Getting It Over With - Washington Wins at Brandywine (likely a TLIAW)

[DTF955Baseballfan]

These last 3 comprise the European portion - I said I was quite a bit behind the U.S. when it came to Europe. A few notes below the chapter as I invite others to continue the TL

Chapter 8: It’s All Over but the Shooting

1810 would be a pivotal year for Europe, but Latin America saw wars of independence continue.

Wellesley had been able to pull out of Spain, as Portugal was now safe. The French were clearly more interested in destroying the other continental forces, and Spain was now ina civil war.

Britain had originally sent forces to help the Swedes against Russia. Sweden was holding its own as 1810 wore on, so those joined Wellesley’s forces in going through Denmark from Copenhagen. The fighting was fierce, but Austria had invaded Bavaria and Napoleon had been interrupted in his attack on his brother Louis – wherein he incorporated the Netherlands into his own realm – and forced to march down to meet the Austrians.

It didn’t go well at first, as the Austrians, after early success, had found themselves crashed in May and having to abandon Vienna, marching north of the Danube, where they continued to fight. However, they faced a French army that was starting to become drained. Not only that, but some of the best men were being lost. Napoleon lost a tactical victory a couple weeks before a huge battle involving enormous armies.(1)

Napoleon kept pounding fiercely with his artillery, hoping to win before reinforcements arrived. Wellesley, later titled Duke of Wellington, is reported to have said as they approached, “We haven’t time to plan; order the men to simply go in and shoot at anything French.” Wellington later termed the battle, “The most incredible amount of blood and carnage this world has ever seen.” Archduke Charles’ brother, Johann, was able to arrive in time then, too, thanks to Wellesley’s actions, and the French had been defeated. This wasn’t the only big loss they suffered around this time, either.

Rebellions had broken out earlier in two places. All of Saxony eventually became Austrian thanks to the revolts there, and Tyrol also revolted against Bavarian rule.(3) Napoleon wanted to send men to attack both, but he’d lost a third of his men in this costly, bloody battle over 3 days of fighting. Wellesley’s 35,000 troops added to the Austrians were relentlessly pursing the French, though both militaries were extremely tired; only the fresh troops helped keep the Coalition forces going a little while longer, as they feared the money for them might run out son and they wanted a decisive win.

Napoleon had 2 choices – he could retreat toward Vienna and defend it or go west to Tyrol and try to put down the rebellion there. The advantage of letting the Tyrolese rebellion go a while longer was that if the Austrians recapturing it would be a great moral victory for them; but, Bavaria was clearly in trouble and his Confederation of the Rhine forces wanted to go there. Having seen the great Napoleon suffer a major defeat for the first time, some of his allies were getting cold feet, and the Russians were very thankful they had been busy with the Swedes in Finland and unable to help France.

Still, Napoleon had fought hard for Vienna, and he wanted to keep the city occupied as long as possible; Prussia, after all, hadn’t yet entered the Coalition but they might if they saw Vienna retaken. Now, it was just a blip. Therefore, he ordered his army to fall back to Vienna. Prussia had lost a third of its territory in a treaty the year before(4) but he wanted to ensure that the Austrians were as crushed as the Prussians had been.

General Michael Kienmayer had begun having great success in Saxony, however, and he was actually pushing Jerome Bonaparte (whose forces had previously been whittled down by the British coming down from Northern Germany) back after capturing Dresden recently; he and the Black Brunswickers were in process of capturing all of Saxony. An urgent messenger was sent to him to ask him to bring his troops down to face the French, though he didn’t have many it seemed likely that any little bit would be helpful. Napoleon’s forces tried to hold the Austrians, then crossed the Danube into the Vienna area to garrison it.

The ensuing battle, while not in Vienna itself, caused an immense amount of damage in it from the fires caused by shelling – citizens had been told to evacuate and therefore there were no bucket brigades, or at least not enough to help. General Junot couldn’t help, he was being hammered by Austrians in Saxony, while the Duchy of Warsaw had defeated the Austrians but – since General Poniatowski hadn’t wished to go much further and couldn’t get help from Russia – that aspect of the war had ended so Archduke Ferdinand Karl Josef could bring 20,000 men to help; Austria would gladly surrender some to Poland in exchange for defeating Napoleon, especially since they would get more of the spoils, with Russia and Prussia not with them.

He made an offer to the Saxons – switch sides and they would guarantee independence; although, truth be told, they didn’t want Saxony swallowed up by Prussia. They wanted to start dominoes falling to get the Confederation of the Rhine to back out of the alliance with Napoleon. They also guaranteed Polish independence provided they change sides.

Neither was forthcoming yet, but with Saxony practically occupied completely – and having less territory each day – the Saxon king was very close to splitting. And, the Poles had defeated Austria, so theyfelt confident, as long as their freedom could be preserved against Russia, something Austria was willing to accept; the diplomatic talks as the battles continued were quite intense, with nobody knowing what was happening and with messengers bringing sketchy news.

In the end, one wonders if Napoleon would have been in just as bad a shape had he let Vienna alone and backed off toward Tyrol. He might have been in danger of being shot by rebels there, whereas at least here, Wellesley and his forces insisted that he be taken alive.

As Napoleon maneuvered around after the indecisive Second Battle of Vienna, the Bavarian ranks broke with his as they hoped to stamp out the rebellion – their leader had reportedly had sharp words with Napoleon over his refusal to help. Soon, incredibly, the rebels seemed to be the anvil to the Coalition’s hammer. Okay, it wasn’t quite like that, but it was safe to say that guerilla warfare wasn’t only practiced in Spain. After another bloody battle, Napoleon was slightly wounded by an explosion caused by one of the rebels. The injury wasn’t serious, but it gave the British time to capture him alive if they could. French forces were forced to stand down, protect Napoleon, and try to head back to France. He told them to simply leave him on the field(5), but the weary troops wouldn’t.

In the end, Napoleon was captured by the British.

His wife, Maria Luisa, reportedly miscarried at the many rumors that came flooding into Paris about Napoleon being either dead, wounded, or captured, though her being pregnant at the time isn’t totally certain, as some speculate that there were only rumors she had a child so one could be produced as an heir later, though that wasn’t feasible, as it turned out. The couple had had a girl in late 1809, though, and Napoleon had been hopeful that his new wife could produce a couple more children, at least one being a son.

Louis XVI of France had died a few years earlier, but Louis XVII was now more than ready to take over in France, once the French armies were defeated. Even with Napoleon captured, this would prove to be difficult, of course, as Coalition forces hadn’t yet entered France itself. There was clearly infighting going on in France, however, so they rushed back.

It was without Napoleon, however; he had indeed been captured. The capture of Napoleon made the Russians very glad they hadn’t done more, but also made them worry they would be losing even more territory. Czar Alexander kept up his war with Sweden, but Russian forces weren’t doing that great in Finland and he was worried now about the Poles; if they remained independent, what would happen to Russian Poles? And, Prussia decided they would join the war, too, but had nobody to fight; would they get any of their land back? With the queen sick, the king was in no shape to decide for sure.

With Vienna in ruins, some other place would need to be found to host a conference to reorganize Europe. London seemed to be the best. For now, though, Coalition forces – what remained of them – mopped up in Austria. The first order of business was ensuring that Tyrolese rebels were rewarded – Barvaria would no longer have control of Tyrol. Saxony did switch sides once they learned of the capture of Napoleon was captured, and the rest of the Confederation of the Rhine would have to be neutralized somehow.

“Napoleon’s biggest mistake was going into Spain just months after Tilsit in autumn of 1809 to subdue it once more,” one historian noted. “Then, he subdued his brother and took the Netherlands for himself expecting a possible Austrian attack in late May, when it came in early May. Then, the British master stroke was getting those troops which had withdrawn from Spain and were originally going to help the Swedes in spring of 1810 against Russia, and moving them from Copenhagen into Northern Germany. Sure, Napoleon’s troops were tired out and that let Archduke John/Johann arrive in time to help his brother Charles, but what really mattered were the extra troops Wellesley brought down. They turned a possible defeat into a victory.”

Both sides had been decimated, however. France had lost over half their army as Napoleon tried hard to save Vienna and then to recover from that after the Cannae-style battle beforehand. It would be a hint of what was to come in the massive cavalry charges of wars in the 1840s and 1850s when artillery had far outpaced strategy. Several key generals lay dead on both sides after the 1810 conflict. Even if Britain had wanted to, they couldn’t intervene again in Spain to help calm things down.

This meant the Latin American rebellions continued. While Britain was never able to get troops into Venezuela, they weren’t really needed for the 1807 revolt that led to independence by the time Spain recovered.(6) They’d had so much trouble elsewhere, they spent most on tring to retain Peru, along with fighting losing battles against others, as will be told.

In Europe, Napoleon was exiled, but there was the danger he’d escape.(7) At the Congress of London in 1810-1, Denmark-Norway and Weden were restored to status quo ante bellum, and Saxony – which everybody but the Prussians wanted to keep away from Prussia – was given independence. Prussia was generally ignored as not haveing even been in the winning coalition, but they threatened war over a variety of things. Austria got Tyrol back, and as for Poland, it was argued that they’d gained their independence. Britain certainly didn’t want to reward Russia with it, and Austria wanted it for themselves. They suggested a Hapsburg royal could become King instead, if that didn’t’ work.

