Yeah, I have to admit that Yggdrasil as Norse mythology being used by the Knights Temporal<which also highly reminded me of the Knights Templar> seem VERY odd. But in an odd way, it does seem to fit.
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Interesting exposition on the state of the States circa 1836 (and so much easier to digest that getting an 800-page tome from the local library 
). Of course, since I know preciously little about 1830s (and onwards) America, it'll be hard to tell where we slip into alt-history. I know Clay wasn't elected in Real Life, but beyond that... Ah well, as long as I don't take your story as the official history of the real USA, I should be fine, right?
The way you describe the US, there is clearly a huge potential for - well, almost anything. This will be fun.
). Of course, since I know preciously little about 1830s (and onwards) America, it'll be hard to tell where we slip into alt-history. I know Clay wasn't elected in Real Life, but beyond that... Ah well, as long as I don't take your story as the official history of the real USA, I should be fine, right? The way you describe the US, there is clearly a huge potential for - well, almost anything. This will be fun.
To all: I was hoping not to post until I had an installment ready.
However, in the interim I've had to re-scan 'A Government of Our Own', the first book of Shelby Foote's 'The American Civil War', 'The Cousins Wars' and 'Battle Cry of Freedom'. I have also spent hours modding the Civil War events and playing the game up to the crisis.
Update will follow in a couple of days, due to work schedule.
coz1 - thanks. I needed some 'setting of the scene' before the action could begin. Most people are fuzzy on what happened in this country between the Revolution and the Civil War - including me.
J. Passepartout - in our timeline Clay presided over the Missouri Compromise, the Tariff question and was influential in curbing the excesses of the Jacksonian Democrats. He was witty, generally well-liked, well-spoken though not well-educated, and had a real gift for compromise.
Nil-The-Frogg - 'hoping' is correct as a form of hope: I was hoping you would come by. 'Hopping' refers to 'hop': Look at that frog hopping across the grass! You have to love English. Ah, well, at least we don't insist that inanimate objects have gender.
Mettermrck - hello, and welcome! The previews are still playing but the main feature will begin momentarily.
Contradiction - Yes, Yggdrasil is featured in Norse mythology. Science Fiction and Fantasy have lifted a lot of Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Norse and Japanese mythology for re-use.
The Knights Temporal were chartered to protect, serve and monitor the use of time travel just as the Templars were charged with protecting travelers to the Holy Land. The organization is actually a cross-bred with elements of a government agency, a corporation and some quasi-religious trappings to remind the Knights of the serious nature of their duties.
Amric - the resemblance is intentional. Plus all the other good names were taken.
Stuyvesant - current affairs in the US are very loose. The Republic is more fragile than it may appear, and the different sections all have different views of what the country should become. It has just narrowly escaped 'the man on horseback' with Andrew Jackson and it is regularly threatened by dis-union. Almost anything could happen... some surprising twists have already emerged from my gameplay.
However, in the interim I've had to re-scan 'A Government of Our Own', the first book of Shelby Foote's 'The American Civil War', 'The Cousins Wars' and 'Battle Cry of Freedom'. I have also spent hours modding the Civil War events and playing the game up to the crisis.
Update will follow in a couple of days, due to work schedule.
coz1 - thanks. I needed some 'setting of the scene' before the action could begin. Most people are fuzzy on what happened in this country between the Revolution and the Civil War - including me.
J. Passepartout - in our timeline Clay presided over the Missouri Compromise, the Tariff question and was influential in curbing the excesses of the Jacksonian Democrats. He was witty, generally well-liked, well-spoken though not well-educated, and had a real gift for compromise.
Nil-The-Frogg - 'hoping' is correct as a form of hope: I was hoping you would come by. 'Hopping' refers to 'hop': Look at that frog hopping across the grass! You have to love English. Ah, well, at least we don't insist that inanimate objects have gender.
Mettermrck - hello, and welcome! The previews are still playing but the main feature will begin momentarily.
Contradiction - Yes, Yggdrasil is featured in Norse mythology. Science Fiction and Fantasy have lifted a lot of Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Norse and Japanese mythology for re-use.
The Knights Temporal were chartered to protect, serve and monitor the use of time travel just as the Templars were charged with protecting travelers to the Holy Land. The organization is actually a cross-bred with elements of a government agency, a corporation and some quasi-religious trappings to remind the Knights of the serious nature of their duties.
Amric - the resemblance is intentional. Plus all the other good names were taken.
Stuyvesant - current affairs in the US are very loose. The Republic is more fragile than it may appear, and the different sections all have different views of what the country should become. It has just narrowly escaped 'the man on horseback' with Andrew Jackson and it is regularly threatened by dis-union. Almost anything could happen... some surprising twists have already emerged from my gameplay.
Glad I caught up again, Director, for you have fairly harnessed a hurricane of possibilities and only time will tell how things will play out. Not only do you have the historical issues to deal with you also have the ahistorical influences of our rougue Templars, and good ol' fashioned human nature to just blow everybodies well laid out plans straight to hell. Ah, yes, this is going to be one fun ride!
I admit Director that while I was a fan of your Frontier, to the point where it inspired me to buy GalCiv2, I was never able to catch up with that saga. This time round however I've gotten in at the ground floor and I intend to stick with this AAR. Already the signs are extremely promising and I'm thoroughly enjoying the story to date; "preview" as it might be
Vienna was pleasant, but too small for outsiders to fit in without comment. Berlin possessed a veneer of sophistication but the conservative nobles hovering around the court were strongly opposed to outsiders. As they were posing as slightly-down-at-the-heel petty Italians with a questionable claim to a parvenu title (possibly Napoleonic, or bestowed by Murat), they were not able to see much of Italy. Venice was too damp and Ravenna quite unhealthy. Switzerland was pleasant but too remote. They dallied for a few months in Amsterdam, dismissed the idea of going to London just yet, then moved on to Paris.
