Seward the Folly

[HappyWarrior]

I will be starting a new TL where Lincoln is not the Republican nominee in 1860.  William H. Seward will be nominated instead.  I hope to get started in the next couple of days.

[gorkay]

Sounds like a good one.

[HappyWarrior]

1860:The End of the Union

Following years under the failed Buchanen administration, people are calling for a change of administration in the United States.  The south makes the threat that if any Republican, particularlly Lincoln, is elected they will secede from the Union.  Nonetheless going into the convention, Abraham Lincoln is seen as the Republican frontrunner.

The Republican National Convention:

With the recent threats of violence by the south hanging over their heads, many in the convention suggest not fielding a candidate for this election year.  The larger section of the party laugh this off as foolhardy, saying that such a thing would destroy their party.  So quickly the voting for the nomination heats up until it is down to three candidates, William H. Seward, Abraham Lincoln, and Salmon P. Chase.  Chase will be the king maker, having just enough delegates to break the tie between Seward and Lincoln and give one of them the nomination.  Meeting with the two, he finally secures a deal he finds to his liking.  Coming out with him is William H. Seward, the second nominee of the Republican party for president, Chase will be his Vice Presidential nominee.

The Northern Democratic Convention:

In Baltimore, Maryland the Democratic party meets to choose their candidate for the presidency.  But quickly the nomination breaks up, with the Southerners leaving due to their opposition of disallowing the spread of slavery.  With them gone the Democrats nominate Stephen Douglas for president and Herschel Vespasian Johnson for Vice President.

The Southern Democratic Convention:

The Southern Democrats reconvened in Richmond, Virginia, and nominated the pro-slavery incumbent Vice President, John Cabell Breckenridge of Kentucky, for President and Joseph Lane of Oregon for Vice President.  This was seen as an act to show what they believed and what they would do to secure slavery for themselves.

Constitutional Union Convention:

Die-hard former Whigs and Know-Nothings who felt they could support neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party formed the Constitutional Union Party, nominating John C. Bell of Tennessee for president and Edward Everett for vice president in Baltimore. 

With the candidates set out, they began touring the nation, trying to ensure their election.  Nonetheless it was almost like two seprete races, between the northern Democrats and Republicans in the north, and the Constitutional Union and Southern Democrats in the south.  In the end the election was won by Seward, the Republican nominee.



Thus came the election of William H. Seward as president:


And Salmon P. Chase as Vice President:


Within weeks the south had begun to secede.  The final for the north before war was the attack on the Carolina fortress, Fort Sumter.  The Civil War had begun.


Fort Sumter following the confederate takeover.

[HappyWarrior]

1861:A Year for Failures:

Soon after the Confederate attack of Fort Sumter, General Winfield Scott suggests something he calls his Anaconda Plan to President Seward.  Seward calls the plan foolish, saying "What would this do but bring other nations into this war?"  Soon after Scott is fired from his position, instead being replaced by General John Pope, a good friend of the President as Commanding General of the United States Military.  Pope quickly builds up the Union military, hoping it can be of a large enough side to defeat the Confederate Army, regardless of training, saying that the size of their army would crush the south in months.


General Pope at the time of his selection as commanding officer.

After hearing of the plans being formulated to stop the south, Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas become the last three states to secede from the Union.  At the same time, the new Confederacy popularly elects Jefferson Davis their first president.


President Jefferson Davis

President Davis quickly appoints as John Pope's counterpart former Union commander Robert E. Lee.  Lee is considered the greatest advantage the south has to offer.  Quickly he sets toward making the South's army's quality superior to their quantity.  Within a few months the Union has begun an early advance south, headed for Richmond, the Confederate capitol.  Lee sees this and sends general Pierre Gustave Toutant de Beauregard, the commander who conquered Fort Sumter to stop the Union advance.  At the Potomac River, just miles from the Union capitol of Washington, the two forces face eachother in the Battle of the Potomac.  Halfway through the battle, Union commander William Rosecrans is shot in the chest.  Hours later he dies in his tent.  Rosecrans, one of the most beloved generals in the Union Army is mourned by his men.  The men, lead by Brigadier General Don Carlos Buell retreat from the field.  Quickly Beauregard makes good on the battle's aftermath, charging into the city of Washinton D.C.

