The Road to Liberty - a U.S.A. PDM AAR

[rorlegion]

So, you going to give Guyana it's independence?

I am probably going to keep Guyana and eventually encourage immigrants there (many years down the road) to boost tropical wood production. Also, it borders Venezuela and Brazil, which I will influence in the future.

That is a fantastic victory, pulling France is really allowed you to get a far more favourable peace.
Great graphics as well!

Thanks! I was very surprised to see France offer me an alliance. I saw a pop-up of France turning into a Republic in 1848 (by event), but didn't pay it much attention. I don't believe France would've offered an alliance had they been some other form of government (there's some formula determining likelihood of alliances and "same government" is a big influencer).

That is quite impressive. Do you think you could have won without France? And could you realistically have forced the release of Rupert's Land?

I may have been able to take Colombia without France, but Guyana and St. Martin are a different story. If I wanted to take those without France's help, the war would've dragged on for several more years I imagine, with no guarantee of victory. I haven't looked into releasing Rupert's Land - I'm hesitant to do so for a couple of reasons: (1) I plan on taking more Caribbean territory from UK in the future and wish to leave open the option of occupying Canada; and (2) Rupert's Land would compete with me for immigrants, ever so slightly, and I am greedy when it comes to immigrants. :laugh: :laugh:

 

[Buckingham]

Fantastic work executing the war. Nice to see the Redcoats humbled!

 

[alxeu]

Hurrah for America!

 

[MarkBrandenburg]

I haven't looked into releasing Rupert's Land - I'm hesitant to do so for a couple of reasons: (1) I plan on taking more Caribbean territory from UK in the future and wish to leave open the option of occupying Canada; and (2) Rupert's Land would compete with me for immigrants, ever so slightly, and I am greedy when it comes to immigrants. :laugh: :laugh:

Ah, but the Canadian countries* can apply for statehood! So all those juicy immigrants would have become yours in the end. Furthermore, for Canada itself to apply for statehood, they can't own any territory west of Ontario, so one should free Rupert's Land (or "Assiniboia") first.

* Except for Québec. In fact, when Canada applies, it will remove Canadian cores from Québecois provinces.

 

[rorlegion]

Ah, but the Canadian countries* can apply for statehood! So all those juicy immigrants would have become yours in the end. Furthermore, for Canada itself to apply for statehood, they can't own any territory west of Ontario, so one should free Rupert's Land (or "Assiniboia") first.

* Except for Québec. In fact, when Canada applies, it will remove Canadian cores from Québecois provinces.

I had no idea about this! Thanks for the tip - I'll look through the decision files to see the requirements and timeframe.

 

[MarkBrandenburg]

No need:
* neighbor of the USA
* needs to be in in the USA's sphere
* not a vassal or a vassal of the USA
* relations with USA at least 175
* no truce with USA (this is the difficult part if Canada is already released)
* gov't is Democracy or HM's
* USA is democracy
* CAN may not own the western provinces

Bonus fact: You gain Anglo-Canadian as accepted if they had it as primary.

There is no specific time frame, but once Canada gets released in the early 1870's, it rapidly annexes Rupert's Land (which removes RPL cores) and soon after removes MTC cores as well.

 

[Zorro]

The French alliance could be a double edged sword hopefully they don't involve you with too many European wars. With the acquisition of some of the Netherlands colonies you are now in a prime position to colonize, especially in Africa.

 

[rorlegion]

Click above to see a larger map.​

Notable Conflicts:

3rd War of Independence:
Major Belligerents:

vs.

Defensive Alliance wins; U.S. gains Colombia, St. Martin, Guyana; USCA gains Belize

Spanish-Moroccan War:
Major Belligerents:

vs.

Carlist Spain wins; gains al Rif

South American War of 1850:
Major Belligerents:

vs.