Here they felt at home, as much as they ever could. Paris was beautiful, even in this pre-Haussman time of narrow streets, poor sanitation and cramped buildings. They did miss the Eifel Tower – somehow, Paris was not quite the same without it – but the Arc de Triomphe was gloriously new. Parisian society welcomed their wit and charm, willingly overlooking such trivial questions as where they were from, and whether or not they were who they claimed to be. In two months they had moved from a pensione on the north bank to a town home on the south, improving their wardrobe by increments until they were unremarkable at the Opera or a fashionable salon. In similar small steps they improved their social connections until it was a rare evening that no invitation awaited. In return they hosted small gatherings at a fine local restaurant and soon became well-known to the married couple that owned and ran it.
Days were devoted to newspapers, to libraries – including the private libraries of their new-found haut-monde friends. Best of all were the hours devoted to cogitation and contemplation, sipping coffee at a café and watching the bustle of Parisian life. Of Nemor they heard little except for one message stating the ‘Argonauta’ had safely arrived at its base.
The news from the United States was interesting if inconclusive. Post-election reports indicated that Clay owed his Presidency to the influence of John C Calhoun in the South and to industrialists in Pennsylvania. A showdown over the Protective Tariff seemed sure to drive those interests apart, and in fact the accord held for less than a year before Southerners moved to reduce the Tariff to a rate just sufficient to cover the revenue needs of the government. Clay allowed the debate to run its course before proposing yet another compromise, offering to confirm the Protective Tariff in principle but gradually reduce it over a period of twenty years to a revenue standard.
Events in Texas were not so easily handled. Americans had colonized the Tejas district, revolted against Mexican rule and declared independence. President Santa Anna decided to deal decisively with this threat and marched an army north across the desert. While General Jose de Urrea besieged a fortified mission at San Antonio de Bejar, the President led his forces to the little town of Goliad. In a stunning reverse, a small force of Texans threw back successive uncoordinated attacks and, when hard-pressed, retreated into the fort. Wounded in the arm, Santa Anna pulled his army back to regroup.
Across the Sabine River in Louisiana, General Robert Patterson had assembled a scratch force of Federal troops. His orders were unambiguous: citizens could flee the disorder in Texas, but neither American nor Mexican troops were to cross the Sabine River for any reason. As his orders did not mention civilians streaming into Texas to join the rebels, Patterson turned a blind eye to them. Given a breathing space in the aftermath of Goliad, Sam Houston assumed control of the Texan army and led it northeast to the little town of Columbus on the Colorado River. With volunteers pouring in from the United States, almost five thousand troops awaited General Filisola and his thirty thousand veteran Mexicans who arrived in October to give battle. As at Goliad the defenders were able to stand off repeated attacks and claim victory despite heavy losses. Houston led his men southeast to a new position closer to expected reinforcements. Here on the future site of the city of Houston the exhausted little army was overwhelmed on December 23rd by Mexican forces again under the command of the very competent General de Urrea. Without interference from Texas troops or the absent Santa Anna, General de Urrea occupied Texas completely.
Despite the final overwhelming victory and humiliating occupation it was apparent to Santa Anna and de Urrea that a large garrison would be required to hold Texas in subjugation. Political events in the rest of the country made it impossible to tie down the army in such a remote place. Consequently a deal was struck, placing Sam Houston in charge of a quasi-independent Texan rump-state.
Between the frenzied pleas of Southerners who saw Texas as a key component of the westward extension of slavery and the disapproval of New Englanders who wanted no part of a war of conquest in Mexico, Clay remained outwardly serene. All commissioners from Texas were politely but firmly rebuffed. Angry messages from Mexico, accusing the United States of fomenting a revolution, were politely and firmly rebutted. “Annexation and war with Mexico are identical,” he said.
The Clay administration was a time of prosperity. The newly rechartered Bank of the United States brought an early end to the recession of 1836. New funds from the Protective Tariff and from sales of public land were paid out for a host of new projects. The National Road across the Cumberland Gap was extended at a steady pace and improvements to navigation were made on the rivers. Despite having to buy railroad rails from Britain, American railroads began to rapidly expand their miles of track.
On July 20th the President and the Secretary of War (Joel Poinsett, a friend and ally of John C Calhoun) presided over the re-opening of the musket works at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, whose machinery had been retooled for production of rifled muskets. After the speeches were over and both men had received a presentation copy of the new weapon from John H Hall, Clay and Poinsett retired to a nearby parlor to receive a messenger from Washington. His news provoked an incredulous exclamation from the President: Americans had landed on the island of Hispaniola and seized control of the government of Haiti.
On August 1st, Makhearne set his porcelain coffee cup in its saucer with a decisive click. “This is it,” he said. Feric Ronsend folded his own newspaper carefully, never taking his eyes from a not-quite-demure young lady in full skirts and parasol. “What?” he said, looking around with a start as his companion stood, dropping coins on the tabletop.
“Come, Enrico, we must depart.”
“What, now? There’s nothing else to do in the afternoons; it is too hot.” Surely that was an eye peeping at him from around her parasol?
“No… I mean we’re leaving Paris. Now; this instant. She has made her move at last.”
Here they felt at home, as much as they ever could. Paris was beautiful, even in this pre-Haussman time of narrow streets, poor sanitation and cramped buildings. They did miss the Eifel Tower – somehow, Paris was not quite the same without it – but the Arc de Triomphe was gloriously new. Parisian society welcomed their wit and charm, willingly overlooking such trivial questions as where they were from, and whether or not they were who they claimed to be. In two months they had moved from a pensione on the north bank to a town home on the south, improving their wardrobe by increments until they were unremarkable at the Opera or a fashionable salon. In similar small steps they improved their social connections until it was a rare evening that no invitation awaited. In return they hosted small gatherings at a fine local restaurant and soon became well-known to the married couple that owned and ran it.
