I'm guessing based on the cliffhanger that Kearny is fulling intending to run (and well aware that he's practically a shoe-in for the job). The sticking point seems to be him having no interest in doing it in either of the main parties. Both the Democrats and the Republicans have entrenched power-brokers that he would have to deal with. In contrast, if he runs for a nearly defunct party (like, say, the National Union Party) then he can truly call the shots (this would be one of those rare occasions when it would be the candidate endorsing the party rather than the other way around, lol).
A Glorious Union or America: the New Sparta
- Thread starter TheKnightIrish
- Start date
David Davis is probably the least of the potential Republican candidates for the moment. However he will be featuring more significantly in the TL to come.
Both parties will field more ex-army candidates at the national and state level. However on review of the potential candidates few have much, if any, political experience and things are not as bad as in OTL for the Republicans to turn desperately to Grant after a few years of Johnson. The men in grey suits and smoked filled back rooms think they are still in charge...
The platforms will be discussed along with election results in the next Chapter or two.
The US navy is still going to have a hard time for awhile but there are presidents coming who might look more favourably on funding and indeed circumstances will call for it - not least the new Caribbean base in the US West Indies and some shenanigans in East Asia...
Damn it all to Confederate Hell DK! Stop outing my subconscious theft! End of the 6th Season now I've thought about it.
You might think that. I could not possibly comment...
As the man himself says, "Good writers borrow from other writers. Great writers steal from them outright." (S4E2)
East Asia is right up my alley! My thesis was on the Royal Navy China Squadron in the 1860s. I actually also have a lot of scanned photocopies of Captain's and Squadron Commanders Letters to the Secretary of the Navy from the Asiatic Squadron, plus other foreign stations. Unfortunately I lost all of the Admiralty documents from the UK National Archives in a computer crash. That'll teach me to back things up in the future.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, we're already at the time period the General Sherman incident in Korea occurred. America's going to be leaping from one foreign adventure to the next if their reaction is anything like OTL's.
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty One A New Beginning Part II
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty One
A New Beginning
Part II
A New Beginning
Part II
From “Profoundly Wrong – A Re-assessment of American Historical Criticism by Bertram James
Collingwood-German 1933
“The great man theory of history so permeates the story of Phil Kearny that it seems to infect those around him. The story of Robert Lincoln’s speech at the Philadelphia convention of the National Union party is but one of the many mythologised events that make up the Kearny story. However it ignores the huge support for Kearny from all the veterans who had gravitated towards the banner of National Unionism…
It also ignores the many homeless Democrats in search of a party. There were plenty of former Democrats who eschewed the perceived Copperheadism of their old party but who still believed in the political tenants of the party: states’ rights over federal centralism; the promotion of mercantile, banking and railroad interests; opposition to imperialism and overseas expansion; support for the gold standard; and who opposed high taxes and tariffs. They did not, could not see themselves supporting the Republican party of Benjamin Wade or Thaddeus Stevens. That is why the revolt against the merging of the National Union Party into the Republican Party occurred…”
The Academy of Music, Broad and Walnut Streets, Philadelphia
From "The Uneasy Alliance – The National Union Party 1864 - 1900" by Fergus Glubb and Eleanor Bell-Hamer
Northwestern 2008
“The Convention at times seemed almost an official United States Legion affair so many were the veterans, sashes and badges. Indeed the convention coincided with a parade of the Legion through the city. Whether the parade or the convention was organised first is unclear but they certainly seemed to complement one another…
There was palpable discontent with the potential candidates from both parties. There were some rumblings about the wisdom of General Kearny’s denial of either nomination but those had not yet coalesced around any acceptable alternative. Nonetheless there were rumblings…
Further when one looks at the delegates sent to the Convention what transpired is perhaps unsurprising: Daniel Sickles of New York, Anson George McCook of Ohio, Lew Wallace (very much a homeless Democrat) of Indiana, John C. McClernand (who was also slated as a delegate to the Republican convention), John A. Logan and Michael Crawford Kerr of Illinois, Isaac Stevens from the Washington Territory; and Robert T. Lincoln (formerly of Kearny’s staff) from the District of Columbia….
