Post by Steve on Dec 11, 2013 16:49:49 GMT
This is a TL I created while on AH.com's Alternate Presidents & PMs thread.
This universe, is, to a fair degree, inspired by For Want of a Nail as well as a few works of Tony Jones. Basically, the Patriots lose the Revolutionary War, but not before they strike a plea deal with the Brits; in exchange for remaining in London's orbit, they gain a substantial amount of self-governance and even are allowed to choose their own Elector Monarch separate from London. Ironically enough, it's none other than George Washington who takes the role of the Elector King, even if only as a measure to rebuild the bridges that were burned during the War. This decision proves to be highly controversial but it does ultimately help finally end the fighting. Of the Patriot states, Vermont is the last to fall, in 1798.
Washington dies in 1799, as per OTL, and is replaced by John Adams, who dies in 1826, and who in turn is replaced by his son, John Q. Adams, who himself dies in 1842. During that time, the Columbian Union is able to claim territory as far west as the Rocky Mountains and as far north as the 49th parallel, but things don't all go well for them.
After the War of Rebellion ended, even with their defeat, many ex-Patriots still harbored pro-republican sentiments and there were still a few occasional incidents for years to come. Also, there was yet another British dependency in which trouble was brewing: Canada, without the War of 1812, did not get as close to Britain as they would in our world and the Brits would eventually get rather complacent as to how they governed the place.
Unfortunately for Britain, this, and several incidents led to the secession of Canada in 1826, and the year after, it's independence from same. This led to all sorts of crackdowns against neo-Patriot organizations across Columbia to it's south and soon, thousands of neo-Patriots, Jeffersonian and otherwise, would die and many tens of thousands more would either flee or be expelled; many came to Canada but not all would go north; some instead went westward.
In Mexico, which gained it's independence from Spain a good decade or so earlier than in our world, quite a few Anglo settlers would come to their country as soon as 1800. In 1819, the Mexican government, then under Francisco Alvarez, invited Stephen Austin and about 300 other Columbian men, most of them Patriots, to come to Tejas y Coahuila and settle there with their families; the year prior, several dozen other Columbians, mainly from the Northeast(New England + N.Y. & N.J.), made their homes in California, particularly around the missions and had largely been successful. The Texians, as they were soon called, initially got along well with the Mexican government, but problems soon began to crop up. And when Agustin Iturbide crowned himself emperor in 1829, the Texians decided to break off and form their own country. Soon after, anti-establishment Columbians fleeing persecution at home suddenly found a new alternative homeland; the newly created Republic of Texas opened their doors wide open to these refugees, many of them from the South of Columbia and they came by the thousands, especially after the fall of Iturbide in 1839. By the time the last original land grants were given out in 1847, perhaps one quarter of a million former Columbians had made themselves at home in Texas, many of them Scots-Irish.
California, too, received a fair number of Anglo immigrants, though mainly old Yankees fleeing persecution and a few Canadians(including a few First Nations travellers) looking to escape poverty, although a few Scotch-Irish did settle in the mountains and in the far southern regions around San Diego and *Orange County.
The death of John Adams brought Prime Minister Martin Van Buren to the forefront, and was chosen as King by 42% of Parliament in a three way debate. However, though, he was largely ineffectual as a leader and left all but the most crucial aspects of governing to his Prime Ministers, of which there were three; James Birney, Zachary Taylor, and James L. Polk. He died on November 26, 1852, and was replaced by William P. Mangum, a virtually obscure North Carolina lieutenant governor who had once led a crackdown on pro-Patriot protestors in Baltimore in 1825. "King Willie", as he was called, was to be primarily remembered for two things: the poorly-thought out Columbia-Texas War personally started by his hand-picked PM, John Calhoun, Jr., and his signing of the Fugitive Negro Slave Act of 1857 which enraged many Yankees; the latter is said to have been a crucial tipping point towards the peaking of North-South hostilities which would occur just five years later.
And then, in December 1861, not long after Mangum's passing, Robert Davis was, in a rather controversial twist of events, elected as King and swore to uphold the Slave Act in a session of Parliament just two months later; over two-thirds of northern MPs present walked out in disgust. And when the government in Richmond demanded that the states obey the law, several of them instead decided to attempt to secede, and the Columbian Civil War began in earnest.