“The real trick there,” one chronicler noted at the time, “was to determine how to handle Poland, which had beaten back the Austrians, certainly didn’t belong to Russia, and would probably fight Prussian domination. Someone even suggested, if Prussia would likely simply be restored to their status before the war, that they could make Poland a member of the new German Confederation which was forming. Many wished for wisdom of the American Founders – and even they’d formed 2 countries.”(8)

Meanwhile, the United States and Columbia Confederation kept getting stronger, though the USA was far outpacing the Confederation.

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(1) Just as a tactical victory OTL by the Austrians was followed up by a disastrous but close (because of the huge losses) loss at Wagram

(2) Had Archduke Charles’ brother arrived in time with reinforcements OTL at Wagram, Napoleon could have been encircled an, even without encirclement, defeated. Here, the loss of even more quality men in battles in Spain, plus the addition of British and a few Danish men, ensures that it can happen.

(3) Each happened OTL, though the Saxon revolt hadn’t been complete till after the final peace was signed and thus became of no effect, and the French put down the Tyrol revolt, whereas they will be unable to do so here. While it’s true these were in 1809, things happened at a slower pace when it came to the earlier Coalition defeats so it’s likely they would here, too. In addition, Austria wasn’t at war earlier TTL, so it’s more likely they coincide with the Austrian decision to fight in 1810.

(4) Just as OTL in 1807, but here they are only a year removed from the same defeats.

(5) He supposedly did the same in Russia from what I’ve read.

(6) A bit earlier as news of Spain’s defeat spreads. The British weren’t used that much OTL either.

(7) In other words, same as OTL as far as his exile, so if someone wants to continue this they have him escape or not.

(8) And, there’s where the European part stands for someone else to pick up. when i get done with this.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

Chapter 9: The Colonization Society

The term colonization society took on a couple different meanings to the US in the 1790s and early 1800s. One was the idea of colonizing places with freedmen, but the other was the fact that they were, well, colonizing an amazing number of places with all their new land.

When last we left, it had mostly been mostly U.S. help to get New Orleans, St. Louis, and elsewhere from 1799-1801, though the CCA had helped a little, so the U.S. was willing to give it some extra land in what would be Alabama. This had led the U.S. to give Spain much needed funds. The U.S. agreed to buy more and more of Louisiana and even out west to San Francisco so they could have the bay – the U.S. had reached the Pacific in 1802. However, they weren’t done wheeling and dealing.

The U.S. had been working on a small strip of land apart from the Louisiana territory, which they got for only a few million dollars after the war, but they wanted Texas. Not only because of the land, but because there was more and more talk about where to settle the former slaves, as a number of slaves had been freed in the previous 20 years since the banning of slavery in territories, and many states – especially Virginia – wanted someplace for the free blacks to go.

The 36th parallel north eventually became an agreed upon line, going east to the place where it would go due South and hit the Nueces, then that became the Pecos River which would become the border as it flowed into the Rio Grande. Of course, the U.S. wanted it to be the Rio Grande, but Spain really had wanted to keep Santa Fe.

So, after a while, it was decide that would be the parallel, and that any oddities would be worked out later. After all, little was known about where a lot of this land was.

What was known was that – with no slavery allowed in the territories – there was a lot of movement into Columbia by slaveholding settlers from Virginia, with quite a few also into Kentucky, which had been allowed to become slave to get Virginia into the fold, though their entry was likely official before the actual Act which banned slavery in other territory.

Louisiana was tricky, of course. A lot of slaveowners in the area around New Orleans– the city was only about 8,000 people at the time – began moving to Mexico or Cuba. Meanwhile, President Jay, together with Louisiana’s military governor, Alexander Hamilton, not only moved American settlers down to take the port, they also worked to ensure that settlers would be able to come en masse there. Then, as Jay’s 2nd term went on till 1807, they ensured that former slaves could move there and into Texas. While Africa began to be considered, Texas was a much less costly option, as was the coast below CCA and Indian territories.

This made sense to a lot of people. Even with Louisiana procured, it was hard for any settlers, black or white, to move around to far Western Kentucky and then the Tennessee River border in order to get down to the Southwest, so not a lot went. Columbia felt it was ideal slave plantation land around the Gulf coast – especially after the cotton gin’s invention in 1800.(1) However, by the time that was developed, the United States had bought all of British Florida, East and West, except for a small area which would become the Columbian state of Alabama.

This meant Columbia had to find new places to expand. One was Indian lands in western Georgia, and one was the Caribbean. Both began to come to fruition about the same time. A colonel named Andrew Jackson had been winning major battles in 1809 and 1810 against the Indians, while the need of settlers for someplace to go created a situation beneficial to the CCA.

It seems that a lot of Protestants had begun to move to Cuba, where they bought bits of land to set up their own small plantations. Investment in these lands grew as the first decade of the 19th century unfolded, and as the situation in Spain became very tenuous, some began to consider the possibility of a revolt against Spanish rule.

One of the leaders, Joaquin Infante, drafted a Constitution with the help of those who had fled the mainland. It provided for Cuba as an independent state, presumed rule by the wealthy, established a social classification based on skin color, and provided for slavery “as long as necessary for agriculture.” The only sticking point to a lot of the original Cubans was Catholicism – they wanted it to be the state religion, but the CCA setttlers refused.

Infante realized he needed the support of the Protestants. He’d heard of the mess surrounding the American Constitution, and what had happened when they didn’t all hang together. That hadn’t hurt them but a split would be disastrous for his cause. It would be hard enough to get the ruling class on his side because they felt that Spanish help was needed to eliminate slave revolts. If they were to get any help from Columbia, they needed to avoid declaring for one religion.

Eventually, as the chaos in Spain continued, they budged on religion in exchange for Columbian support; that Colonel Jackson was winning big battles versus the Indians and they figured he and the Columbian navy were typical of the help Columbia could provide in the event of a slave revolt, and Columbia was closer than Spain; given the chaos in Venezuela and New Spain they knew Spain had other worries and that they might not even have those territories anymore. Charles Pinckney – the third Pinckney in 4 terms to be President – encouraged volunteers to go and help Cuba attain freedom, which they did in 1811 after a series of battles.(2)

Support for Cuba caused more tension in Columbia, though. Some mainlanders even broached the idea they could eventually become a CCA state. However, the fact that the Constitution presumed that the upper classes would rule made Cuban support a source of contention.

The rule by the wealthy which was presumed sat well with planter classes. Their government had become more centralized under C.C. Pinckney (1788-1794), with much of that centralization growing at the expense of the other states. In fact, with 4 of the first 5 presidents being South Carolinian, and 3 of 4 from the same family, there were rumblings among many less wealthy that Columbia was developing not only a ruling elite, but an oligarchy, with few of even that elite serving.

Still, the Presidency was quite weak. So, those around the Charleston area felt it was quite safe to select a Georgian as Preident, young as their top man was. Georgia was gaining power and prestige as plantations grew enormously in the south of Georgia and General Jackson fought back the Indians in the western parts. So, after debate about which of several Georgians it would be,young William H. Crawford was designated to be the CCA’s next President at just shy of age 40. He accepted, figuring he could always re-enter the Senate after that, and perhaps, having been born in Virginia before his family moved to Georgia, he could try to ease the CCA closer to the U.S...

It was under Crawford that Andrew Jackson subdued the Indian problems in the west and secured Columbia’s southern border against the Seminoles. Despite the fact he wasn’t a legislator or governor (though he had served in the House of Representatives for Tennessee in the late 1790s and early 1800s), a wave of support swelled to elect him President for the term starting in 1818. He promised to solve the Indian problem, and to represent the backwoods farmers. President Crawford, asked him to resign from the military if he wished to run, and he did in 1816, to prove he wouldn’t become “another Caesar,” as one concerned legislator put it.

Many in North Carolina and Alabama, which had by now become a state, supported him, even though Alabama was starting to grow into a state of wealthy plantation owners. Georgians loved him because of his quashing natives and letting the numerous settlers move into the western parts of that state. And Tennessee, of course, adored him. The planters in South Carolina preferred their own candidate, but couldn’t quite get enough support to prevent Jacksons’ election, as North Carolina especially was beginning to think they’d gotten a raw deal.

It would be a decision that would have a profound impact as Jackson would drastically change the Columbian Presidency and the plight of the backwoods farmer. Once he became President, he began the process of removing the natives from their lands entirely, and extended Presidential power by vetoing more bills than all the other CCA Presidents combined.

Meanwhile, James Madison won the 1806 election with John Jay choosing not to run for a 3rd term, cementing the tradition begun by Washington. Madison had a rather uneventful two terms. Some called for annexation of more Northern lands in Canada early in his administration, but these were cancelled out by those who proclaimed that the U.S. had just fought a costly war against Spain and had needed British help to secure the win. Madison, too, felt the need to simply keep a very steady course in what became known s the Era of Good Feeling.

His support for the yeoman farmer – yet without the rhetoric of Jefferson – helped many see the U.S. was taking a very different approach than the CCA. In fact, some in Tennessee had called for secession from the CCA before Jackson was found to be their champion, though there wasn’t a clear notion of whether that would mean independence or a request to be annexed by the U.S.. North Carolina, on the other hand, still had the offer on the table to join the U.S., though it had been ignored for a while. One North Carolinian spoke of Jackson as “our last hope before we leave.” They believed in keeping their promise to stand with the other planter states, but they still had enough of a divide that they would seriously consider going back. The Confederation could stand on its own.

Aaron Burr won the 1814 election over Rufus King, after a difficult fight over James Monroe among D-R leaders, thanks to Burr’s political machinations.