With the loss of their capitol, many Americans fear the worst for the future.  Worst of all, Vice President Salmon P. Chase is killed in the attack on the capitol, many fear that the nation may go down in flames just as it's capitol city did.  Uprisings start in border states to join the Confederacy.  The uprisings in Maryland, Delaware, and Missouri are quickly crushed, Missouri being especially fierce fighting, under the command of General John Fremont.  The rebellion in Kentucky continues as a festering sore.


Small town burned by advancing Confederate troops just outside D.C.

During this time, Western Virginia due to anti-secession sentiment officially seperates itself from Virginia-proper, calling itself West Virginia.  President Seward takes this good news and quickly admits the new state.

Many in the north begin to grow tired of the perpetual losses as the Southern half of New Mexico Territory is conquered by Confederate General Kirby Smith.

[Robespierre's Jaw]

Quite an interesting timeline HappyWarrior. I wonder who President Seward will select to be his running mate in 1864. If he is still President in 1864. I'm also curious with the 1860 Electoral College map. There was no Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Arizona, New Mexico ect back then. Could you please next time give us EV totals and PV totals too, aslong with the EC vote. Thanks.

[HappyWarrior]

Quite an interesting timeline HappyWarrior. I wonder who President Seward will select to be his running mate in 1864. If he is still President in 1864. I'm also curious with the 1860 Electoral College map. There was no Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Arizona, New Mexico ect back then. Could you please next time give us EV totals and PV totals too, aslong with the EC vote. Thanks.

I knew about the territories, thats why they were all colored brown.  And I will be sure to include all of those as updates soon enough.

[HappyWarrior]

1862:Will the Union Recover?

With the recent loss at the Battle of the Potomac, support for the war takes a sharp decline.  Many call for the dismissal of General Pope, many call for him to be tried as a traitor, saying any man, woman, or child could have predicted the outcome of the ideas of the General.  President Seward goes so far as to tell the people to stop protesting against his friend under fear of arrest.  People call out that this is unconstitutional.  Seward says in response: "There is a higher law than the Constitution."

Following the burning of the capital, it seems that the president will need to search for a new place to conduct official business.  Quickly he decides that it will be away from the war front, further north than the area where the Confederates can reach.  Finally after weeks of deliberation, Seward decides to choose the city of Albany, New York.


Albany capitol building and temporary capitol building for the United States.

With the death of Vice President Chase, the new president of the Senate is Senator Solomon Foot, Republican of Vermont.    Foot is second in line after Seward for the presidency if anything were to happen to the president.

Even as these events are going on President Seward rejects the requests of two men, Ulysses S. Grant, and William Tecumseh Sherman, to return to the military at the rank of Brigadier General, citing alcoholism and laziness, respectively as the reasons for the denials.

Even so, the defeats keep coming to the Union, as the south completes the conquest of southern New Mexico territory and the state of Kentucky.  Union armies manage to win a few small victories but nothing decisive against the south.  General Lee manages to defeat a large Union army lead by general George Mcclellan

[HappyWarrior]

I've decided to continue this TL. Hope everyone enjoys.

[Хahar 🤔]

Please do.

[DownWithTheLeft]

Please let justice prevail and the South win!

[HappyWarrior]

1863:Wars End

Early in 1863 the President calls for one last offensive by the Union Army.  Calling General Pope into the "Albany White House", President Seward says that if the offensive fails he will probably have to either take the nation down fighting or negotiate with the south.  He does not want the nation to fall and therefore he feels that in the end he will be forced to negotiate if such a thing happens.  Sending General Pope as well as up and coming generals McClellan and Buell, hoping the two more calm generals will cancel out Pope's rashness.  

Quickly the three generals lead their armys south, hoping to stop the Southern advance before it gains ground into Union territory.  Buell takes the left flank, McClellan the center, and Pope personally commands he right.  As they and their troops continue their march General Pope is ambushed just outside Charleston, West Virginia.  The Battle of Charleston had begun.  The enemy army is lead by southern generals Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, Samuel Longstreet, and Jeb Stuart.  Within two hours general Pope's army is in dire distress and General McClellan is taking the brunt of the attack from Stuart's cavalry unit.  General Buell is the only one not under immediate attack and after sending a scout back to the President to report on the battle, he plunges into combat againest General Longstreet commanding the rear of the army.  For hours on end this attack seems to be the turning point, possibly giving a victory to the Union.  Sadly for President Seward, General Pope's army is finished off quickly, giving Jackson the chance to turn about and stop Buell.  In short order McClellen and Buell are driven from the field as well.  Nonetheless Buell emerges as a hero to the north following the battle, considered the north's only successful general.


