Another American TL
- Thread starter jczak97
- Start date
Politics… Such a Fun Game.
The Election of 1820 would be one filled with controversy, both Clay and Jackson were both relatively new people in the political game and each had their own respective following. Jackson being the the embodiment of the Military and a true average joe candidate. On the other hand, Clay was a more by the books politician who relied more on his past successes to help get him into the white house. In this election, the media would play a large role with Jackson and his camp would use the newspapers to paint Clay as just another aristocrat trying to gain even more political power. Clay would not stoop to the low blows and continue to run a clean campaign. On the night of the election, there would be a clean split with each candidate winning 12 states, when it came to the electoral college Clay would have 116 votes and Jackson 114. With neither candidate having the required majority of the votes, the election would be forced to go to the House of Representatives.
The House following the last few elections had been gradually working its way to being roughly split even with Federalists and Republicans, and following that vote yet again there was no simple majority for either candidate. The election of 1820 was quickly turning into quite the debacle for each vote only proved yet again that partisan and political party alliances were starting to put a strain in the Government. Jackson and Clay would both be called before the Supreme Court, who were supposed to be for the most part unbiased when it came to politics. The two presidential candidates would each give one more speech, Jackson recounting his military career and his brief stint as Governor of Tennessee and Clay focusing on his success at Montpelier and his accomplishments as Senator and Vice President.
The Supreme Court would rule in Clay’s favor citing that he was much more qualified to be president rather than Jackson who they referred to as a military general rather than a person who would be considered a president. Clay would elected President on January 31st, 1821. Clay’s Vice President would be John C. Calhoun, the senator from the state of South Carolina. He would also chose to select his former enemy Andrew Jackson to be his secretary of war, to which while disgraced by losing the election graciously accepted the position, Alexander Hamilton Jr. would be his secretary of treasury, and John Quincy Adams would be the secretary of state.
Coming with his election, Missouri would also be ready to join the union. But there was a lot of controversy with the balance of slave and free states, the Abolitionist movement had succeeded in electing a number of representatives in the House, and one senator from both New York and Massachusetts. They would bring for the issue of balancing out the number states, the current balance being 12 Slave and 12 Free states, and they’re would even verbal arguments in the House of Representatives over what to do. Clay, seeing the problems building in the House, would call Representatives from both the slave and free parties to meet with him and the Vice President. Together, they would establish the law that would be referred to the Missouri Compromise. In the compromise would allow Missouri to join the union as a slave state, while the state of Maine would be created from part of Massachusetts. Finally the last part of the agreement would be that slavery would from now on only be allowed in territories below the 35th parallel. The Missouri Compromise would pass through the house and then pass through the senate. It would run into a problem at the Supreme Court, but after a quick review would be sorted out and signed into law on March 5th, 1821.
Another issue would the the rise of violent attacks being reported in New York, the Governor had sent word to Clay asking for permission to use the Military to bring an end to the attacks to which he would say yes. These attacks would be committed between what was being called the Protestant Militia Army and Zion Militia. The religious strife in upstate New York would a peak in 1824, where the PMA would massacre over 100 Mormons, including women and children. The New York Militia led by Christopher Stevens would be re enforced by the 3rd Cavalry and ordered by Dewitt Clinton to take the leaders of both groups and bring them to him. They would march on the PMA camp at Ithaca, New York.There they would surrender without a fight. The Zion Militia on the other hand wouldn’t give in as easily, after the Massacre they had grown increasingly isolationist. With this, they would go with both sides refusing to back down and accusing the other of starting the fight. Clinton wouldn’t be willing to hear any of it, and ordered the 3rd Cavalry to move the Mormons out of New York. Clay would chime in and question Clinton’s authority and say that he had no right to force Mormons out of New York. This in turn, would bring in Calhoun who was a firm believer in states rights and he would begin to question Clay. This would go on for a couple weeks of indirect comments at each other till eventually, the Mormons decided to leave on their own accord.
Aside from the two big issues in Clay’s presidency, he was quite the success. He continued his policy of building up the territories and even the treasury had a surplus during his presidency. He had made an attempt to normalize relations with the English but that was to no real avail. The French continued to be at odds with Americans, Napoleon was looking for more partners to box out English trade in Europe. The Marseilles Empire and the Americans were the closest to being true allies, with both nations allowing discounted prices on their goods to each other, even a few of Marseilles companies had moved the Southern US, setting up shops in New Orleans and Savannah to name a few cities. Overall, Clay would easily run again and win the election.
The Election of 1820 would be one filled with controversy, both Clay and Jackson were both relatively new people in the political game and each had their own respective following. Jackson being the the embodiment of the Military and a true average joe candidate. On the other hand, Clay was a more by the books politician who relied more on his past successes to help get him into the white house. In this election, the media would play a large role with Jackson and his camp would use the newspapers to paint Clay as just another aristocrat trying to gain even more political power. Clay would not stoop to the low blows and continue to run a clean campaign. On the night of the election, there would be a clean split with each candidate winning 12 states, when it came to the electoral college Clay would have 116 votes and Jackson 114. With neither candidate having the required majority of the votes, the election would be forced to go to the House of Representatives.
The House following the last few elections had been gradually working its way to being roughly split even with Federalists and Republicans, and following that vote yet again there was no simple majority for either candidate. The election of 1820 was quickly turning into quite the debacle for each vote only proved yet again that partisan and political party alliances were starting to put a strain in the Government. Jackson and Clay would both be called before the Supreme Court, who were supposed to be for the most part unbiased when it came to politics. The two presidential candidates would each give one more speech, Jackson recounting his military career and his brief stint as Governor of Tennessee and Clay focusing on his success at Montpelier and his accomplishments as Senator and Vice President.
The Supreme Court would rule in Clay’s favor citing that he was much more qualified to be president rather than Jackson who they referred to as a military general rather than a person who would be considered a president. Clay would elected President on January 31st, 1821. Clay’s Vice President would be John C. Calhoun, the senator from the state of South Carolina. He would also chose to select his former enemy Andrew Jackson to be his secretary of war, to which while disgraced by losing the election graciously accepted the position, Alexander Hamilton Jr. would be his secretary of treasury, and John Quincy Adams would be the secretary of state.
Coming with his election, Missouri would also be ready to join the union. But there was a lot of controversy with the balance of slave and free states, the Abolitionist movement had succeeded in electing a number of representatives in the House, and one senator from both New York and Massachusetts. They would bring for the issue of balancing out the number states, the current balance being 12 Slave and 12 Free states, and they’re would even verbal arguments in the House of Representatives over what to do. Clay, seeing the problems building in the House, would call Representatives from both the slave and free parties to meet with him and the Vice President. Together, they would establish the law that would be referred to the Missouri Compromise. In the compromise would allow Missouri to join the union as a slave state, while the state of Maine would be created from part of Massachusetts. Finally the last part of the agreement would be that slavery would from now on only be allowed in territories below the 35th parallel. The Missouri Compromise would pass through the house and then pass through the senate. It would run into a problem at the Supreme Court, but after a quick review would be sorted out and signed into law on March 5th, 1821.
Another issue would the the rise of violent attacks being reported in New York, the Governor had sent word to Clay asking for permission to use the Military to bring an end to the attacks to which he would say yes. These attacks would be committed between what was being called the Protestant Militia Army and Zion Militia. The religious strife in upstate New York would a peak in 1824, where the PMA would massacre over 100 Mormons, including women and children. The New York Militia led by Christopher Stevens would be re enforced by the 3rd Cavalry and ordered by Dewitt Clinton to take the leaders of both groups and bring them to him. They would march on the PMA camp at Ithaca, New York.There they would surrender without a fight. The Zion Militia on the other hand wouldn’t give in as easily, after the Massacre they had grown increasingly isolationist. With this, they would go with both sides refusing to back down and accusing the other of starting the fight. Clinton wouldn’t be willing to hear any of it, and ordered the 3rd Cavalry to move the Mormons out of New York. Clay would chime in and question Clinton’s authority and say that he had no right to force Mormons out of New York. This in turn, would bring in Calhoun who was a firm believer in states rights and he would begin to question Clay. This would go on for a couple weeks of indirect comments at each other till eventually, the Mormons decided to leave on their own accord.
Aside from the two big issues in Clay’s presidency, he was quite the success. He continued his policy of building up the territories and even the treasury had a surplus during his presidency. He had made an attempt to normalize relations with the English but that was to no real avail. The French continued to be at odds with Americans, Napoleon was looking for more partners to box out English trade in Europe. The Marseilles Empire and the Americans were the closest to being true allies, with both nations allowing discounted prices on their goods to each other, even a few of Marseilles companies had moved the Southern US, setting up shops in New Orleans and Savannah to name a few cities. Overall, Clay would easily run again and win the election.
Lions leading dogs
Napoleon wasn’t happy with what had transpired during what was called the War of French Aggression. He knew that he had been made out to be a fool especially with the chase for Wellesley in Northern France. He was disgruntled and wanted to punish the English. He had thought of ways to do just that but many of them just sounded like the ramblings of man with mercury poison. He decided that the best way to do that was to block them out from trading with Europe. He knew that he would have the support of both Italy and Austria, Italy being his puppet state and Austria being where his wife was from, but he knew there was no way that he could get Spain and Prussia to agree. Prussia he figured would require another war with decisive victories to force them to kneel, but Spain on the other hand would not even consider listening to him. They had actively refused to allow diplomats from both France and Austria, proving that he would need to reconquer them to get anything done.
Aside from plotting the downfall of Britain economically, Napoleon had begun to re arm his military. He had called for the army to be raised from the 150,000 that it was, most of those were French, but now he had called for both Italy and his new German territories to provide 50,000 each to raise it to a 250,000. Then he would turn towards Algeria and Tunis, he would force them to give in an additional 10,000 men. Raising the total to 270,000 men in the active army, with an additional 100,000 ready to be called up in extreme circumstances.
Austrian Emperor Francis I had come to Napoleon with the idea of striking at the Ottoman Empire. His points would include the disbandment of their most effective fighting force, the Janissaries, and he pointed out that they had lost a lot of troops during the Greek Revolution. Napoleon would agree and call a meeting between the Greeks, Austrians, and French in Vienna. They were discussing what to do and after a day of negotiations it was determined that the Austrians would gain Bosnia, Wallachia, and Serbia. The Greeks would gain Bulgaria and Constantinople area. Finally the French would get the rest of Anatolia. They planned their attack to be simultaneous and each nation would begin their attack on April 1st. Napoleon had seeked out to Marseilles so that they could use Crete as a naval base and staging area for the attack. Francois was wary at first, but eventually he would allow it for monetary compensation.
