The American Monarchy

[Verily]

I agree with Colin on the name "Republican Party", which, especially at the time, would have carried powerful anti-monarchist overtones.

Also, on Wisconsin, I think it more likely that the western border would be drawn along the upper Mississippi rather than at an arbitrary longitude; I could draw it onto the map if you'd like.

[Lief 🗽]

Constitution is a much better name, I agree. I can't believe I didn't think of that.

I had originally drawn the border along the Mississippi, but the state looked so ugly and misshapen that I just drew a straight line.

[Verily]

Constitution is a much better name, I agree. I can't believe I didn't think of that.

I had originally drawn the border along the Mississippi, but the state looked so ugly and misshapen that I just drew a straight line.

Honestly, it looks more ugly and misshapen now

[Lief 🗽]

I threw these two together:

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/493/18512jd5.png

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/370/18513op4.png

[Verily]

I like the first one. No less misshapen than, say, Texas or Michigan or New York or Maryland or Virginia.

I could also then imagine Iowa later getting extended northward to include all of real-life Minnesota from the Twin Cities south.

[HappyWarrior]

I like the first one. No less misshapen than, say, Texas or Michigan or New York or Maryland or Virginia.

I could also then imagine Iowa later getting extended northward to include all of real-life Minnesota from the Twin Cities south.

[Lief 🗽]

The American Monarchy: 1855 - 1862

Majority Whip David Crockett reported to Polk a week before the vote on John McClean that the Constitution Senators were wholly opposed to the nomination. However, Crockett could not ensure that the southern and western nationals that had helped form the coalition would also vote against the nomination. Polk, wary of losing the vote on McClean and Chase, dissolved the Senate and called for a snap election. He hoped to increase the number of Constitution senators so that his party could claim an outright majority.

The Whig, Constitution, and Liberty parties were all incredibly organized, and they all re-nominated their respective leaders (Polk, Lincoln and Garrison) on the first ballot. The Constitutionalists rallied against Lincoln, who they called a radical. Lincoln, in one of his finer speeches, chastised Polk’s party for blocking the nomination of Supreme Court nominees over political ideology. The Liberty part continued to call for emancipation. The National convention, however, was a total failure. After a week of balloting, the party was unable to agree on a leader or a platform. Finally, Stephen Douglas (N-IL) came forth as a compromise candidate, but the party was still bitterly divided. In the North, many National governors and state officials formally switched to the Whig or Liberty parties. In southern states, many Nationals resigned or joined the Constitution party. In the state of Virginia, all five National senators resigned, and endorsed the Constitution candidate in their district.

On Election Day, April 4th, 1855, the National party lost heavily, as did the Constitution Party. The Whigs and Liberty gained a number of seats throughout the country.

The Senate before the Election of 1855
Whig Party: 64 Seats
Constitution Party: 108 seats
National Party: 52 Seats
Liberty: 38 Seats
Total Seats: 262



The Senate after the Election of 1855
Whig Party: 94 Seats (+30)
Constitution Party: 72 seats (-36)
National Party: 35 Seats (-17)
Liberty: 58 Seats (+20)
Total Seats: 258¹

It quickly became apparent that Lincoln and Garrison would form a coalition. Stephen Douglas tried to gain support from within his own party to join in on the Whig-Liberty coalition, but it soon became apparent that he had little to no control over the National senators.

First Ballot:
Abraham Lincoln (W-IL): 161 votes
James K. Polk (C-TN): 82 votes
Stephen A. Douglas (N-IL): 16
Needed to win: 130 votes

The Government as of May 1855:
Prime Minister: Abraham Lincoln (W-IL)
Deputy Prime Minister: William Lloyd Garrison (L-MA)
Majority Whip: Hannibal Hamlin (W-ME)
Secretary of State: Robert Charles Winthrop (W-MA)
Secretary of the Treasury: William Lyon Mackenzie (L-ON)
Secretary of War: Winfield Scott (W-NY)
Attorney General: Charles Sumner (L-MA)


