Empire of Liberty -- A United States AAR
1. Trust the Common Man to Get it Right!
It’s January 1836, and the USA is entering the last year of President Andrew Jackson’s second term. It’s not been a smooth ride, with controversies over Jackson’s destruction of the nation’s central bank and his treatment of native Indians. To the southwest the state of Texas has broken away from Mexico, and is fighting for its independence, while in the northwest lies the Oregon territory, disputed between Britain and the United States.
American industry is still in its early stages, but there’s a solid enough base, located entirely in the Northeast of the country. The south is mainly agrarian, with a huge slave population producing huge amounts of cotton.
All I do here is subsidise the factories, to ensure they remain open. National focuses are set to promoting clergy in my most populous states, New York and Pennsylvania
In May, the election campaign begins. With Jackson having already served two terms, his Vice President Martin van Buren steps up to become the Democrat challenger. The Whig opposition put forward multiple candidates, each popular in different parts of the country. William Henry Harrison is the main nominee in the northern states, while Hugh Lawson White runs in the south.
The early elections in the game aren’t particularly interesting until the Republicans appear in the 1850s, so I’ll go into more detail when we start to see a bit more variety. There will be maps and everything!
As the summer of 1836 arrives, the war in Texas rages on. With the Mexicans in Austin, the United States decides it’s time to act. Military spending is raised to maximum and on July 26th congress authorises American intervention, to protect the rights of the Anglo settlers in Texas. The US Dragoons, consisting of 21,000 men, marches into Texas to liberate Austin.
On August 27th a negotiated settlement is reached concerning the land disputed between the state of Maine and the British territory of New Brunswick. This greatly improves relations between the two countries, and opens up the possibility of a peaceful settlement to the Oregon question. The United States has no desire for conflict with Britain, so a deal dividing the western territory at the 49th parallel is agreed in principle by October, and officially by mid-1837.
Meanwhile, a wave of religious zeal is sweeping America, at a time when in Europe it’s quite the opposite, with liberalism and secularism taking hold. Such contrast just shows how far away America is from the European mindset, a trend that will continue and grow into the idea of American Exceptionalism.
In Texas, Austin is retaken in late September, and in early October a surprisingly early offer of peace is made by Mexico, agreeing to withdraw from Texas. The United States, desiring nothing more from Mexico, agrees. Not long after, Texas petitions for statehood and is admitted as a slave state.
This great victory rallies the people to the Democratic Party’s cause, especially in the southern states, resulting in an easy victory for van Buren over his Whig rivals, taking every single state other than Virginia.[1]
[1] West Virginia in game terms, but as it didn’t exist in real life at the time, let’s just say it was Virginia.