A new generation of Federalists began considering that they needed to move more toward the poor farmer and Westerner, though still supporting Eastern merchants. However, Burr went a step further and proclaimed things like equality of the sexes. His daughter, Theodosia Burr, born in 1783, had been taught all sorts of subjects and had married a member of a wealthy Virginia family in 1801. Her husband, James Patton Preston,(3) would become governor of Virginia.

Burr also began to work with Jefferson on the idea of gradual compensated emancipation in Virginia, though Jefferson considered him an interloper as a Northerner trying to push this – he preferred letting the Southern yeoman farmer do it on his own. Still, the work would pay off, as such a bill would be passed in Virginia soon before Jefferson’s death.

By 1815, when Burr took office, he was a much wiser, less rash man of almost 60 who had learned to work the political scene to perfection; indeed, he’d undermined Monroe’s own Virginia support for the Democratic-Republican nomination. His daughter’s father-in-law had grown to accept that slavery wasn’t worth the tremendous hassle, but there still wasn’t quite a call for an end to it. However, one thing that rankled him as Governor was that - despite no U.S. slave trade - Virginia at times had slaves taken over the line into the CCA. In addition, a number of slaves each year escaped into the mountains and try to swim across the Ohio River to freedom. Though some invariably wound up making their way down to the territory known as Mississippi, Burr even had some people – though almost all in the North – thinking that freed blacks could live side by side with whites if there was no slavery, which ruffled Preston’s feathers some.

Burr had, by now, sold his land interests in Texas and Louisiana, making a tidy profit on them. However, when an economic slump hit because of the end of the wars in Europe and especially the massive bubble in Western land, he didn’t react swiftly to the problems. By 1818, then, the American people were calling for something different.(4)

Henry Clay had introduced his American System in that year, and as a champion of those in the West, he sought to become the second President not from Virginia or New York (and even Adams had been from large, powerful Massachusetts.) John Quincy Adams was considered by some, but he’d been on the Supreme Court for a little over a decade(5), so Clay seemed a lock for the Whigs. His being from Kentucky and ability to hash out compromises meant he could easily serve the interests of the small farmers, Westerners of many sorts, and merchants.

Some had expressed concerned about his youth, but it was a rather calm time in America, and Clay had been a rising star for years in he Senate and House, which led to his receiving support from older statesmen; he’d been elected Speaker of the House his first day there, after all.

So, he beat Burr somewhat handily to become America’s 7th President. Burr left office proclaiming, “I sought to do the people’s will, but they chose differently. I wish it were not so, but I abide by their decision because that is what we do in our great Republic.”

Some say that in his younger years Burr had seemed like he would become a tyrant, but more likely he was just admitting defeat. Oh, and foreshadowing troubles he already saw brewing with Jackson in the Federal Mansion down in Charleston. Because the will of the peoplewas going up against the will of the elite down there, and countless other problems would crop up, too.

Clay was thankful to have a calm 2 terms when it came to other things. Because, he would have a lot to help iron out just when it came to Columbian affairs.

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(1) Remember that Whitney not moving, and General Greene not moving, into the South mean no invention of the cotton gin yet. It would be less than a decade, most likely, as it was a rather easy invention, but he didn’t have anyone inventing it right after him (though many copied it once they had the info), but those few years make a difference.

(2) Readers can decide on their own if there is an Alamo analogue to TTL’s Texas, but no, Andrew Jackson isn’t going to die there even if there is, I have other plans for him, having to do with that conflict between the wealthy landowners and the backwoods farmers.

(3) No marriage to a South Carolinian TTL; instead, but he’d still arrange a marriage which was beneficial to both and let them get a lot of money or land. Preston’s father, Col William Preston, would have already been famous when Theodosia was born, and this early victory by the Americans delays his death (1783 OTL) by a couple years since he died during a military exercise of a heart attack or heat stroke and it might not have taken place TTL. James, before being Governor, fought in the War of 1812 and would in the 1799 war TTL, thus delaying his OTL marriage and allowing Burr to intercede.

(4) Yes, the Panic of 1819 comes a bit earlier for both reasons. Since it had its roots in the preceding year or two, and the wars end earlier TTL, this seems quite plausible.

(5) Without the experience of going with his father on lots of diplomatic journeys TTL, he’s not as much into diplomacy and more into law; though he may have gone with him to negotiate the final treaty and I have him on one other one, he would be more influenced by watching Adams help to prepare the Constitution. Hence he is offered a seat like OTL but here he accepts; and a few earlier, too, replacing one of the Deep Southerners on the Court. Here, it’s more likely a balance between big and small states which is attepted on the Court.

 

[Silver]

More please.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

Chapter 10: Chaos and Coming home, part 1: The Turbulent Twenties

Andrew Jackson kept his promise, enforcing Indian removal by kicking out two of the “five civilized tribes” - the Creek and Cherokee - from Columbian territory.(1) Presidents Burr and then Clay expressed their outrage at this, andeven some Columbians. One famous incident found David Crockett ripping up orders, after which the young man (in his early 30s) took his family and moved into western Virginia; he’d worked some in Virginia earlier in his life when it was a symbol of how some Columbians still saw themselves as Americans. This break became a symbol of how Columbia was beginning to show signs of possibly splintering.

Benjamin Hawkins was a North Carolinian who had supported the Constitution, and he found attentive ears at first when he tried to help Columbia to “civilize” the Creek and Cherokee just as President Washington was trying to work with the other major tribes of the South through other agents. He had a falling out with Columbian government agents as their settlers moved into more and more Creek land, since there wasn’t other land available for them to move into. However, since Creek land existed on both Columbian and American soil, he was in a unique position to help both sides.

He worked to help the Creek understand the issues of property – private and government – and things such as why slavery was forbidden in one place and not another. The Creek were at first happy that more Columbian land had been added, as they could keep slaves on that land, but some chose to move south of the Alabama – where they already had some land. Soon, many more Creek found the feisty Andrew Jackson and his men taking more and more territory. This made Jackson very popular among Columbians, and in his last days Hawkins sensed that the Creek might all be removed. He helped them to sell their slaves for a profit and to start moving, but many remained. Still, Hawkins was eulogized as “A hero of 3 nations, America, Columbia, and Creek.”

As the Creek were forced South of the Alabama River, they found friends in Burr and Clay. Burr would travel down to that area to develop more land deals after he left office. They were for profit of course but still he helped.

The Cherokee also suffered from Jackson’s wrath, as the bill passed in early autumn of 1818 forced both tribes out of their land entirely. Path Killer, their chief who fought with Jackson against the Creek, considered Jackson a traitor to his nation and also to Columbia, considering that there had been good relations with the Cherokee for a while. They ended up settling next to the Creek with U.S. help, and as they were being forcibly removed, President Burr signed a law in late 1818 allowing them to become U.S. citizens if they chose, as with other native tribes who were considered “civilized.”(2) As his death neared in 1828, and he passed the mantle to John Ross, Path Killer is reported to have said, “My only regrets in life are that I did not hang Jackson or shoot Calhoun.”(3)

Yes, John C. Calhoun drew quite a bit of wrath, too. This is because of the Chaos of 1823 and what followed in the nation of Columbia.

Calhoun believed strongly in supporting what would later be termed “privileged minorities,” that being farmers who owned land. He had been in the Columbian Congress since 1811 and became an outspoken critic of Andrew Jackson, not because he was removing Indians, but because Jackson supported replacing those Indians with increased space, rights, and so on for poor, illiterate backwoods farmers rather than for the educated slaveholding ones. While he was a supporter of strong, centralized government, he opposed the route Jackson went to strengthen it. He became conflicted as time went on, wishing to keep the Confederation intact, yet also wishing that they could simply get rid of the poor by “shipping them off to America, where they accept anybody.” Calhoun was also a strong supporter of slavery, which rankled Path Killer as he and his Cherokee people saw how America was improving without it as they were settled in between the Creek and the Choctaw land, with some up north bordering the Chickasaw land.

British abolition of the international slave trade had opened other rifts between them. Planters wanted to continue the trade and were upset with British attempts to thwart it. Both Calhoun and Jackson felt there were enough slaves but took different stances on the British – Jackson wasn’t as interested in defending Columbian honor if Britain encroached upon them as Calhoun was, because Jackson felt that the slave trade only benefitted the wealthiest merchants, and that Columbia shouldn’t antagonize the British when quite a few of the backwoods farmers didn’t even own slaves. Calhoun, on the other hand, believed that the British were preventing the smaller farmers from gathering wealth and getting onto the level of the richest planters. However, he was also realistic enough to know that economically, it was better to limit it to prevent a glut, unless and until the amount of land grew.

There were economic elements, too. Jackson had used his power to defund a lot of central banks and had worked to spread the wealth to a lot of srartup banks run by poor farmers. He was acting in ways which greatly damaged the planter class by making it easier for smaller farmers to get loans, too, and thus compete with the rich plantation owners. Jackson pointed out that Alabama was being populated by the same rich owners who had taken the southern half of Georgia, much of South Carolina, and even bits of coastal North Carolina. He insisted that Calhoun was trying to prevent them from voting or having any say in their government.