Days were devoted to newspapers, to libraries – including the private libraries of their new-found haut-monde friends. Best of all were the hours devoted to cogitation and contemplation, sipping coffee at a café and watching the bustle of Parisian life. Of Nemor they heard little except for one message stating the ‘Argonauta’ had safely arrived at its base.
The news from the United States was interesting if inconclusive. Post-election reports indicated that Clay owed his Presidency to the influence of John C Calhoun in the South and to industrialists in Pennsylvania. A showdown over the Protective Tariff seemed sure to drive those interests apart, and in fact the accord held for less than a year before Southerners moved to reduce the Tariff to a rate just sufficient to cover the revenue needs of the government. Clay allowed the debate to run its course before proposing yet another compromise, offering to confirm the Protective Tariff in principle but gradually reduce it over a period of twenty years to a revenue standard.
Events in Texas were not so easily handled. Americans had colonized the Tejas district, revolted against Mexican rule and declared independence. President Santa Anna decided to deal decisively with this threat and marched an army north across the desert. While General Jose de Urrea besieged a fortified mission at San Antonio de Bejar, the President led his forces to the little town of Goliad. In a stunning reverse, a small force of Texans threw back successive uncoordinated attacks and, when hard-pressed, retreated into the fort. Wounded in the arm, Santa Anna pulled his army back to regroup.
Across the Sabine River in Louisiana, General Robert Patterson had assembled a scratch force of Federal troops. His orders were unambiguous: citizens could flee the disorder in Texas, but neither American nor Mexican troops were to cross the Sabine River for any reason. As his orders did not mention civilians streaming into Texas to join the rebels, Patterson turned a blind eye to them. Given a breathing space in the aftermath of Goliad, Sam Houston assumed control of the Texan army and led it northeast to the little town of Columbus on the Colorado River. With volunteers pouring in from the United States, almost five thousand troops awaited General Filisola and his thirty thousand veteran Mexicans who arrived in October to give battle. As at Goliad the defenders were able to stand off repeated attacks and claim victory despite heavy losses. Houston led his men southeast to a new position closer to expected reinforcements. Here on the future site of the city of Houston the exhausted little army was overwhelmed on December 23rd by Mexican forces again under the command of the very competent General de Urrea. Without interference from Texas troops or the absent Santa Anna, General de Urrea occupied Texas completely.
Despite the final overwhelming victory and humiliating occupation it was apparent to Santa Anna and de Urrea that a large garrison would be required to hold Texas in subjugation. Political events in the rest of the country made it impossible to tie down the army in such a remote place. Consequently a deal was struck, placing Sam Houston in charge of a quasi-independent Texan rump-state.
Between the frenzied pleas of Southerners who saw Texas as a key component of the westward extension of slavery and the disapproval of New Englanders who wanted no part of a war of conquest in Mexico, Clay remained outwardly serene. All commissioners from Texas were politely but firmly rebuffed. Angry messages from Mexico, accusing the United States of fomenting a revolution, were politely and firmly rebutted. “Annexation and war with Mexico are identical,” he said.
The Clay administration was a time of prosperity. The newly rechartered Bank of the United States brought an early end to the recession of 1836. New funds from the Protective Tariff and from sales of public land were paid out for a host of new projects. The National Road across the Cumberland Gap was extended at a steady pace and improvements to navigation were made on the rivers. Despite having to buy railroad rails from Britain, American railroads began to rapidly expand their miles of track.
On July 20th the President and the Secretary of War (Joel Poinsett, a friend and ally of John C Calhoun) presided over the re-opening of the musket works at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, whose machinery had been retooled for production of rifled muskets. After the speeches were over and both men had received a presentation copy of the new weapon from John H Hall, Clay and Poinsett retired to a nearby parlor to receive a messenger from Washington. His news provoked an incredulous exclamation from the President: Americans had landed on the island of Hispaniola and seized control of the government of Haiti.
On August 1st, Makhearne set his porcelain coffee cup in its saucer with a decisive click. “This is it,” he said. Feric Ronsend folded his own newspaper carefully, never taking his eyes from a not-quite-demure young lady in full skirts and parasol. “What?” he said, looking around with a start as his companion stood, dropping coins on the tabletop.
“Come, Enrico, we must depart.”
“What, now? There’s nothing else to do in the afternoons; it is too hot.” Surely that was an eye peeping at him from around her parasol?
“No… I mean we’re leaving Paris. Now; this instant. She has made her move at last.”
John Quitman, former Governor of Mississippi and Hispaniola
John Quitman was not quite forty years old when he stepped ashore in Hispaniola. He was respected as a rising young Whig in Mississippi politics, having just completed a term as Acting Governor of Mississippi. With a Whig administration in the White House, a young and ambitious politician could expect to achieve great things.
Despite his New York birth and early legal career in Ohio, Quitman had moved south and west as many young men would, in search of fame and fortune. He established a law practice atop the river bluff in Natchez, Mississippi, and in only five years was elected to the state legislature. His time among the slave-owning planters of the Natchez elite may have changed him, but it is certain that by 1839 he had become a confirmed champion of slavery and the Southern way of life.
The Clay administration’s refusal to intervene in Texas had puzzled and then enraged him. Almost he resigned his post as governor to join the Texans himself, but at the last he confined himself to actively recruiting men, money and arms for the Texan army. Its eventual defeat by Mexico, and the humiliating peace that forbade owning slaves in Texas, convinced Quitman that the existence of the South would in time be endangered. If slavery could not expand to the west, he reasoned, it must go south instead. “We must make a dozen or more new states from the Caribbean islands,” he said, “and fill up Latin America with Southern men. By these new states we will enlarge the Union, and make it safe for ourselves and our property.”
Suiting actions to words, Quitman embarked on a speaking tour of the South. At every stop he was greeted with offers of money and promises of participation. When at last he gave the signal, almost a thousand young men converged upon the port of New Orleans and took passage on the two little ships chartered for the purpose.