The Austrian army had finally regained it strength after the beating it had taken during the War of French Aggression. Francis I had mobilized the 1st and 2nd Austrian armies on the Bosnian and Serbian border, and placed the 5th Hungarian on the Wallachian border. The Ottomans had responded by moving 3 Ortas to the Wallachian border and the 1st army to the Serbian border. The Greeks had moved 7,500 men to the border, but these men were pretty green and had limited experience so they called for an additional 5,000 men to begin training. Napoleon had plans to move 150,000 troops to Anatolia but the process would take over a month to do.
The Ottomans had started to call up their reserves and move them north into the Balkans, they had no idea that Napoleon had planned to join the war. Eventually Mahmud II would lose his patience and declare war on Greece and Austria. The Greeks were caught off guard and at the Battle of Thessaloniki the Greek Army was beaten badly and were forced to fall back to Ptolemaida. The Austrians on the other hand launched their attack against the Ottomans first and they had some initial success at the Battle of Prijedor in Bosnia and the Siege of Ploiesti.
The Greeks had pleaded with Napoleon that they needed his support otherwise the Greek Peninsula would fall back to the Ottomans. He was forced to send 10,000 men from the planned invasion of Anatolia and sent them under the command of General Becourt Nicolas Joseph with orders to train and maintain the Greek front. Becourt would have his hands full on this front, he had an enemy with experience and moral, a small army, and his auxiliaries weren’t worth their weight. But, he had to do what Napoleon had requested of him or at least die trying.
The Main French force would make landfall on the 15th of July, 1824, and they would land at Antalya. They would encounter a few militia brigades but they would quickly fall the French. Mahmud begun to realize that the Ottomans were facing a dire situation where they were facing two of the strongest armies in Europe. He would reach out to Britain and Prussia for possible support but both rejected military support. They had cited that since they initiated the war by attacking Greece, that they had opened themselves up to being attacked. Mahmud would not fret the rejections.
What he had called for was for a large conscription of their Levant populace and called for them to be sent north immediately. He figured that if he couldn’t out skill Napoleon he would outnumber and bleed his army till he was too weak to continue on. Napoleon would push west and take the city of Fethiye and then again at the city of Marmaris. He would leave two Italian divisions to hunt down rebels and secure those cities. In the time it took for Napoleon to close of most of the south western portion of Anatolia, the conscripts had made their way to Adana and were told to march on Antalya. They would reach Antalya to find the Italian 2nd and 4th divisions dug in and fortified. They would still make an attempt to take the city, they had outnumbered the Italians almost 3 to 1 but they had no real desire to fight in a Ottoman war. The 2nd battle of Antalya would be a decisive victory for Napoleon with over 7,000 conscripts dead compared to the 1000 or so casualties to the Italian division. Seeing that his flank was secure, he would then make the march north to Izmir. He would encounter small divisions from the regular Ottoman army but they were more of a road block and they were easily dispersed.
All seemed good for the French army till Napoleon would be forced to his bed, in the summer of 1825. He would die a few days later. The Army would be put on hold and the French navy would bring his body back to the Imperial palace in Versailles. Napoleon the II who had been with his father during the time of the war would become the Emperor of France and inherited the war. Napoleon II would give a rousing speech the day his father died at the army’s camp in Torbali. The Grande Amree would become invigorated and they would push to Izmir before the Ottomans had even found out that Napoleon the Great (as he was being called by some of the Troops). The Battle of Izmir would be the most ferocious battle in the French portion of the war. Izmir would fall to the French, with the entire Ottoman army either killed or captured, the French didn’t take wounded Ottoman captives that day. Then winter would come and close down the first year of the war with the French and Austrians making progress and the Greeks being almost smashed.
Napoleon wasn’t happy with what had transpired during what was called the War of French Aggression. He knew that he had been made out to be a fool especially with the chase for Wellesley in Northern France. He was disgruntled and wanted to punish the English. He had thought of ways to do just that but many of them just sounded like the ramblings of man with mercury poison. He decided that the best way to do that was to block them out from trading with Europe. He knew that he would have the support of both Italy and Austria, Italy being his puppet state and Austria being where his wife was from, but he knew there was no way that he could get Spain and Prussia to agree. Prussia he figured would require another war with decisive victories to force them to kneel, but Spain on the other hand would not even consider listening to him. They had actively refused to allow diplomats from both France and Austria, proving that he would need to reconquer them to get anything done.
Aside from plotting the downfall of Britain economically, Napoleon had begun to re arm his military. He had called for the army to be raised from the 150,000 that it was, most of those were French, but now he had called for both Italy and his new German territories to provide 50,000 each to raise it to a 250,000. Then he would turn towards Algeria and Tunis, he would force them to give in an additional 10,000 men. Raising the total to 270,000 men in the active army, with an additional 100,000 ready to be called up in extreme circumstances.
Austrian Emperor Francis I had come to Napoleon with the idea of striking at the Ottoman Empire. His points would include the disbandment of their most effective fighting force, the Janissaries, and he pointed out that they had lost a lot of troops during the Greek Revolution. Napoleon would agree and call a meeting between the Greeks, Austrians, and French in Vienna. They were discussing what to do and after a day of negotiations it was determined that the Austrians would gain Bosnia, Wallachia, and Serbia. The Greeks would gain Bulgaria and Constantinople area. Finally the French would get the rest of Anatolia. They planned their attack to be simultaneous and each nation would begin their attack on April 1st. Napoleon had seeked out to Marseilles so that they could use Crete as a naval base and staging area for the attack. Francois was wary at first, but eventually he would allow it for monetary compensation.
The Austrian army had finally regained it strength after the beating it had taken during the War of French Aggression. Francis I had mobilized the 1st and 2nd Austrian armies on the Bosnian and Serbian border, and placed the 5th Hungarian on the Wallachian border. The Ottomans had responded by moving 3 Ortas to the Wallachian border and the 1st army to the Serbian border. The Greeks had moved 7,500 men to the border, but these men were pretty green and had limited experience so they called for an additional 5,000 men to begin training. Napoleon had plans to move 150,000 troops to Anatolia but the process would take over a month to do.
The Ottomans had started to call up their reserves and move them north into the Balkans, they had no idea that Napoleon had planned to join the war. Eventually Mahmud II would lose his patience and declare war on Greece and Austria. The Greeks were caught off guard and at the Battle of Thessaloniki the Greek Army was beaten badly and were forced to fall back to Ptolemaida. The Austrians on the other hand launched their attack against the Ottomans first and they had some initial success at the Battle of Prijedor in Bosnia and the Siege of Ploiesti.
The Greeks had pleaded with Napoleon that they needed his support otherwise the Greek Peninsula would fall back to the Ottomans. He was forced to send 10,000 men from the planned invasion of Anatolia and sent them under the command of General Becourt Nicolas Joseph with orders to train and maintain the Greek front. Becourt would have his hands full on this front, he had an enemy with experience and moral, a small army, and his auxiliaries weren’t worth their weight. But, he had to do what Napoleon had requested of him or at least die trying.
The Main French force would make landfall on the 15th of July, 1824, and they would land at Antalya. They would encounter a few militia brigades but they would quickly fall the French. Mahmud begun to realize that the Ottomans were facing a dire situation where they were facing two of the strongest armies in Europe. He would reach out to Britain and Prussia for possible support but both rejected military support. They had cited that since they initiated the war by attacking Greece, that they had opened themselves up to being attacked. Mahmud would not fret the rejections.
What he had called for was for a large conscription of their Levant populace and called for them to be sent north immediately. He figured that if he couldn’t out skill Napoleon he would outnumber and bleed his army till he was too weak to continue on. Napoleon would push west and take the city of Fethiye and then again at the city of Marmaris. He would leave two Italian divisions to hunt down rebels and secure those cities. In the time it took for Napoleon to close of most of the south western portion of Anatolia, the conscripts had made their way to Adana and were told to march on Antalya. They would reach Antalya to find the Italian 2nd and 4th divisions dug in and fortified. They would still make an attempt to take the city, they had outnumbered the Italians almost 3 to 1 but they had no real desire to fight in a Ottoman war. The 2nd battle of Antalya would be a decisive victory for Napoleon with over 7,000 conscripts dead compared to the 1000 or so casualties to the Italian division. Seeing that his flank was secure, he would then make the march north to Izmir. He would encounter small divisions from the regular Ottoman army but they were more of a road block and they were easily dispersed.
All seemed good for the French army till Napoleon would be forced to his bed, in the summer of 1825. He would die a few days later. The Army would be put on hold and the French navy would bring his body back to the Imperial palace in Versailles. Napoleon the II who had been with his father during the time of the war would become the Emperor of France and inherited the war. Napoleon II would give a rousing speech the day his father died at the army’s camp in Torbali. The Grande Amree would become invigorated and they would push to Izmir before the Ottomans had even found out that Napoleon the Great (as he was being called by some of the Troops). The Battle of Izmir would be the most ferocious battle in the French portion of the war. Izmir would fall to the French, with the entire Ottoman army either killed or captured, the French didn’t take wounded Ottoman captives that day. Then winter would come and close down the first year of the war with the French and Austrians making progress and the Greeks being almost smashed.
Trouble in Paradise
Henry Clay was re-elected by a pretty large margin over his rival Andrew Jackson, nowhere near as close as last election. Clay had won most of the states to the North and Midwest as expected along with some of the coastal Southern states while Jackson would win the inner Southern States like Tennessee and Alabama. Clay would choose the same cabinet but Jackson after losing twice would retreat to Tennessee to become the Governor. So Clay would replace him with Alexander Macomb, the accomplished general from the War of 1816.
Clay and Hamilton Jr. were both very interested in British Industrial Revolution, seeing how it had turned the tiny nation on the isle into one of the leading industrial powerhouses. Both would begin to think of a way to start to industrialization of America. They agreed that he, Hamilton Jr., would spend a couple weeks in England and a couple days in Marseilles to get a better idea on how to create the industrial base that they would need. His time there he would discover some of the things they would need: Coal, People, and Money. Hamilton would return and begin to work on a series of new acts with the support of Henry Clay and other Federalists. These acts would be a mixture of both the ideas of Hamilton Sr. and Clay’s ideals. One of the highlights would be the repealing of the Plains Act put in place back in 1819. Another calling for the creation of railways to help transport materials and people to and from, this act would be the Federal Railway Act.
