True. It would raise awareness that other hugely influential African civilizations existed among your average ITL American young adult
Triple Calamity: What if the Three Most Important Men in the Executive Branch Died in One Night?
- Thread starter Mr.Q
- Start date
@Leonidas Here are some Ethiopian architecture styles.
@Mr.Q @Whiteshore I forgot to shout out Hausa architecture styles but I'm going to stop posting architecture stuff on your thread before it clutters everything.
Attachments
Though that could be an argument for legislating rather than amending.
The makers of the 25A had plenty of time. There was no double vacancy and even had there been it would have lasted little more than a year. Indeed, by the time Congress voted on it there-was already a VP again, and even if there hadn.t been, there was now a line of succession as long as your arm. So it didn't matter if the Amendment took 18 months to get ratified.
In 1865 however it *would* matter. The 1792 Act listed only two successors after the VP. and TTL there has already been a double vacancy. And for all anyone knows there may still be assassins out there. So they need to act fast.. And a simple one-clause Bill creating a longer line of succession can be done far more quickly.
Indeed there might even be a quicker way than that. How about a simple Senate rule change, providing that if the current PPT dies or whatever, then So and So shall immediately *become* Pres Pro-Tem, so that the position is never vacant. And as noted the said so and so doesn't necessarily have to be a Senator, so they could name Grant. Saves struggling through the amending process.
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Or the amendment is necessary because of ambiguity in the constitution in which someone could challenge the special election because the constitution does not in actuality spell out the use of such, it simply said until the next president elected so an amendment would be necessary simply to clarify whether an immediate special election or wait until next scheduled.
This was more what I was getting at. The chaos and uncertainty of those days, plus the general bipartisan support for an action makes a quick amendment look like an act of both sides fixing a crisis.
Chapter 5: The Dictation of Dixie and Chapter 6: Grant, Grant, Grant
"In the midst of the Confederate v United States trials, congress was mixed up in its own bloody battle. After the easy bipartisan passing of the 14th amendment (on the issue of succession) the republicans were ready to take their next big step. A 15th Amendment, one that would certainly not have the same level of bipartisan support. The 15th Amendment was to be on the issue of freedmen citizenship and more than that, freedmen suffrage. A law had been passed and signed in March that already addressed black citizenship (The 1866 Civil Rights Act) but it was seen as unenforceable and something larger would need to be done, something like an Amendment to the United State Constitution. While citizenship wasn't really that hard of a sell to many moderates in the republican caucus. Suffrage certainly was. The first seeds for this amendment had been planted from the speeches of the late President Lincoln, and had been evolving over the course of 1865 and 1866. By June of 1866 two versions of the 15th amendment had already been denied. In July a third version was presented. One that was radical, but not absurd. The most radical part was Section 4. The suffrage clause.
With the full backing of the Grant Administration the 15th Amendment was presented to the US House of Representatives on December 9th 1866. The Amendment easily passed through the republican owned House committees with little issue. Speaker Colfax was terrified that the suffrage clause would get this Amendment shot down. On July 5th, the House voted 145-71 to pass the 15th amendment by two votes. Next up was the senate. An objectively harder fight. Multiple more moderating amendments were proposed, including only granting voting rights to black veterans or removing the suffrage clause all together. These were shut down, albeit barely. Mostly due to the work of the Grant Administration, offering jobs and favors in exchange for votes. Thus on July 28th the Senate was going to vote on an un-altered 15th Amendment. With all eyes on the senate floor, the vote was 43-21 by exactly one vote the 15th Amendment was passed through congress. Two days later the Secretary of State Frederick Seward presented this Amendment to the States.
(The Grant Administration would make it that any former state that had left the union, and wanted to return would have to ratify this amendment first)
The trick up congresses' sleeve that would get this amendment ratified was the fact that no former Confederate State would get the chance to vote and deny it. Only 25 states would get that chance. (19 needed for ratification. 3/4) Thus while that increased the chances of its ratification, it wasn't assured. Already California and Oregon were hostile to it. The border states were livid and even states like Ohio and New Jersey were tossups. Though the Grant Administration did all it could to leverage favors all they could really do was wait and see.