This was a half-truth. Calhoun had been part of the planter aristocracy and had said that they were the ones who knew how to govern the masses, not the illiterate small farmers. However, he was not trying to recreate British aristocracy at the expense of the poor, although talk of poll taxes had occurred, and South Carolina still didn’t allow direct voting by the people for President; that was done by the legislature. However, Calhoun claimed that Jackson wanted to be a tyrant like Napoleon and totally ruin the planter elite.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Columbian Constitution specified the President would serve a 6-year term. It didn’t say he couldn’t’ be re-elected, but they hadn’t really thought to put that in; it had become an unwritten rule. Jackson, of course, argued that the Pinckneys had served 2 consecutive because they were family following pretty much all the same policies. However, as he considered running again, others charged that Jackson had made the Presidency so powerful through his constant vetoing of bills, using the military so much, and so on that even if a President could have run for a 2nd term with no real problem that Jackson should not.

Jackson’s administration was really drawing the ire of North Carolina, which again made noises about secession, except that Henry Clay and his American System were creating a much stronger federal government in the U.S..

Still, after the South Carolina slave revolt in July of 1822, things changed drastically.

Jackson didn’t send troops to put it down, which was fine – in fact, John C. Calhoun said upon Jackson’s refusal, “For once he realizes the states have the right to handle their own matters, only bringing in outside help if asked.” This was an exaggeration, but as the main candidate of the planter elite, who felt he would be a good candidate to draw the richer of the Jacksonians, Calhoun was ready to take as many jabs at Jackson and his backwoodsmen as he could.

Calhoun railed in the Columbian Congress lae in 1822 about Northern agitators sending anti-slavery pamphlets to their constituents, and how they needed to restrict not only the movement of slaves but of free blacks as well so they didn’t rile up the slaves, one of the things that made the Cherokee chief so bitter against Calhoun, as he knew there were a few mixed race or full Cherokees still in NorthCarolina, and they would be restricted, too, givent he way some acted. While Jackson might hve still signed the bill, though, Calhoun placed language in there restricting even how a slave could be freed by his master, which Jackson said was a power grab against the backwoodsmen. With this and their financial battles, Jackson vetoed the bill out of spite.

He also said it was vital to keep North Carolina in the Confederation, and there were even free black farmers who had supported him in that state; even if they couldn’t vote they could fight and in fact in North Carolina landed men of any race could vote yet if they had enoughproperty.(4) Jackson said he supported slavery and even owned slaves, but that Calhoun was just trying to bring back the power of the “rich planter elite who don’t care one bit about the backwoodsman.”

That’s when the Carolina Chaos began.

After the Denmark Vessey slave revolt had been put down, rumors had a few who hd knowledge of it escaping to Robeson County, North Carolina. It’s not certain whether this was true – more likely, according to some sources, it was a ploy by South Carolina to “put the north in its place” – Robeson County was home to quite a few free blacks who sometimes went as Indians to avoid discrimination.

North Carolina cried foul, and insisted that States’ Rights meant South Carolina couldn’t do that. Jackson was asked by Calhoun to intervene, and he did – on North Carolina’s side. The spite against Jackson was great, but also, it being an election year in Columbia, he wanted to rile up voters to support him, and he viewed this as a “massive power grab by the elite.” He noted that the slaves of a couple farmers who only had 1-2 slaves had been taken by South Carolina, and he would not have that! He supported the backwoods farmers wherever they were, even if they were wrong. (And, in this case, it was probably not true that South Carolina militia had taken any slaves improperly, but nobody could tell because of the kerfuffle that followed.)

Calhoun had made noises before about not allowing freedmen to live in South Carolina at all, which had riled up members of a prominent family, the mixed race DeReef Family, which had been free for generations. Jackson promised protection for this family, and again claimed Calhoun was becoming a tyrant, drawing the same complaint from Calhoun. Thomas Jefferson remarked, “I don’t like either man, but whatever happens, I fear this is going to result in a messy breakup.”

--------------------------

(1) Yes, 3 of them are safe, and given this act and the anger against it, plus the fact it’s not available for slaveholding, they will continue to be safe. Actually, the new border after the purchase of a bit more land takes away some Creek land, but a fair amount of it would have been taken under the old border anyway. And, actually, the Creek do keep a small portion of their own land, too, they’ll just have to settle south of the Alabama River.

(2) The Cherokee actually had this happen in 1817 OTL.

(3) The hanging part for Jackson’s treachery, and shooting part, if you skipped down here before reading on, you’ll see pretty soon.

(4) A ban on such voting passed in a surprisingly narrow vote in OTL’s 1835 Convention, and TTL they are also still allowed to vote if they have enough property.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

There will be a few morE after this - but it's clearly the beginning of... well, I won't spoil it.

Chapter 11: Chaos and Coming home, part 2: Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

President Clay began his 2nd term as things started to escalate in the Columbian Confederation.

James Brown, one of the wealthiest landowners in Cuba, having bought out some of the Spanish and expanded a sugar plantation(1), knew there were elements of Cuba that wished to be added as a Columbian state and offered a compromise, since he knew President Clay and was in fact related through marriage. He would work for Cuban statehood, and upon Cuba’s entering, one of the more backwoods states could leave the Confederation, and any slaves could be sold to Cuba, since America seemed to be phasing out slavery.

This seemed like a good proposal on its face, though clearly one designed to increase the net worth of planters like Brown. However, things were getting to the point where neither side really wanted to compromise.

The situation along the Mississippi River’s African Coast(2) was such that, thanks to Alexander Hamilton, they – like the Choctaw – had developed a very simple yet good civilization that many free blacks yearned to join, as did many slaves. The simple farming employed by these families was used as an example of how Freedmen could develop European-style civilixation. This galled Calhoun to no end, of course, which pleased Jackson – who had begun to be a proponent of re-settling freed slaves, although he preferred sending them to Africa.(3) This, of course was another difference between Jackson and Calhoun, as Calhoun had begun to see the natives as civilized before they had been kicked out by Jackson – at least the ones who had owned slaves – while Jackson saw the Indians as interlopers who needed to be wiped out.

Jackson’s vitriol had become loud enough that some declared that it might be better if he and Tennessee just left; this prompted some talk of North Carolina secession. Seeking a compromise and as a last ditch effort to keep North Carolina in the Confederation, North Carolinian Senators put forward Nathaniel Macon as a Presidential candidate.

The United States was a strong union. The Columbian Confederation was supposed tob e just that – a much looser union. In some ways, it still was. Sure, the Pinckneys of South Carolina – especially the first – had ensured it would become stronger, but it was still a weaker one than America’s. Perhaps, if they got back to what they’d originally planned to do – what Macon had hoped for – then there could be a good plan for the future.

It made sense, in a way. After all, their plans had supported the planter elite. While Jackson had drawn the praise of the other 4 states for his work against the Indians, South Carolina had strongly supported the planters’ candidate, and now supported Calhoun because they accepted that some changes had needed to be made. Macon could get the CCA back to its roots, bring back a weaker central government, and yet support those smaller yeoman farmers who had only gone for Jackson because they had been so frustrated with planter dominance.

Jackson countered with his own North Carolinian, John Branch, the son of wealthy landowners but one who was willing to support Jackson’s policies in a number of areas. Suddenly, North Carolina was being wooed by both parties, with men either Jackson or Calhoun might accept, yet Jackson and Calhoun themselves both wanted to win.

Macon, known as “Mr. Negative” for being one of the U.S. Constitution’s leading opponents and also opposing most of the increase in Federal government control in the CCA, suggested a new North Carolina Constitutional Convention to put more power in the hands of the people, eliminating some of the problems that kept the poor from voting. Perhaps, he thought, at that time they could also decide whether or not to join the U.S. or stick with Columbia. There was no need to trade them for Cuba if North Carolinians choice through that Convention to leave on their own.

It helped some. In the end, Jackson supported that state’s Hugh L. White, always an avid supporter of Jackson (though beginning to dislike Jackson’s grab for power), after Macon declined to run. However, Calhoun easily won as the planters regained control, much to Calhoun’s great relief.

Calhoun’s victory, it was said, was partly because of that Constitutional Convention,, and ultimately led to North Carolina coming back to the Union.

One of the triggers of Calhoun’s win in the Presidential race was a vote to prevent free property-owning blacks and Indians from voting. The vote likely would have passed otherwise, if somewhat narrowly,(4) but Calhoun’s protests were sold as an extreme power grab by the central government in Charleston. Also, freedmen were having great success in what would be the U.S. state of Mississippi(5). As Charleston decried the decision, but Baltimore supported it, even more began to suggest that North Carolina should consider leaving a few of the Eastern counties behind – places where the planters were more in force - and joining the United States.

The invitation to approve the Constitution still stood. Indeed, it was one reason why the U.S. still let Columbia use ports like Mobile for free, even though the goods shipped through there had been made with slave labor; the U.S. still welcomed them, though at arm’s length at times when the President was less amenable to slavery.

Discussion went on for months in North Carolina as President Clay sent envoys to discuss how things would go if North Carolina accepted the U.S. Constitution, such as whether its representatives would be accepted right away and what oaths they might take, and what rights the states hd. They were concerned but begrudgingly satisfied with Clay’s compromise concerning the Bank of the United States, which they disapproved of but which Clay was willing to accept could gradually give way to state banks. They also wondered about how the actions of the few slaveholding states would impact it.

Virginia passed a gradual compensated emancipation bill in 1823(6), and there were questions about where that would leave North Carolina, but they could see it dying out slowly even in their own state, though leaving a few counties behind would help. In exchange for those, they could discuss with Tennessee which of the most eastern, mountainous counties would come with it; any that wished to were welcome. Robeson County, North Carolina became among the Easternmost counties of North Carolina as coastal counties all the way up to New Bern chose to stay with the CCA. This still left North Carolina a port in Elizabeth City; the other few counties joined South Carolina for now.

