Hail, Columbia! (The Election of 1844)

Four years after his historic victory over Henry Clay in the Election of 1840, Louis-Joseph Papineau has established himself among the ranks of the most consequential figures ever to occupy the presidency of the Commonwealth. The first Liberal ever elected president and the first Quebecois since Francois Blanchet to occupy La Maison, Papineau's Administration has been remarkably successful, prompting comparisons to the late president and war hero Gilbert Lafayette.

Papineau's first priority upon assuming the magistracy in the spring of 1841 was the "complete and total annihilation" of slavery, a goal towards which his party had labored for more than three decades. Disavowing the moderation that had typified past Administrations, Papineau demanded the immediate abolition of slavery in the provinces where it remained¹, as well as new measures to crack down on the (illegal) slave trade. Recognizing that free blacks would need land in order to become fully independent (and therefore prevent them from sinking into a state of quasi-enslavement), Papineau proposed reserving the Arkansas Territory for settlement by newly-freed slaves.

Papineau's proposals were anathema to the whites of the Planter Provinces, who vowed to defend slavery to the bitter end, but were met with enthusiasm in the Spanish Provinces, Canada, and New England, as well as with hesitant support in the Old Northwest. After a tense debate, the plan passed both houses of Congress by a narrow 3/5 majority, with the Continentals and northern Whigs joining forces with the Liberals to pass the bill. Enraged, slaveholders in South Carolina launched what became known as the "Planters Rebellion" - a two year war between the central government and pro-slavery rebels in Georgia and the Carolinas. Led by South Carolinian firebrand John C. Calhoun, the rebels established an independent government at Columbia and for a time threatened the federal capital, before finally capitulating to federal forces in the Spring of 1844.

Even as he struggled to maintain control of the Carolinas, Papineau pressed Congress to act on the rest of his agenda. Attempts to gain the admission of the Indian Territory as a province and to lower the price of federal lands to $1.00 an acre were approved by Congress in 1842 and 1843, respectively, while the effort to replace the Electoral Council with a nationwide popular vote was placed on the back burner as the situation in the slave provinces escalated. As such, the Election of 1844 will proceed under the old rules, with the following adjustments to the Electoral Council to account for the 1840 Census.

7 Electors (Mexico)
6 Electors (New York)
5 Electors (Massachussetts, Pennsylvania, Nuevo Leon)
4 Electors (Virginia, Yucatan)
3 Electors (Quebec, North Carolina, New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas)
2 Electors (Acadia, Louisiana, Connecticut, West Florida, Maryland, Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia, Erie, Ohio, Huron, Illinois [+1])
1 Elector (East Florida, Delaware, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Niagara, Ottawa, Lafayette, Hidalgo, Missouri, Indiana)

Total Electors (86) +2

President Louis-Joseph Papineau of Quebec [Liberal]
Papineau begins his campaign for reelection as the clear frontrunner, such is his popularity with the nation at large. Having accomplished his greatest goal - the abolition of slavery - and dispensed with the threat to the Commonwealth posed by the Planters Rebellion, Papineau now turns his gaze towards continuing the process of democratization begun under Francois Blanchet. A curious combination of Continental federalism and Whiggish liberalism, Papineau supports a nationwide popular vote for president, a high tariff, free public education for all citizens between the ages of 8 and 14, and the acquisition of Oregon from Britain.

Former Senator Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey [Continental]
The Continental Party had hoped to nominated former President Henry Clay for a third (non-consecutive) term in office, but he pointedly declined, instead choosing to pursue the governorship of his native Kentucky. Instead, the party has turned to former New Jersey Senator Theodore Frelinghuysen, a respected elder statesman who served in the administration of Samuel L. Southard. Frelinghuysen is running on the standard Continental policies of support for the central bank, a high tariff, and a blanket endorsement of Clay's "Continental System." Frelinghuysen is opposed to the abolition of the Electoral Council in the past, feeling that it would grant undue influence to the populous provinces of the Southwest. Beyond the borders of the Commonwealth, he has spoken against the acquisition of new territories in Oregon and Cuba, warning against the "plague of imperialism" that leveled the liberal traditions of Britain and Rome.

Admiral Juan Nepomuceno Almonte of Mexico [Whig]
The Whig Party is running on fumes as the 1844 campaign approaches, having lost much of their support to Papineau's Liberals over the last four years. Realizing that their chances of victory are slim, the party sought to merely prevent a route in 1844, hoping to win enough time to rebuild their Congressional caucus and make a comeback in 1848. To this end, the party has nominated popular Admiral Juan Almonte of Mexico, who commanded the fleet that seized Charlestown, South Carolina during the Planters Rebellion. A descendant of former Vice President Jose Maria Morelos, Almonte supports the annexation of Cuba and Oregon, a nationwide popular vote for president, replacing the National Bank with an Independent Treasury system, lowering tariffs across the board, and extending citizenship rights to American Indians who are willing to serve five years in the military.

¹ By 1841, only Georgia and the Carolinas continued to sanction the buying and selling of slaves; legislation passed during the Administration of Martin Van Buren had abolished slavery outside of those provinces, while a program of voluntary emancipation had been inaugurated by Papineau's predecessor, Henry Clay.

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