The States that ratified, in order
Connecticut, August 9th 1866
Vermont, August 12th 1866
Illinois, August 18th 1866
New Jersey, August 19th 1866
New York, August 28th 1866
Massachusetts, September 10th 1866
New Hampshire, September 19th 1866
Michigan, September 20th 1866
Rhode Island, September 25th
Maine, September 27th 1866
Indiana, September 29th 1866
West Virginia, October 1st 1866
Pennsylvania, October 5th 1866
Kansas, October 8th 1866
Nebraska, October 17th 1866
Minnesota, October 18th 1866
Wisconsin, October 22nd 1866
Ohio, November 19th 1866
Nevada, November 26th 1866
19 Reached
States that rejected the Amendment, in order
Kentucky, September 9th 1866
Delaware, September 15th 1866
Missouri, October 8th 1866
Maryland, October 29th 1866
California, November 23rd 1866
Oregon December 10th 1866
The 15th Amendment had mixed reactions in the North. Some hailed it as true progress towards a more perfect union and others thought the federal government had gone too far. In the border states there was absolute fury and the amendment was practically ignored. Considering they weren't under occupation there was little the Grant administration could do. Moderates also denounced the Amendment as overreach but remained cautiously optimistic that it would be the most radical thing the Grant Administration supported."
-From an Overview of the Amendments to the Constitution
by Kid's Learning, published 2012
"1866 for the Grant Administration was a year that was meant to set the tone of the reconstruction to come. The Union v Confederate cases, 15th Amendment and increased funding of the Freedmen's Bureau. In March, President Grant resurrected the pocket vetoed Wade-Davis Bill, increasing the Oath of loyalty threshold to re-enter the union to 15 percent of a state's white population and not 10. President Grant also supported the breaking up of big plantations and re-distributing the land to former slaves. (Mostly through homesteading) He also worked with the Freedmen's Bureau to ensure that financial compensation was given to former slaves. Both of these measures made sure that freedmen wouldn't be forced to return to the cotton fields to make a living.
Congress also passed a series of "Reconstruction Acts" that the president quickly signed. These acts strengthened the military districts powers and deployed an extra 35,000 Soldiers to assist in the occupation. They also returned Washington D.C to its pre-war territory (re-taking the seized land that Virginia took during the war). The Reconstruction Acts were responses to increasing violence all over the south, rampant lynchings, lootings and burnings had been occuring left and right especially after Jefferson Davis' execution. President Grant also created the Department of Equity [2], headed by Attorney General Benjamin Wade, to assist in the prosecution of former Confederate officials in the Union v Confederate cases but also to assist in the prosecution of the southern White Leagues that popped up with more fervor post the ratification of the 15th Amendment. In May of 1867 Congress gave control over the Freedmen's Bureau to the DoE as well. In the south, the Attorney General and the DoE became the "villain of reconstruction" as Benjamin Wade essentially became the face of the occupation.
In late 1867 President Grant signed the Enforcement Act. Which essentially gave teeth to the 15th Amendment and its enforcement. Especially over Section Three which mandated
"No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."
President Grant wanted to ensure that no former Confederate soldier could hold a position on a Military Districts advisory board or be allowed as a delegate in a southern states' new constitutional convention. Said conventions were going to be hard to begin in their own rights. In order to hold any such convention under the Enforcement Act of 1867, 15 percent of the white population of the territory would have to swear an Oath of Loyalty, then the Military Governor and the Advisory board of the larger Military District would have to approve of the convention, and then the Department of Equity would have to approve. By November of 1868 only Tennessee had gotten approval from the DoE to hold a Constitutional Convention, which it did in late November. By the Election of 1868 no southern states had been re-admitted to the union.