After working on the compromise for much of 1824 – Calhoun’s first year in office – President Clay announced that North Carolina would be back in the Union starting January 1, 1825. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and James Madison rejoiced in their homes as they got the news that North Carolina finally ratified the United States Constitution and became a state.

Old friends Jefferson and Adams had been corresponding for years, and in one letter Jefferson wrote, “By the time you receive this, you will probably have heard that the Constitution has been adopted by yet another state. I am hopeful that our wonderful liberty will soon shine upon the others, too, as I fear the planters in Columbia have begun to be like the aristocracy we disdained nearly 50 years ago.” To which Adams replied, “Yea, it is a delightful time of celebration, which I am pleased we have lived to rejoice in together. I, too, share my concerns about the Columbian Confederation, though perhaps for different reasons, but in a way they are the same, too, for your concerns about a messy breakup continue to be valid, as the rich and poor there are worlds apart, and I fear revolution may be the result if something is not done; for Mr. Jackson, whom you rightly criticize, utilizes means which should concern us even if they were to break off as well.”

The joke truly was that Tennessee could follow, but would anyone want Andrew Jackson? As events would unfold, North Carolina would be grateful for having escaped the madness when it did.

----------------------------

(1) OTL a Louisiana senator who moved from Virginia to Kentucky and then to Louisiana, but with Louisiana free soil TTL, he moves to Alabama and winds up in Cuba as one of the Protestant leaders.

(2) OTL’s German Coast, with slaves being freed upon the U.S. getting the land it becomes populated by almost all blacks.

(3) OTL Jackson was also a member of the American Colonization Society.

(4) TTL a few factors work against freed, property-owning blacks being denied the vote, as ntoed. Yes, there will only be a few votes swinging, but they will be enough to cause the easure to let them keep the vote to be passed by a few votes. Not only that, this is years before OTL’s 1835 vote, before slavery was as entrenched, and with the power grabs by the Charleston government making some want to make a statement against that. Otherwise, the new Constitution is much like OTL’s 1835 one.

(5) TTL the U.S. has had Burr as President and Hamilton as military governor to try to get people used to the idea of treating minorities as able to be represented in Baltimore, but there is still the desire to wait for white settlers and also keep there from being to many such states. So…
TTL’s Kentucky has OTL’s Tennessee west of the Tennessee River;
TTL’s Mississippi is OTL’s Mississippi plus the OTL Louisiana coast across from New Orleans (everything east of the Mississippi River), along withOTL’s Alabama “north of a line to the Alabama where it begins generally eastward, at the corner of the Columbian border” (roughly OTL’s Selma), thus covering quite a few free blacks and 3 of the Civilized Tribes;
TTL’s Florida is OTL Florida plus the rest of OTL’s Alabama, thus letting it have Mobile. The other 2 of the XCivilized Tribes are there, plus some of the new Cherokee land.

(6) Came close to passing in the early 1830s OTL, here it’s presented earlier and passed dur to a few things: One couldn’t sell slaves further sound (it’s a different country), slavery wasn’t as economically viable as further south, the OTL Vessey plot is in TTL an actual slave revolt which made them fear it would happen there, and it would be a reduction on taxes, as slaves were taxed, and also not a reduction in representation since salves were counted as whole people for that. Also, the work of Jefferson and Madison and the fact a place for freed blacks has already been established.Lack of places to move with slaves has likely also caused it do wither more TTL.
[FONT=&quot]sed it do wither more TTL.[/FONT]

 

[Silver]

So North Carolina has joined the USA, eh? Will Tennessee follow suit or will it do so after the Columbian Civil War? Also, will there be a Mexican Revolution? Will the northern/border states of Mexico end up joining the USA? Will France after the Napoleonic Wars still have OTL Belgium and OTL Luxembourg as part of its territory as well as OTL Monaco and OTL Andorra? Please let me know. Thank you.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

So North Carolina has joined the USA, eh? Will Tennessee follow suit or will it do so after the Columbian Civil War? Also, will there be a Mexican Revolution? Will the northern/border states of Mexico end up joining the USA? Will France after the Napoleonic Wars still have OTL Belgium and OTL Luxembourg as part of its territory as well as OTL Monaco and OTL Andorra? Please let me know. Thank you.

You see it coming, too, huh? Although, I really haven't worked out things outside the U.S., so after the situation in Columbia finally gets resolved, I'm afraid the rest will be up to others. But, yes, Jackson and Calhoun are both thinking, "This town ain't big enough for the two of us - this *country* ain't even big enough.. And, they won't be the only ones involved, eventually.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

Part 12: Nullifying the Nullifiers – the Un-Secession Crisis

“Had Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun been in the same country as a Southern minority,” one historian noted, “they might have found common ground in some areas, though they would still have likely had fireworks. However, as the top rivals of factions in the same, small country – which once North Carolina left had grown small er – the friction was incredible, almost unstoppable.”

Andrew Jackson was much more confident about being able to run for a non-consecutive term as Columbian President in 1829. The fact it wasn’t consecutive eliminated a fair amount of criticism against him, though by no means all of it. John Calhoun, for his part, championed William Smith, who would be 67 upon his inauguration but who was a prominent South Carolinian that insisted on the strength of the Charleston government. This caused an interesting split.

George Troup, who had been born along the Tombigbee and who had tried for a while to get Columbia to buy more land from the U.S., was a strong Georgia Senator, and he had begun to lean toward Jackson’s side in some ways. He was encouraged to enter the election fray, too, so as to give Columbians the choice to let Tennessee go its own way within the Confederation, which some called for even if Jackson wasn’t elected. And, many believed he would be.

The CCA’s economy was weak, and growing weaker, as the American states of Mississippi and, to a lesser extent, Florida and Louisiana also produced cotton, and now so did some parts of North Carolina. Slaves were getting more expensive, and Jackson chipped away at the notion of wealth in the CCA by attacking the many things done during the Calhoun Presidency to ensure slaves were kept in, such as massive barriers (at least, massive for that day and age) that cost each state money.

Calhoun had felt that annexing Cuba would help a lot – their large sugar plantations would add to the Columbian economy. In 1827, Cuba’s request for admission was finally accepted. This was partly pushed by Britain’s attacks on the slave trade, not only in Africa but the Caribbean. Calhoun’s supporters reasoned that if Cuba were a state, it would be able to share slaves, and Britain wouldn’t interfere, and furthermore, that their economies would strengthen each other.

Tennessee didn’t have the money South Carolina or Georgia did; many of their farmers didn’t even have what Alabama did, and Alabama was quite poor despite the large plantations. Also, Tennessee had been asked to build a long wall along their border with the American state of Kentucky, which Tennesseeans didn’t want to pay for. In addition, their farmers generally preferred freeing their slaves at death or otherwise rather than selling them – very few had more than one or two and many had none. Yet, the central government had restricted how one could free a slave, and made it harder for them economically if they didn’t act like the big planters.

All this ruffled Jackson and his sense of individual rights. Adding Cuba, to him and his followers, just meant that there was no way they’d win in the very powerful Senate.

Jackson teamed up with some others and got just enough votes it would be really close between him, Troup, and Smith for the Presidency. Even without North Carolina involved, it seemed that Jackson clearly had the most popular support of anyone. Unfortunately, only the quite wealthy could vote in South Carolina yet – though that was slowly changing.(1) Even Georgia and Alabama had plenty of people who would oppose Jackson.

However, when Troup suggested that Tennessee simply be allowed to nullify laws, in exchange for he himself receiving the Presidency, Calhoun, the outgoing President, suggested that they simply let Tennessee go – the Tennessee River would be much easier to defend, after all, and Georgia and South Carolina had the state budgets to keep slaves from escaping that Tennessee didn’t.

Fair enough – except Jackson didn’t want his state to leave. He insisted that Tennessee was going to stay no matter what – especially with the U.S. President and the way Congress was going.

DeWitt Clinton of New York came after Clay and was elected as the 8th President in a sort of compromise between what were now called Whigs and Republicans; the Federalists had changed their name to better draw people in the West, as suggested by Clay as a candidate. Clinton was a Republican but favored mild improvements, though not quite the American System, and suggested they be best state funded, though the Federal government would do some. The fact he helped mke the government smaller helped immensely to give him the win in 1826.

Ultimately, the name change had also helped North Carolina, as they saw the old Federalists, under Clay, willing to bend more to states’ rights. Clay had even worked with the Republicans to work a National bank so that states could have their own banks and maintain a bit more control, something desired by North Carolina in joining the Union, with the bank coming up for renewal again in 1825.

DeWitt Clinton’s President lasted under a year, till January, 1828, before he died; it’s said the pressures from the Presidency and also his extensive work in New York as a quasi-Federalist were what killed him.(2) He was succeeded by Jedidiah Smith of New Hampshire, chosen to draw the New England vote and also to balance with a small state, plus Smith was closer to the Republicans than Clinton.

Smith served as President for 2 months before he himself died in March if 1828. Suddenly, James Barbour, President of the Senate, was the next President.(3) According to the Constitution, a new election would be held in November of 1828.

During his time as President, Barbour did his best to chart a middle of the road course between the parties, “as the public had requested,” as he put it. He declined to run again – “The Constitution,” he said, “is much clearer about the Vice President becoming President just as a Lieutenant Governor becomes Governor,” he said. He was also very happy in the Senate.”

