The groups were dispersed in gangs of roughly 100 men, watched over by gaolers and special constables recruited for the purpose. The colonies of New South Wales and Victoria, who since the Melbourne Conference[1] have been pooling resources on defence, voted to establish a 100 man ‘Special Constabulary’ in order to police these new work gangs.
Most were assigned to road work or aiding in the construction of towns. Some were assigned, without the consent of the government in Queensland, to work on connecting the gold fields of the newly opened Gympie. New South Wales, irritated and envious ever since the region had been forcibly split off, began to simply use the influx of convicts to labor and connect these two regions. This was exacerbated as Samuel Blackmore, the Governor of Queensland, was a new arrival in Australia and entered Queensland as it was mired in a constitutional crisis, putting the responsible government effectively out of commission and his authority did little to ease the situation. In New South Wales, Governor Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore, had also only just arrived days ahead of the Last Fleet. His understanding of the situation was also shaky, and he had little knowledge of the local politics. As such, he referred to Henry Parkes who headed the shaky coalition government[2].
Parkes, one of the drivers behind the 1864 Melbourne Conference, had managed to thread the needle of local discontent in the system, partnered with James Martin to maintain a balance in the Assembly. Both men looked beyond their single colony, and in partnership with James McCulloch, were pushing to expand their influence and protectionist trade policies into Queensland, while simultaneously working to fix the problems that transportation had brought on. Each premier had raised severe objections to the Last Fleet, which were ignored in London, and so the men sought to make due. That meant pooling resources, while also doing their best to ensure that the encroachment of these most unwelcome settlers was not too disruptive. This was most well done, in his opinion, by moving the convicts either into the territory of South Australia, or into Queensland where they would not need to rub shoulders with the ‘respectable’ elements of society.
Between 1868 and 1880, this would not wholly be the case. While a number settled into their lives and worked their sentences, a number of ‘unrepentant rebels’ would cause considerable trouble. Some of the most determined escaped, but others melted into the wilderness and led the ‘last stand of the bushrangers’ which would plague the countryside in the 1870s. That was for the future, and the efforts to largely export the convicts away from the cooperative states towards Queensland was mostly successful, with the worst being sent to work on infrastructure in the neighboring colony.
The worst incident though, was when Prince Alfred visited Sydney on his world tour aboard HMS Galatea had stopped off for a picnic organized by Earl Belmore in March of 1868. While greeting men and women, local militia and other dignitaries, the Prince took a walk around the field and was approached by Henry James O’Farrell who fired a shot at point blank range at the prince. Miraculously, the shot entered and exited the prince’s body without hitting a single organ, but caused the prince to collapse, with onlookers immediately assuming he was dead. The crowd immediately set upon O’Farrell who was severely beaten and almost lynched before attending police could arrive and drag him away from the vengeful mob.
The prince in Sydney, shortly before the assassination attempt.
O’Farrell claimed to be acting on orders from the Fenian Brotherhood, and that the Last Fleet was in fact ‘the invasion fleet’ which would turn Australia into a new and free Ireland. While it was soon established that O’Farrell, while a republican and anti-monarchist, was actually insane, being just released from a mental asylum before the assassination attempt, his words were taken seriously at the height of the Fenian mania. Parkes especially used these reports to whip up anti-Irish and anti-Catholic rage and crowds turned out in protest against the Last Fleet, and occasionally set upon Irish settlers.
A week of unrest would follow across the colonies as inaccurate reports of the Prince being near death were circulated by the media, and mobs would descend upon Irish owned businesses or even some work gangs. It is estimated a dozen Irishmen were killed by vengeful crowds before calm prevailed upon the people and the Prince made a statement to the newspapers urging calm. However, panic infected Queensland as the realization the 900 potential Irish murderers were in their presence. Parkes once again used the situation to his advantage and moved for a Federal Council of the Colonies to be established, all to pool resources, created effective trade, and of course, share the wealth of the gold fields to finance this all. With the people of Queensland eyeing potential assassins in their midst, the deadlocked assembly managed to pass one overwhelming vote to partner with Victoria and New South Wales in the project, with Parkes being placed at the head of this council.
Soon, O’Farrell would take a long drop from a short rope, but in doing so his assassination attempt would pave the way for the first true stirrings of Confederation in Australia…” - True Girt, The Australasian Saga, Volume II, David Hunt, 2008
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1] Blink and you miss is reference from the 1864 Year in Review chapter
2] Historically, Parkes did not properly become premier until 1872, yet here thanks to the Great American War and the fears of Australian self defence, he’s been more influential and has managed to helm a shaky coalition since 1863, not first as premier but as Colonial Secretary beside James Martin, who has simply flipped roles with him for this government.
