Land of cotton, old times there are not forgotten

[Johnrankins]

The World in 1908 as compared to OTL

US: Smaller GDP, smaller population, larger military, larger PCI(due to the South not dragging down the average), smaller PCI when you just compare the non-CSA states

CSA/South Much smaller GDP, somewhat larger population (Since they are not free fewer Blacks move north), much smaller PCI, much higher inflation

Mexico: Higher GDP, larger population, better military with much better navy. larger PCI, lower inflation + PR

China: Higher GDP, same population, better military, larger PCI, lower inflation + FIC

GB: Smaller everything until 1914 due to earlier war than catches up.

France: ditto to a larger scale

Spain: as France

Italy: somewhat poorer but much larger than OTL

Germany: somewhat poorer but adds Austria

A-H: RIP

Ottoman Empire: RIP

Russia: Somewhat poorer but adds Constantinople , Central Asian area much more unstable

Japan: Adds Guam

 

[sarahz]

The United States vetoed sanctions against the CSA by the World League today. President Yancey has stated that “Although the CSA clearly needs to reform its racial laws the United States feels sanctions against it will do nothing but hurt that nation’s poor.” Critics of the president have stated that the real reason was the close ties between various US business interests and the CSA, particularly the oil industry. Protests against the move are scheduled to happen in Pittsburg, Chicago and LA”

WMZL Bost TV broadcast Nov 10, 1987

Joseph Butler, grand-nephew of General Benjamin Butler followed Robert Todd Lincoln as president. Butler continued President Lincoln’s Civil Rights reforms by passing the 15th amendment which both gave women the right to vote and banned the Federal Government from discriminating against people on the basis of race.

Butler also strengthened ties with China which worried a number of European countries, particularly France. In Africa the United States joined Europe in dividing Africa in 1898 to help stamp out the slavery there (One of the main justifications in OTL folks) which was mostly successful. The Belgians established colonies in the Congo. The British established colonies in Southern Africa and Southern Egypt, Prussia was given a small colony just north of Great Britain’s colonies in Southern Africa, France grabbed all of Northern Africa west of Egypt outside of Morocco which was Spanish or what was part of the Ottoman Empire . The Ottomans also allowed the French to build a number of naval bases on the Mediterranean. Portugal had colonies on the Western Coast of Africa and Italy grabbed the island of Madagascar while the United States grabbed a number of islands off the Africa West Coast and established the small colony of Fremontia on the west coast. The only nominally independent country in Africa was Liberia which was in the US orbit.

President Butler was increasingly worried about France particularly with their new shark submarines (which caused undue alarm as they were very short ranged and unreliable). US naval bases in Cuba and the Florida Keys were strengthened and two squadrons of armored cruisers were sent down there. The increasing unlikelihood of war between the US and the CS and the increasing use of machine guns allowed the president to shrink the US Army by two divisions. The United States also came to an agreement with the CSA for both countries to dismantle four forts along the border.

The then recent Austrian invention of the automobile attracted a lot of attention in the United States. In 1899, Thomas Lincoln, son of Robert Todd Lincoln, started the Lincoln Automobile Company in Chicago . Thomas graduated from the most prestigious of the “Lincoln Engineering Schools”, Washington Engineering College at the head of his class just two years before. It soon became the largest company in a small but growing industry partly due to Lincoln’s last name and political connections. Lincoln Automotive remains the largest auto company in the world to date.

Mutual alarm about France brought the US, UK and Japan together in an informal alliance in 1900 with the Tokyo Accord. Although there was no promise of military support by any of the parties Great Britain sent a number of naval advisors to Japan while the US sent it surplus rifles and machine guns. France managed to topple the government of Costa Rica and bring it under its orbit. The US then bought a 20 mile strip in the Isthmus of Panama to build a canal to link the West and East coasts of the US.

Also in 1900 the first professional baseball league was formed in New York with the cities of Albany, Buffalo, Brooklyn, Syracuse and Binghamton. The league soon spread across the East Coast and then the rest of the US. The very first game was between the Brooklyn Clippers and the Buffalo Indians which was won by the Indians 2-1. The economic boom at this time also spread theaters and the new “moving pictures” industry was starting to grow. The movie industry quickly settled in Phoenix which is why the movie industry is referred to as “Phoenix” even to this day. Movie theaters started quickly replacing playhouses all over the country . The US movie industry soon had influence world wide along with England, France and Austria

The United States at the turn of the century Alonzo Carana New York 1962

query what happened to Ethiopia, which retained its independence OTL. it does not seem likely they went without a fuss?.

 

[Johnrankins]

query what happened to Ethiopia, which retained its independence OTL. it does not seem likely they went without a fuss?.