But another thing he learned over across the pond was that to protect your fledgling businesses and industries you need to place tariffs on British goods. Hamilton would go pass a plan for a tariff on British and other foreign goods. It would be passed in 1826. This would cause problems with the South. Primarily with higher class aristocrats, and the leading voice would be John C. Calhoun. Calhoun would preach for states rights and the states had the right to protest or nullify laws that they didn’t see as constitutional. Calhoun would right to separate papers on the subject, one called the Nullification of the Tariff of Abominations and the other called the Discussion of States Rights. Both of these would cause for much anarchy in government, and it would only get worse when Calhoun would resign from office.
Clay was not happy with how his former Vice President was acting, referring to it as how a child would act when he doesn’t get what he wants. He appointed James Monroe to replace the disgruntled Calhoun. Monroe had been a senator and also ambassador to France and Marseilles before becoming the Vice President, to go along with being one of the founding fathers.
In the coming months more states would agree with Calhoun’s philosophy of Nullifications. North Carolina would be the first, followed by Virginia and Georgia. Clay began to seriously consider the idea of using the military to help restore order in the South before things got completely out of hand and talks of insurrection start. Congress had even been urged by Macomb to pass the Force Bill, which would allow the use of the military to enforce law and order in rebellious states. But all that would do is give the Southerners a reason to call up militias, each state would raise a preliminary 5,000 man defense force.
Disgust for the government began to spread to other states, and effigies of Clay and Hamilton Jr. were dressed as British kings and burned. Southerners were publicly willing to succeed if things were not changed quickly. Hamilton had realized his mistake, and went right to work with other Federalists on fixing the problem. The Federalists quickly brought to the table a new tariff that would lower it but still keep a tariff in place on a majority of European goods. The Tariff of 1827 would cause the Nullies, as the Federalists called them, to back down while peace and order was restored.
To add more pressure to the growing crack in the Union’s armor, Abolitionists had gained more ground in the north and they began to speak out in congress about Slavery. There talk would aggravate the Southern congressman, especially since they were working on getting other slave states admitted into the union. Calhoun would speak out against them citing that the Abolitionists were moving to destroy the Southern Agrarian way of life. Calhoun would rally great support in congress and would put an end to the talks for now.
Mexico during the tail end of Clay’s first term had opened up the Texas border to American Settlers. What they had planned for was new settlers to colonize the Texas region and then as a goodwill gesture to the American Government showing that they’d be willing to work with each other. Americans were initially hesitant but towards the end of Clay’s second term they began to move there.
At the end of Clay’s term, while it had its twists and conflicts he would be a rather successful president in that he did begin to try and industrialize the nation. The next coming election would be between the Democratic Jackson and Federalist James Monroe.
Henry Clay was re-elected by a pretty large margin over his rival Andrew Jackson, nowhere near as close as last election. Clay had won most of the states to the North and Midwest as expected along with some of the coastal Southern states while Jackson would win the inner Southern States like Tennessee and Alabama. Clay would choose the same cabinet but Jackson after losing twice would retreat to Tennessee to become the Governor. So Clay would replace him with Alexander Macomb, the accomplished general from the War of 1816.
Clay and Hamilton Jr. were both very interested in British Industrial Revolution, seeing how it had turned the tiny nation on the isle into one of the leading industrial powerhouses. Both would begin to think of a way to start to industrialization of America. They agreed that he, Hamilton Jr., would spend a couple weeks in England and a couple days in Marseilles to get a better idea on how to create the industrial base that they would need. His time there he would discover some of the things they would need: Coal, People, and Money. Hamilton would return and begin to work on a series of new acts with the support of Henry Clay and other Federalists. These acts would be a mixture of both the ideas of Hamilton Sr. and Clay’s ideals. One of the highlights would be the repealing of the Plains Act put in place back in 1819. Another calling for the creation of railways to help transport materials and people to and from, this act would be the Federal Railway Act.
But another thing he learned over across the pond was that to protect your fledgling businesses and industries you need to place tariffs on British goods. Hamilton would go pass a plan for a tariff on British and other foreign goods. It would be passed in 1826. This would cause problems with the South. Primarily with higher class aristocrats, and the leading voice would be John C. Calhoun. Calhoun would preach for states rights and the states had the right to protest or nullify laws that they didn’t see as constitutional. Calhoun would right to separate papers on the subject, one called the Nullification of the Tariff of Abominations and the other called the Discussion of States Rights. Both of these would cause for much anarchy in government, and it would only get worse when Calhoun would resign from office.
Clay was not happy with how his former Vice President was acting, referring to it as how a child would act when he doesn’t get what he wants. He appointed James Monroe to replace the disgruntled Calhoun. Monroe had been a senator and also ambassador to France and Marseilles before becoming the Vice President, to go along with being one of the founding fathers.
In the coming months more states would agree with Calhoun’s philosophy of Nullifications. North Carolina would be the first, followed by Virginia and Georgia. Clay began to seriously consider the idea of using the military to help restore order in the South before things got completely out of hand and talks of insurrection start. Congress had even been urged by Macomb to pass the Force Bill, which would allow the use of the military to enforce law and order in rebellious states. But all that would do is give the Southerners a reason to call up militias, each state would raise a preliminary 5,000 man defense force.
Disgust for the government began to spread to other states, and effigies of Clay and Hamilton Jr. were dressed as British kings and burned. Southerners were publicly willing to succeed if things were not changed quickly. Hamilton had realized his mistake, and went right to work with other Federalists on fixing the problem. The Federalists quickly brought to the table a new tariff that would lower it but still keep a tariff in place on a majority of European goods. The Tariff of 1827 would cause the Nullies, as the Federalists called them, to back down while peace and order was restored.
To add more pressure to the growing crack in the Union’s armor, Abolitionists had gained more ground in the north and they began to speak out in congress about Slavery. There talk would aggravate the Southern congressman, especially since they were working on getting other slave states admitted into the union. Calhoun would speak out against them citing that the Abolitionists were moving to destroy the Southern Agrarian way of life. Calhoun would rally great support in congress and would put an end to the talks for now.
Mexico during the tail end of Clay’s first term had opened up the Texas border to American Settlers. What they had planned for was new settlers to colonize the Texas region and then as a goodwill gesture to the American Government showing that they’d be willing to work with each other. Americans were initially hesitant but towards the end of Clay’s second term they began to move there.
At the end of Clay’s term, while it had its twists and conflicts he would be a rather successful president in that he did begin to try and industrialize the nation. The next coming election would be between the Democratic Jackson and Federalist James Monroe.
Old Hickory
The following election would finally see Jackson his presidential dreams finally fulfilled in the 1832 election. He would handedly beat James Monroe winning 18 of the 23 states and carrying a good portion of the popular vote as well. He would select Martin Van Buren as his Vice President and would pick Edward Livingston as his Secretary of State, Louis Mclane as Secretary of Treasury, and Lewis Cass as the Secretary of War. He came under some criticism for picking what many called unqualified members to be part of his cabinet but he wouldn’t pay much attention to that. The men, who everyone thought Jackson was going to pick: Clay and Hamilton, went back to their home states and ran as Senators. Each won their respective race.
Hamilton would continue his push for Industrialization in America. What he would do was put forth the new idea to try and overhaul the steel and coal production. His plan called for a creation of a government controlled coal-steel company and improving the ability to loans from both the National Treasury and State banks. Now, Jackson was a firm believer in a very small government with a limited ,if any, form of national bank. So when heard that Hamilton was rallying support in the Senate for expanding the government, he come out and say that he would not pass any law that deals with such a subject matter. Naturally this would put Hamilton and the Federalists in a delicate position since Jackson was going to prevent anything from getting done, and the Supreme Court wouldn’t be much help either.
Jackson and the Federalists did agree on one thing, they both wanted to start Americanising the Bahamas. The Bahamas had been to this point a forgotten part of the Montpelier peace talks, and most of the people in the Bahamas were the former British Plantation owners and their slaves. Jackson would call for the creation of a naval base at Freeport and would call for three new warships. He would station a newly formed 3rd Marines, only 1,500, in Nassau. Aside from the military aspect of the Bahamas, Jackson wanted to turn in it into a larger producer of cotton and other important cash crops. Abolitionists would have a field day with this, citing that Jackson was turning into the Aristocratic Slave owner that he called out Clay on. He would pay no mind to it and continue with his Americanization of the Bahamas.
During Jackson’s presidency there was an influx of settlers to the Michigan Territory, but that territory was already home to two tribes of Native Americans the Fox and Sacs. Normally both tribes had been more isolationist than hostile to American Settlers, but in the recent months they had picked up their raids on the settler towns. It started out small with just a few attacks that could be fended off by the town militia but things changed when a Warband led by Kitchi Machk or Brave Bear in English. Brave Bear and his Warband would raid the city of Madison and in the process would end up burning down the town and massacring the inhabitants. The outcry back in Washington would call for the Natives to be captured and Jackson would agree completely. He would dispatch the 3rd Cavalry, the same one used by Clay during the Religious Conflict in New York, and raise up the Illinois Militia. Pulaski’s would track the warband to Waunakee, a local Sacs Village. Pulaski and Captain Abraham Lincoln of Illinois Militia would surround the village. They would give the village elder and Brave Bear a simple ultimatum, either surrender or fight. They would pick fight, and the Battle of Waunakee would end with an American Victory. Brave Bear would be captured and over a hundred Fox warriors were killed, but in the commotion Captain Lincoln was hit by a musket ball fired by a Fox Warrior. Lincoln would die at a field hospital the next day. Pulaski would take Brave Bear to Washington where he would be tried and found guilty of leading the Massacre of Madison. He would be executed by an Army firing squad within the day.
Following the brief Fox war, Jackson had worked with senators to push forth an Act called the Indian Removal Act. The Indian Removal Act would call for all Native American Tribes east of the Mississippi River to be moved to the previously established Indian Territory. Immediately after the civilized tribes, that were still on the eastern side of the Mississippi , would go to court arguing that the United States had no rights to move them. It would make it to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court would actually side with the Civilized Tribes. Jackson would do it anyway and force the tribes off their lands at bayonet point by the United States Army.
Federalists in the House of Representatives saw this as their chance to impeach the President and took their shot. They began the process by going to the Supreme Court and arguing that Jackson had violated the ruling in the Creek vs United States. The Supreme Court, who were still under the aging John Marshall’s leadership, would be inclined to agree with the Federalists Representatives and the agreed to begin the case.