His original targets were found unsuitable. The United States of Central America was enjoying a rare quiet moment of internal politics, and Cuba was ruled out because of reports of fevers there. Years of revolt, rebellion and invasion had led to rapid changes of control in Hispaniola, and Jean Pierre Boyer’s recent invasion and conquest of the eastern half of the island seemed to provide a pretext for intervention. The island nation was laboring under an immense indemnity owed to France, and the resulting repressive taxation left the population hostile to Boyer’s rule. After two days of discussion the matter was settled, and the little troop descended on the north coast of Haiti.
Seizing Cap-Haitien proved easy. Quitman established a mild rule and deceptively concealed his ultimate intentions while flying columns of lightly-equipped infantry marched overland. The Haitian troops were met and defeated piecemeal at Port-de-Paix and Gonaives, and President Boyer took ship to Jamaica rather than stay and rally the nation.
In the interim, President Clay had issued orders through the War Department, promoting Zachary Taylor to Brigadier General and authorizing him to detach troops from the Seminole War in Florida for the purpose of ‘returning the American citizens from Haiti and restoring the government’. In later years, Taylor would claim to have been given additional, purely verbal instructions from the Secretary of War. In any event, he loaded two brigades of troops at the little port of Tampa and set sail for Haiti.
Arriving to find Quitman’s men had tenuous control over perhaps one-third of the country, and with Boyer and principal officers of his government having fled, Taylor made common cause with Quitman and used his troops to secure the island for the new administration. By November a semblance of calm and order had been restored.
Not so in Washington, where President Clay reportedly erupted in frightful oaths when he heard the news. Calhoun, of course, brought out every weapon in his formidable political arsenal: Hispaniola must be annexed and brought in as a slave-holding state to balance the recent admission of Michigan. An open break with Calhoun would mean losing support of Southern Whigs; pro-expansion Democrats, already inflamed over the administration’s refusal to assist Texas, would have a field day with the issue. And, damningly, Taylor’s report blandly asserted that, in the absence of any Haitian government, the use of American troops to support the Quitman administration was the best that could be accomplished.
Clay recognized early on that he could not simply give back what was, in actuality, conquered territory. Popular opinion would not allow it, and there was no Haitian government to accept authority if he tried. A return to civil war would be the inevitable result. But he refused to be the dupe of Calhoun’s machinations – he could not, and retain any control over his own administration and party. Poinsett could be shuffled off to Georgia and Florida to supervise the Cherokee removal and the Seminole War; Taylor could relieve Patterson on the Sabine River. Dealing with Calhoun, and settling the ultimate fate of Haiti, thus remained as the principal problems of Clay’s last year in office.
With characteristic aplomb, Clay waited for the crisis to reach its climax before delivering his riposte. In his December 2nd, 1839 address to the joint houses of Congress the President laid out the bones of what would become yet another masterful compromise. Haiti was in fact no longer independent: very well. But having been ruled by dictators for generations, it was not quite ready to be a state. Let it then be administered as a territory, in trust for the future time at which the Haitians themselves might choose statehood or independence. Haiti was ‘conceived in liberty, in revolt against oppression, as were the United States’. Slavery had been outlawed in Haiti in 1804 and the results of French attempts to reimpose it were well known. Recent revolts around Santo Domingo were proof that slavery could not be reinstated without a large American army – an army, and an occupation, antithetical to American principles. Haiti must therefore keep its existing laws, and its status as a territory, rather than a state, would serve to maintain the balance of interests in the United States. Rather than become a new slave state, Clay intoned, Haiti would become a beacon for free blacks. He reminded Congress of his long commitment to the American Colonization Society. Rather than return slaves to Africa, he offered, let us bequeath them to the assistance and improvement of the people of Haiti.
Calhoun and the Southern Whigs and Democrats were outraged; rather than a new slave state added to their ranks Clay had endorsed an entire territory full of freed blacks! Northern Whigs were outraged in their turn at the deceit and naked ambition shown by Calhoun, Poinsett and Taylor, and were satisfied that Clay had dealt them a well-deserved setback. But the split in the party would not soon heal, and as Clay was pledged not to run for a second term the advantage in the upcoming elections lay squarely with the Democrats.
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If this was half a century later, there would be uproar about whether sending troops was constitutional, but with slavery in the mix, no one will care about that.
Interesting proposition by the president.
Interesting proposition by the president.
Hmmm... Compromise is classic Clay, but this is a poisoned one, to be sure. This will surely put wind in the sails of the ACS as a move to Hispaniola is much easier than one to Liberia. Lovely updates, Director!
Vann
Vann
Clay certainly pulled an end-run around Calhoun, didn't he? Not bad at all.
And it appears it is about time for our "Parisians" to return to the scene, eh? Nice touch witht he opening of that post by the by. Very precise and lovely.
And it appears it is about time for our "Parisians" to return to the scene, eh? Nice touch witht he opening of that post by the by. Very precise and lovely.
Director: ...as Clay was pledged not to run for a second term the advantage in the upcoming elections lay squarely with the Democrats.
i suspect that the advantage in the 1840 elections was already with the Democrats.
so ! does the next elected President of the United States die in office ? ?
magnificent AAR ! !
i suspect that the advantage in the 1840 elections was already with the Democrats.
so ! does the next elected President of the United States die in office ? ?
magnificent AAR ! !
Splendid! I very much liked the touch of Feric/Enrico flirting like that.
Clay is a sneaky one, but his camp seems doomed.
Clay is a sneaky one, but his camp seems doomed.
Nil-The-Frogg said:Splendid! I very much liked the touch of Feric/Enrico flirting like that.
Clay is a sneaky one, but his camp seems doomed.
Yeah...I particularly enjoyed that part too...must be my singleness coming out!
Classic Clay vs. Calhoun! I particularly enjoyed seeing the too old combatants at it again...
