"The Footsteps of Illustrious Men"- USA GC AAR

RGB said:

So, it's been a long time since the Populists won. I wanna know what the aftermath was!

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Working on an update now.

"President" Thomas Watson
~~

The "Lion of Lynchburg", John W. Daniel, took the White House with very little fan fare. His inauguration was short and to the point, he had every intention of driving through the early days of his presidency quickly. Step one was getting Congress, still split almost in thirds, to throw their support behind him. Gaining the support of Congress was key, and establishing and founding his cabinet. Most of his nominees carried though without much struggle, until it got to Daniel's choice for secretary of state. William Jennings Bryan was a young congressman from Illinois, and seemingly had very little experience in the field of foreign policy and international relations. Bryan's draw was that he believed in human rights abroad. Bryan truly believed that American values of democracy and freedom belonged to the world, and was specifically angered by the treatment of the United States towards the Chinese.

This 'bleeding-heart' attitude towards foreign policy angered many of the Republicans, who did their best to keep him out of office. Unfortunately the Democrats saw the opportunity to both stick one to the Republicans, and to keep the United States' foreign policy tamer than the Republican years, and so after some arrangements between the Populists and Democrats, the selection went through. Unfortunately the Populist party was immediately faced with a crisis, both moral and physical. On the Island of Kauai in Hawaii, a large number of Japanese workers and miners went on strike. When the territorial governor of Hawaii, still the Republican appointed James Henderson Blount, ordered American troops to fire into a group of strikers, all hell broke loose.


The People of Hawaii

The Japanese government, newly introduced to the west, lodged an official complain about the treatment of her former subjects. And so it was that Bryan had his first mission, settling the Japanese issue. Although nothing was to come of the meeting between Bryan and the Japanese government, it is important to note that the this was the first time any American politician visited the island. The striking continued even as Bryan met in Kyoto. Only one day after he left the island nation, a Japanese transport vessel was caught off the coast of Kauai with a large supply of small arms and ammunition. The vessel was captured, and although the Japanese issued a formal complaint, nothing came of it. The very next day the strikers turned violent. The leaders of the resistance stormed an American depot and took many of the weapons, including machine guns and a hand-full of new portable mortars.


The Hieghts of Kauai

The rebels secured a base on top of mountains on the coast of the Island. Governor Blount ordered the troops to assault the heights and remove the rebels. The army was halted quickly as entrenched machine gun positions and mortar crews rained fire down on the Americans. The situation was a black eye to the new government, one preaching the gospel of worker's rights. President Daniel was at a loss, and turned to his more loquacious vice president, Thomas Watson, to take charge of the situation. It was at this time that power shifted from the chief executive to his deputy. Watson was, in all ways, a better leader than Daniel. He swept into the Senate and carried a series of resolutions through, he then personally ordered the navy to blockade the island. He then worked a deal with the British consulate on the big island to maintain a steady control on supplies to the island. British business interests on Kauai had increased with the Japanese segregation. This agreement would eventually turn into a formal alliance, and allowed Watson to use full force against the rebels. Then, quickly returning to internal policies he organized and aided in President Daniel's first executive order, the order holding all companies and businesses legally responsible for the safety of their workers, including a 12 hour work day.

The reaction to these executive orders was surprise. No one expected the changes to come as quickly as they did, and everyone was caught off guard. The immediate impact was ugly, as many business owners shot from the hip, laying off workers for fear of lost revenue. But after a few months, the tide turned back towards stability and things settled. No great economic upheaval occurred, no collapse followed these changes, and a precedent was set. Some in Congress attempted to counter the new executive orders, including the Constitutionality of the President interfering in how businesses operated. The businesses would eventually win out, but not before the Progressives worked their way around the overturn first. Most states controlled by the progressives merely passed the laws on a local level. And this local move was followed up by the proposal by the governor of Kentucky, of a workers Bill of Rights to the Constitution, guaranteeing the federal government with the right to have certain controls on business regulations. The result of this movement would be crucial to the history of the progressive party.

RGB: Yes, I think the time has come to put some more... progressive... politicians in place (zing!)