This universe, is, to a fair degree, inspired by For Want of a Nail as well as a few works of Tony Jones. Basically, the Patriots lose the Revolutionary War, but not before they strike a plea deal with the Brits; in exchange for remaining in London's orbit, they gain a substantial amount of self-governance and even are allowed to choose their own Elector Monarch separate from London. Ironically enough, it's none other than George Washington who takes the role of the Elector King, even if only as a measure to rebuild the bridges that were burned during the War. This decision proves to be highly controversial but it does ultimately help finally end the fighting. Of the Patriot states, Vermont is the last to fall, in 1798.
Washington dies in 1799, as per OTL, and is replaced by John Adams, who dies in 1826, and who in turn is replaced by his son, John Q. Adams, who himself dies in 1842. During that time, the Columbian Union is able to claim territory as far west as the Rocky Mountains and as far north as the 49th parallel, but things don't all go well for them.
After the War of Rebellion ended, even with their defeat, many ex-Patriots still harbored pro-republican sentiments and there were still a few occasional incidents for years to come. Also, there was yet another British dependency in which trouble was brewing: Canada, without the War of 1812, did not get as close to Britain as they would in our world and the Brits would eventually get rather complacent as to how they governed the place.
Unfortunately for Britain, this, and several incidents led to the secession of Canada in 1826, and the year after, it's independence from same. This led to all sorts of crackdowns against neo-Patriot organizations across Columbia to it's south and soon, thousands of neo-Patriots, Jeffersonian and otherwise, would die and many tens of thousands more would either flee or be expelled; many came to Canada but not all would go north; some instead went westward.
In Mexico, which gained it's independence from Spain a good decade or so earlier than in our world, quite a few Anglo settlers would come to their country as soon as 1800. In 1819, the Mexican government, then under Francisco Alvarez, invited Stephen Austin and about 300 other Columbian men, most of them Patriots, to come to Tejas y Coahuila and settle there with their families; the year prior, several dozen other Columbians, mainly from the Northeast(New England + N.Y. & N.J.), made their homes in California, particularly around the missions and had largely been successful. The Texians, as they were soon called, initially got along well with the Mexican government, but problems soon began to crop up. And when Agustin Iturbide crowned himself emperor in 1829, the Texians decided to break off and form their own country. Soon after, anti-establishment Columbians fleeing persecution at home suddenly found a new alternative homeland; the newly created Republic of Texas opened their doors wide open to these refugees, many of them from the South of Columbia and they came by the thousands, especially after the fall of Iturbide in 1839. By the time the last original land grants were given out in 1847, perhaps one quarter of a million former Columbians had made themselves at home in Texas, many of them Scots-Irish.
California, too, received a fair number of Anglo immigrants, though mainly old Yankees fleeing persecution and a few Canadians(including a few First Nations travellers) looking to escape poverty, although a few Scotch-Irish did settle in the mountains and in the far southern regions around San Diego and *Orange County.
The death of John Adams brought Prime Minister Martin Van Buren to the forefront, and was chosen as King by 42% of Parliament in a three way debate. However, though, he was largely ineffectual as a leader and left all but the most crucial aspects of governing to his Prime Ministers, of which there were three; James Birney, Zachary Taylor, and James L. Polk. He died on November 26, 1852, and was replaced by William P. Mangum, a virtually obscure North Carolina lieutenant governor who had once led a crackdown on pro-Patriot protestors in Baltimore in 1825. "King Willie", as he was called, was to be primarily remembered for two things: the poorly-thought out Columbia-Texas War personally started by his hand-picked PM, John Calhoun, Jr., and his signing of the Fugitive Negro Slave Act of 1857 which enraged many Yankees; the latter is said to have been a crucial tipping point towards the peaking of North-South hostilities which would occur just five years later.
And then, in December 1861, not long after Mangum's passing, Robert Davis was, in a rather controversial twist of events, elected as King and swore to uphold the Slave Act in a session of Parliament just two months later; over two-thirds of northern MPs present walked out in disgust. And when the government in Richmond demanded that the states obey the law, several of them instead decided to attempt to secede, and the Columbian Civil War began in earnest.