Prime Minister Abraham Lincoln

With a commanding majority in the Senate, Lincoln was able to confirm King Robert’s two nominees easily later in 1855. In 1856, the Whig Party established a new cabinet position: Secretary of the Interior and Lincoln chose ardent abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens (L-PA) for the new post. Northern Senators then pushed Lincoln to pass a protectionist tariff to aid Northern industries. Polk’s Whigs were ardently against the measure, as were a majority of Southern Senators. Despite stringent opposition from Southern Senators, the Whig-Liberty coalition was able to pass the Durfee-Covode Tariff.

In 1857, the Royal Council admitted the states of Upper California (one Senator) and Sonora (one Senator). The Upper Californian constitution explicitly banned slavery, while the Sonoran constitution allowed slavery. Sonora had seen heavy immigration from the Republic of Texas and from the Southern United States, and slavery had begun to gain a hold in the mining economy that dominated the state. A number of Whigs were initially apprehensive about the addition of a new slave state, and some Americans were against the admittance of a state with such a large Spanish-speaking, Catholic population.

In 1858, the political situation in the Republic of Texas began to deteriorate. The 62-year-old King Stephen I had fallen ill in 1855, and his thirteen-year-old son, Prince Stephen, had ruled in his stead. When King Stephen I died on June 3rd, 1855, his young son had to take control of a nation deeply in debt and ripped apart by political strife. Prime Minister William B. Travis had served since the nation’s inception, in 1840. But opposition leader Mirabeau B. Lamar’s party had won a close election in 1856, and the two parties had been at each other’s throats since then. Finally, in 1858, the crisis came to a head, when King Stephen II died of cholera, and the Republic of Texas was leaderless. Mirabeau B. Lamar crowned himself King Stephen III (taking Stephen F. Austin’s first name as a show of respect), and Travis and his party left the government. By fall of 1858, a full-scale civil war had torn the nation apart, with Lamar and his supporters on one side and Travis’ supporters on the other.

Meanwhile, American’s believed that King Robert should inherit the Texan throne, as Stephen I’s queen had been part of the American royal family. Without consulting the Senate, King Robert and the Royal Council declared war on the warring factions in Texas, and Robert moved to invade Texas, to install Charles Carter Lee (his older brother) as king, and take control of the country. The Senate was split on the issue: half of the Senators decried American imperialism, and argued that the United States should not be intervening in the internal conflicts of sovereign nations, while the other half of the chamber argued that following Stephen II’s death, King Robert, and by extension the United States, had inherited Texas. In the end, Lincoln and Polk became unlikely allies, when they pushed for a bill funding the invasion of Texas and marshalling troops for the effort. Polk had supported the measure due to issues of nationalism, while Lincoln hoped that by conquering Texas, Americans could ban slavery in the Republic.

In 1859, as King Robert crossed into Texas, he received word that Mirabeau B. Lamar (i.e., Stephen III) had died of a heart attack in the capital of Jackson (named after Andrew Jackson, the Prime Minister who had come to the Texan’s defense). Three weeks later, William B. Travis, in San Antonio, declared himself President of the Republic, and signed a peace treaty with the supporters of Lamar. General Juan Seguín, Travis’ right-hand man, marched into Jackson two weeks later. Travis, acting in his capacity as President of the Republic, declared war on the United States that same week, claiming that the United States had wrongfully invaded Texas.