This would be the first time in United States History that Impeachment had been discussed with the true intention of it happening. The case would begin on June 21st, 1835 and it would be the President defended by James Madison and the head figures of the Federalist party both Alexander Hamilton Jr. and Henry Clay leading the charge against him. Initially it was going well for the Federalists, with both most evidence going well and having a lead in Justices 4-3, but things took a turn for the worst when Justice John Marshall died during the case, he had died soundly in his sleep. With their being an open seat on the Supreme Court, Jackson had to replace it and he would pick Roger Taney to fill Marshall’s spot and that would seal the deal for Jackson. The final vote would be 4-3 that Jackson stays as president. This would enrage the Federalists but there wasn’t much they could do about it.
In the end, Jackson’s presidency would end not long after the failed Impeachment case. He wouldn’t be able to get anything done and his reputation as a politician went down the drain. He would retire to his home in Tennessee and that would be the last note of importance of the once great Andrew Jackson. The next years election would be quite the race, but most of it would focus on the Rebellion in Texas.
The following election would finally see Jackson his presidential dreams finally fulfilled in the 1832 election. He would handedly beat James Monroe winning 18 of the 23 states and carrying a good portion of the popular vote as well. He would select Martin Van Buren as his Vice President and would pick Edward Livingston as his Secretary of State, Louis Mclane as Secretary of Treasury, and Lewis Cass as the Secretary of War. He came under some criticism for picking what many called unqualified members to be part of his cabinet but he wouldn’t pay much attention to that. The men, who everyone thought Jackson was going to pick: Clay and Hamilton, went back to their home states and ran as Senators. Each won their respective race.
Hamilton would continue his push for Industrialization in America. What he would do was put forth the new idea to try and overhaul the steel and coal production. His plan called for a creation of a government controlled coal-steel company and improving the ability to loans from both the National Treasury and State banks. Now, Jackson was a firm believer in a very small government with a limited ,if any, form of national bank. So when heard that Hamilton was rallying support in the Senate for expanding the government, he come out and say that he would not pass any law that deals with such a subject matter. Naturally this would put Hamilton and the Federalists in a delicate position since Jackson was going to prevent anything from getting done, and the Supreme Court wouldn’t be much help either.
Jackson and the Federalists did agree on one thing, they both wanted to start Americanising the Bahamas. The Bahamas had been to this point a forgotten part of the Montpelier peace talks, and most of the people in the Bahamas were the former British Plantation owners and their slaves. Jackson would call for the creation of a naval base at Freeport and would call for three new warships. He would station a newly formed 3rd Marines, only 1,500, in Nassau. Aside from the military aspect of the Bahamas, Jackson wanted to turn in it into a larger producer of cotton and other important cash crops. Abolitionists would have a field day with this, citing that Jackson was turning into the Aristocratic Slave owner that he called out Clay on. He would pay no mind to it and continue with his Americanization of the Bahamas.
During Jackson’s presidency there was an influx of settlers to the Michigan Territory, but that territory was already home to two tribes of Native Americans the Fox and Sacs. Normally both tribes had been more isolationist than hostile to American Settlers, but in the recent months they had picked up their raids on the settler towns. It started out small with just a few attacks that could be fended off by the town militia but things changed when a Warband led by Kitchi Machk or Brave Bear in English. Brave Bear and his Warband would raid the city of Madison and in the process would end up burning down the town and massacring the inhabitants. The outcry back in Washington would call for the Natives to be captured and Jackson would agree completely. He would dispatch the 3rd Cavalry, the same one used by Clay during the Religious Conflict in New York, and raise up the Illinois Militia. Pulaski’s would track the warband to Waunakee, a local Sacs Village. Pulaski and Captain Abraham Lincoln of Illinois Militia would surround the village. They would give the village elder and Brave Bear a simple ultimatum, either surrender or fight. They would pick fight, and the Battle of Waunakee would end with an American Victory. Brave Bear would be captured and over a hundred Fox warriors were killed, but in the commotion Captain Lincoln was hit by a musket ball fired by a Fox Warrior. Lincoln would die at a field hospital the next day. Pulaski would take Brave Bear to Washington where he would be tried and found guilty of leading the Massacre of Madison. He would be executed by an Army firing squad within the day.
Following the brief Fox war, Jackson had worked with senators to push forth an Act called the Indian Removal Act. The Indian Removal Act would call for all Native American Tribes east of the Mississippi River to be moved to the previously established Indian Territory. Immediately after the civilized tribes, that were still on the eastern side of the Mississippi , would go to court arguing that the United States had no rights to move them. It would make it to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court would actually side with the Civilized Tribes. Jackson would do it anyway and force the tribes off their lands at bayonet point by the United States Army.
Federalists in the House of Representatives saw this as their chance to impeach the President and took their shot. They began the process by going to the Supreme Court and arguing that Jackson had violated the ruling in the Creek vs United States. The Supreme Court, who were still under the aging John Marshall’s leadership, would be inclined to agree with the Federalists Representatives and the agreed to begin the case.
This would be the first time in United States History that Impeachment had been discussed with the true intention of it happening. The case would begin on June 21st, 1835 and it would be the President defended by James Madison and the head figures of the Federalist party both Alexander Hamilton Jr. and Henry Clay leading the charge against him. Initially it was going well for the Federalists, with both most evidence going well and having a lead in Justices 4-3, but things took a turn for the worst when Justice John Marshall died during the case, he had died soundly in his sleep. With their being an open seat on the Supreme Court, Jackson had to replace it and he would pick Roger Taney to fill Marshall’s spot and that would seal the deal for Jackson. The final vote would be 4-3 that Jackson stays as president. This would enrage the Federalists but there wasn’t much they could do about it.
In the end, Jackson’s presidency would end not long after the failed Impeachment case. He wouldn’t be able to get anything done and his reputation as a politician went down the drain. He would retire to his home in Tennessee and that would be the last note of importance of the once great Andrew Jackson. The next years election would be quite the race, but most of it would focus on the Rebellion in Texas.
You killed Lincoln. Why the hell would you do that?
Why not? Besides the minute I clicked submit a whole bunch of butterflies jumped outta my laptop
L’Aigle “The Eagle”
The French offensive against the Ottomans had been going well, even after the change to the younger Napoleon. They had taken the city of Izmir and rested for the winter while garrisoning the newly taken coast of Anatolia. Napoleon the younger reached out to his Grandfather, Francis II of Austria and discussed the idea of ending the war early against the Turks for Napoleon II began to realize that it wouldn’t be easy to pacify the whole of Anatolia in one war. His new plan called for the conquering of the coast of Anatolia and then taken the city of Constantinople and that surrounding area. Francis warned his nephew that it was originally agreed upon giving the Greeks Constantinople and that backing on that deal might be harmful for the reputation and relations between the two countries. Napoleon would brush off the warning and go with his plan.
The Austrian army’s fighting in Bosnia and Serbia were making quick work of the Ottoman armies that they came up against. The City of Belgrade fell to the Austrians after a quick seven day siege, and they had been liberating more and more towns. After the first year of fighting, over half of Serbia and Bosnia were under Austrian control. Wallachia was an open shooting ground, with most of the Ottoman forces in Serbia had fled to after losing control. The Austrians would make a push at Bucharest on the 8th of March 1827. That battle would leave the Austrian Army with with a bitter taste in its mouth after it was repulsed twice and they had lost ten percent of the invading army.
General Becourt and his French army had mirrored the Prussian Army’s tactics at Neu Gluze and stopped the Ottoman Army at Ptolemaida and they received only minor casualties.The Ottoman army fell back to Thessaloniki and dug in waiting for Becourt’s counter offensive. Becourt was ordered by Napoleon to just surround the ottomans at Thessaloniki and keep them their. This plan would not only keep the Greeks from having a case to claim Constantinople, but also it would make it easier to take the city with most of their army in Greece.
Back in Izmir,Napoleon would begin the march northward, they encountered little resistance till they reached the town of Edremit. That town had over the winter been turned into staging area for the Ottoman forces. It would be the bulk of Napoleon's army, 90,000 veterans of Anatolian Campaign, against the the hastily put together Ottoman Army of 85,000. The battle would only last for a couple of days and the French would continue their march. They would engage the same Ottoman Army again at Canakkale and yet again the Ottomans would be beat back. Napoleon planned for crossing the Sea of Marmara, but before he did that he would have to wait for the French Navy to clear the way.
The French Imperial Navy with a few ships from the fledgling Greek Navy would engage the Ottoman Fleet just outside the Sea of Marmara. It would be three French Ship of the Lines and 4 third rate frigates with two Greek sixth rate frigates would engage one ship of the line, six fourth rate frigates, and five six rate frigates. The Battle of Aegean Sea would be devastating to both sides, the French would clear out the Ottoman Navy but they would also lose the Greek ships and one Ship of the Line along with 2 frigates. Napoleon would cross the sea within the week, and another small skirmish at Gallipoli would let the Mahmud II know that Constantinople was in danger. The French would encounter the remainder of the Ottoman Army led by Mahmud at Tekirdag. While the Napoleon would win this battle he would suffer a great number of casualties and was forced to wait for reinforcements.
After a few months, he would begin the siege of Constantinople from both land and sea. The remainder of the French Fleet had begun shelling the city, and the canons from the Army had begun both regular shelling of the walls. Alternatively, Napoleon had imported some Congreve Rockets from the Britain and begun launching them at the city. The city following a week bombardment was ablaze with fire and the walls were beginning to fall down. On November 4th, 1829, Napoleon would order the taking of the city. While it would come at the expense of lose to 12,000 wounded and killed, they took the City the World Desires.Mahmud would be captured and brought before the winning powers of Austria and France and the Peace of Constantinople would be signed.
The treaty would relinquish the Greek part of the Ottoman Empire along with Anatolian Coast to France. The northern sections of Bosnia and Serbia and the whole of Wallachia would go to Austria. The Remainders of the Bosnia and Serbia would be morphed into a single country called Slavia. Bulgaria would also receive its freedom from the Turks. The Greeks on the other hand would receive no land but they would receive money from the Turks.
Now came the time to pacify the region, Napoleon had taken the idea from the Turks and took young men from the conquered Turkish lands and began to turn them into his new fighting force. He would have the convert to Roman Catholicism and learn to speak and write in French. He would call this new part of the army The Foreign Legion. He would eventually return home and properly mourn his father’s passing at his tomb in Versailles. Napoleon the Second called the eaglet by as a boy had turned into the the eagle that his father had groomed him to become.