Nonetheless, he is still considered the nation’s 10th President, and not just an Acting President. He mostly worked to build relations between Columbia and the U.S.. For instance, When Columbian President Calhoun made things difficult for members of the DeReef Family, President Barbour suggested that the U.S. “take the free of Charleston off your hands and to Texas free of charge.” Sarah Isabella Cain, a free member of this family, and William Catto, who had recently gained his freedom, had just married; Catto was feeling led to be ordained as a preacher and wanted to reach the many black and white of Charleston.(4) President Calhoun hadn’t yet made it illegal to be a free person of color in Columbia yet; the measure had failed even in South Carolina. However, there was definitely discrimination going on, and things were very rough. It seemed like it could happen soon.

Barbour generally tried to support the Colonization Society, where Texas was clearly working better than that failed experiment in Liberia, where quite a few of the several thousand who had gone there had died. (And, Catto moved his family to Baltimore, partly to thank the President, before going to Philadelphia, as a number of free blacks did, so he could preach.) Barbour saw his work as “helping rid Columbia of a problem by colonizing their freedmen, too.”

As for the 1828 election, New England had had a Vice President before Smith, but they hadn’t had a President otherwise sing John Adams. They’d selected Daniel Webster as possibly the one to break through – “while they had support among men like John Jay for their cause, it often appeared that they were less as appreciated as they should be,” one historian noted, “and one wonders if – had the Southern states been present – they would have had much more reason to be upset, as their ideas for proper protective tariffs could be met with compromise by the Middle States and Virginia, but the presence of the others would have truly made it much worse for New England merchants.”

Daniel Webster rose to prominence arguing cases before the Supreme Court that supported the Federal government and business interests. He’d found his oratory strong enough send him to Congress for 8 years with a few in between, and then the Senate. When it was realized that new elections would need to be held in 1828, with a new election cycle, Webster – who had grown closer to Clay over the year - emerged as the Federalist candidate, with New England finally getting their man.

He probably would have anyway, but Aaron Burr – despite being 72 – thought with his system in place he could win, while James Monroe considered also promising to serve one term and follow Barbour – who was well-liked. Given his age, he eventually supported Jeremiah Morrow, an Ohioan known for wanting small government. Morrow was selected to run, but Burr split the party just enough.

Webster hated slavery. This wasn’t a totally bad thing. North Carolina was considering how to slowly free their slaves, Delaware and Virginia both had gradual compensated emancipation since the early 1820s, and Maryland and Kentucky were about to consider or were considering similar legislation, which would mean the U.S. would eventually mean the country was free of slavery by 1850.

However, this posed a problem for Tennessee, which could see relations with the U.S. were souring. If they were going to leave the CCA they either needed a lot of help from the U.S. to free their slaves (since they were too poor a state to do so and compensate their farmers easily themselves) or they would be an independent nation, and a very poor one.

“Had there been a different President in America,” one historian wrote, “it might not have made a big difference. The Second Great Awakening was impacting a lot of people, and without the CCA and its hottest slavery advocates, it was a lot easier for even the South to begin to see the need for a soon end to slavery. Not only that, but even without Jackson, the Big Revolt was going to come in 1831. And, that was really the last straw.”

Jackson was plenty for some, of course. Calhoun wished Jackson would just split Tennessee off, but Jackson refused. It was jokingly called the “Columbian Un-Secession Crisis” in American newspapers, as Jackson continued to veto bills that supported rich planters financially and push for bills that had no chance of passage which would benefit those with no property interests. He’d basically “jammed up the works” of the government.

Troup urged a compromise – a new Constitution which more clearly enforced states’ rights. Calhoun is credited with it, but his main contribution was stripping the President of any poer, making him almost a ceremonial leader. However, Calhoun eventually decided that a strong central government wasn’t a good thing – it was holding the planters down to keep supporting Tennessee.(5)

In late summer of 1830, a new Constitutional Convention began. It made a lot of sense, with Cuba now on board as a state, to try to integrate their constitution, but there were some things they were concerned about, even with Cuba’s leaders generally being Protestant former slaveholders in the U.S. or even CCA. However, that was why States’ Rights would be one of the keys; it would be a more loosely tied Confederation, much closer to the original before C.C. Pincknye’s Presidency when it began to become a lot stronger. And, the President wouldn’t even have some of the powers that he had under the first one, before it became so amended with the PInckneys’ amendments.

Still, it took a while for them to decide on it, and it was after the first of the year, 1831, by the time it went to the state legislatures. Troup remarked to the Georgian governor, for instance, that they could now send militia after the Seminoles and retrieve escaped slaves without bothering the other governors or the central government. And, he told Jackson that this was great for Tennessee, too, because now farmers would hve control again over how they treated their slaves – even freeing them if they wanted – just like the class distinction written into Cuba’s Constitution would be different than the class distinctions in South Carolina’s.

Jackson and Calhoun continued to verbally spar, however, especially once the new Constitution passed in April of 1831. It was clear that Calhoun was fed up when, in early summer, he ridiculed the backwoodsmen a bit too much, stating that they were “no better than the Cherokee they kicked out” (the Cherokee having had fa fair number of holdings in Tennessee) and that they should leave and give that land to people who were rich enough to afford “enough property to make that land worthwhile.”

Jackson was furious. He couldn’t stand Indians for how they had fought against his backwoods farmers before he drove them all out. He demanded Calhoun retract the statement, as it was “an insult to one’s honor to be compared with savages.” He then compared it to comparing Cahoun to a slave.

This drove Calhoun berserk. He and Jackson had at it so fiercely that it seemed that some feared one of them would challenge the other to a duel. Then, there were the Tennesseans who were up in arms becsue the new Constitution, while being extremely States’ Rights, still gave the rich planters much more power, because Calhoun was not the only one who had great disdain for the backwoodsmen; in fact, Troup had hoped that the Constitution could be much more pro-small farmer because of some of his own consitutency in western Georgia.

And, as the Tennesseans and some backwoods Georgians began to protest in a way that was likely to cause a civil war, a group of men were noticing. A group led by a slave named Nat, who postponed his planned revolt for weeks in case the sides really did come to blows.(6


he wound up guessing right; once news came of the first skirmishes, he gave a signal that it would happen the next night.


--------------------------

(1) Even OTL South Carolina’s legislature selected electors and was generally supportive of the richer voting for longer than most other states.

(2) A few weeks earlier than OTL as he’d be more active in public life here for longer than OTL.

(3) OTL a South Carolinian was elected, but Barbour was elected the verynext year and was already in the Senate OTL, and with his powers of oratory it’s quite likely he’d have been chosen earlier.

(4) Octavius Catto’s parents, if his dad wasn’t free yet OTL he can be TTL with butterflies.

(5) OTL he turned to states’ rights around this time, too. While it’s for different reasons here, it makes sense that he’d change TTL so as to protect the richer planters.

(6) Modelled on Nat Turner’s revolt, you’ll see how the fellow gets there from Southhampton, Virginia in the next section. And, if you was to figure that it’s too late for him to be born, just say it’s a different person, as salve revolts weren’t uncommon.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

Chapter 13: the Walls Come Tumbling Down

A slave named Nat, born in Southampton, Virginia, was one of a number sold in the early 1820s as Virginia began to slowly emancipate slaves. However, he felt a higher calling; he felt God calling him to help those in Columbia. He felt that God was telling him that the chains which were loosening in his county in Southeast Virginia were tightening elsewhere.

The Five Civilized Tribes had begun to actively help slaves escape and hide at times, especially because in the parts where Columbia wasn’t bordering the U.S. via river, some people were going voer and trying to grab members of the Cherokee or Creek instead on rare occasions, because there had been some intermarriage with escaped or free blacks. There were also some who had tried, even after the walls began to be built, to swim to freedom. Skirmishes had occurred whether or not these were actual escapees, and it was easy for Nat to travel into the tribes and try to get help.

Nat had worked to encourage slaves in Alabama to rebel in the region near Tennessee, just south of the Tennessee River. The plan had been for July 4, but it was put off due to several things. In August, 1831, a major revolt occurred, as cotton fields were deliberately ruined and property destroyed before Nat led large groups over to what had become Cherokee Territory; they were more than happy to harm Columbia, especially with Jackson as President, after what had been done to them.

What caused them to postpone it, in part, was the increasing chance of civil strife. Normally, the state of Alabama might be able to put down the revolt, but if more he3lp was needed, and soldiers were elsewhere, it might be harder.

Calhoun had been complaining about British squelching of the slave trade throughout his Presidency, even that between Columbia and Cuba, until Cuba became a state. He warned in July that, “President Jackson needs to step down and cease his talk of tyranny, lest we become British subjects again. We must all stand together against tyrants, whether from Britain or from Tennessee.”

“They made their decision,” Jackson is said to have roared once the new Constitution took effect and his Presidential powers sharply curtailed, “now let’s see them enforce it if they do convict me – I happen to control the Army.”

It was a small army, but they knew it was still a situation where a civil war could be brewing.

While all this was happening, the Columbian Ambassador to the United States demanded that the U.S. stop Indians from attacking into Columbian land; the U.S. countered that Columbia needed to stop entering American territory. One day, as they were holding one of several long meetings, a messenger rushed in with news of the massive Alabama slave revolt. The ambassador was furious. “What are you doing to do about this, Mister Webster,” he screamed, pounding the table.

“Perhaps this shows it is time to free them,” Webster replied candidly, “and that your people learn to work with their hands, and to steal no more from the work of others.”