SirCliveWolfe: Lets hope, I need another enemy outside of the French.

stnylan: It is an ironic situation. The Japanese rebelling against the Americans will only help the Progressive's deflect notice on their local politics.

In media res Debs

With the confrontation between the Populists and the old guard parties, there could be only one reasonable result, a judicial one. The resistance to the Populists reforms on levels legal, political and economic meant only change from the top could be legitimate. Too many non-Populists ruled in too much of the South and North East, and their power was enough to keep the legislatures of those states from passing any parts of the Populist agenda. So it was going to take some serious action for any decision to be finalized, in either way. And the Populists wanted to make sure that it happened on their terms. Unfortunately for Vice-President Watson, before he could arrange for his plan to come to fruition, an ally struck.

Eugene Debs, a well known populist and labor leader, organized and led a major worker's strike in 1894. As the head of the American Railway Union, Debs led a strike in Chicago. The Pullman Strike shut down railway transportation in Chicago, and spread to other major railway hubs as well. Before long, the railways unified to put down the strike. The governor of Chicago, still a staunch Republican, called out the troops. Eugene Debs was arrested and taken to trial. The strike was broken up, but the momentum was already present. Debs, represented by the lawyer Clarence Darrow, took the court to defend the strikers and overturn a series of rather opened ended laws allowing business' to control the workers.


Eugene V. Debs

Although the first lawsuits failed, subsequent attacks at the businesses and corporations succeeded. By the end of 1895, the back of the corporate world was broken. By reasons of "the American Way", and interstate commerce, the national government was able to pass and enforce a series of laws and regulations. Labeled "The Worker's Bill of Rights" this series of laws culminated in laws restricting the number of hours, safety regulations, minimum wages and child labor laws. In all, it was the greatest sweeping reform of business in the history of the world. In one fell swoop, the United States had become the most worker-friendly nation, and the immigrants came in droves to take advantage of these new laws.

Although for a year, until late 1895, the economy stagnated, but the influx of workers and new technologies created a boom for new businesses. All across the west and the south new businesses and new immigrants flooded the market. The Populists party was praised across the country for these new changes, and everywhere the Republicans and Democrats were on the retreat. And the man who reaped the greatest benefit from this, William Vincent Allen, a senator from Nebraska. Allen had grown to have a great deal of influence on the Worker's Bill of Rights, and so he gained a great deal of inter-party support. Before long, Allen was elected head of the party, and wielded a great deal of power within the Populist organization.


William Vincent Allen

With the coming election of 1896, no one felt that the Populists were in any risk of loosing office, but the more important question was would Joseph Daniels run again. The Lion of Lynchburg was suffering painfully from his old war wounds, and Thomas Watson had really gained most of the credit for the Party's success. When Daniels did announce his decision not to run for a second term, the floodgates were opened, and although the Republicans and Democrats did plan on running against the Populists, it was really the Populist primary that mattered the most.

Strategos' Risk said:

Is there a way to summarize the parties? Populists as friends of the farmer, and Progressives as friends of the urban worker and middle class reformer? And then the oldline parties... hm.

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Well, the Populists have sort of drifted to fill both the progressive and populist role in this timeline. The Republicans are sort of the upper middle and upper class supporters, especially industrialists and North-Easterners. The Democrats are the Deep South's party, primarily finding support among Southerner's looking for a return to the 'good old days'

A New Chapter and the Election of 1896
~~

With President John W. Daniel's announcement that he would not seek re-election, the newly stocked cupboard of Progressive politicians set into each other to gain an advantage. Three distinct factions would eventually emerge both in response to how the preliminary campaigns were run. The first strong candidate to take the stage was William Vincent Allen, the Nebraska populist who had taken over much of the party's core. Allen set out to paint himself as a founder of the Populist movement, and a hero of the worker and the farmer. Allen was proclaimed by many in newspapers and on the floor of Congress, as the true author to the Worker's Bill of Rights and the true mastermind behind the success of the Populist Party.