In late 1859, with King Robert in Texas, the Senate invoked the 13th amendment, lengthening its term indefinitely until the end of the war in Texas. On March 23rd, 1860, Travis’ forces ambushed an American detachment at the Battle of Harrisburg, winning a shocking and decisive victory against King Robert. In retaliation, Robert’s army (which vastly out-numbered the small Texan army), took the city of Jackson in May 1860, and burnt it to the ground. Gen. Charles Carter Lee took San Antonio in August 1860, eliminating Travis’ foremost base of support. By 1861, Travis’ forces had been forced back to the Rio Grande, and in the Battle of Laredo, Travis’ forces were completely routed. William B. Travis surrendered, and in the summer of 1861, Travis negotiated a treaty with the United States. In the Travis-Winthrop Treaty, Texas lost its independence, and became a dependency of the United States. It would be granted more autonomy than a regular state, however, with its own monarch (the Prince of Texas), army, and government. Texas would also cede some of its northern and western territory to the United States, and the United States would pay off Texas’ debt. Finally, Texas would also be granted representation in the Senate and Royal Council. However, the treaty did not touch the issue of slavery. In March 1862, the Senate confirmed the treaty, and Charles Carter Lee was crowned Prince Charles, Prince of Texas in June 1862. Following the ratification of the treaty, and the end of the War of Texan Succession, King Robert dissolved the parliament, and called for elections in June.

¹The Senate after the 1850 census.

[Hash]

Time for Ontarian and Quebecois politicians!

[Lief 🗽]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Hash]

I'll be interested by Canadian politicians in here as soon as it gets to 1900 and those years. Can't give much for WASPs.

[Verily]

Great update, by the way.

[Bacon King]

someone needs to make prime minister forever scenarios for this

[Lief 🗽]

The American Monarchy: 1862 - 1866

The year 1861 had seen the admission of two states: the state of Hamilton (made up of Chihuahua territory) and the state of Kansas, each with one senator, and a Slave and Free State, respectively.

The Whig convention of 1862 was a successful one, with Prime Minister Abraham Lincoln re-nominated without any challengers. The Liberty party’s convention, once again held in Boston, was filled with bitter speeches against Slave Power and the expansion of slavery into the south-west. William Lloyd Garrison was re-nominated easily. The Constitution convention was a melancholy one, as party leader, James K. Polk, was too ill to attend (he would die three months later). Without a leader, 69-year-old Sam Houston was nominated as a compromise. Finally, the National Party held its convention in Philadelphia. The delegates were again split on who to nominate. Stephen Douglas had been seen my most nationals as a failure. Eventually, Clement Vallandigham (N-OH), threw his hat into the ring. The young senator from Ohio was widely respected. He promised to reverse National Party losses, and campaigned on a platform of moderation regarding the slavery issue, as well as calls for further expansion.

For the first time in years, the National Party had a leader and purpose, and National supporters were energized. With low Constitution party morale, the National party made heavy gains in the west and south. However, despite some losses in the north to the Liberty party, the Whigs were able to keep their plurality of seats, and Garrison agreed to once again form a Whig-Liberty coalition. For his part, Vallandigham allied his National Party with Sam Houston’s Constitution party, and Sam Houston became opposition leader.

The Senate before the Election of 1862
Whig Party: 94 Seats
Constitution Party: 72 seats
National Party: 35 Seats
Liberty: 58 Seats
Total Seats: 258



The Senate after the Election of 1862
Whig Party: 83 Seats (-9)
Constitution Party: 59 seats (-13)
National Party: 66 Seats (+31)
Liberty: 60 Seats (+2)
Total Seats: 268¹

The Government as of July 1862:
Prime Minister: Abraham Lincoln (W-IL)
Deputy Prime Minister: William Lloyd Garrison (L-MA)
Majority Whip: Hannibal Hamlin (W-ME)
Secretary of State: Robert Charles Winthrop (W-MA)
Secretary of the Treasury: Thaddeus Stevens (L-PA)
Secretary of War: Charles Sumner (L-MA)
Attorney General: Alexander Mackenzie (L-ON)
Secretary of the Interior:  Schuyler Colfax (W-IN)

As one of the first acts of his second term, Abraham Lincoln pushed for the passage of Transcontinental Railway Act of 1862. Initially proposed in 1860, the Senate had voted the measure down, due to the ongoing war in Texas as well a general lack of funds, due to spending on the war. But in 1862, with relative peace in the country, the act was passed overwhelmingly, by a vote of 175 to 83. The Act set aside government bonds to be used to pay major railroad companies to build a transcontinental railroad, stretching from Missouri to California. In 1863, a closely divided Congress passed the Homestead Act, which encouraged settlement in the west, by allowing the purchase of plots of 160 acres of undeveloped land by families and men settling in the west. Southern Senators, regardless of party, were strongly against it, and the National-Constitution coalition came out against it. Despite resistance, the Homestead Act was passed by a vote of 143 to 119.