He said it was one time when, amazingly enough, he actually agreed with Andrew Jackson concerning the planter class which had grown in Columbia. He said later, “I was stunned, upon considering this, that perhaps Mr. Jackson and I had some things in common, and I sent to him to suggest that an agreement might be worked out to admit Tennessee into the Union.”

The only problem was that now, if they did that, they might be risking war with Columbia. Webster had been busily negotiating a treaty over the final border with Maine, as well as that of Oregon, where some settlers had already begun to go.(1)

The British had other concerns, too. They still bought quite a bit of cotton from the CCA, and they wanted to know, as August went on, if the U.S. would mind British intervention just to make sure a full-scale Civil War didn’t disrupt the trade.

Webster had been reaching out to Tennessee already. Things were coming to a head. Calhoun’s Senate overrode Jackson’s veto of bill raising the tax on farmers – one which planters could pay but which Jackson feared would drive small farmers out of business – “the tax of abominations,” he called it, stating that the Charleston government had no right to add a tax onto the tax that they paid to the state for their small farms – and that said nothing of the poor who owned no land.

Calhoun was clearly trying to drive Jackson out of the Columbian Confederation. Buoyed by many richer planters, Calhoun spoke in favor of a bill one had presented identifying Tennessee as a part of North Carolina after all – half a century after the Confederation had agreed it would be separate – and that it therefore rightfully belonged in the United States. If Tennessee were recognized as part of North Carolina, then it would have left with North Carolina and could legitimately be said to now be in the United States. It was a strange measure designed to be a compromise that would end the skirmishes between Tennessee and the other states, as such fighting was making it harder for Alabama to end the slave revolt in that state.

The measure ultimately didn’t pass, but Senator Martin Van Buren offered a resolution officially recognizing Tennessee as a member of the United States.

Van Buren had left the Senate to run for Governor of New York, an election he would win. He’d been Ambassador to Columbia in 1817, replacing the previous one, as a favor from Aaron Burr, whom he supported. While he disagreed with Burr on the potential equality of the Indian tribes, he did approve of the separation. He also felt that – from what he’d seen - the “slave power” was growing. He stated in a campaign speech that he rejected any attempt to bring Columbia into the Union, and that, “They are showing they will self-destruct if given time; the only thing we must do is also ensure that they do not become a British subject instead.”

That was in danger of happening. As news came each day about the trouble down there he lamented to the British Ambassador that it seemed very much like the instability of Latin America. An agreement had been made during the Clay Presidency to allow the Americas to be their jurisdiction (that is, America’s with British support), but Webster was still a little anxious about the idea of the British taking someplace like Cuba. “However, I almost dread the notion that Columbia is so filled with strife that a small spark may light it up into such an incredible inferno that it would take the joint effort of the United States and the British Empire to quench it.”

So, as the slave revolt worsened, Webster promised to enter to support Tennessee but in return, they must abide by American laws. With Tennessee alredy seeing an increase in slave escapes because of stories from Alabama, Tennessee welcomed General Winfield Scott of Virginia and his forces into Tennessee. Webster informed the Columbian ambassador that “Tennessee is now under American control – if they wish to be free fromyou, they may be.”

Columbia had a choice – fight the U.S., or ignore them. President Calhoun was upset at the U.S. for “dishonoring” them, but decided that it was better to simply let Tennessee go rather than complain about American troops entering their soil.(2)

They voted to keep it an Undeclared war,” and ask long as the U.S. dealt with the “Tennessee miscreants,” they would not fight. However, some of their troops didn’t quite get that message, given the slowness of communication in those days, and Columbia began to fight the U.S. while Streams of slaves escaped along the southern border of the Tennessee. Some U.S. forces also aided them, although Webster’s Vice President, William henry Harrison – better known as a general and chosen after time in Congress to balance the ticket – was very much against siding with the Indians.

Andrew Jackson immediately declared his birthplace – known to be in the Waxhaws region on the Carolina border – to be Lancaster, South Carolina, leading to comparisons by John Calhoun to King Henry IV, “A Lancastrian overthrowing the rightful order.” However, with the Presidency stripped of poiwer, they allowed Jackson to continue in the office.

Tennesseans had seen a fair minority of their slaves flee – even if it was into Kentucky, or another state that was slowly abolishing slavery, they still faced legal challenges that were combined in a famous Supreme Court case that involved military rule, seizure of assets, rights of the slaves to flee, and so on; it was one of Chief Justice Marshall’s last cases. The slaves argued for freedom and not to be returned once they were in Kentucky and caught, Tennessee farmers contended they should be returned, and some contended that there should be compensation paid to the farmers because the military occupying Tennessee was acting as as the U.S. government in making it a territory and that – while slavery was not allowed in territories – Tennessee should get compensation for its citizens by virtue of the fact that North Carolina had, by 1831, passed a similar gradual compensated emancipation to Virginia and that was accepted despite North Carolina not being a state with the law was passed forbidden slavery in “future territories.”

“lawyers were kept busy for years, and Justice Adams – whom President Webster would soon raise to Chief Justice upon Marshall’s death – made a very eloquent argument for the freeing of the escapees once the Justices were meeting.”

The argument, he stated, hinged on soldiers’ orders – they had not been ordered to capture such slaves, and in fact were primarily concerned with protecting Tnnessee from attacks across the state line from Georgia, with General Scott winning a major battle at Chattanooga after a very tough march through Tennessee, thanks to Columbian forces….If could be argued, of coruse, that the slaves were fleeing the Columbians, but if that is the case, the Tennessee farmers were not trying to protect them, which leads to the conclucsion that they may have simply abandoned them.”

In the end, the slaves won a close, 5-4 victory.(3) However, to keep peace, Congress passed a resolution paying Tennessee farmers compensation, anyway. And, Vice president Harrison, after winning the Election of 1836 against Governor Van Buren, pushed for and got even more compensation and a number of American System projects to improve Tennessee’s economy.

However, there was an economic slump, and people got tired of Harrison, an Ohioan but born in Virginia, and of the Federalists in general. They were ‘spending too much and making the government too big,” as Van buren claimed. Plus, he had seen the perils of slavery and recognized that the United States would be in serious trouble if it entertained the idea of allowing the rest of the Columbian Confederation into the U.S.. He ended up winning the 1840 election for the Democrats, and ushered in an era of democracy ‘for all the people, regardless of their income or land or anything.”

Meanwhile, in the CCA, Alabama was a lot poorer. Men like James K. Polk, one of the leaders in the Columbian Congress. Had moved across the Tennessee River, which was now the northern border of the state of Alabama. He’d managed to take many of his slaves, and he and some others ended up buying out some of the Alabamans wrecked by the revolt. South Carolina and Georgia struggled with what to do, and found that Cuba was more interested in their own self-preservation rather than helping the other states. John C. Calhoundecided that – once he became president – it was time for a new Constitution to make the central government stronger again.

It was getting quite confusing, but it wouldn’t last long. By the time Polk became President in 1842, the slave trade had resumed because the Columbianss’ economy was a mess. And, the British – who had abolished slavery throughout the Empire in the early 1830s – were trying to stop it and seizing ships, leading to discussion ofa declaration of war in late 1842.

The British ambassador and Van Buren talked in the White Hosue a few times about it – he ws glad that he’d found a more sympathetic ear than Harrison’s had been, one much closer to Webster’s. Van Buren simply asked the assurance that the U.S. wouldn’t see encroachment upon their lands, and considered asking Congress for an alliance. Maybe, if they tried to occupy the mainland CCA, it wouldn’t be as bad. Still, his comment to the ambassador was succinct and to the point. “No matter what happens, this is not going to end well.”

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(1) Of course, without some not wanting to go where lots of Freedmen are, some areas will open up a few years earlier, but also, those who might hve moved into slave territories OTL are going to free territories as slaveholding doesn’t draw them, though they will be a bit more likely to go and at least own land in a palce like Texas, even if it’s not with slaves. OTl a wagon train was cleared all the way to Idaho by 1836, this will be sped up a few years, and the better relations with Britain will help, too.

(2) One reason he was such a War Hawk in 1812 was that Britain was dishonoring” the U.S. with their treatment of them, especially how impressment of U.S. sailors.

(3) Sort of the Amistad of this timeline.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

Chapter 14: A Splendid Little War

The goals of the CCA were clear – if they went to war, they should defend their homes against the British. They had built up a large navy, after all, around Charleston and Savannah. South Carolina was quite militarized for its day, as were the Northern and Southern borders of Georgia. Alabama, mostly bordered by rivers now, except for that one section bordering Middiddippi and a section going into Georgia, had begun to recover, but there was consistent talk of merging it into Georgia, which most of the plantation owners resented. This would lead to some bad blood as the war commenced.

It was the Cuban contingent which most pushed for it. Indeed, there were bold schemes by some to deize the Bahamas, Bermuda, or Jamaica. Andrew Jackson, now retired in his home in what was now the American state of Tennessee, referred to the Columbian plans as “incredibly foolish, a sign that these people were bent on ruining the Confederation.” He also said that, had he remained in power, he’d have neutralized the power of the rich planters and prevented their actions.

In America, 1842 was about to see Frederick Douglass publish a book, something many were amazed could be done, s they didn’t realize someone who had been a slave could write so well.(1) He’d learned to read against his owner’s wishes, and finally sometime in his teens, as the state was beginning to gradually phase out slavery,his owner decided that – rather than try to break him by sending him elsewhere – he’d better just take the money while he could and give him his freedom.