-From Reconstruction: A Complete History
by Doris Goodman, published 1999
[1]: Obviously this is the major change from OTL 14th Amendment.
[2]: This is the DoJ from our TL.
"When people talk about the Grant Administration they almost always only focus on reconstruction. While reconstruction is certainly interesting it's also important to mention that the Grant Administration didn't only focus on reconstruction. Let's talk about foreign policy. Grant was an avid supporter of the republicans in the Mexican Civil War raging to the south. Only a month after taking office he made multiple demands to France, ordering their total withdrawal. Juarez throughout the war was provided with plenty of weapons and Phillip Sheridan was even allowed to do small raids in northern Mexico and weaken the monarchists. The Grant Administrations strict adherence to the Monroe Doctrine led to a quick downfall of Emperor Maximilian by June of 1867. Other than Mexico there were also dealings with Russia. Prior to his death, William Seward hoped to acquire the Territory of Alaska from the Russian Empire. His son and the current Secretary of State Frederick Seward pushed Grant to allow him to make the deal, the Tzar for his part had been trying to sell Alaska for some time. However Grant was uninterested in Alaska. He, like the Tzar, only saw it as a financial liability and told Seward to drop the idea. Instead Grant pushed for the acquisition of the Danish West Indies, seeing it as a more financially intelligent territory to buy. The Senate approved that deal in 1868.
The Virgin Islands weren't the only land expansion into the caribbean during Grant's term however. In 1867, the government of the Dominican Republic was in Crisis. The caribbean nation was being threatened by its neighbor Haiti. On top of that Haitian pirates were regularly attacking and raiding the coast. Out of fear that their country would fall to invasion, the Dominican government appealed to President Grant for a possible annexation. At first Grant was intrigued but skeptical of the island's usefulness. In July he raised the proposal to his cabinet and asked for their opinions. Both Stanton and Farragut saw extreme militaristic value. Farragut was especially interested in the idea writing up a list of reasons why the Navy would benefit from the annexation. The Department of the Interior believed that if properly managed, the island would have immense resource value and Vice President Hamlin believed such a treaty would be admired by the people as a smart move. All of this convinced Grant, who asked Frederick Seward to send some men from the State Department to the island to hammer out a treaty. By December of that year a treaty had been made. The US would Annex the Dominican Republic, pay off its debt and give it statehood within 10 years of the treaties' passage through the senate. (To give the bureaucracy some time to incorporate the Dominican.) In January the Dominican Government approved the plan, and in March so did the Senate, though there was some opposition from anti imperialist radicals. Especially from Charles Sumner. Yet the reports of the Departments of the Navy, Interior and State minimized the damage Sumner was affording to the deal. Thus, on March 24th, The Dominican Republic was now a territory of the United States.
The other major piece foreign policy that took place in 1868 was the compensation battle with Great Britain. During the war the British built multiple warships for the Confederate Navy. These ships sank lots of American shipping. The ship that did the most damage was the CSS Alabama. The Americans wanted the British to pay up to 100 million dollars in damages. The British outright refused. Seward, seeing another opportunity to expand North West, then offered to take British Columbia. Once again the British refused. After multiple months of back and forth the British proposed that the Austrians arbitrate. Seward said no. The Austrians were mad about Mexico, which takes France off the table as well. Seward then said the Russians would be agreeable or the Danish. The British declined seeing that both would side with the US. At the end of the day in March of 1869 the British ended up saying sorry and paying 8 million in damages. Which was practically nothing compared to the actual cost of the Alabama's rampage.
Aside from foreign policy the Grant Administration would work to improve infrastructure, especially the damaged infrastructure in the south. Post war inflation was rising. The Treasury under Edwin Morgan successfully stabilized this by issuing more greenbacks and investing into new railroads and homesteading. All in all the economic work that was done was hugely successful. Under the Grant Administration only one new State was added to the union. The state of Nebraska, the first state added post war.