In 1864, southern Senators were again outraged, when King Robert and Abraham Lincoln worked together to sign and pass the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Act of Alliance. The United States formally recognized the two sovereign nation’s independence. All three nations entered a defensive pact and opened up trade. The act also paved the way for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to join the United States, as dependencies, in much the same way as Texas had joined the Union. The two nations held plebiscites later that year (in New Brunswick) and in 1865 (in Nova Scotia), but joining the United States failed by votes of about 60-40% in both countries. Later that year, Opposition Leader Sam Houston died in Tennessee, and Clement Vallandigham took control of the National-Constitution coalition.

At the request of settlers in the Canadian states, the United States government bought thousands of square miles from the Hudson Bay Company, in Rupert’s Land, an area nominally claimed by Britain, in late 1865. The land was set aside for settlement, and organized into the Northern Territory. Britain, feeling threatened by the purchase and the Act of Alliance a year earlier, would pass the Rupert’s Land Act of 1866 a year later, providing for the purchase of all of Rupert’s Land from the Hudson Bay company, which was then incorporated into the Colony of Greater Canada². With a sense of national euphoria following the successful alliance with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and the acquisition of new territory in the north, Lincoln called for the dissolution of Parliament during the winter recess of 1866, with elections scheduled for the summer.

The Whig Party held their convention in Chicago, a Whig bastion. Abraham Lincoln made it clear that he would neither be serving another term as leader of the Whig party or be running for re-election³. Popular Massachusetts senator, Charles Winthrop, won nomination as party leader on the third ballot, and promised a continuation of Lincoln’s policies. The Liberty party held its convention in New York, where William Lloyd Garrison announced his retirement from politics. Charles Sumner (L-MA) and Alexander Mackenzie (L-ON) were the two leading contenders to succeed Garrison, but in the end Sumner was able to clench victory, partly due to many Liberty delegates’ anxiety about nominating Mackenzie, a Scottish-born immigrant. Clement Vallandigham was once again nominated by the National Party, and the Constitution Party selected John C. Breckinridge (C-KY) as their leader. On Election Day, the Whig Party suffered some slight losses, but prevailed with a plurality, as well as the continued backing of the Liberty Party. In a feat that hadn’t been accomplished since the Whig-Republicans achieved it in 1811, the Whig party won a third election in a row. However, Winthrop’s majority was a slim one, and he knew that much of his term would be filled with deadlock.

The Senate before the Election of 1866
Whig Party: 83 Seats
Constitution Party: 59 seats
National Party: 66 Seats
Liberty: 60 Seats
Total Seats: 268



The Senate before the Election of 1866
Whig Party: 81 Seats (-2)
Constitution Party: 55 seats (-4)
National Party: 73 Seats (+7)
Liberty: 59 Seats (-1)
Total Seats: 268

The Government as of May 1866:
Prime Minister: Robert Charles Winthrop (W-MA)
Deputy Prime Minister: Charles Sumner (L-MA)
Majority Whip: Hannibal Hamlin (W-ME)
Secretary of State: Alexander Mackenzie (L-ON)
Secretary of the Treasury: Schuyler Colfax (W-IN)
Secretary of War: Zachariah Chandler (L-OH)
Attorney General: Charles O'Neill (W-PA)
Secretary of the Interior: James Garfield (W-OH)


Prime Minister Robert Charles Winthrop

¹The size of the Senate following the 1860 census.
²The Colony of Greater Canada was formed from the colonies of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Oregon Country, the Northwestern Territory, and Rupert’s Land. Labrador, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island were left unincorporated.
³Abraham Lincoln, at the relatively young age of 57 professed to have “resigned from politics forever” at the convention. However, two years later, he would run and win the governor’s office in Illinois, by a landslide margin.