Keep up the good work sir!
TheExecuter
Concise overview of our heroes' travels through Europe: four years in three paragraphs. Nice that, in so few lines, it shows so many of the possibilities open to them. It fits with the gut feeling I have that, if you were rich in the 19th century, traveling and even settling in other countries was so much easier than it is now: just pick up your bags (and money) and go.
Regarding the Hispaniola imbroglio, could the island even have been admitted as a state into the Union? Wasn't there a minimal population required before a territory could become a state? I'm assuming the Hispaniolans/future slaves wouldn't count, so how would the Pro-Slavery lobby get the head count to proceed with that plan?
Either way, good to see the plan foiled. However, if the stated aim of the South is to add Central America and the Carribean to the Union, and it only took a handful of jingoists to take Hispaniola, I assume we'll see a lot more moves in that part of the world. All it will take is a sympathetic president to ratify the conquests and things could turn out very differently, come the American Civil War...
Good stuff!
Nice that, in so few lines, it shows so many of the possibilities open to them. It fits with the gut feeling I have that, if you were rich in the 19th century, traveling and even settling in other countries was so much easier than it is now: just pick up your bags (and money) and go. Regarding the Hispaniola imbroglio, could the island even have been admitted as a state into the Union? Wasn't there a minimal population required before a territory could become a state? I'm assuming the Hispaniolans/future slaves wouldn't count, so how would the Pro-Slavery lobby get the head count to proceed with that plan?
Either way, good to see the plan foiled. However, if the stated aim of the South is to add Central America and the Carribean to the Union, and it only took a handful of jingoists to take Hispaniola, I assume we'll see a lot more moves in that part of the world. All it will take is a sympathetic president to ratify the conquests and things could turn out very differently, come the American Civil War...
Good stuff!
Stuyvesant said:
The Constitution says the Congress has power to admit new states but doesn't really say anything beyond that. In practice the Congress has been known to wait until there are a reasonable number of people in a territory before admitting it (or waiting until enough lobbying has been done, as in the case of, say, Alaska).
J. Passepartout - Clay's riposte really did nothing except delay a settlement of the issue for the future. In essence this is what the compromises on the slavery question did: delay solution until people had made up their minds.
Congress enacted some legislation to govern how new territories might become states (Northwest Ordinance, others). Generally a territory (or nation) makes application to Congress and submits a proposed Constitution.
The population limit applies to territories that wish to become states. Strictly speaking if you bar Indians, Africans and mixed-race people from qualifying as citizens then I'm not sure how many Haitians/Dominicans there would be. I am certain that any attempt to re-impose slavery would raise up the kind of revolts that cost the French the island in the first place.
So if Southerners can't accept that many free men of color (or mixed-race) and you want to keep the peace, Clay's solution doesn't look too bad.
Vann the Red - as I grow older I believe that everything touched by slavery is tainted.
coz1 - more on our good Knights herewith.
GhostWriter - You'll see who wins the toss in the next two posts.
Nil-The-Frogg - well, what's a poor boy to do, stranded so far from home?
TheExecuter - Calhoun liked to portray himself as a man of principles, not parties, but the wisdom of the day had it that his help and friendship could be had only so long as he saw advantage in it. He jumped around between the Whigs and Democrats until neither had much use for him.
Fulcrumvale - good to have another reader. Thoughts so far?
Stuyvesant - I've been having trouble 'priming the pump' so to speak so the posts have been pretty short to date. I agree with you that traveling then was easier, as was adopting a new identity. Becoming well-enough known to exert political influence, however, took money, connections and time.
Texas was admitted as a state without having first been a territory. Before his death, Zachary Taylor tried to have New Mexico and California admitted directly as states, avoiding territorial status, in order to make an end-run around the question of whether or not Congress had any power to legislate about slavery in the territories.
Congress enacted some legislation to govern how new territories might become states (Northwest Ordinance, others). Generally a territory (or nation) makes application to Congress and submits a proposed Constitution.
The population limit applies to territories that wish to become states. Strictly speaking if you bar Indians, Africans and mixed-race people from qualifying as citizens then I'm not sure how many Haitians/Dominicans there would be. I am certain that any attempt to re-impose slavery would raise up the kind of revolts that cost the French the island in the first place.
So if Southerners can't accept that many free men of color (or mixed-race) and you want to keep the peace, Clay's solution doesn't look too bad.
Vann the Red - as I grow older I believe that everything touched by slavery is tainted.
coz1 - more on our good Knights herewith.
GhostWriter - You'll see who wins the toss in the next two posts.
Nil-The-Frogg - well, what's a poor boy to do, stranded so far from home?
TheExecuter - Calhoun liked to portray himself as a man of principles, not parties, but the wisdom of the day had it that his help and friendship could be had only so long as he saw advantage in it. He jumped around between the Whigs and Democrats until neither had much use for him.
Fulcrumvale - good to have another reader. Thoughts so far?
Stuyvesant - I've been having trouble 'priming the pump' so to speak so the posts have been pretty short to date. I agree with you that traveling then was easier, as was adopting a new identity. Becoming well-enough known to exert political influence, however, took money, connections and time.
Texas was admitted as a state without having first been a territory. Before his death, Zachary Taylor tried to have New Mexico and California admitted directly as states, avoiding territorial status, in order to make an end-run around the question of whether or not Congress had any power to legislate about slavery in the territories.
They paused at the quayside, an older man and a young one, indistinguishable from the other hurrying figures in the street. Around them was the bustle of Bristol, then one of England’s largest cities and most important ports. Looming over the buildings were the indistinct shapes of ships, their masts and spars a darker gray against the cold, pearly fog. Dark water filled ruts made by heavily-laden wagons and shadows lurked in recesses outside the reach of the pale morning light.
Ronsend paused and set his portmanteau on the graveled pavement, one hand tugging his muffler from his mouth. “So, that’s the boat we take out to the liner?”