The chair had scheduled speeches praising President Lincoln, the army and the Union prior to a scheduled vote which would commit the party to supporting the candidate chosen at the Republican Convention in 10 days’ time. Failing that the chair was prepared for the unlikely contingency that a vote to delay a nomination until after the Republican convention mighty be necessary, which would render the question largely mute…
Robert T. Lincoln had been asked to speak briefly in praise of his father and on the great struggle of the Civil War. While indeed he did speak on those subjects he labored the idea of his father’s legacy – the quest for National Union. He then quoted General Kearny directly describing the Republican and Democrat parties as “sectional parties which fail to encompass the ambitions, aspirations and dreams of all Americans”. He exhorted the convention to nominate a candidate in competition with those parties in the name of National Union. Heckled and challenged from the floor to make a suggestion Lincoln put Philip Kearny Junior’s name into consideration. The crowd in the Music Academy went wild! The chair lost control for some time. The Ohio delegation had come armed with a band which promptly broke into “Thunder on the Wabash” Kearny’s favorite march. “Once the bottle had been uncorked there was no stopping them until everyone had drunk their fill” (John A. Logan)…
Robert Todd Lincoln spoke at the Convention despite his father's advice to stay out of politics and get into an honest profession
The chair was prevailed upon to abandon the agenda and accept that Kearny’s name had been put into nomination and seconded (by no less than Dan Sickles and the New York delegation). Were there other names for consideration demanded the chair? “NO!”. State by state the convention was unanimous in proclaiming Kearny their nominee...
The lack of premeditation was obvious from the first. Kearny had to be wired from the Convention seeking his acceptance of the nomination. All was in abeyance while the Convention awaited his response…”
From “Raging Bull – A Life of Kentucky’s William “Bull” Nelson” by Haigher Kearny Brown
Memphis 1998
“Nelson had foreseen at least some move to nominate a candidate at the Convention. Unlike may other delegations whose slates had been filled on an adhoc basis, often with an eye to the National Legion event rather then the convention, he had carefully stuffed Kentucky’s delegation with his loyalists…
Nelson’s hand-picked delegation was not idle during the intermission as deledates, reporters and telegraphs flew about. Kearny was an ‘Easterner’ from New York and New Jersey. Any vice president should be from the heartlands and perhaps even the south. It was, after all, a National Union ticket. Few delegations were as organised or as united (Illinois nominated both McClernand and Logan) as the Kentucky delegation...”
Governor William Nelson and Senator Lovell Rousseau of Kentucky
From "The Uneasy Alliance – The National Union Party 1864 - 1900" by Fergus Glubb and Eleanor Bell-Hamer
Northwestern 2008
“No one had really expected this turn of events. When Kearny’s acceptance telegram was received and read out there were shouts of joy and the Ohio band struck up again…”
From “Raging Bull – A Life of Kentucky’s William “Bull” Nelson” by Haigher Kearny Brown
Memphis 1998
“Then consideration of a vice presidential candidate began. Of course the Kentucky delegates, primed with their instructions, nominated Senator Lovell Rousseau of Kentucky as their candidate but they were not alone. The Illinois delegation split and nominated both John C. McClernand and John A. Logan. Isaac Stevens of Washington Territory was nominated by Massachusetts. Other names too were added: Isaac Rodman of Rhode Island, Governor Austin Blair of Michigan and John J. Peck of New York. Crucially every one, save Blair, had been a general with a fighting command...”
From "The Uneasy Alliance – The National Union Party 1864 - 1900" by Fergus Glubb and Eleanor Bell-Hamer
Northwestern 2008
“Isaac Stevens, perhaps fearing the possibility he might actually become Vice President, a position he held in contempt, was quick to throw his weight behind the Kentucky delegation. The ticket needed political experience but Stevens had heard rumours about Austin Blair’s health. That left Senator Rousseau as the other senior officeholder in the young party. Stevens knew Kearny liked and respected him. Stevens, ever the political animal, also knew Rousseau was Nelson’s man and that could do no harm either…
With Stevens moving to Rousseau momentum swung his way. It took only the second ballot to give Rousseau the majority. A third ballot occurred anyway to make matters unanimous…
A convention which was to be no more that the death sigh of a party not yet out of its cradle became the rallying cry of a party that learned to run before it could walk...”
Isaac Stevens was a close friend and ally of both President Lincoln and General Kearny
From "War and Politics: The career of John A. McClernand" by Alfonso M. Mitchell
Rushbridge Press 1983
“Surprised by the sudden significance of the Convention McClernand was caught unprepared. He had been Captain-General of the Illinois branch of the United States Legion for less than three months. He had only joined the delegation to attend both the Convention and the Legion parade with a view to getting his name in the Chicago papers. Yet the former congressman worked his native delegation swiftly. To his agonising frustration he discovered John A. Logan, his fellow former Democrat and former Congressman, was working the delegation as well. They were too well matched and, though both were nominated having split their delegation, neither were taken seriously enough…
McClernand was furious. He resolved never to be caught unprepared again and he marked the name of John A. Logan down as requiring a very personal and fitting punishment...”