[Robespierre's Jaw]

Once again great job with the TL Lief. I'm really enjoying this TL. Will Alexander Mackenzie become Prime Minister of America soon? Or will any Canadian be elected Prime Minister in this TL for that matter?

[Lief 🗽]

Maybe. There's a lot of distrust amongst Americans (particularly those in the South) concerning "Canadian-Americans", and there's apprehension in the Whig and Liberty parties (the only two that are really existent in Ontario and Quebec) about nominating a Canadian as party leader, as it might hurt them throughout the rest of the country.

[Hash]

Laurier as PM would rock.

[Verily]

I would think also that the small population of Canada relative to the rest of the country would simply make it unlikely that a leader would emerge, much as it is unlikely for a US President to be elected from, say, Kansas. Additionally, the incorporation of Ontario and Quebec into the Union would reduce the impetus to develop urban centers such as Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal as they would not serve as the major business hubs of a nation the way they did in Canada, meaning that Ontario and Quebec are probably less populous than in real history.

[CultureKing]

I would think also that the small population of Canada relative to the rest of the country would simply make it unlikely that a leader would emerge, much as it is unlikely for a US President to be elected from, say, Kansas. Additionally, the incorporation of Ontario and Quebec into the Union would reduce the impetus to develop urban centers such as Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal as they would not serve as the major business hubs of a nation the way they did in Canada, meaning that Ontario and Quebec are probably less populous than in real history.

agreed, the likelyhood that a Canadian would be PM would be quite small simply because Canadian provinces would have little effect in the national vote because of their relatively small population

[True Democrat]

Is the US-Texas relationship going to be similar to the England-Wales relationship?  Will the heir to sovereign of the US be the prince of Texas?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Some quibbles about the map that I would have made earlier had I not been unfortunately absent for a couple of weeks.

There is no reason for Texas to extend all the way to the Rio Grande in this timeline.  The casus belli in our timeline was a fight between Mexican and American troops in disputed territory.  Hence Texas had to extend to the Rio Grande in order to justify that war.  With the decision to not annex the states of the Republic of the Rio Grande can justify making the southern border of Texas be the Rio Grande, but the border between Chihuahua and Texas should be farther east.  At least as far as the Pecos if not farther east, since on Mexican maps before Texan Revolution, Chihuahua is shown as including the entirety of the Pecos River drainage system.

The boundary between New Mexico and both Chihuahua and Texas could also use some adjusting, as originally El Paso (and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua which was the original El Paso) was part of Nuevo Mexico, as was the Texas panhandle north of the Red River.

The final quibble is that with no Gadsen Purchase in this timelime, the northern border of Sonora should have remained at the Gila River, making Yuma and Tucson part of Sonora in this timeline.

[Lief 🗽]

Well, the (OTL) Treaty of Velasco, ending the Texan Revolution, put the southern boundary of Texas at the Rio Grande, so in OTL at least, the border between Texas and Mexico was the Rio Grande.

Regarding the Gadsen Purchase, you're right about that. It completely slipped my mind. I'll fix it up in the next map.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Except neither Texas nor Mexico complied with the Treaty and it was never ratified by Mexico.  Plus the equivalent treaty never occured in this timeline as far as I can tell.  Besides, I'm not quibbling too much about the southern border of Texas, just the western ones, which the OTL Treaties of Velasco made no mention of Texas' western boundary, just that the Rio Grande was to be the southern one.