Ahead of them was a ship, held away from the wharf by lumpy boxes covering its side-mounted paddle wheels. Makhearne sighed and set his bag on the ground as well. “No, that is our liner, the ‘Great Western’. She’s the biggest and best steamship on the Atlantic.”
Above the muffler the young man’s opened wide. “Cross the Atlantic in that? It’s a bathtub toy! Are you mad?”
“That is the fastest, safest and most advanced ship on the planet. We take passage on her as planned, or on a ship that depends on wind power. Or you can swim: I won’t.”
Ronsend peered through the fog ahead. Then he bent and picked up his valise and stepped forward. “Tell me again why we’re risking life and limb instead of asking passage from our friend.”
“If we wear out the machinery now, we won’t have his ship available if we need it. Besides that, the captain has other things that want doing and we can’t use his ship as if it were a taxicab. We’re ready to begin work in the United States, I think, which means we need to physically be there. And not before time: Frost has already taken the first trick.”
Conversation ceased as they went up the gangway and stepped onto a deck they could scarcely see. Muffled words were exchanged with the ship’s purser and bank notes exchanged hands along with their impeccable documentation. The identification papers were forged, of course, but undetectably so and the banknotes were perfectly real. A steward led them through the grand salon to their tiny cabin.
Once inside and alone, Ronsend reopened the conversation. “I don’t understand why you think she took the laurels in this contest. If she intended to bring Haiti in as a slave state then she missed the mark. Free men of color make the most powerful argument against slavery, I think. No-one can argue that black men are incapable of managing a farm, or voting, when Haiti is an entire territory of free black men running their own lives. The island is an abolitionist’s heaven and a slave-owner’s worst nightmare.”
Makhearne left off unpacking and seated himself on a cot-sized bunk. “Don’t forget the population there is thoroughly cross-bred with mulattos, quadroons, octaroons and high yellows pale enough to pass for white. What will Americans say when these new citizens want to vote, or emigrate? I do think she wins first touch but I confess I am not certain of what she hopes to accomplish in the long run.”
“At University we were always told to look for results twenty or thirty years down-stream from an event. If she is trying to make some large change in this timeline then the twenty-year mark is 1846 to 1849. Thirty years, with a little margin of error, brings us to 1855 or 1859. That is a critical time for the United States in every timeline where it exists.”
Makhearne nodded heavily. “And she wouldn’t be trying to alter European history, say, from a base of operations in the United States. So… assume she wants to change the outcome of the Civil War.”
Ronsend shook his head. “There are only two known results: the war doesn’t happen, or the Union wins. There is no timeline in which the Confederacy survives.” He waited a beat. “Maybe that is what she wants. If we don’t know of a timeline built on a Confederate victory, then… if the South were to win, even if the jammer were shut off the home line could never reach us.”
Makhearne nodded. “Could be. Or Forsby might be right: An independent Confederacy would be easier for her to dominate from behind the scenes.” Forsby was a Mason and a close friend of some of the men killed at Frosts’ deadly gala in 1837. What he had seen and heard from Frost since had sent him scurrying abroad to relatives in England. Meeting him had been not-quite-by-chance. Makhearne had been sounding out some of the Masons in Britain and Forsby’s name had come up. Conversations with him had filled in a number of gaps in their information, if, that is, Forsby could be believed.
Ronsend seated himself on the other end of the bunk. “That still doesn’t answer my question about Haiti. Didn’t President Clay turn the issue on its ear and confound the expansionists?”
The other spread large hands in the confined space and shrugged. “I think she wanted Haiti brought in as a slave state, and if this first try had succeeded then no place in Central or South America would have been safe. But Frost was an assassin, remember – a very specialized line of work – and never had any field experience in shaping a timeline. Direct action – seizing Haiti – is entirely her style. I’ve no doubt we can find traces of her involvement if we examine Quitman’s finances and membership rolls. If I wanted to provoke a Civil War, however, I’d be glad to use Haiti with either result. If it comes in as a slave state then the South gains power. If it remains free territory then that whips up abolitionist sentiment and puts a wedge into the moderates of both parties. It also shows the South exactly what going soft on slavery means. Even if she didn’t get what she wanted, she still got something.”
Ronsend started as feet thundered on the deck outside their cabin door. Then a deep-toned whistle sounded. Makhearne rose. “Come. Let us go on deck. If the fog lifts we can watch the tugs tow us out to sea.”
“And then?”
“Then we find out if our med-kit can prescribe something for sea-sickness. The Atlantic in winter is no millpond.”
Ronsend paused and set his portmanteau on the graveled pavement, one hand tugging his muffler from his mouth. “So, that’s the boat we take out to the liner?”
Ahead of them was a ship, held away from the wharf by lumpy boxes covering its side-mounted paddle wheels. Makhearne sighed and set his bag on the ground as well. “No, that is our liner, the ‘Great Western’. She’s the biggest and best steamship on the Atlantic.”
Above the muffler the young man’s opened wide. “Cross the Atlantic in that? It’s a bathtub toy! Are you mad?”
“That is the fastest, safest and most advanced ship on the planet. We take passage on her as planned, or on a ship that depends on wind power. Or you can swim: I won’t.”
Ronsend peered through the fog ahead. Then he bent and picked up his valise and stepped forward. “Tell me again why we’re risking life and limb instead of asking passage from our friend.”
“If we wear out the machinery now, we won’t have his ship available if we need it. Besides that, the captain has other things that want doing and we can’t use his ship as if it were a taxicab. We’re ready to begin work in the United States, I think, which means we need to physically be there. And not before time: Frost has already taken the first trick.”
Conversation ceased as they went up the gangway and stepped onto a deck they could scarcely see. Muffled words were exchanged with the ship’s purser and bank notes exchanged hands along with their impeccable documentation. The identification papers were forged, of course, but undetectably so and the banknotes were perfectly real. A steward led them through the grand salon to their tiny cabin.