The French offensive against the Ottomans had been going well, even after the change to the younger Napoleon. They had taken the city of Izmir and rested for the winter while garrisoning the newly taken coast of Anatolia. Napoleon the younger reached out to his Grandfather, Francis II of Austria and discussed the idea of ending the war early against the Turks for Napoleon II began to realize that it wouldn’t be easy to pacify the whole of Anatolia in one war. His new plan called for the conquering of the coast of Anatolia and then taken the city of Constantinople and that surrounding area. Francis warned his nephew that it was originally agreed upon giving the Greeks Constantinople and that backing on that deal might be harmful for the reputation and relations between the two countries. Napoleon would brush off the warning and go with his plan.
The Austrian army’s fighting in Bosnia and Serbia were making quick work of the Ottoman armies that they came up against. The City of Belgrade fell to the Austrians after a quick seven day siege, and they had been liberating more and more towns. After the first year of fighting, over half of Serbia and Bosnia were under Austrian control. Wallachia was an open shooting ground, with most of the Ottoman forces in Serbia had fled to after losing control. The Austrians would make a push at Bucharest on the 8th of March 1827. That battle would leave the Austrian Army with with a bitter taste in its mouth after it was repulsed twice and they had lost ten percent of the invading army.
General Becourt and his French army had mirrored the Prussian Army’s tactics at Neu Gluze and stopped the Ottoman Army at Ptolemaida and they received only minor casualties.The Ottoman army fell back to Thessaloniki and dug in waiting for Becourt’s counter offensive. Becourt was ordered by Napoleon to just surround the ottomans at Thessaloniki and keep them their. This plan would not only keep the Greeks from having a case to claim Constantinople, but also it would make it easier to take the city with most of their army in Greece.
Back in Izmir,Napoleon would begin the march northward, they encountered little resistance till they reached the town of Edremit. That town had over the winter been turned into staging area for the Ottoman forces. It would be the bulk of Napoleon's army, 90,000 veterans of Anatolian Campaign, against the the hastily put together Ottoman Army of 85,000. The battle would only last for a couple of days and the French would continue their march. They would engage the same Ottoman Army again at Canakkale and yet again the Ottomans would be beat back. Napoleon planned for crossing the Sea of Marmara, but before he did that he would have to wait for the French Navy to clear the way.
The French Imperial Navy with a few ships from the fledgling Greek Navy would engage the Ottoman Fleet just outside the Sea of Marmara. It would be three French Ship of the Lines and 4 third rate frigates with two Greek sixth rate frigates would engage one ship of the line, six fourth rate frigates, and five six rate frigates. The Battle of Aegean Sea would be devastating to both sides, the French would clear out the Ottoman Navy but they would also lose the Greek ships and one Ship of the Line along with 2 frigates. Napoleon would cross the sea within the week, and another small skirmish at Gallipoli would let the Mahmud II know that Constantinople was in danger. The French would encounter the remainder of the Ottoman Army led by Mahmud at Tekirdag. While the Napoleon would win this battle he would suffer a great number of casualties and was forced to wait for reinforcements.
After a few months, he would begin the siege of Constantinople from both land and sea. The remainder of the French Fleet had begun shelling the city, and the canons from the Army had begun both regular shelling of the walls. Alternatively, Napoleon had imported some Congreve Rockets from the Britain and begun launching them at the city. The city following a week bombardment was ablaze with fire and the walls were beginning to fall down. On November 4th, 1829, Napoleon would order the taking of the city. While it would come at the expense of lose to 12,000 wounded and killed, they took the City the World Desires.Mahmud would be captured and brought before the winning powers of Austria and France and the Peace of Constantinople would be signed.
The treaty would relinquish the Greek part of the Ottoman Empire along with Anatolian Coast to France. The northern sections of Bosnia and Serbia and the whole of Wallachia would go to Austria. The Remainders of the Bosnia and Serbia would be morphed into a single country called Slavia. Bulgaria would also receive its freedom from the Turks. The Greeks on the other hand would receive no land but they would receive money from the Turks.
Now came the time to pacify the region, Napoleon had taken the idea from the Turks and took young men from the conquered Turkish lands and began to turn them into his new fighting force. He would have the convert to Roman Catholicism and learn to speak and write in French. He would call this new part of the army The Foreign Legion. He would eventually return home and properly mourn his father’s passing at his tomb in Versailles. Napoleon the Second called the eaglet by as a boy had turned into the the eagle that his father had groomed him to become.
Sorry being alittle late, Midterms were a little harder than I thought
Texas
During the whole impeachment process in the US, the Mexican province of Texas was beginning to considered rebellion. The province was mostly American Settlers who had moved there after the province was opened up to them under Clay’s presidency. The problem is that the Mexican Government and the Texans didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of subjects. For example, many of the Texans refused to learn Spanish so the Mexican Government couldn’t even speak to their rowdy subjects. Another big thing was that the Texans believed in slavery, to which was outlawed in Mexico. These two major complaints compiled with a laundry list of others were gradually building up into a large open rebellion.
In Texas a council would meet in Washington, at that meeting important figures like Sam Houston, Stephan Austin, Edward Burleson, and Frank Johnson to name a few began discussing the plan of rebellion. The ordinary man in Texas had a rifle or a musket and enough powder to hold off the occasional Indian attack, but an open rebellion would require more than just muskets and rifles. Austin would pull some strings back in Arkansas and was able to smuggle in half a dozen cannons for the rebellion. Now, Houston wanted to begin training an army to help fight off the Mexican army. He and Burleson would go on a recruiting mission across all of Texas and gathered the necessary manpower to field an army. They recruited 2,100 into the “professional” army and they had convinced another 1,500 to be ready on a minutes notice.
The Texans eventually had enough when the Mexican President Santa Anna, tried to inflict both a higher tax on the Texans and began trying to force them to speak Spanish. He struck down on one of the training stations for the rebellion and executed the 250 men that were there. Sam Houston would gather his army, 1,500 men with 3 of the canons at Washington and begin marching south to Bexar. Burleson would take his men, the remaining 350 and began to move ahead of Houston’s army as a scout force.
Burleson and his troops would encounter a small cavalry regiment at Gonzalez. That regiment had been trying to force the town to relinquish the canon that was given to them. The first battle in the Texan War of Independence would begin there, with both sides initially hesitant to fight but one side did shoot first and that sparked the war. It’s unclear who shot first but, the Texans would force the cavalry regiment to retreat. Burleson had no casualties and moral for the Texans was bolstered.
At Bexar however, that was the first real battle. Houston and his army had been on the march to Bexar, which was the furthest west that was under Texan control. But Martin Perfecto de Cos, a General in the Mexican Army, had beaten Houston to it. Cos had an army of 1,200 stationed in the city and when Houston arrived. The Siege of Bexar would last for a month before Houston would attack the city. The attack would defeat Cos’s army, 274 dead and 320 wounded, while Houston had 104 dead and 235 wounded. The lose of Bexar enraged Santa Anna, who was quoted to say “The damn Texians had beaten Martin and secured Bexar, and suddenly they think the war is over. I’ll make sure to put that damn Houston’s head on a pike when I’m done.”
Santa Anna would lead his own assault into Texas, through Refugio. There was a small militia force there under the command of James Fannin, close to 280 men. They had taken the city unopposed. Santa Anna had an army of 5,000 men and when he arrived at Refugio, James Fannin quickly pulled his troops out and feel back to Goliad but Santa Anna was able to catch up to them. The Battle of the Goliad lasted a day and even though the militia inflicted 300 casualties, they were still captured by the Mexican Army. Santa Anna had instituted a new policy that day, any Texican POWs would be hanged as traitors. The militia was hanged outside the Goliad.
Houston’s army had left Bexar and began marching to the Southwest, the direction they had thought Cos and his army had fled after the siege of Bexar. He had left 300 men with orders to build the Alamo mission into a defensible location. During the same time, Austin had spent time just over the Louisiana border trying to convince men to help join in the war. He had also left Burleson the money to expand his army by 500. These 500 men were supposed to be a cavalry based unit to go with his light infantry. His army was begun to gain the reputation of being a quick response unit, and informally they were called the Texas Rangers.
Santa Anna had ordered his subordinate Vicente Filisola to take the town of San Felipe de Austin, and he gave him 500 men to take it. Filisola had marched out to take the town and when he arrived, Burleson and his rangers had already dug into the town. Not knowing how many men Burleson had, he still assumed Burleson had the 350 he had originally, but when he engaged the rangers he was handily beaten and even captured.
Santa Anna had pushed up and encircled the Alamo mission with his 3,500 men the rest had been stationed back at Goliad, the mission on the other hand had only the 300 men left from Houston and they had an addition 100 militia troops and famed frontiersman Davy Crockett with James Bowie and William Travis. They knew they didn’t stand much a chance in defeating Santa Anna, but they were determined to hold them for as long as possible. They had started fighting on March 7th, and they held out till the 12th. Santa Anna had captured the Mission, and yet again he would execute the rebels. He made The Alamo his camp for a couple days to wait for Filisola to give word on how the taking of San Felipe went.
The only word he would get is the arrival of both Houston and Burleson’s armies. Santa Anna had lost over a thousand men in the taking of the Alamo, and his men were tired and many weren’t willing to fight another battle. Things got even worse when Austin arrived with an additional 500 men from Louisiana called the New Orleans Gray Division. The Alamo herself was in pretty poor shape. On March 30th, the Texan Army attacked the mission and captured Santa Anna who was caught hiding in the basement of the mission. He was forced to sign the Treaty of Bexar, which stated that he would respect the independence of Texas and called for him to relinquish all the weapons he had left at the Alamo. He would return to Mexico a bitter man, and began to draw up plans to invade it again.
Meanwhile, the victorious Texans would return to Washington and set up the Republic of Texas with Sam Houston winning the first election unanimously. They had reached out to the United States to come and annex them but they were warned by Mexico that it would be war if that occurred. They politely declined but established trade and a defensive alliance with Texas. Texas would have to be her own country, but she wouldn’t have to stand alone.
Texas
During the whole impeachment process in the US, the Mexican province of Texas was beginning to considered rebellion. The province was mostly American Settlers who had moved there after the province was opened up to them under Clay’s presidency. The problem is that the Mexican Government and the Texans didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of subjects. For example, many of the Texans refused to learn Spanish so the Mexican Government couldn’t even speak to their rowdy subjects. Another big thing was that the Texans believed in slavery, to which was outlawed in Mexico. These two major complaints compiled with a laundry list of others were gradually building up into a large open rebellion.