No reports of troop engagements; Significant occupation of Ecuador by Peru

Notable Inventions:

---

Correction: "canned_food" should read "foodstuffs"​

The UK took the lead in total world GDP at the end of 1850, despite losing an overseas war. Also notable is that the United States, having a significant GDP growth rate, surpassed Russia in terms of raw GDP, making it the fifth largest economy in the world. Food is by far the most consumed, demanded, and produced good in the world. Behind that, clothing, tea, furniture, and liquor are the most produced consumer goods. It appears world population growth largely slowed around 1846 for unknown reasons, though this may be due in part to the practice of infanticide in China and a likely high unemployment rate in much of the undeveloped world, limiting access to foodstuffs.

 

[Buckingham]

Such a pretty map!

 

[Nathan Madien]

I would imagine having the sewing machine now will help boost the production of regular clothes.

 

[ScribleScrable]

Ah yes, the safety pin....great couple of updates!

 

[rorlegion]

I would imagine having the sewing machine now will help boost the production of regular clothes.

Ah yes, the safety pin....great couple of updates!

I try and do a little bit of research when I do these "The World in 18__" updates - there are surprisingly few technological advancements each year at this time. The safety pin invention really stuck out

On a side note, I also updated my mod folder with certain files from the new Divide by ZERO update, and almost corrupted all of my Vic2 saves when I edited rgo and factory throughput values. After edits of the new files my game would crash for any save I loaded due to certain inventions "resetting," but luckily I had a backup of the mod folder I was able to revert to. It was almost the end of the AAR, but everything is fine now.


Edit: I played ahead and outlined chapters for the next volume (see the first page). You can kind of guess what happens in the 1853 election by reading the chapter titles. The next several updates will be relatively short, so I'm going to try and put out five updates over the next two weeks. That means the American Civil War chapters of this AAR should be ready in about two and a half weeks.

 

[MiltonS]

Ah yes, the value of backing up folders and save games!

 

[Auk Rest]

Any news?

 

[rorlegion]

I've been working on the next chapter for a few days. This one is delayed bc of my work in real life - I work in the court system in the US and we have a murder trial that's taking up all my time. I finished the artwork for the next update today and wrote about half of it, so I'll post the update tomorrow.

 

[rorlegion]

Vol. IV, Chapter 3: The Slavery Debate
The Issue Takes Center Stage in American Politics
April 14, 1851

​

After the war with the British was over, the American people thought themselves safe. They had, after all, defeated the greatest army in the world, humiliating their enemy. Discussions in American politics turned from war to the slavery issue when President Taylor issued an Executive Order regarding slavery in the newly conquered territories. Slavery was already banned in all U.S. territories, save for the Indian Territory and Florida, through various legislation. Congressmen from Southern states for years have attempted to change this. President Taylor sought to avoid having slavery be a center issue in American politics because he knew how divisive an issue it was. His idea was not to choose one side or the other. Rather, he wished to compromise, and issued an Order to that effect.

President Taylor's Order effectively turned all Caribbean Holdings (U.S. Caribbean Islands and U.S. Guyana) into slave territories. It also banned slavery in newly-annexed Columbia. This part of the Order was not at all controversial - in fact, it was welcome. It was seen as a fair compromise and one that legislators would likely have agreed on. The second part of the Order, however, dealt with how slavery would be enforced in these Southern colonial holdings and Southern slave states. There were a number of free men of African descent residing throughout the Southern States, but especially in the Caribbean Islands and Guyana, where they had been freed though edicts of European countries that had once been dominant. Taylor's Order effectively enslaved all men, women, and children of color in these territories and states. It is estimated that nearly 100,000 people lost their freedom by Taylor's signature, which stroked the fire once more in the great slavery debate.