Once inside and alone, Ronsend reopened the conversation. “I don’t understand why you think she took the laurels in this contest. If she intended to bring Haiti in as a slave state then she missed the mark. Free men of color make the most powerful argument against slavery, I think. No-one can argue that black men are incapable of managing a farm, or voting, when Haiti is an entire territory of free black men running their own lives. The island is an abolitionist’s heaven and a slave-owner’s worst nightmare.”
Makhearne left off unpacking and seated himself on a cot-sized bunk. “Don’t forget the population there is thoroughly cross-bred with mulattos, quadroons, octaroons and high yellows pale enough to pass for white. What will Americans say when these new citizens want to vote, or emigrate? I do think she wins first touch but I confess I am not certain of what she hopes to accomplish in the long run.”
“At University we were always told to look for results twenty or thirty years down-stream from an event. If she is trying to make some large change in this timeline then the twenty-year mark is 1846 to 1849. Thirty years, with a little margin of error, brings us to 1855 or 1859. That is a critical time for the United States in every timeline where it exists.”
Makhearne nodded heavily. “And she wouldn’t be trying to alter European history, say, from a base of operations in the United States. So… assume she wants to change the outcome of the Civil War.”
Ronsend shook his head. “There are only two known results: the war doesn’t happen, or the Union wins. There is no timeline in which the Confederacy survives.” He waited a beat. “Maybe that is what she wants. If we don’t know of a timeline built on a Confederate victory, then… if the South were to win, even if the jammer were shut off the home line could never reach us.”
Makhearne nodded. “Could be. Or Forsby might be right: An independent Confederacy would be easier for her to dominate from behind the scenes.” Forsby was a Mason and a close friend of some of the men killed at Frosts’ deadly gala in 1837. What he had seen and heard from Frost since had sent him scurrying abroad to relatives in England. Meeting him had been not-quite-by-chance. Makhearne had been sounding out some of the Masons in Britain and Forsby’s name had come up. Conversations with him had filled in a number of gaps in their information, if, that is, Forsby could be believed.
Ronsend seated himself on the other end of the bunk. “That still doesn’t answer my question about Haiti. Didn’t President Clay turn the issue on its ear and confound the expansionists?”
The other spread large hands in the confined space and shrugged. “I think she wanted Haiti brought in as a slave state, and if this first try had succeeded then no place in Central or South America would have been safe. But Frost was an assassin, remember – a very specialized line of work – and never had any field experience in shaping a timeline. Direct action – seizing Haiti – is entirely her style. I’ve no doubt we can find traces of her involvement if we examine Quitman’s finances and membership rolls. If I wanted to provoke a Civil War, however, I’d be glad to use Haiti with either result. If it comes in as a slave state then the South gains power. If it remains free territory then that whips up abolitionist sentiment and puts a wedge into the moderates of both parties. It also shows the South exactly what going soft on slavery means. Even if she didn’t get what she wanted, she still got something.”
Ronsend started as feet thundered on the deck outside their cabin door. Then a deep-toned whistle sounded. Makhearne rose. “Come. Let us go on deck. If the fog lifts we can watch the tugs tow us out to sea.”
“And then?”
“Then we find out if our med-kit can prescribe something for sea-sickness. The Atlantic in winter is no millpond.”
Election season came early in 1840 and the bad news for the Whigs arrived soon after. Less a political party than a loose grouping of factions whose only common ground was a hatred of the Jacksonian Democratic Party, the Whigs were ill-prepared to weather the storm unleashed by Quitman’s coup-de-main in Haiti. Gray-haired gentlemanly Whigs in Virginia came nearly to blows, sentiment in New York swung sharply against further military adventurism, and Tennesseans passed a resolution affirming slavery but condemning the incorporation of Haiti. The one thing that could have held the Whigs together was a presidential candidate around whom they could unite, but Clay had taken himself out of consideration and there was no other clear favorite. Despite the favorable economic climate, public opinion turned against the Whigs. Conservative Whigs were appalled at Clay’s apparent acquiescence to Quitman’s naked ambition and newer abolitionist Whigs wanted to make statehood for Haiti the centerpiece of the campaign.
In June, Congress voted to admit Michigan as a state and then went into recess, members streaming out to their districts to stump for votes. Southern newspapers filled with editorials calling for Southern men to go to Haiti and seize control of the government by force, fraud or any other means. Dozens went, rifles in hand and fire in their eyes. Through intimidation they hoped to put together a sham convention and issue a constitution calling for the legalization and re-institution of slavery. The next administration and both houses of Congress might be solidly Democratic, and if so then Haiti might be swindled into the Union as a slave state after all.
These Southern freebooters set off fierce resistance in towns and villages across the island. The most serious was an uprising around the city of Santo Domingo, fed by the Creoles, mulattos, quadroons, octaroons and others of mixed ancestry who feared they would all be cobbled off in irons and enslaved forever. Bitter fighting in the brush and upcountry raged on for three months despite the best efforts of Brigadier General Randolph Chase and a full brigade of troops. An attempt to transport the troops by sea onto the city’s docks set off a full-scale riot in Santo Domingo city; unwilling to fight the rebels house-to-house through the streets, Chase pulled his men out of the potential meat-grinder and marched them overland from Bani instead. Forlorn the resistance may have been and yet it served a vital purpose in preventing the bogus constitutional convention from assembling. By November the island had settled into a watchful waiting not unlike a pot just off the boil.
The Whig national convention was held in Baltimore in March of 1840. Three candidates sought to succeed Henry Clay as President and leader of the party: William Henry Harrison, General Winfield Scott and John Tyler of Virginia. Scott was unimpressive as a public speaker and Tyler was tarred by the ongoing civil war amongst the Whigs in Virginia. Almost by default the nomination went to Harrison despite his advanced age. Clay had been known to favor Webster, but the New Englander found little support and withdrew his name from consideration before the convention.