Grant's cabinet was held in high regard by the people and seen as very efficient. Vice President Hamlin was known to help President Grant quite a lot throughout his term. Grant wrote later in life that Hamlin was "his closest ally in Washington". Hamlin had the experience of being in the executive branch in a stressful time, and would constantly advise Grant on what to do as a politician and not a general. Grant stated as much saying, "Hamlin helped me keep the strategic mind intact, but translate it into this new setting." Grant did see three resignations though. Edwin Stanton resigned in 1868. He told the President that he was tired of politics one night and Grant told him that even though he would be saddened, Stanton's service to the nation couldn't be understated and it would be fine for him to leave. John Usher the Secretary of the Interior was a carry over from the Lincoln administration. Grant asked him to resign in 1867 after some mismanaged homesteading on the frontier. Or at least that was the official reason. In reality Grant was trying to become his own man at this point. While the cabinet full of Lincoln appointees was useful in his early presidency, it was becoming a liability as 1868 came along. He asked the same of the Postmaster General General, William Dennison Jr. He ensured however that Dennison would get a new job in the Department of Equity."
-From GRANT
by Howell Leanman, published 1977
With the full backing of the Grant Administration the 15th Amendment was presented to the US House of Representatives on December 9th 1866. The Amendment easily passed through the republican owned House committees with little issue. Speaker Colfax was terrified that the suffrage clause would get this Amendment shot down. On July 5th, the House voted 145-71 to pass the 15th amendment by two votes. Next up was the senate. An objectively harder fight. Multiple more moderating amendments were proposed, including only granting voting rights to black veterans or removing the suffrage clause all together. These were shut down, albeit barely. Mostly due to the work of the Grant Administration, offering jobs and favors in exchange for votes. Thus on July 28th the Senate was going to vote on an un-altered 15th Amendment. With all eyes on the senate floor, the vote was 43-21 by exactly one vote the 15th Amendment was passed through congress. Two days later the Secretary of State Frederick Seward presented this Amendment to the States.
Amendment XV
Section 1.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.Section 2.
Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state.Section 3.
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.Section 4.
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. [1]Section 5.
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.Section 6.
The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.(The Grant Administration would make it that any former state that had left the union, and wanted to return would have to ratify this amendment first)
The trick up congresses' sleeve that would get this amendment ratified was the fact that no former Confederate State would get the chance to vote and deny it. Only 25 states would get that chance. (19 needed for ratification. 3/4) Thus while that increased the chances of its ratification, it wasn't assured. Already California and Oregon were hostile to it. The border states were livid and even states like Ohio and New Jersey were tossups. Though the Grant Administration did all it could to leverage favors all they could really do was wait and see.
The States that ratified, in order
Connecticut, August 9th 1866
Vermont, August 12th 1866
Illinois, August 18th 1866
New Jersey, August 19th 1866
New York, August 28th 1866
Massachusetts, September 10th 1866
New Hampshire, September 19th 1866
Michigan, September 20th 1866
Rhode Island, September 25th
Maine, September 27th 1866
Indiana, September 29th 1866
West Virginia, October 1st 1866
Pennsylvania, October 5th 1866
Kansas, October 8th 1866
Nebraska, October 17th 1866
Minnesota, October 18th 1866
Wisconsin, October 22nd 1866
Ohio, November 19th 1866
Nevada, November 26th 1866
19 Reached
States that rejected the Amendment, in order
Kentucky, September 9th 1866
Delaware, September 15th 1866
Missouri, October 8th 1866
Maryland, October 29th 1866
California, November 23rd 1866
Oregon December 10th 1866
The 15th Amendment had mixed reactions in the North. Some hailed it as true progress towards a more perfect union and others thought the federal government had gone too far. In the border states there was absolute fury and the amendment was practically ignored. Considering they weren't under occupation there was little the Grant administration could do. Moderates also denounced the Amendment as overreach but remained cautiously optimistic that it would be the most radical thing the Grant Administration supported."