[Lief 🗽]

The American Monarchy: 1867 - 1873

Prime Minister Winthrop’s government faced trouble soon after the election. In early 1867, the Panic of 1867 enveloped the country, originally caused by bank closures in the Northeast, which were in part caused by an economic crisis in Europe. Opposition leader Vallandigham tried to convince Charles Sumner to break with Prime Minister Winthrop and force a no confidence vote, but Sumner refused. As the panic worsened leading into the year 1868, the Constitution Party suggested a reduction in tariffs. Surprisingly, a handful of Northern industrialists agreed to the plan, believed that reduced tariffs (and the cheaper imports that went with them) would kick start the Northern economy. However, a majority of Northerners were against a reduction in the tariff. Secretary of the Treasury Schuyler Colfax came out against the measure, as did Western Senators and most Senators from Pennsylvania. Despite this opposition, Winthrop supported the measure, and with numerous Senators crossing the floor to vote against the will of their party leaders, the Hunter Tariff was passed, 142 to 121.

Following the passage of the tariff, the economy improved slightly, and for a time, Prime Minister Winthrop could breathe a metaphorical sigh of relief. However, in early 1868, Secretary of State Alexander Mackenzie resigned from the government, after Prime Minister Winthrop had asked him to negotiate the annexation of Cuba from Spain. Winthrop had hoped to act secretly, but when Mackenzie resigned, he made the negotiations public, and the Liberty party was outraged. Charles Sumner publicly accused the Prime Minister of being no different from Southerners seeking to extend American slavery into the Caribbean. A week later, Sumner and his party left the coalition government, and a no confidence resolution was voted upon. Despite some support from pro-expansion National and Constitution Senators, Winthrop lost the vote, 103 to 158, with a number of anti-slavery Whigs voting against him. King Robert called for elections in November 1868.

The Constitution Party held their convention in Richmond, Virginia, where John Breckenridge (C-KY) was re-nominated. For the first time in years, the Constitution Party ran candidates in nearly every district, even those in Ontario and Quebec. Clement Vallandigham gave a stirring speech at the National Party convention, and was ultimately re-elected. The Liberty convention was a somewhat sullen one, as most delegates recognized that there would be no coalition with the Whigs, and the National and Constitution parties were too different on policy issues to form a coalition with. After twenty rounds of balloting, Prime Minister Winthrop won re-election as party leader at a bitter Whig convention. Northern Whigs walked out of the convention, and supported the Liberty Party. The Whig party ended up losing heavily, becoming the smallest party, while all other parties gained seats. The National Party came out of the election claiming victory, and two weeks later Breckenridge and Vallandigham agreed to form a coalition, with Vallandigham as Prime Minister.

The Senate before the Election of 1868
Whig Party: 81 Seats
Constitution Party: 55 seats
National Party: 73 Seats
Liberty: 59 Seats
Total Seats: 268



The Senate after the Election of 1868
Whig Party: 43 Seats (-38)
Constitution Party: 71 seats (+16)
National Party: 93 Seats (+20)
Liberty: 61 Seats (+2)
Total Seats: 268

The Government as of January 1869:
Prime Minister: Clement Vallandigham (N-OH)
Deputy Prime Minister: John Breckenridge (C-KY)
Majority Whip: Horatio Seymour (N-NY)
Secretary of State: George H. Pendleton (N-OH)
Secretary of the Treasury: Jefferson Davis (C-MS)
Secretary of War: Francis Preston Blair, Jr. (N-MO)
Attorney General: John H. Reagan (C-TX)
Secretary of the Interior:  Andrew Johnson (N-TN)


Prime Minister Clement Vallandigham

Despite his clear party’s clear victory, the nation was still bitterly divided, chiefly on the issue of slavery. While it had been slowly dying out in the United States (Maryland had moved towards abolishing slavery in 1866, and there were the beginnings of a bill in Delaware that would abolish slavery), slavery had begun to flourish again in the mines of Sonora and Hamilton, and Vallandigham made it clear that he would support further efforts to annex Cuba, a territory that would undoubtedly become a slave state. King Robert, unlike his predecessor, had kept completely silent on the issue of slavery. His sons, on the other hand, had developed vastly different views. Crown Prince William was vehemently against any attempts to abolish slavery. Prince Robert, the King’s second son, had seen the horrors of slavery while travelling with his father in Texas following the conflict there. Prince Robert was an ardent supporter of his grandfather’s abolitionist ideals.