From “Profoundly Wrong – A Re-assessment of American Historical Criticism by Bertram James
Collingwood-German 1933
“What did the party stand for? National Unionism is viewed through the lens of what it became but at its outset it was a chameleon. It reflected the values its’ supporters wanted it to reflect even though its supporters fundamentally disagreed on everything. It could be whatever the voters and its candidates wished it to be...at least at the beginning...”
General Philip Kearny Junior of New Jersey and Senator Lovell Rousseau of Kentucky
National Union Party 1868
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General Philip Kearny Junior of New Jersey and Senator Lovell Rousseau of Kentucky
National Union Party 1868
Yay, its officially official. EVen though we all knew, but still, its officially official.
McClearnard is the master of political backstabbing, but it only works 40-50% of the time.
Logan though seems to be a master of surviving.
In other words I think they are just as dangerous as each other.
Be interesting to see who wins?
I had to read it all again and try to remember 7 years' worth of foreshadowing I need to pay off so I don't get roasted like Benioff and Weiss...
Perhaps it's just me, but there's something about this last textbook quote that seems particularly ominous (especially the preface of "Profoundly Wrong" as James' title choice).
Great update, TKI. Can't wait to see how Kearny and Rousseau pull off '68.
Significantly a more satisfying pre-coronation than last night's GoT finale. I can't wait to see what the political boxing ring looks like for 1868, whether it's going to come down to Kearny's personal popularity steamrolling his mere mortal opponents or whether the platforms of the various parties will actually be playing a role.
Always thrilled to see an update from this TL
Always thrilled to see an update from this TL
Bertram James is a critic of the Great Man theory of history in TTL. The Great Man theory might have a few more proponents in TTL before we're done. I always quite liked Robert Faulkner's support of the ideas of Thomas Carlyle (whose lectures on the subject occurred in 1840 so not butterflied away) - "liberalism’s antipathy to superior statesmen and to human excellence is peculiarly zealous, parochial, and antiphilosophic".
National Unionism, like the policies and planks of the Republican and Democrat parties in OTL, are going to be fluid over time...
I have a minor quibble for the near and late term future of American political parties. The two-party system the US has evolved and generally maintains exists mainly because the US has a "first-the-post" election system, basically whoever gets 50.1% of the votes wins, which makes it difficult for additional parties to break into the political mainstream and when they do they usually end up replacing one of the big parties, see the Republicans replacing the Whigs, the Whigs replacing the Federalists, and the Jacksonian Democrats replacing the Jeffersonian Democratic Republicans. So in a political world with a Republican, Democratic, and National Union parties, I'm wondering who will survive the Thunderdome. In OTL, the National Union Party was something of a slapdash affair to get Lincoln elected in an unsure political climate. But now, with Kearny throwing his personal notoriety behind the National Unionists, things could be different. I could very well see the Democratic Party fading away with the South getting a much more harsh treatment. The Democratic Party survived in the South, and the North, largely because of racist sentiments and because Democratic officials who had supported the Confederacy were allowed to retain their offices.
I was wondering what your thoughts on this would be TheKnightIrish
I was wondering what your thoughts on this would be TheKnightIrish
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Apologies in advance as I do not wish to hurry greatness but when can we expect an update on this most excellent TL?
Chapter Three
We want No Pope Here
Part I: On the Union Side of the Rappanhannock
Extracts from "The Campaign along the Rappanhannock Line - In their own words" by Professor John C. Dunning
New York 1995
"Henry Wager Halleck's appointment as Commander in Chief to replace the fallen McClellan, and John Pope's appointment to command the Army of Virginia were not popular among the officers and men of the Armies of the East...Samuel Sturgis expressed the views of many in his own colourful language - "I don't care for John Pope one pinch of owl dung"...
It was also the view of several of Pope's senior commanders that he was out of his depth organising and leading an army. "I feel that disgrace here is inevitable. This is the state of things - no order - no system - all is confusion" according to Brigadier General Marsena R. Patrick...
Nonetheless General Pope was ordered to defend the line of the Rappanhannock with the three corps of the Army of Virginia - Sigel's I Corps, Bank's II Corps and McDowell's III Corps, and one corps of the Army of the Potomac which had been pried from Porter - Burnside's IX Corps.
Just revisiting this excellent timeline. Burnside's IX Corps, was Burnside's, formed by him for the North Carolina Campaign and separate from the Army of the Potomac. In OTL, Burnside, acting with much more speed than McClellan, got his IX Corps to Pope's Army of Virginia before 2nd Bull Run. The IX Corps, like the rest of the Union Army of Virginia, only joined the Army of the Potomac in September of 1862.