Don Carlos Buell:Hero of the Battle of Charleston

Following the battle, Seward makes a decision he realizes may be fatal to his presidency, he will end the war by a treaty with the south.  The subsequent agreement will be signed in Washington D.C.  Called the Treaty of Washington the treaty is considered a disgrace to many northerners.  It gives the south independence as well as the state of Kentucky, still not fully conquered, and the southern half of the territory of New Mexico as well as the Indian Territory.  Seward is only suprised they did not ask for more in the way of reparations.


Map of the two nations now independent following the South's war for independence.

The South sets a date for their Constitutional Convention late in July of 1865.

[Хahar 🤔]

The whole territory of New Mexico? The Confederacy only claimed the Southern half. Also, I don't think they claimed Indian Territory, though if Stand Watie was any example, I'm sure there were Indians sympathetic to the Confederate cause.

[HappyWarrior]

The whole territory of New Mexico? The Confederacy only claimed the Southern half. Also, I don't think they claimed Indian Territory, though if Stand Watie was any example, I'm sure there were Indians sympathetic to the Confederate cause.

I think you're right about NM, I'll fix that, but I'm going to give them Indian Territory, it makes sense

[jokerman]

I imagine that "irrepressible conflict," "higher law" Seward turns Maryland and Missouri to the Confederacy in addition to Kentucky.

[HappyWarrior]

No, they remain in the Union largly because the norths of the states are strongly pro-union.

[HappyWarrior]

The 1864 Election

After three years of war President Seward has negotiated a peace with the southern states.  Sadly it has come at a huge expense of lives on both sides as well as political capitol for Seward. 

Republican National Convention

The Republicans who only four years before had won their first presidential election now had to deal with a near unimaginable loss.  They quickly decided that they had no chance of victory this election and decided to nominate Seward for a second term with Edward Bates, on of his opponents from 1860 as their vice presidential nominee.

Democratic National Convention

The Democrats, knowing victory is all but assured have a triumphant, magnificent nominating Convention.  They quickly nominate general George McClellan who had been one of the few men to come out of the war stronger than ever.  He chooses Edwin Stanton as his running mate.  They espouse talking things over with the south but stand more for bashing how weak the Seward administration has been.



And it is a landslide for George McClellan!


President George McClellan

Vice President Edwin Stanton

[jokerman]

It being his home state notwithstanding, Seward's only state would not likely be New York.

[Хahar 🤔]

It being his home state notwithstanding, Seward's only state would not likely be New York.

NYC was the site of the draft riots. Perhaps Minnesota or Wisconsin?

[HappyWarrior]

1865:Order and Chaos

In July of 1865 the members of the Confederate Congress meet to finalize their Constitution.  The head of the Convention is Vice President Alexander Stephens, a moderate in Confederate politics.  Since the Constitution had originally been written four years earlier it was quickly finalized with Texas being the last state to sign it(This was more due to distance than any real difference in opinion).  The Constitution includes things such as:

• The president is limited to one six-year term in office.
• The president has a line-item veto.

[l]States are explicitly given more recourse in dealing with federal laws or officers they feel are unfair

• Explicit support for slavery.
  • All Federal laws and bills were limited to only one subject - riders were illegal - and the subject of the laws and bills had to be clearly stated in their titles.
    
    
    The original, handwritten CS constitution
    
    At the same time as he Confederacy grows more and more orderly, the chaos in the north continues.  Many northerners feel that their nation was torn in two because of the country's blacks and at the same time as the Congress is passing an amendment to give them the right to vote, many are lynched.  The most violent lynching however is not a black man but former American general John Pope.  Pope is caught in St. Louis, Missouri by a crowd of unionists who promptly hang him and then set his body aflame.
    
    Following the Pope Lynching former President Seward, along with the rest of his family flee the country and take refuge in Paris, France.  The Seward's son will join the French government, eventually rising to prominence there and becoming arguably one of the most important catalysts in events a few years later.(But that is a story for another day.)

[DownWithTheLeft]

This is probably the most interesting timeline yet

[HappyWarrior]

This is probably the most interesting timeline yet

Is that good or bad?  And in what way?