-From an Overview of the Amendments to the Constitution
by Kid's Learning, published 2012
"1866 for the Grant Administration was a year that was meant to set the tone of the reconstruction to come. The Union v Confederate cases, 15th Amendment and increased funding of the Freedmen's Bureau. In March, President Grant resurrected the pocket vetoed Wade-Davis Bill, increasing the Oath of loyalty threshold to re-enter the union to 15 percent of a state's white population and not 10. President Grant also supported the breaking up of big plantations and re-distributing the land to former slaves. (Mostly through homesteading) He also worked with the Freedmen's Bureau to ensure that financial compensation was given to former slaves. Both of these measures made sure that freedmen wouldn't be forced to return to the cotton fields to make a living.
Congress also passed a series of "Reconstruction Acts" that the president quickly signed. These acts strengthened the military districts powers and deployed an extra 35,000 Soldiers to assist in the occupation. They also returned Washington D.C to its pre-war territory (re-taking the seized land that Virginia took during the war). The Reconstruction Acts were responses to increasing violence all over the south, rampant lynchings, lootings and burnings had been occuring left and right especially after Jefferson Davis' execution. President Grant also created the Department of Equity [2], headed by Attorney General Benjamin Wade, to assist in the prosecution of former Confederate officials in the Union v Confederate cases but also to assist in the prosecution of the southern White Leagues that popped up with more fervor post the ratification of the 15th Amendment. In May of 1867 Congress gave control over the Freedmen's Bureau to the DoE as well. In the south, the Attorney General and the DoE became the "villain of reconstruction" as Benjamin Wade essentially became the face of the occupation.
In late 1867 President Grant signed the Enforcement Act. Which essentially gave teeth to the 15th Amendment and its enforcement. Especially over Section Three which mandated
"No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."
President Grant wanted to ensure that no former Confederate soldier could hold a position on a Military Districts advisory board or be allowed as a delegate in a southern states' new constitutional convention. Said conventions were going to be hard to begin in their own rights. In order to hold any such convention under the Enforcement Act of 1867, 15 percent of the white population of the territory would have to swear an Oath of Loyalty, then the Military Governor and the Advisory board of the larger Military District would have to approve of the convention, and then the Department of Equity would have to approve. By November of 1868 only Tennessee had gotten approval from the DoE to hold a Constitutional Convention, which it did in late November. By the Election of 1868 no southern states had been re-admitted to the union.
-From Reconstruction: A Complete History
by Doris Goodman, published 1999
[1]: Obviously this is the major change from OTL 14th Amendment.
[2]: This is the DoJ from our TL.
That's it for Chapter 5. As mentioned, reconstruction is indeed far harsher. (The impacts of this for the Republican party and the reaction of the people of the North will be discussed in Chapter 7) but DON'T STOP READING! I told you yesterday that you'd be getting two chapters today and I'm sticking to my word!
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Chapter 6: Grant, Grant, Grant
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Chapter 6: Grant, Grant, Grant
"When people talk about the Grant Administration they almost always only focus on reconstruction. While reconstruction is certainly interesting it's also important to mention that the Grant Administration didn't only focus on reconstruction. Let's talk about foreign policy. Grant was an avid supporter of the republicans in the Mexican Civil War raging to the south. Only a month after taking office he made multiple demands to France, ordering their total withdrawal. Juarez throughout the war was provided with plenty of weapons and Phillip Sheridan was even allowed to do small raids in northern Mexico and weaken the monarchists. The Grant Administrations strict adherence to the Monroe Doctrine led to a quick downfall of Emperor Maximilian by June of 1867. Other than Mexico there were also dealings with Russia. Prior to his death, William Seward hoped to acquire the Territory of Alaska from the Russian Empire. His son and the current Secretary of State Frederick Seward pushed Grant to allow him to make the deal, the Tzar for his part had been trying to sell Alaska for some time. However Grant was uninterested in Alaska. He, like the Tzar, only saw it as a financial liability and told Seward to drop the idea. Instead Grant pushed for the acquisition of the Danish West Indies, seeing it as a more financially intelligent territory to buy. The Senate approved that deal in 1868.