In Texas a council would meet in Washington, at that meeting important figures like Sam Houston, Stephan Austin, Edward Burleson, and Frank Johnson to name a few began discussing the plan of rebellion. The ordinary man in Texas had a rifle or a musket and enough powder to hold off the occasional Indian attack, but an open rebellion would require more than just muskets and rifles. Austin would pull some strings back in Arkansas and was able to smuggle in half a dozen cannons for the rebellion. Now, Houston wanted to begin training an army to help fight off the Mexican army. He and Burleson would go on a recruiting mission across all of Texas and gathered the necessary manpower to field an army. They recruited 2,100 into the “professional” army and they had convinced another 1,500 to be ready on a minutes notice.
The Texans eventually had enough when the Mexican President Santa Anna, tried to inflict both a higher tax on the Texans and began trying to force them to speak Spanish. He struck down on one of the training stations for the rebellion and executed the 250 men that were there. Sam Houston would gather his army, 1,500 men with 3 of the canons at Washington and begin marching south to Bexar. Burleson would take his men, the remaining 350 and began to move ahead of Houston’s army as a scout force.
Burleson and his troops would encounter a small cavalry regiment at Gonzalez. That regiment had been trying to force the town to relinquish the canon that was given to them. The first battle in the Texan War of Independence would begin there, with both sides initially hesitant to fight but one side did shoot first and that sparked the war. It’s unclear who shot first but, the Texans would force the cavalry regiment to retreat. Burleson had no casualties and moral for the Texans was bolstered.
At Bexar however, that was the first real battle. Houston and his army had been on the march to Bexar, which was the furthest west that was under Texan control. But Martin Perfecto de Cos, a General in the Mexican Army, had beaten Houston to it. Cos had an army of 1,200 stationed in the city and when Houston arrived. The Siege of Bexar would last for a month before Houston would attack the city. The attack would defeat Cos’s army, 274 dead and 320 wounded, while Houston had 104 dead and 235 wounded. The lose of Bexar enraged Santa Anna, who was quoted to say “The damn Texians had beaten Martin and secured Bexar, and suddenly they think the war is over. I’ll make sure to put that damn Houston’s head on a pike when I’m done.”
Santa Anna would lead his own assault into Texas, through Refugio. There was a small militia force there under the command of James Fannin, close to 280 men. They had taken the city unopposed. Santa Anna had an army of 5,000 men and when he arrived at Refugio, James Fannin quickly pulled his troops out and feel back to Goliad but Santa Anna was able to catch up to them. The Battle of the Goliad lasted a day and even though the militia inflicted 300 casualties, they were still captured by the Mexican Army. Santa Anna had instituted a new policy that day, any Texican POWs would be hanged as traitors. The militia was hanged outside the Goliad.
Houston’s army had left Bexar and began marching to the Southwest, the direction they had thought Cos and his army had fled after the siege of Bexar. He had left 300 men with orders to build the Alamo mission into a defensible location. During the same time, Austin had spent time just over the Louisiana border trying to convince men to help join in the war. He had also left Burleson the money to expand his army by 500. These 500 men were supposed to be a cavalry based unit to go with his light infantry. His army was begun to gain the reputation of being a quick response unit, and informally they were called the Texas Rangers.
Santa Anna had ordered his subordinate Vicente Filisola to take the town of San Felipe de Austin, and he gave him 500 men to take it. Filisola had marched out to take the town and when he arrived, Burleson and his rangers had already dug into the town. Not knowing how many men Burleson had, he still assumed Burleson had the 350 he had originally, but when he engaged the rangers he was handily beaten and even captured.
Santa Anna had pushed up and encircled the Alamo mission with his 3,500 men the rest had been stationed back at Goliad, the mission on the other hand had only the 300 men left from Houston and they had an addition 100 militia troops and famed frontiersman Davy Crockett with James Bowie and William Travis. They knew they didn’t stand much a chance in defeating Santa Anna, but they were determined to hold them for as long as possible. They had started fighting on March 7th, and they held out till the 12th. Santa Anna had captured the Mission, and yet again he would execute the rebels. He made The Alamo his camp for a couple days to wait for Filisola to give word on how the taking of San Felipe went.
The only word he would get is the arrival of both Houston and Burleson’s armies. Santa Anna had lost over a thousand men in the taking of the Alamo, and his men were tired and many weren’t willing to fight another battle. Things got even worse when Austin arrived with an additional 500 men from Louisiana called the New Orleans Gray Division. The Alamo herself was in pretty poor shape. On March 30th, the Texan Army attacked the mission and captured Santa Anna who was caught hiding in the basement of the mission. He was forced to sign the Treaty of Bexar, which stated that he would respect the independence of Texas and called for him to relinquish all the weapons he had left at the Alamo. He would return to Mexico a bitter man, and began to draw up plans to invade it again.
Meanwhile, the victorious Texans would return to Washington and set up the Republic of Texas with Sam Houston winning the first election unanimously. They had reached out to the United States to come and annex them but they were warned by Mexico that it would be war if that occurred. They politely declined but established trade and a defensive alliance with Texas. Texas would have to be her own country, but she wouldn’t have to stand alone.
A Return to Normalcy
The presidential race this term was almost a pure Federalist campaign following the problem filled presidency of Jackson. The Federalists had played heavily on the controversies and effectively neutralized any chance of a Democrats chance of running and winning. The Federalists looked to Hamilton as a natural successor to Jackson, and he would accept the nomination with honor. The other candidate was William Henry Harrison, the former general who helped to subdue the Indian tribes during the War of 1816. The final tally would be almost unanimous vote with 26 of 28 states voting with Hamilton Jr. and to compensate and with the Southern vote he picked James Polk as his Vice President. Secretary of State would be Hamilton’s friend Henry Clay, Secretary of War would be Alexander Macomb, and Treasury would be Levi Woodbury.
During Hamilton’s was an increase in immigrants from Europe following failed revolutions and a large famine in Ireland. Of this, there were three ethnic groups coming over in large numbers: the Polish, Germans, and Irish. Both the Polish and German people have tried to revolt, the Polish to create a new Polish state and the Germans who tried to create a new German Democracy in countries like Prussia and Bavaria. The Irish on the other hand, had become heavily dependent on the potato and when a blight had severely damaged the crop for a string of years and after the British Government had tried to support the Irish but after awhile many decided it was better to just leave for America and start anew. The Irish when they came over never really left the ports with large populations in Boston and New York in the north, and Charleston in the south. The Germans went farther inland settling in the Midwest. The Polish, with support from Pulaski and his family, settled in Georgia and other southern states. In the north, many of the Irish and Germans were targets of political cartoons poking fun at them. While in the south, the Poles and Irish faced a harder time getting started since most of the money was still tied up in cash crops. But help would soon be on the way for them.
Hamilton could now continue with his plans for industrializing the nation, which now can go unimpeded. He began his ideas with a push to get Arkansas into the statehood, which would cause a bit of a firestorm in the House which had been steadily growing with Abolitionists who opposed the idea of admitting another slave state, but with admission of Iowa many were willing to admit it. He saw Arkansas as a good starting point to begin modernizing the south and trying to drag them out of their planter economy which he saw as a more of a problem since it could easily be defaulted if a bad crop occurred. He saw Arkansas as a good place to mine for coal with Pennsylvania being the Northern equivalent to it. The problem he had was a lack of iron deposits in the south, but for now he was going try and get them to begin coal mining. The same would go in the north with Pennsylvania.
Next would come to railways, whose growth had stagnated under the Jackson presidency. Just like his father ahead of him, Hamilton planed to improve the infrastructure of the country. He proposed the idea of using private investors to finance sections of the railroads and would then give them money based on the mileage they do. There weren’t a lot of people who could afford to finance sections of it, but two men each bought large enough sections for the project to be considered a success, Joshua Duncan and Christopher Williams. Duncan was a plantation owner from South Carolina, who had received his education in the North and had been impressed with the industrial might. With his wealth, he began investing it in smaller enterprises.Williams on the other hand was from Massachusetts and made his fortune in the shipping and naval industry. These two men combined would build a railroad that would start in Boston and end in Charleston. Duncan’s portion of the railroad would cause problems with many of the Northern Abolitionists, Duncan had used both his own slaves and cheap Polish workers. Many of them had stated that they would refuse to use and fund Duncan’s venture but they would quickly be silenced by the Supreme Court and the institution of a Gag Rule on the topic of slavery.
For the past fifteen years, the Mormons who had been forced to leave New York under Clay’s administration, had found peace in Ohio. They had formed their own town of a Nauvoo and flourished for quite some time now. The problem was that many of their surrounding neighbors had grown increasingly hostile toward them. Joseph Smith had then created a militia that would help to protect Nauvoo in case of danger. And danger it would not take long to show itself. The towns of Cleveland and Toledo would each from militias to wipe the Mormons from Ohio. They would attack Nauvoo from both the north and the south. The Legion of Nauvoo or Silver Legion as they were nicknamed, numbered close to 1500 and they had drilled enough to beat the average recruit in the US Army. They began skirmishing on the 12th of April in 1843 and it was quickly shown that the Silver Legion wasn’t going to give up Nauvoo without fight. The Toledo and Cleveland militias would take over a hundred casualties and the Legion would take only twenty-four. Governor Denison would quickly call the National Guard and quickly call out to the President for his support. Denison would march out to Nauvoo and first things first, they would disband the militia. Next they would march into Nauvoo and ask for Smith to come with them to Columbus to negotiate a peaceful compromise. Smith would reluctantly agree. Tragedy would strike however when angry Ohioans would move to take matters into their own hands and they would raid the caravan and capture Smith. He would be hanged before that night. The Mormons would both grieve and mourn the loss of their leader. Brigham Young would be the next in line and after a powerful speech would call for the exodus of his people to foreign territory. They would go without a complaint. Then men who murdered Joseph Smith were never found.
Foreign policy would also cause quite a stir during Hamilton’s presidency. As always the talk of tariffs against European goods was discussed but after the almost insurrection after the last tariff it was quickly shot down. Marseilles had continued to offer favorable trade deals with the US but there was a growing hostility over their disapproval of slavery, they had outlawed and freed their slaves in year of 1835. The British were still rather angry towards the Americans after the War of 1816, but they needed the corn and grain that grew quite well in the Midwest. The French were the one great power that didn’t have any quarrels with the US, profiting well from the cotton grown in the south. The Mexicans had threatened the US that if they were to adopt Texas as a state, that it would be a declaration of war. Many politicians, with Hamilton himself at the lead would not stand for such a threat and removed the embassy from Mexico City adding fuel to the fire. It would get worse when the Mexicans would make another attempt to gain a foothold in Central America and pushed to annex the U.S.C.A. who would repulse them yet again with the help of the American supplies and firearms. In the end the term of Hamilton the Young would end without war or conflict, but with the rise of Manifest Destiny in the US, that would change.