This was encouraging a number of slaves in Columbia, where by now there were no free blacks on the mainland, though Cuba still had plenty, as it had for a long time.

However, after much dithering, including consideration that Mexico’s Yucatan might be attacked, it was decided in early summer, 1842 to declare war on Britain. The British would hopefully be foguth to a draw and stop attacking Columbian slave ships; if possible, they would raid one of Britain’s colonies, where slaves had been freed, and maybe even kidnap some of their former slaves.

It would go down in history as one of the dumbest ideas ever.

One of the main problems was the Cubans. They’d insisted on attacking British islands as well, not just defending or attacking Haiti – which still owned the whole island – as some suggested. The Bahamas were a bastion for escapees, as hundreds had escaped there over the years, and more had died trying to escape. Columbian ships attacked in several key parts of the Bahamas.

A couple hurricanes hindered movement, however, and even sank a few ships, more on the Columbian side. Then, in late October, a hurricane swept up the costs of Georgia and South Carolina, not striking land but wreaking havoc with plans to “stop the British while the weather is unbearable for the Europeans,” as one Senator put it.

In addition, when they did land in the Bahamas, they were pushed back by people – in quite a few cases former escaped slaves - defending themselves. This failed invasion of the Bahamas was met with British attacks on Charleston and Savannah, as well as Cuba. President Van uren remained in constant touch with the British ambassador to ensure that no American interests were harmed, but also that the British had no intentions to annex Columbia.

They did, however, create much confusion when they tried to arm saves with promises of freedom if they rose up. This may have been a mistake in retrospect, of coruse, as it made the Columbians fight much, much harder and angrier, but it seemed that somehad been ready anyway. This led to what one American military officer termed “a logistical nightmare” as hundreds upon hundreds of slves either fled across the Columbian border into North Carolina or were dumped there by British ships after the promise led to ex-slaves literally running onto the ships for safety. Since the British had promised freedom, they couldn’t easily refuse – they just needed to establish a more organized way for them to do it. Even after the momentary rushing on board British ships, however, the massive influx of slaves into North Carolina continued, as the military which had been guarding the borders was sento to defend their states.

In Cuba, of course, it was different. The U.S. hadno designs on Cuba – well, a few who were interested in “Manifest Destiny” did, but that was quite muted.(2)

The thousands of ex-slaves flooding into North Carolina needed fed and clothed over the winter – thankfully the weather wasn’t as bad as it would have been up North. The counties which had been in North Carolina quickly began to vote to secede from South Carolina, which led to more infighting in the early days of the war – by the end of the war in spring of 1843, Columbia was ready to abolish the slave trde, but not quite ready to abolish slavery.

However, its coasts were in tatters. Much cotton had been destroyed in some areas, and in others, but British had simply taken it with no compensation. And, Charleston nd Savannah were in ruins. The Columbian government was meeting in Columbia, South Carolina, where they had fled after the British burned Charleston.

Word out of Cuba was even worse – the British had used the free blcks remaining in Cuba to help with the uprising, and they had – after some fighting – occupied Havana. What would done with Cuba was uncertain, as the British had gained themselves a mess in trying to occupy it. Many of the slaveholders escaped to Brazil or Peru, where the Spanish help their final major Latin American colony after all the others had become independent in.(3) They sensed that the British would abolish slavery, they just didn’t know what Britain would do with Cuba.

It was possible that, sans slavery, it would even be given back to Spain, though tht was unlikely, as the colony hd been reshaped over the last 25 years and was likely to be like Haiti, if given its independence by the British.

Columbia still didn’t want to join the U.S., though, as discussion was in the works for them to abolish slavery entirely via Constitutional Amendment. But, they had been hit hard enough that some there felt they had little choice. When President Polk died in fall of 1845(4), and Senator Robert Rhettan took his place – having been President of the senate – it marked the last in a line of Columbian presidents dedicated to upholding what was clearly an evil and dying institution.

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(1) Again, using same names because the collaborative seemed to be planning it, but if you want to figure on it being a different person that’s possible, too.

(2) There were some who did desire to expand mightily and who weren’t interested in expanding slave territory OTL – William Seward being one. However, without the people who were interested in expanding Southern territory, the call for it would be softer.

(3) Not having Cuba or Puerto Rico would mke holding the others even harder TTL, but Peru wasn’t helped by having those anyway since they had to sail around Cape Horn to get to it. Plus, it held out strongest OTL, so the Spanish, seeking to keep some pride, manage to hold onto it TTL, too.

(4) Worked himself to death OTL, his hair going from jet black to snow white, and that was without that kind of stress. He lived 4 years and 2 months after his inauguration OTL, with a 6-year term he would clearly die in office, and given the stress of losing, it appears logical to presume he would last a few months less TTL.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

Chapter 15: The Prodigals Return

A Congressman, speaking about American involvement with Columbia, said in the late 1840s, “With malice toward none, with charity toward all, let us endeavor to allow the Columbians, having learned their lesson, to come peacefully into the Union – without slavery, of course, but with no more demands placed upon them than what they have already endured through their own hardships; like the Prodigal Son, it is certain that in the recent harrowing years, they have realized the errors of their ways, and that slavery in their land is no more to be desired.”

Outgoing President martin Van Buren put it a little differently. “If they are to erturn, now that abolished slavery through Amendment to our Constitution, it stands a shining testimony to it was better that they left as they did, rather than drag us into such a horrible existence as hving to constantly battle between two societies, one desiring total freedom, one not, until such time as the two may have clashed in a far bloodier way than had presently been seen.

William C. Dawson of Georgia concurred with this. He’d won the Presidency campaigning with the notion that the slavery question had been what had divided the nation to begin with, and that it was time for Columbians to admit that their nation was bound to continue to become poorer if something wasn’t done quickly and some way was found for them to join the Union. Alabama was alredy in tatters, and it was becoming clearer and clearer that they might need to be absorbed into another state, as they didn’t even have a port like Mobile. He recognized that compromises would have to be made, but, as he put it, “The costly war with Britain has shown that we cannot recover our losses, and the United Sates of America has offered to welcome us with open arms.”

With more and more slaves escaping, and with the inability to get more as the United States was almost totally free now, and they had little navy to go get more even if they could get by the British, Columbian officials agreed to begin negotiations. They lasted quite a long while, but eventually, on July 4, 1851, the 75th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, American President John McLean of Ohio met Columbian President Dawson on the border between the Carolinas, and they shook hands and signed the peace that finally brought Columbia into the United States.

The provisions were as follows:
Slavery to be abolished with owners to be compensated, with the provision that it would continue another 5 years from that date to allow time to gradually free them and provide homes, mostly in Mississippi, Florida, and Texas;
Columbia to renounce its constitution and adopt theAmerican one;
Elections to be held to see which 2 of the Senators and which Congressmen would represent the individual states in the United States government in Baltimore;
Alabama to hold a vote to decide whether to remain a state or join one of the four states surrounding it;
Rights to Cuba to be decided by Cuban voters, with the British overseeing it.

The results weren’t always predictable. For instance, though the most likely choice was that Alabama would choose to join Georgia, there was a much larger consensus than expected to join Tennessee, feeling that the state had developed well considering how poor it was. It was thought that adding more river valleys might help. And, because Mobile would be included, there was a much larger vote to join Florida than there was to remain a state on their own.

The Creek were very glad that came in a distant 3rd, though, because it would have felt very awkward since they had been chased out of so much of that land. Now, at least, they were in Florida with the Seminoles and a fair number of Freedmen.

With Mississippi having already joined as a state, Florida joined, too. And, enough people had moved in that Texas became a state, though not till McLean’s Presidency, as there was still some hope the fred slaves would make it their own country. This was another thing Columbians had to get used to, the notion that there would be a chance of having to accept Freedmen as equals in Congress. Frederick Douglass became the first black Congressman from there in 1851, though districts had been worked so if one was selected it would only be one for a while.

Race relations overall between whites and blacks weren’t great, but with many of the freedmen having been colonized to the new territories, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, either. The former Columbian states were the most discriminatory, of course. But, where they did have rights, such as voting, there wasn’t one specific president or even party who had given them such rights; this woud make it easier, over time, for the to simply be fought over for their vote by both parties, as with other minories, without one party feelin jealous and trying to exclude them. When the last slave was freed July 4, 1856, in the United States, it was truly a group effort.

As the nation celebrated the Fourth as one nation for the first time since the days of the Articles of Confederation – which hadn’t had much time for the colonies to try to exist under - in 1851, most looked forward to life in this new land and to the challenge of working together. It was the freest land on earth. It wasn’t perfect, but slavery had been ended – or would be within a few years – and in a few state, blacks had voting rights – it was even easier since they weren’t a huge minority in the North for states to slowly start to give them such rights.

President McLean rode back to Baltimore, where on Monday the 7th, he informed Congress, “We have today a magnificent treaty, a glorious Union which is now one once more. It is a shining example of democracy, as even the Columbian states are seeing the necessity of all white men having the vote. We are seeing democracy expand even further in other areas. It should be plainly apparent that in taking care of the problems we had right away, we have ensured the blessings of liberty for many, and secured this as a palce where all may come and enjoy the wonderful freedom we have to offer. Freedom which belongs to all men.

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And, that’s a wrap. As noted, if you keep it fairly positive in the U.S. here, feel free to continue it, and to figure out what is going on in Europe, as I never got beyond 1810 there. I won't have a lot of time for a while again even to read stuff, but thanks for reading this, and I hope you enjoy the AH and other books I've written in my sig.