Martin Van Buren re-entered the lists on the Democratic side as the almost-certain choice of that convention, his massed blocs of delegates chanting ‘OK! OK!’ as they swept aside all rivals. Van Buren had served as Vice-President in Andrew Jackson’s second term and was strongly supported by the Jacksonian wing of the party, including Jackson himself. Van Buren’s refusal to publicly support the annexation of Texas, or to endorse the legalization of slavery in the territories (including Haiti) combined with Democratic distrust of Calhoun to limit Southern support for Van Buren. Still, as one Georgia newspaper remarked, “we have nowhere else to go.” John C Calhoun had hoped to ride the issue of Haiti to the nomination but his campaign was derailed early. Public opinion held that Calhoun had repeatedly betrayed whatever faction to which he was allied, and was entirely too facile at moving his allegiance from one party to the other. In short, both Whigs and Democrats distrusted him and Calhoun retired into a sullen silence: At his behest, South Carolina threw away its electoral votes in favor of Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky.
Anchored by Democratic majorities in New York, Pennsylvania and Tennessee the election went narrowly to Van Buren. In Congressional races the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives remained almost unchanged. So, surprisingly, did the Whig majority in the Senate. For his part, Henry Clay maintained a dignified silence during the campaign and turned down Kentucky’s offer to return to his old Senate seat, returning instead to his estate at Ashland for a well-deserved retirement.
In June, Congress voted to admit Michigan as a state and then went into recess, members streaming out to their districts to stump for votes. Southern newspapers filled with editorials calling for Southern men to go to Haiti and seize control of the government by force, fraud or any other means. Dozens went, rifles in hand and fire in their eyes. Through intimidation they hoped to put together a sham convention and issue a constitution calling for the legalization and re-institution of slavery. The next administration and both houses of Congress might be solidly Democratic, and if so then Haiti might be swindled into the Union as a slave state after all.
These Southern freebooters set off fierce resistance in towns and villages across the island. The most serious was an uprising around the city of Santo Domingo, fed by the Creoles, mulattos, quadroons, octaroons and others of mixed ancestry who feared they would all be cobbled off in irons and enslaved forever. Bitter fighting in the brush and upcountry raged on for three months despite the best efforts of Brigadier General Randolph Chase and a full brigade of troops. An attempt to transport the troops by sea onto the city’s docks set off a full-scale riot in Santo Domingo city; unwilling to fight the rebels house-to-house through the streets, Chase pulled his men out of the potential meat-grinder and marched them overland from Bani instead. Forlorn the resistance may have been and yet it served a vital purpose in preventing the bogus constitutional convention from assembling. By November the island had settled into a watchful waiting not unlike a pot just off the boil.
The Whig national convention was held in Baltimore in March of 1840. Three candidates sought to succeed Henry Clay as President and leader of the party: William Henry Harrison, General Winfield Scott and John Tyler of Virginia. Scott was unimpressive as a public speaker and Tyler was tarred by the ongoing civil war amongst the Whigs in Virginia. Almost by default the nomination went to Harrison despite his advanced age. Clay had been known to favor Webster, but the New Englander found little support and withdrew his name from consideration before the convention.
Martin Van Buren re-entered the lists on the Democratic side as the almost-certain choice of that convention, his massed blocs of delegates chanting ‘OK! OK!’ as they swept aside all rivals. Van Buren had served as Vice-President in Andrew Jackson’s second term and was strongly supported by the Jacksonian wing of the party, including Jackson himself. Van Buren’s refusal to publicly support the annexation of Texas, or to endorse the legalization of slavery in the territories (including Haiti) combined with Democratic distrust of Calhoun to limit Southern support for Van Buren. Still, as one Georgia newspaper remarked, “we have nowhere else to go.” John C Calhoun had hoped to ride the issue of Haiti to the nomination but his campaign was derailed early. Public opinion held that Calhoun had repeatedly betrayed whatever faction to which he was allied, and was entirely too facile at moving his allegiance from one party to the other. In short, both Whigs and Democrats distrusted him and Calhoun retired into a sullen silence: At his behest, South Carolina threw away its electoral votes in favor of Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky.
Anchored by Democratic majorities in New York, Pennsylvania and Tennessee the election went narrowly to Van Buren. In Congressional races the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives remained almost unchanged. So, surprisingly, did the Whig majority in the Senate. For his part, Henry Clay maintained a dignified silence during the campaign and turned down Kentucky’s offer to return to his old Senate seat, returning instead to his estate at Ashland for a well-deserved retirement.
Director: ...“Then we find out if our med-kit can prescribe something for sea-sickness. The Atlantic in winter is no millpond.”
as a veteran of an Atlantic winter crossing in a storm, i can only give the advise that was given to me, "don't miss a meal, and you will be fine." so, while i did miss one meal during the crossing, i did not get seasick even though many (if not most) of my fellow soldiers did get seasick ! ! [IIRC, there were about 1800 troops on that troop ship. we went from NYC to Germany (Bremerhaven?) in March of 1964.]
of course, we probably had better food than would be available on the ship of the AAR ! !
awesome updates ! !
hmmm. something interesting just hit me. the youth of the AAR (meaning, the youngest of the main characters ! ! ) is not the one who is up to date on the best ships of the world...
as a veteran of an Atlantic winter crossing in a storm, i can only give the advise that was given to me, "don't miss a meal, and you will be fine." so, while i did miss one meal during the crossing, i did not get seasick even though many (if not most) of my fellow soldiers did get seasick ! ! [IIRC, there were about 1800 troops on that troop ship. we went from NYC to Germany (Bremerhaven?) in March of 1964.]
of course, we probably had better food than would be available on the ship of the AAR ! !
awesome updates ! !
hmmm. something interesting just hit me. the youth of the AAR (meaning, the youngest of the main characters ! !
) is not the one who is up to date on the best ships of the world...