Vallandigham soon came under attack from both sides of the aisle. In 1870, John Breckenridge pressured the Prime Minister to repeal the Homestead Act, an act that Vallandigham had personally supported. Threatened with a fracture in his coalition, the Prime Minister brought the repeal of the Homestead Act to a vote, but made it clear to his Whip that the vote would be a conscious vote. Privately, he encouraged Senators to vote against the repeal. On the day of the vote, the repeal failed, 130 to 134. A furious Breckenridge threatened to pull out of the coalition, but calmer Constitution Senators convinced him against it.

In 1871, Prince Charles of Texas, King Robert’s brother died, and Texas needed a new ruling prince. Initially, King Robert planned to install his younger son, Prince Robert as Prince of Texas, but Constitution Senators argued against the appointment of an abolitionist to the executive office of a slave state. King Robert rebuked the Senators, claiming that it was his right as monarch to impart royal offices. Hearing this, John H. Reagan (C-TX), wrote the Reagan Royal Office Act, an act proposing that the Senate have the final say in appointing sovereigns of dependencies, as long as the sovereign is of royal blood. Breckenridge pushed Vallandigham for the bill’s passage, but the Prime Minister was again apprehensive, feeling that such a bill would be an over-reach of the Senate’s constitutional power. As the Senate adjourned in November 1871, with the Reagan Bill still up for debate, the slave debate had moved the country to the breaking point.

On April 14th, 1872, the country “broke.” Three gunshots rang out in a crowded Washington street. In the confusion, a fatally wounded Clement Vallandigham fell on to his wife’s shoulder, his final words a jumbled muttering about Presbyterian predestination. Three days later, an arrest was made: infamous Abolitionist John Brown. John Breckenridge became Acting Prime Minister, and was officially voted in on April 19th, 1872. His coalition quickly pushed through the Defense Against Sedition Act, allowing for the arrest of any abolitionist activity deemed treasonous. The Liberty party denounced the bill as an authoritarian violation of the Bill of Rights. In the mourning period following April 14th, Breckenridge successfully passed the Reagan Royal Office Act, and King Robert, who had recently suffered a stroke and did not feel that more fighting with the Senate was in order, did not veto the bill. Crown Prince William would be crowned Prince of Texas later that year.


Prime Minister John C. Breckenridge

At trial, Brown maintained his innocence, and to many, it quickly became apparent that Brown could not have murdered the Prime Minister, as the evidence was simply against it. But an angry, emotional (Southern) jury convicted him for treason and murder, and he was hung in December of 1872. The Liberty Party, this time with the backing of the Whigs and many Northern states, was shocked by Brown’s execution, as it had become apparent that he did not assassinated the Prime Minister. In early 1873, evidence was brought to light implicating a moderately famous actor, John Wilkes Booth, and Booth was arrested. Acting under the Defense Against Sedition Act, Prime Minister Breckenridge had the informants who had brought the evidence to light arrested and imprisoned, and convinced a feeble-minded King Robert to pardon Booth. By the summer of 1873, riots had broken out in the streets of Northern cities, denouncing Brown’s execution, and calling for Breckenridge’s resignation. The riots intensified when a number of abolitionist leaders and Liberty party state officials were arrested later in 1873. With the nation’s sympathy still largely behind the government following Vallandigham's assassination (except for in the North), Breckenridge called for a snap election, and the bed-ridden King Robert scheduled it for November 1873.

[HappyWarrior]

Great update!  This TL just gets better and better.

[Verily]

BOO, Breckenridge!

(Have I said how much I like this TL enough yet?)