They didn't go without a fuss but weren't able to hold out TTL.

 

[Johnrankins]

The tobacco worm has devastated the crop in Virginia and North Carolina this year. It is estimated $200 billion in lost tobacco sales will result from this hurting the economy in both places. Many thousands of tobacco farm workers are under threat of losing their jobs. The government is ready to crush any unrest among our Negro citizens due to increased unemployment. Units of both the Virginia and North Carolina militia have been called up to deal with it. There have also been many layoffs in the tobacco industrial factories as there is not enough tobacco to make cigarettes , cigars, and chewing and pipe tobacco.

ZEDS News Richmond Nov 12th, 1985 TV broadcast.


Alfred Johnston great grandnephew of Joseph E Johnston was elected as the second Whig president of the CSA. The Robert Foster Administration really boosted the Whigs who had overwhelming control of both houses. During the Johnston Administration the Dunning Reform Bill was passed. It reformed but did not outlaw slavery. It recognized slave marriages and slave parentage and required that couples and children to be sold together. This caused some slave owners to break up any couples and segregating the sexes if they often sold slaves. It also reduced the “slave breeding” business in VA.

Also slave owners broke the law and sold individual slaves separately instead of by couple. Children were harder to sell separately as they couldn’t be done so openly unlike individual married adults who you could simply deny are married. Slave owners also had to provide minimum standards for slaves and outlawed out and out murder of slaves. The punishment for these offenses were fines.

Although people outside the CSA objected to it, it turned out that it was probably more strongly enforced than if it was imprisonment. The money hungry CSA government needed funds any way it could get them and it provided a way to do so. It offered reward money for giving information about illegal sales to the government. Although the government used this as proof to foreign governments about the strong government backing of the reforms on humanitarian grounds records show it was more that the CSA government needed every dime it could get.

There was talk of joining the Allies in the CSA but it went nowhere. Both the president and the military was dead set against it. They couldn’t handle Mexico, so how could they handle the US? It was recognized by many that they barely won the first time and was recognized by all that the US increased its lead over the CS after the war.

The US was clearly pro-coalition, which was a large reason for the people wanting to join the Allies did want to join the Allies, and a war with the US would end in disaster. If it lost its entire existence could be lost. The other problem was financial, all trade with the US would be lost. The CSA could not afford that according to all the treasury reports that were given to President Johnston.

The CSA as a whole benefited economically from the war. Hungry for cash it made US Army uniforms from its cotton. A small steel industry was begun in Birmingham as US demand for steel soared. President Johnston encouraged this by requiring all steel used by the CSA government to be purchased from Birmingham and Tredegar.

He also required all state houses and county seats to be hooked up to Richmond by telegraph and required that the telegraphs to be built by Southern factories. He deposited CSA funds into the various “Slave and Small business banks” as a place to park CSA tax money before it was spent. With the lower rates the price of slaves soared and the number of small businesses increased. Due to all the economic activity the unemployment rate dropped and the inflation rate was pushed further down. The interest rates on government bonds went down 10.25 % to 9.75% but more importantly the length of the loans went from six months to five years. Lenders thought the CSAs worst days were behind them and they were correct in this. The economy can’t be compared with the US but it never got as bad as the Pre-Foster Administration was.

The Johnston Administration DK Hall Baring Books Richmond 1933

 

[GohanLSSJ2]

And the CSA keeps falling under it's own weight!

 

[Essam]

Just read everything. Fascinating, albeit sad to see France and the Ottomans fall. Looking forward to post-Great War treaties and borders. Maybe a map before and after the war? I was a bit lost re: North Africa as well as African colonies, German borders, etc.

 

[Johnrankins]

Just read everything. Fascinating, albeit sad to see France and the Ottomans fall. Looking forward to post-Great War treaties and borders. Maybe a map before and after the war? I was a bit lost re: North Africa as well as African colonies, German borders, etc.

I suck at maps, if someone wants to make one based on this information, be my guest. As a preliminary I was thinking the following, In Africa the Brits wind up with South Africa and all of North Africa. The Belgians have the Congo. Italy has Madagascar, Portugul has a number of small colonies on the west coast of Africa between South Africa and Liberia. North of Liberia is a small American colony. On the central eastern coast of Africa are the Prussian colonies.

In Asia Japan gets Guam, the Bonnin Islands, the Marianes and Formosa. The Chinese get French Indochina. The US gets the rest of the Pacific Islands colonies including the Philippines. It also gets all the former French and Spanish colonies in the Americas except of PR, which goes to Mexico and Cuba which is independent.