Proponents of slavery argued that science and religion proved that Africans were meant to be slaves. The more unfounded arguments concluded that a slave's brain is smaller than a white man's - that a slave is not suited for intellectual work but for hard labor. These proponents argued that God wanted white man to rule over slaves, as white men "rescued" these slaves from heathenism. More intelligent pro-slavery arguments concluded that slavery was necessary for the economic success America has seen since the Great Experiment began. A dramatic change in the legal definition of a man's "property" may erode the very foundation of free and voluntary exchange which drives the American economy. Moreover, the South would forever be crippled, unable to compete with the paid labor force throughout the urban regions of Northern free states. Others argued that freeing the slave labor force, while minimally raising the standards of living for the slaves, would very much lower the standards of white landowners, pointing to similar situations that arose when serfdom declined in Europe.

Abolitionists argued that a free labor force is much more profitable and desirable in a free trade economy: "...we have two objects in view; the first is to open the eyes of the non-slaveholder of the South, to the system of deception, that has been so long practiced upon them, and the second is to show slaveholders themselves—we have reference only to those who are not too perverse, or ignorant, to perceive naked truths—that free labor is far more respectable, profitable, and productive, than slave labor." Hinton Rowan Helper, The Impending Crisis (1860), p. 25. Others argued the obvious point that America and the Constitution are based in freedom from tyranny, freedom from oppression, and the freedom to bear the fruits of one's labors. "To deny any man the prosperity that comes from the sweat of his brow is an affront to American liberty and all she stands for." - Senator Hamilton Fish, New York.

The 1850s saw a number of abolitionist books published. Uncle Tom's Cabin, a novel published by abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe, captured the hearts of men and women throughout the northern states, fueling the cause of the abolitionists. Another publication, Twelve Years a Slave, by Solomon Northup, gave a first-hand account of a black free-man, born in New York, who was captured and sold to Southern landowners. Books like these showed white people throughout the states the struggle black men and women go through on a daily basis, and their desire to participate in American freedom - the same freedom enjoyed by whites and protected by the Constitution.

For slaves, life on plantations was one of hard, often grueling, work and of little or no reward. Huge disparities in wealth, happiness, and health existed between white landowners and their slaves. In these plantations, whites lived decadently, enjoying every comfort of modern life. They were often found fanning themselves in the heat of the day, drinking lemonade, and watching black men and women slave in their fields. Slaves were lucky if they had housing, beds, clean drinking water, and adequate food. Landowners hired other white men, those without means, to patrol the fields and maintain steady production. Often, these foremen would select a black man, sometimes arbitrarily, to make an example of, and beat him until he was bloody to send a message that order in the plantation will be upheld. Many slaves were forced to breed with one another, or worse, with their owner, and their offspring was often sold to other slaveowners, never to be seen again. These slaves were kept illiterate and ignorant of the world around them. They needed outside intervention, and luckily it was coming sooner than anyone was expecting.

 

[ScribleScrable]

100,000 people were enslaved? Wow.

The civil war is right on schedule.

 

[Astanna]

How do you plan on getting the French South American & Caribbean holdings if you're allied to them?

 

[Auk Rest]

Great update! Things are escalating quickly and it looks like the Civil War is just around the corner.

 

[rorlegion]

Great update! Things are escalating quickly and it looks like the Civil War is just around the corner.

I played ahead several chapters and the Civil War happens in 1854 or 1855 in my timeline. Coming soon!

How do you plan on getting the French South American & Caribbean holdings if you're allied to them?

I probably won't be going after France's holdings in North America. After the Civil War, I'll be looking to Oceania, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. One of my rules is that I do not go over the 25-infamy limit, unless there is some RP reason to do so.

100,000 people were enslaved? Wow.

I think there were around 50,000 adult males enslaved by this event and I multiplied that x2 to account for women and children. I borrowed the event I used from the Freedom & Chains mod, which allowed the U.S. to enslave any free people of African descent who resided in any slave state or territory. The majority came from Texas because it had abolished slavery by the time it was admitted into the Union in my timeline. I think there are nearly 700,000 adult males enslaved in the U.S. in-game right now.