The presidential race this term was almost a pure Federalist campaign following the problem filled presidency of Jackson. The Federalists had played heavily on the controversies and effectively neutralized any chance of a Democrats chance of running and winning. The Federalists looked to Hamilton as a natural successor to Jackson, and he would accept the nomination with honor. The other candidate was William Henry Harrison, the former general who helped to subdue the Indian tribes during the War of 1816. The final tally would be almost unanimous vote with 26 of 28 states voting with Hamilton Jr. and to compensate and with the Southern vote he picked James Polk as his Vice President. Secretary of State would be Hamilton’s friend Henry Clay, Secretary of War would be Alexander Macomb, and Treasury would be Levi Woodbury.
During Hamilton’s was an increase in immigrants from Europe following failed revolutions and a large famine in Ireland. Of this, there were three ethnic groups coming over in large numbers: the Polish, Germans, and Irish. Both the Polish and German people have tried to revolt, the Polish to create a new Polish state and the Germans who tried to create a new German Democracy in countries like Prussia and Bavaria. The Irish on the other hand, had become heavily dependent on the potato and when a blight had severely damaged the crop for a string of years and after the British Government had tried to support the Irish but after awhile many decided it was better to just leave for America and start anew. The Irish when they came over never really left the ports with large populations in Boston and New York in the north, and Charleston in the south. The Germans went farther inland settling in the Midwest. The Polish, with support from Pulaski and his family, settled in Georgia and other southern states. In the north, many of the Irish and Germans were targets of political cartoons poking fun at them. While in the south, the Poles and Irish faced a harder time getting started since most of the money was still tied up in cash crops. But help would soon be on the way for them.
Hamilton could now continue with his plans for industrializing the nation, which now can go unimpeded. He began his ideas with a push to get Arkansas into the statehood, which would cause a bit of a firestorm in the House which had been steadily growing with Abolitionists who opposed the idea of admitting another slave state, but with admission of Iowa many were willing to admit it. He saw Arkansas as a good starting point to begin modernizing the south and trying to drag them out of their planter economy which he saw as a more of a problem since it could easily be defaulted if a bad crop occurred. He saw Arkansas as a good place to mine for coal with Pennsylvania being the Northern equivalent to it. The problem he had was a lack of iron deposits in the south, but for now he was going try and get them to begin coal mining. The same would go in the north with Pennsylvania.
Next would come to railways, whose growth had stagnated under the Jackson presidency. Just like his father ahead of him, Hamilton planed to improve the infrastructure of the country. He proposed the idea of using private investors to finance sections of the railroads and would then give them money based on the mileage they do. There weren’t a lot of people who could afford to finance sections of it, but two men each bought large enough sections for the project to be considered a success, Joshua Duncan and Christopher Williams. Duncan was a plantation owner from South Carolina, who had received his education in the North and had been impressed with the industrial might. With his wealth, he began investing it in smaller enterprises.Williams on the other hand was from Massachusetts and made his fortune in the shipping and naval industry. These two men combined would build a railroad that would start in Boston and end in Charleston. Duncan’s portion of the railroad would cause problems with many of the Northern Abolitionists, Duncan had used both his own slaves and cheap Polish workers. Many of them had stated that they would refuse to use and fund Duncan’s venture but they would quickly be silenced by the Supreme Court and the institution of a Gag Rule on the topic of slavery.
For the past fifteen years, the Mormons who had been forced to leave New York under Clay’s administration, had found peace in Ohio. They had formed their own town of a Nauvoo and flourished for quite some time now. The problem was that many of their surrounding neighbors had grown increasingly hostile toward them. Joseph Smith had then created a militia that would help to protect Nauvoo in case of danger. And danger it would not take long to show itself. The towns of Cleveland and Toledo would each from militias to wipe the Mormons from Ohio. They would attack Nauvoo from both the north and the south. The Legion of Nauvoo or Silver Legion as they were nicknamed, numbered close to 1500 and they had drilled enough to beat the average recruit in the US Army. They began skirmishing on the 12th of April in 1843 and it was quickly shown that the Silver Legion wasn’t going to give up Nauvoo without fight. The Toledo and Cleveland militias would take over a hundred casualties and the Legion would take only twenty-four. Governor Denison would quickly call the National Guard and quickly call out to the President for his support. Denison would march out to Nauvoo and first things first, they would disband the militia. Next they would march into Nauvoo and ask for Smith to come with them to Columbus to negotiate a peaceful compromise. Smith would reluctantly agree. Tragedy would strike however when angry Ohioans would move to take matters into their own hands and they would raid the caravan and capture Smith. He would be hanged before that night. The Mormons would both grieve and mourn the loss of their leader. Brigham Young would be the next in line and after a powerful speech would call for the exodus of his people to foreign territory. They would go without a complaint. Then men who murdered Joseph Smith were never found.
Foreign policy would also cause quite a stir during Hamilton’s presidency. As always the talk of tariffs against European goods was discussed but after the almost insurrection after the last tariff it was quickly shot down. Marseilles had continued to offer favorable trade deals with the US but there was a growing hostility over their disapproval of slavery, they had outlawed and freed their slaves in year of 1835. The British were still rather angry towards the Americans after the War of 1816, but they needed the corn and grain that grew quite well in the Midwest. The French were the one great power that didn’t have any quarrels with the US, profiting well from the cotton grown in the south. The Mexicans had threatened the US that if they were to adopt Texas as a state, that it would be a declaration of war. Many politicians, with Hamilton himself at the lead would not stand for such a threat and removed the embassy from Mexico City adding fuel to the fire. It would get worse when the Mexicans would make another attempt to gain a foothold in Central America and pushed to annex the U.S.C.A. who would repulse them yet again with the help of the American supplies and firearms. In the end the term of Hamilton the Young would end without war or conflict, but with the rise of Manifest Destiny in the US, that would change.
Manifest Destiny
John O’Sullivan was the first person to coin the term Manifest Destiny, and towards the end of Hamilton’s term that was the growing belief in the states. It was a belief that Hamilton and the rest of the federalists were going to exploit. This time around it was the Whig Candidate of Martin Van Buren, who previously was a Democrat and vice president under Jackson, who would attempt to challenge the Federalist stranglehold on politics. The election still wouldn’t be even close with Van Buren only winning 8 of the states. Hamilton would keep his cabinet and vice president the same.
Hamilton, Polk, and Secretary of War Harrison had made plans for an invasion of Mexico ever since they had threatened the US with war over Texas. In the first term he had commissioned 4 new more heavy steam warships to be created and stationed in New Orleans. These steam ships were designed off of a borrowed French design and proved that the age of sail was ending. Along with the creation of a whole new army for the western United States, named unoriginally the Army of the West and the Marines would be up to 15,000 strong. All signs were pointing to the US declaring war, but first they would need to bring Texas into the union.
Secretary of State Clay would meet with the President of the Lone Star Republic, Samuel Houston, on the 2nd of February, 1844. Houston would accept the offer. The Texans under Houston had focused heavily on fortifying the Nueces river and they had the occasional skirmish with small groups of Mexican soldiers. With Texas joining the US, the Mexican President Arista moved one army north to the Rio Grande river and made the ultimatum of release Texas by the end of the March or their would be war between the two nations. Hamilton would be recorded in the history books to say, “Arista, the damned fool” and rip up the letter.
Hamilton would place General Winfield Scott in charge of the Army of the South and move them to the Nueces river, and in the Army of the West he placed Zachary Taylor as the General and moved them to the disputed land in Northern Texas. It was on March 31st, Hamilton would give his answer to Arista. Scott’s Southern Army would cross the Nueces River and surprise the Mexican army with a large cannon barrage on their camp. The Battle of the Rio Grande would be a decisive American victory with the 10,000 man Mexican army being forced to route and sustaining 1,424 killed and 3,654 wounded. Taylor’s army would make a push for Sante Fe and it would fall after a short siege. The surprise assault on both fronts would catch Arista with his pants down and he was forced to call up an additional 5,000 men from the Yucatan to try and stem the tide of Americans that were bound to push past the Rio Grande.
Hamilton planned for a quick war which would see Mexico cede most of its northern territory which was deemed America’s by right. He was going to us Scott to push south and bog down any true Mexican army while Taylor would be used to march west and seize the important regions of Sante Fe and Pueblo de Los Angeles. He built in an additional plan for if naval supremacy was established a Marine Landing would be used to expedite the surrender.
Naval Supremacy wouldn’t be that hard, the Mexican Navy was small and lacked good heavy ships that the US had been building. Commodore Conner was tasked with hunting down the Mexican fleet, with the U.S.S Colombia, one of the new steam ships, as his flagship along with three first rate frigates, and seven smaller frigates. Conner would find the fledgling fleet as they were moving supplies from Veracruz to Fort Matamoros.Their fleet would consist of four small frigates and ten sloops along with the five cargo ships. The battle would begin just as sun was rising, and the Colombia would open up on the lead frigate and it would sink within the hour. The other ships would make an attempt to halt the American fleet and they would put up a valiant fight with even one lucky round striking the Colombia’s powder magazine sending her along with Commodore Conner to an early grave. His second in command, Matthew Perry would see that the Mexican fleet become a new reef in the gulf. While technically a strategic victory for the Americans, the loss of the flagship and Commodore would be disheartening.
With the Fort Matamoros lacking supplies, Hamilton saw it fit to take the fort and split the force under General Scott into two forces. He had granted the second army unto Brigadier General Alexander Pulaski, grandson of the Hero of Savannah Casimir Pulaski, and order him to take Matamoros. He would begin to lay siege within the week, the Mexican force was outnumbered five to one and had only enough supplies to last for maybe three days if they rationed severely. The captain of Matamoros, Joaquin Rea, would lead a daring charge to try to break the siege quickly and caught the right flank by surprise and almost succeeded if it wasn’t for an engineer by the name of Robert Lee rallying troops long enough for reserves to push them back. The next morning Pulaski promoted Lee to lieutenant for his actions and attacked Matamoros forcing Rea to surrender.
Back to Taylor’s force, they had maintained their push west encountering little resistance aside from the occasional militia force that was scattered with one cannon barrage. They joked “The damn Mexican’s talk a good fight, yet they run with their tail between their legs when ever we try”. Within three months, Taylor’s army had entered California, and finally began encountering true resistance, granted nothing more than light infantry it was still an upgrade for the rowdy soldiers. They arrived at San Diego and found a small contingent of the Mexican army, the Battle of San Diego would last for two days and they too would fail to stop them. After the fall of San Diego, a rebellion would start up in San Francisco and Pueblo de Los Angeles and they would establish their own state, called the California Republic. Taylor would meet up with the new Republic and his job would be finished.