[HappyWarrior]

1866:The Rise of the Second Confederate President

Early in 1866 Robert Edward Lee, hero of the south in the Southern War for Independence, states unequivically that he will not be running for the Confederate Presidency.  Following that two frontrunners emerge for the Confederate presidency.  First is General Kirby Smith of Florida, a man who had led the Tran-Mississippi Department during the war.  He was born in Florida and therefore chooses former Congressman and General John Gregg of Texas as his running mate for regional balance.  His opponent is moderate Governor Zebulon Vance of North Carolina.  He chooses General and Bishop Leonidas Polk of Tennessee as his running mate.



The election is hard fought, the first real campaign in the Confederacy since the nations inception.  The more moderate Vance targets Smith about his increasing militantism.  In the end this carries him to a 52-29 victory in the electoral college.

 
President Zebulon Vance

Vice President Leonidas Polk

As a side note in the North, Abraham Lincoln manages to begin the construction of a political dynasty, carrying himself to the Illinois Governor's Mansion and his son Robert Todd into the Senate from Illinois.

[DownWithTheLeft]

This is probably the most interesting timeline yet

Is that good or bad?  And in what way?

Great, please continue I love Southern victory in the Civil War

[HappyWarrior]

1867:Another Year of Conflict

Early in 1867 President McClellan decides that the time has come to appoint a military commander in the west to prevent any attempts at sabotage by Confederate agents.  With this in mind he turns to his old friend, George Armstrong Custer.  Custer is appointed by the president to the rank of Colonel and sends him to Kansas to take up the defenses of the state.  Within weeks Custer and his Confederate counterpart in the Indian Territory, General Stand Watie, begin using Native American surrogates to launch raids into eachother's territories.


Colonel Custer at the time of his appointment

Even as the military front continues, there are domestic and foreign policy issues too.  President McClellan receives in April of 1867 an offer to buy Alaska from Russia.  The president turns it down saying "Why would I buy that god forsaken block of ice?  We are  short on money as it is."  It will instead be bought by Great Britain and be incorporated into the Dominion of Canada later that year. 

Meanwhile in the South, newly elected President Vance makes rapid attempts at strengthening the industrial capacity of the southern cities.  He focues mostly on Birmingham, Alabama, hoping to make it a "Pittsburgh of the South", with hundreds of factories producing all sorts of things.  At the same time he names Mobile, Alabama as the site for a new confederate Naval Academy and the Virginia Military Institute as the "Confederate West Point."

[HappyWarrior]

1868:And the Trend Continues...

Early in 1868 pro Southern terrorism in the border states of Maryland and Missouri begin to pick up.  Rumors begin to fly that the south's master saboteur, Nathan Bedford Forrest, was heading the conflict, providing orders and supplies to the rebellious northerners.


A picture of Forrest towards the end of the war

Nonetheless, even with the war still simmering in the border states, it is an election year in the north and nothing will stop politics.  The Democrats meet in Cleveland, Ohio while the Republicans meet once again in Chicago, Illinois.

The Democratic Convention

As the Convention opens people cheer with the arrival of president McClellan and Vice President Stanton.  They had already served for four prosperous years and seemed to be continuing their work quite well.  Sadly the Vice President makes the announcement just before the voting to make the ticket official that he will not run for a second term as Vice President.  He gives as his reason his ill health(He will be dead in just over a year).  McClellan chooses Horatio Seymour as his new running mate, hoping to bring in New York's crucial electoral votes.

The Republican Convention

There are many party members who hope that Abraham Lincoln, the popular governor of Illinois will run for the presidency.  They feel he is their only hope at a victory.  Sadly Lincoln turns down the nomination, saying that he would'nt win anyway.  Instead the Convention nominates Hannibal Hamlin, Senator from Maine to represent them in the race.  He was everyone's second choice and there are still hopes he may be able to bring in a victory.  For Vice President he chooses Henry H. Crapo, Governor of Michigan to try and balance the ticket regionally.

Governor Lincoln and his son Robert Todd, the two most popular Republicans, due nationwide stump speeches but sadly are unable to deliver a victory for their party.



The final EV total is 121-62

Once again the Democrat's Congressional majority remains large, even if they needed to they would be veto-proof.

George McClellan remains the 17th President of the United States while Horatio Seymour becomes the 18th Vice President of the United States.