Welp, lucky the Prince survived otherwise the sheer pandemonium that would have causes would be unthinkable.
I think I remember that New Zealand would be part of Australia when it becomes a confederation in the future.
I also want to ask but since there would be more political parties in the US, does that means politics in the US would be more regional as they represent regional interests and a looser US? So that means when the US loses the Great War, the different parties would advocate breaking off from the Union to recover, like the Radical Democracy leading New England as an independent Republic, the Wigwam Republicans leading an independent Northwest, western political parties creating a Pacific Republic and so on? I mean, from what I can tell, a theme of this timeline is to show how things keep going wrong for the US as they keep making mistakes, including the New Men, and balkanisation seems like a natural development for TTL US. I mean, the more I think about Athelstane's comparison with Austria-Hungary, the more it makes sense that the US would meet the same fate.
I also want to ask but since there would be more political parties in the US, does that means politics in the US would be more regional as they represent regional interests and a looser US? So that means when the US loses the Great War, the different parties would advocate breaking off from the Union to recover, like the Radical Democracy leading New England as an independent Republic, the Wigwam Republicans leading an independent Northwest, western political parties creating a Pacific Republic and so on? I mean, from what I can tell, a theme of this timeline is to show how things keep going wrong for the US as they keep making mistakes, including the New Men, and balkanisation seems like a natural development for TTL US. I mean, the more I think about Athelstane's comparison with Austria-Hungary, the more it makes sense that the US would meet the same fate.
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I mean the riots here were bad enough! The good people of Australia would be enraged by this act either way, and over 1000 Fenians dumped on them would just cause them to be paranoid really. So, much like Canada OTL, we can thank the Fenians for bringing about a security crisis in the various Australian colonies and making them think they need to come together
Of a sort yes! It's mostly going to be concentrated on the eastern coast for now, and going to have a few interesting conflicts of interest!
I had considered putting this in the 1868 "Year in Review" section, but it was enough material I felt it needed its own chapter to look at this alt-Australia development!
I have yet to confirm or explicitly deny.... but the hints are there.
So the multiparty system does lend itself to harboring regional grievances more than OTL's 'big tent' parties did. Though for now a lot does fall on ideological lines. West Virginia for instance is solidly Republican because they broke off during the war under the Republican Party, with Kansas being similar. Michigan, Massachusetts and Maine are falling into the Radical Democracy camp because of ideological disputes (abolitionism in the former, irritation with both major parties in the latter). The Democrat split is more geographic with Western and Midwest states having economic differences with the East Coast Democratic politicians, and the West Coast seeing their wealth being sent East for, in their opinion, insubstantial return.
In the longer run, this could lead to a second sectional divide as east and west square off over economic issues, representation, and the matter of long term national strategy. That the West currently feels it has more economic value than it really does (I mean gold is great, but where do they think all their finished goods come from?) and has an outsized place in the US's future, which is not necessarily untrue. For now though, its just hard feelings and political realignment.
Kind of mirroing the gradual territorial expansion of Canada.
Now I'm starting to think the fashion of making 'Kingdoms' rather than 'Dominions' is going to have some major side-effects, and not just in Canada.
I don't have much familiarity with a multiparty government as where I am from, we have a ruling party and an 'opposition'. But from what you previously wrote, that means when things do go wrong for the Union after losing the Great War, the sectional divide would lead to the various states declaring independence from the Union after it became clear the American experiment has truly failed? You did mention that western secession is not high at the moment, meaning that it appears later and also likely to appear in other places like New England and the Midwest.
Maybe I am just pessimistic, but I don't see how TTL US can survive past the 20th century even with Realignment and the New Men. I mean, one theme of this TL is that everything that can go wrong for the US will keep going wrong until it's eventual balkanisation post-Great War.
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I think you did a amazing job. The attempted assassination of Alfred isn't well told here in Australia so I was glad to see you included. Also great to see the GOAT Parkes get mentioned. Man is a personal political hero/icon of mineI mean the riots here were bad enough! The good people of Australia would be enraged by this act either way, and over 1000 Fenians dumped on them would just cause them to be paranoid really. So, much like Canada OTL, we can thank the Fenians for bringing about a security crisis in the various Australian colonies and making them think they need to come together
Of a sort yes! It's mostly going to be concentrated on the eastern coast for now, and going to have a few interesting conflicts of interest!
I had considered putting this in the 1868 "Year in Review" section, but it was enough material I felt it needed its own chapter to look at this alt-Australia development!