Scott’s army, after receiving the supplies they needed after the Battle of the Rio Grande, would push south towards Monterrey where they would yet again encounter the main body of the Mexican force. The Battle of Monterrey would quickly turn into the worst battle of the Mexican-American war with the casualty numbers proving a pyrrhic victory for the Mexican force. Scott had been struck with a musket ball as he tried to organize the retreat, which would turn to a full route after his passing. Pulaski’s force would move quick to Sierra de Picachos mountains to try and regroup with the survivors of Scott’s army. They would fortify the mountains and the Mexican Army that was in pursuit of the retreating Americans that thought they found the remnants of Scott’s army, charged without scouting the area. Pulaski’s force would quickly prove them wrong, and destroyed the Mexican army.
Following the defeat at Monterrey, Hamilton was enraged after reading the telegram report of Monterrey, would move to have General Joe Johnston and his Marines prepare for the landing at Veracruz to be held on January 2nd, of 1846. His marine force would land and fight a battle against a hastily put together Mexican force to try and stop them but the Marines due to superior training and supplies would create a large enough landing zone that the Mexican force fled back to Mexico City. General Johnston would receive the nickname “Shootin’ Joe” for his insistence on being in the front line, he joked “Well, how in the hell am I supposed to lead an army from the back?” They would spend no time and quickly push to Mexico City, and it would be placed under siege. The people in the city had grown quickly upset with Arista and the siege with rationing of supplies drove them to the point of rebellion. Arista would be lynched and an emergency election would be held, with a the head of the army Vicente Filisola. He would quickly surrender to Johnston, and Secretary of State Clay would meet with Filisola on the U.S.S Liberty to sign the peace treaty. The Treaty of Veracruz would cede the northern half of the Mexican nation, release the Yucatan as it’s own independent state, and finally see the Mexican army number only 10,000 men.
The American armies would return home heroes and Hamilton would be praised as one of the greatest presidents in American history to that point. The nation had seen its largest expansion since the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory under Burr. A senator from Pennsylvania, David Wilmot a huge Abolitionist, moved to ban slavery in the newly acquired Mexican territory, but it would be quickly denied after the Gag rule which was put in place. It would still annoy enough of the Southern senators that they moved to have Wilmot replaced but it wouldn’t happen. The divide between the north and south would be growing exponentially after every election, the Mexican-American war united the country for a while but it quickly proved to do more harm then good. The next election would prove to be one of the most important elections yet.
John O’Sullivan was the first person to coin the term Manifest Destiny, and towards the end of Hamilton’s term that was the growing belief in the states. It was a belief that Hamilton and the rest of the federalists were going to exploit. This time around it was the Whig Candidate of Martin Van Buren, who previously was a Democrat and vice president under Jackson, who would attempt to challenge the Federalist stranglehold on politics. The election still wouldn’t be even close with Van Buren only winning 8 of the states. Hamilton would keep his cabinet and vice president the same.
Hamilton, Polk, and Secretary of War Harrison had made plans for an invasion of Mexico ever since they had threatened the US with war over Texas. In the first term he had commissioned 4 new more heavy steam warships to be created and stationed in New Orleans. These steam ships were designed off of a borrowed French design and proved that the age of sail was ending. Along with the creation of a whole new army for the western United States, named unoriginally the Army of the West and the Marines would be up to 15,000 strong. All signs were pointing to the US declaring war, but first they would need to bring Texas into the union.
Secretary of State Clay would meet with the President of the Lone Star Republic, Samuel Houston, on the 2nd of February, 1844. Houston would accept the offer. The Texans under Houston had focused heavily on fortifying the Nueces river and they had the occasional skirmish with small groups of Mexican soldiers. With Texas joining the US, the Mexican President Arista moved one army north to the Rio Grande river and made the ultimatum of release Texas by the end of the March or their would be war between the two nations. Hamilton would be recorded in the history books to say, “Arista, the damned fool” and rip up the letter.
Hamilton would place General Winfield Scott in charge of the Army of the South and move them to the Nueces river, and in the Army of the West he placed Zachary Taylor as the General and moved them to the disputed land in Northern Texas. It was on March 31st, Hamilton would give his answer to Arista. Scott’s Southern Army would cross the Nueces River and surprise the Mexican army with a large cannon barrage on their camp. The Battle of the Rio Grande would be a decisive American victory with the 10,000 man Mexican army being forced to route and sustaining 1,424 killed and 3,654 wounded. Taylor’s army would make a push for Sante Fe and it would fall after a short siege. The surprise assault on both fronts would catch Arista with his pants down and he was forced to call up an additional 5,000 men from the Yucatan to try and stem the tide of Americans that were bound to push past the Rio Grande.
Hamilton planned for a quick war which would see Mexico cede most of its northern territory which was deemed America’s by right. He was going to us Scott to push south and bog down any true Mexican army while Taylor would be used to march west and seize the important regions of Sante Fe and Pueblo de Los Angeles. He built in an additional plan for if naval supremacy was established a Marine Landing would be used to expedite the surrender.
Naval Supremacy wouldn’t be that hard, the Mexican Navy was small and lacked good heavy ships that the US had been building. Commodore Conner was tasked with hunting down the Mexican fleet, with the U.S.S Colombia, one of the new steam ships, as his flagship along with three first rate frigates, and seven smaller frigates. Conner would find the fledgling fleet as they were moving supplies from Veracruz to Fort Matamoros.Their fleet would consist of four small frigates and ten sloops along with the five cargo ships. The battle would begin just as sun was rising, and the Colombia would open up on the lead frigate and it would sink within the hour. The other ships would make an attempt to halt the American fleet and they would put up a valiant fight with even one lucky round striking the Colombia’s powder magazine sending her along with Commodore Conner to an early grave. His second in command, Matthew Perry would see that the Mexican fleet become a new reef in the gulf. While technically a strategic victory for the Americans, the loss of the flagship and Commodore would be disheartening.
With the Fort Matamoros lacking supplies, Hamilton saw it fit to take the fort and split the force under General Scott into two forces. He had granted the second army unto Brigadier General Alexander Pulaski, grandson of the Hero of Savannah Casimir Pulaski, and order him to take Matamoros. He would begin to lay siege within the week, the Mexican force was outnumbered five to one and had only enough supplies to last for maybe three days if they rationed severely. The captain of Matamoros, Joaquin Rea, would lead a daring charge to try to break the siege quickly and caught the right flank by surprise and almost succeeded if it wasn’t for an engineer by the name of Robert Lee rallying troops long enough for reserves to push them back. The next morning Pulaski promoted Lee to lieutenant for his actions and attacked Matamoros forcing Rea to surrender.
Back to Taylor’s force, they had maintained their push west encountering little resistance aside from the occasional militia force that was scattered with one cannon barrage. They joked “The damn Mexican’s talk a good fight, yet they run with their tail between their legs when ever we try”. Within three months, Taylor’s army had entered California, and finally began encountering true resistance, granted nothing more than light infantry it was still an upgrade for the rowdy soldiers. They arrived at San Diego and found a small contingent of the Mexican army, the Battle of San Diego would last for two days and they too would fail to stop them. After the fall of San Diego, a rebellion would start up in San Francisco and Pueblo de Los Angeles and they would establish their own state, called the California Republic. Taylor would meet up with the new Republic and his job would be finished.
Scott’s army, after receiving the supplies they needed after the Battle of the Rio Grande, would push south towards Monterrey where they would yet again encounter the main body of the Mexican force. The Battle of Monterrey would quickly turn into the worst battle of the Mexican-American war with the casualty numbers proving a pyrrhic victory for the Mexican force. Scott had been struck with a musket ball as he tried to organize the retreat, which would turn to a full route after his passing. Pulaski’s force would move quick to Sierra de Picachos mountains to try and regroup with the survivors of Scott’s army. They would fortify the mountains and the Mexican Army that was in pursuit of the retreating Americans that thought they found the remnants of Scott’s army, charged without scouting the area. Pulaski’s force would quickly prove them wrong, and destroyed the Mexican army.
Following the defeat at Monterrey, Hamilton was enraged after reading the telegram report of Monterrey, would move to have General Joe Johnston and his Marines prepare for the landing at Veracruz to be held on January 2nd, of 1846. His marine force would land and fight a battle against a hastily put together Mexican force to try and stop them but the Marines due to superior training and supplies would create a large enough landing zone that the Mexican force fled back to Mexico City. General Johnston would receive the nickname “Shootin’ Joe” for his insistence on being in the front line, he joked “Well, how in the hell am I supposed to lead an army from the back?” They would spend no time and quickly push to Mexico City, and it would be placed under siege. The people in the city had grown quickly upset with Arista and the siege with rationing of supplies drove them to the point of rebellion. Arista would be lynched and an emergency election would be held, with a the head of the army Vicente Filisola. He would quickly surrender to Johnston, and Secretary of State Clay would meet with Filisola on the U.S.S Liberty to sign the peace treaty. The Treaty of Veracruz would cede the northern half of the Mexican nation, release the Yucatan as it’s own independent state, and finally see the Mexican army number only 10,000 men.
The American armies would return home heroes and Hamilton would be praised as one of the greatest presidents in American history to that point. The nation had seen its largest expansion since the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory under Burr. A senator from Pennsylvania, David Wilmot a huge Abolitionist, moved to ban slavery in the newly acquired Mexican territory, but it would be quickly denied after the Gag rule which was put in place. It would still annoy enough of the Southern senators that they moved to have Wilmot replaced but it wouldn’t happen. The divide between the north and south would be growing exponentially after every election, the Mexican-American war united the country for a while but it quickly proved to do more harm then good. The next election would prove to be one of the most important elections yet.
Good chapter. So when you mean the USA annexed northern Mexico do you mean the entire Baja Peninsula, Chihuahua, Durango, Nuevo Leon, Sonora, and Tamaulipas as well as the entire OTL US Southwest region (including California)? Will the USA annex the entire Oregon Territory next? Please let me know. Thank you.
So when you mean the USA annexed northern Mexico do you mean the entire Baja Peninsula, Chihuahua, Durango, Nuevo Leon, Sonora, and Tamaulipas as well as the entire OTL US Southwest region (including California)? Will the USA annex the entire Oregon Territory next? Please let me know. Thank you.