The Virgin Islands weren't the only land expansion into the caribbean during Grant's term however. In 1867, the government of the Dominican Republic was in Crisis. The caribbean nation was being threatened by its neighbor Haiti. On top of that Haitian pirates were regularly attacking and raiding the coast. Out of fear that their country would fall to invasion, the Dominican government appealed to President Grant for a possible annexation. At first Grant was intrigued but skeptical of the island's usefulness. In July he raised the proposal to his cabinet and asked for their opinions. Both Stanton and Farragut saw extreme militaristic value. Farragut was especially interested in the idea writing up a list of reasons why the Navy would benefit from the annexation. The Department of the Interior believed that if properly managed, the island would have immense resource value and Vice President Hamlin believed such a treaty would be admired by the people as a smart move. All of this convinced Grant, who asked Frederick Seward to send some men from the State Department to the island to hammer out a treaty. By December of that year a treaty had been made. The US would Annex the Dominican Republic, pay off its debt and give it statehood within 10 years of the treaties' passage through the senate. (To give the bureaucracy some time to incorporate the Dominican.) In January the Dominican Government approved the plan, and in March so did the Senate, though there was some opposition from anti imperialist radicals. Especially from Charles Sumner. Yet the reports of the Departments of the Navy, Interior and State minimized the damage Sumner was affording to the deal. Thus, on March 24th, The Dominican Republic was now a territory of the United States.
The other major piece foreign policy that took place in 1868 was the compensation battle with Great Britain. During the war the British built multiple warships for the Confederate Navy. These ships sank lots of American shipping. The ship that did the most damage was the CSS Alabama. The Americans wanted the British to pay up to 100 million dollars in damages. The British outright refused. Seward, seeing another opportunity to expand North West, then offered to take British Columbia. Once again the British refused. After multiple months of back and forth the British proposed that the Austrians arbitrate. Seward said no. The Austrians were mad about Mexico, which takes France off the table as well. Seward then said the Russians would be agreeable or the Danish. The British declined seeing that both would side with the US. At the end of the day in March of 1869 the British ended up saying sorry and paying 8 million in damages. Which was practically nothing compared to the actual cost of the Alabama's rampage.
Aside from foreign policy the Grant Administration would work to improve infrastructure, especially the damaged infrastructure in the south. Post war inflation was rising. The Treasury under Edwin Morgan successfully stabilized this by issuing more greenbacks and investing into new railroads and homesteading. All in all the economic work that was done was hugely successful. Under the Grant Administration only one new State was added to the union. The state of Nebraska, the first state added post war.
Grant's cabinet was held in high regard by the people and seen as very efficient. Vice President Hamlin was known to help President Grant quite a lot throughout his term. Grant wrote later in life that Hamlin was "his closest ally in Washington". Hamlin had the experience of being in the executive branch in a stressful time, and would constantly advise Grant on what to do as a politician and not a general. Grant stated as much saying, "Hamlin helped me keep the strategic mind intact, but translate it into this new setting." Grant did see three resignations though. Edwin Stanton resigned in 1868. He told the President that he was tired of politics one night and Grant told him that even though he would be saddened, Stanton's service to the nation couldn't be understated and it would be fine for him to leave. John Usher the Secretary of the Interior was a carry over from the Lincoln administration. Grant asked him to resign in 1867 after some mismanaged homesteading on the frontier. Or at least that was the official reason. In reality Grant was trying to become his own man at this point. While the cabinet full of Lincoln appointees was useful in his early presidency, it was becoming a liability as 1868 came along. He asked the same of the Postmaster General General, William Dennison Jr. He ensured however that Dennison would get a new job in the Department of Equity."