This was a direct threat to Vice President Thomas Watson. Watson had been a great part of why Daniel had been chosen as president. Watson, a fiery speaker and a passionate leader, immediately set out to discredit Allen as a true populist. Pointing to his old ways as a Republican, Watson hoped to chip away at Allen's support within the party. Watson was not only a brilliant orator, but he was a savy politician, he ensured that any blame for the violence in Hawaii was shifted away from him and onto the shoulders of now replaced colonial governor James Henderson Blount. Watson also directed his campaign to focus on his impact in the success of the party, and his experience as Vice President. He hoped to direct his campaign like Rutherford B Hayes had in 1884 when he succeeded President Morrill after serving as Vice President.

The third candidate to emerge was another southern Populist James Paul Clarke. Clark was young, 42, and a very popular Southern Populist from Arkansas. However, he had the unfortunate luck to be surrounded by, and forced to work with, Democrats. Clarke was perhaps the most realistic of the three candidates, and was one of the key compromisers in the passing of Populist legislature in southern states. Clarke had the cleanest and kindest campaign, reminiscent of Benjamin Harrison as the kindly man seeking only to serve his country. However, he was unfavorably (and likely appropriately) compared to President Clay, the infamous compromiser.


James P. Clarke

The Republicans, nearly slain as a political party, chose to run James A. Beaver once again. Beaver was a harmless politician, and one who was very similar in ideology to the Populist mainline. The Republicans hoped to chip away at the Populist lead, and specifically regain ground in the congressional races. If parts of the North could be regained by the Republicans, then perhaps the party could rebuild and not fall the way the Wigs had many years earlier. In essence, this election, though not the Presidential one, was a race for the survival of the Republican party. Beaver, with full knowledge that his political future was in essence being sacrificed, campaigned hard for Republicans all over the North.

The Democrats had become isolated in the Deep South. Despite, or perhaps because of, their proximity, the Democrats were in the middle of a heated debate about the future of the party. The more conservative elements, led by former Mississippi governor Robert Lowry, declared that the party should return to the old ways, including the re-establishment of the Southern Christian Army. With the death of Thomas "Burnt Earth" Jackson in 1893 (at the age of 69), the Democrats had split over his message. On his death bed, Jackson quoted 1st Corinthians 10:13, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. "

This final line of Jackson's left the party debating as to how he thought they should progress. Men like Lowry announced the "temptation" as the ways of the Progressive party. The more radical branch of the party led by Henry Watterson called for a free South party, one designed to create a 'southern government' to run the Deep South and believed that Jackson was calling upon the southerners to be faithful to the southern cause of Confederacy and independence. He went so far as to call for a return to the plantation slavery system of the South, and called upon the old leaders of the south, the preachers and religious men, to declare the northerners and progressives as damned. The party was split as both men put together campaigns, along with a more moderate Democrat Thomas G. Jones of Alabama.


Robert Lowry

In the end, Watson could not overcome Allen's inter-party support. More and more members of the Populist party flocked to Allen's banner, seeing him as the favorite to win the primary. When Clarke conceded and threw his support behind Allen, under the condition that Clarke become Vice President, the results were clear. Although Watson did not go down without a fight, he couldn't gain enough support to overcome the loss and eventually was forced to concede. But the resentment would remain and the rift between Watson and Allen was clear. Meanwhile the Republicans abandoned the far west to the Populists and instead focused on expanding from their New England roots. They found some success in West Virginia, and gained some congressional seats in Maryland, Ohio and Michigan, enough to survive but not enough to regain power. The Democrats, split as they were, found almost no success and lost North Texas to the Populists as farmers went over to Allen's cause. In the end, the ticket of Allen-Clarke swept the election handily.


William V. Allen and James P. Clarke- Populist- 284
James Beaver and George Edmunds- Republican- 90
Thomas G. Jones and John Y. Brown- Democrat- 12
Robert Lowry and James Z. George- Independent Democrat- 9
Henry Watterson and Francis P. Fleming- Southern Democrat- 11

SirCliveWolfe said:

What is the light green section of Oklahoma represent? Or is it just a glitch?

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Oklahoma is not yet a state, just a territory