-From GRANT
by Howell Leanman, published 1977
Boy am I tired! Hope you guys enjoyed these two chapters. As always, keep talking in the thread. For those who want a quick summary of the TL changes in this chapter- Mexican Civil War ends a couple months early, no Alaska Purchase, Danish West Indies Purchase instead, CSS Alabama stuff happens a couple months early. Next Chapter coming tomorrow will be about the election of 1868 and the people's reactions to reconstruction.
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Interesting chapter, the US better get Alaska in the future, it is becoming a sorta cliche with no Alaska in Civil War TLs. Keep up the good work.
Sooo, that mean Alaska's going to the Brits now? or better yet, the Natives eventually keep it and form their own sovergn nation (unlikely though)?
Earlier US Virgin Isles? Interesting
Not versed in Civil War TLs enough to comment.
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I doubt Russian america will survive staying Russian after the Klondike gold rush. Don't worry. Plus I can't understate how much the Tzar hates Alaska. Bro isn't done with trying to get rid of it.
Hopefully Alaska ends up British. It just makes sense mapwise. The US getting the Danish West Indies early is interesting (although I'm sad to see that we lose the land even earlier ttl :') ). It would be interesting if the US also acquires the rest of the Virgin Islands and if they become their own state later on (or maybe becomes a part of a Puerto Rico state?) - As for civil rights, this certainly seems like an improvement for the former enslaved in contrast to otl. I think Grant's presidency will be remembered much better ttl than otl (well maybe not in the south...)
Good to see a stronger Reconstruction, but I fear the growing rise of white power groups because of it. Hopefully, the Army will keep a lid on it. I also wonder about the Transcontinental Railroad, and if it's done anytime soon.
This is gonna depend on a couple things. Good news is the Tzar hates Britain for the whole Crimean War thing. They have no intention of giving Alaska to London for at least a decade or two.
Yes Grant is going to be remembered a lot better ITL. The president after… not so much. You guys won’t see them for a bit tho.
The guy after is going to have the Panic of 1873 on his hands, if Grant decides that he has served his two terms already.
Maybe that will make him come back in 1876 like he tried to do an 1880. He just takes his world tour 4 years early.
Get enough Gold Rush people up there and Alaska could become like the Bear Flag Republic was, except there's no one bringing an Army in to really say that it's theirs. So, an independent Alaska is theoretically possible, but sadly it won't be native. Although there will probably be few enough people there that the natives don't fare too badly.
Maybe that will make him come back in 1876 like he tried to do an 1880. He just takes his world tour 4 years early.
Get enough Gold Rush people up there and Alaska could become like the Bear Flag Republic was, except there's no one bringing an Army in to really say that it's theirs. So, an independent Alaska is theoretically possible, but sadly it won't be native. Although there will probably be few enough people there that the natives don't fare too badly.
Whst army?
The Civil War enlistments are expiring, and it will soon be back to somewhere near prewar levels. As most of it will be out west protecting white folks from Indians (a far higher priority than protecting black folks from white) there will be far too few to police the South in any effective way.
Nor is there any prospect of it being expanded. With a horrendously expensive war to pay for, Congress will never fund that.
But what's the point of that? We're already nearly halfway through 1865, and the election is coming up in November. Given that many State Legislatures are likely to be in recess over the Summer months, it would take a miracle for it to be ratified in time to affect the election.
Congress can of course pass a law postponing the election, but if they do that, why not just cancel it altogether? If Foster is doing a reasonable job as interim President, there is no pressing reason to remove him, and a clause putting Grant next in line will allow him to take over if Foster (as OTL) is not re-elected to the Senate.
For the army thing- yeah after the election in 68 they are re-admitting states and occupation of the south will be in roughly similar numbers OTL.
As for the second part. The 14th amendment didn’t have to be ratified in time for the 1865 special election. That was happening the 1792 succession act mandates it. Plus even if it weren’t Foster didn’t want to be president. He didn’t like the job ITL and he dissuaded supporters from naming him in the convention.