There is a South German called Süddeutschland country that is composed of Bavaria, Bohemia, Saxony and Württemberg . Where the capital is I am not sure and I am asking for suggestions. Prussia gets all the rest of Germany, except for Hanover which goes to GB, and Austria. Italy gets Croatia, Bosnia, Greece and Corsica. Hungry gets Serbia and Bulgaria. Russia gets the Constantinople region. While Great Britain gets the rest of the Ottoman Empire.

I realize these are probably pretty unstable borders, they are meant to be. I think screw-ups are pretty inevitable in history and this is one of them. Any suggested changes?

 

[Johnrankins]

And the CSA keeps falling under it's own weight!

It is doing somewhat better at the moment. Inflation is down, the economy is growing It is slowly industrializing and some infrastructure is being built. However it is not growing as fast as the US (Which isn't saying much as nobody else is doing so either) but it is growing. It isn't going to be straight downhill for the CSA but a bumpy ride down.

 

[Johnrankins]

Treaty of Berlin

1) Great Britain gets all of France's African Colonies
2) The US gets all of France's American except Puerto Rico which goes to Mexico and Pacific Island colonies except for Guam, the Bonnin Islands, the Marianas and Formosa which go to Japan.
3) China gets French Indo-China
4)There is a South German called Süddeutschland country that is composed of Bavaria, Bohemia, Saxony and Württemberg
5) Prussia gets the rest of Germany except for Hanover which goes to Great Britian. Prussia also gets Austria.
6) Italy gets Croatia, Bosnia, Greece and Corsica.
7)Hungry gets Serbia and Bulgaria
8) Russia gets Constantinople and everything in the Ottoman Empire within 100 miles of it while GB gets the rest.
9) France pays 10 billion francs in compensation over 10 years at 7%
10) France is limited to a quarter million troops and a navy no more than one fifth of GB
11) Spain pays 6 billion peseta over 10 years at 7% . It is also limited to a quarter million troops and a navy one fifth of GB,

 

[Uff Da the optimist]

Wow, this war was very bombastic and "short" compared to OTL.
I like it. I assume the Russian army will be top-notch in Europe in the aftermath, considering they're the only ones(as of now) with radios?

 

[Johnrankins]

Wow, this war was very bombastic and "short" compared to OTL.
I like it. I assume the Russian army will be top-notch in Europe in the aftermath, considering they're the only ones(as of now) with radios?

It is towards the top but it has other weaknesses that hurt it. Also the exclusive knowledge of radio isn't going to last long. They have the edge there, for now, but they will be passed up within a few years by the more technologically sophisticated British, Americans, Prussians, French and Italians.

 

[Johnrankins]

A new natural gas find in Texas has people excited. It is hoped that oil is found beneath it but the growing use of natural gas will help the slumping Texas economy even if it is only gas. Pennsylvania Oil Company is hiring 300 new workers to work the rigs and lay the pipe. The gas will be used mainly to heat homes in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. The price of Penn Oil stock rose $2 a share on the news. The price of Texas state bonds also rose on the news, lowering the interest rate to 6.5% down a quarter of a percentage point.

ZXHIS News Houston Apr 3, 1983 TV Broadcast

The Whigs continued their winning streat with the election of Thomas Brown. During the Brown Administration the Southern Abolition Movement started to gain influence. Locked out of many markets for years and shunned by other nations many young Southerners started questioning the existence of slavery. Knowing that the “rights of transit” prevented states from prohibiting it by themselves they pushed for limiting such rights to 60 days using the argument of state’s rights. Texas was the first to pass the amendment in 1908, something no one would have guessed at the start of the Confederacy but the fact was slaves were being sold east for some time due to the closeness of the “Black Colonies” in Arizona. Virginia and North Carolina followed suit in 1912. Louisiana and Arkansas followed the next year, the newly formed state of Jefferson and Davis (Formed out of the Indian Territories) were last. These allowed states to abolish slavery but none did so at the time.

President Brown made it easier to connect the US and CS telegraph systems together using various laws to encourage investments in hooking them together which was done mainly by US companies. The post-war boom in the US helped the CS as well. French and Spanish compensation money was partly spent in buying CS companies, mainly in the timber and fishing industries. Various newspapers were being bought out by US banks which helped push the “transit limit” amendment figuring the end of slavery would allow their banking business to increase. Oil was discovered in Texas in 1907 and money poured into that state as Pennsylvania Oil , California Oil and American Oil all scrambled to buy Texas property. Some Texas property owners became billionaires (In CS currency) overnight. Texas was also converting from being a cotton state to a cattle state. Many tons of Texas beef was moving north by rail. Between the two Texas soon became the richest state in the CSA.

While Texas rose South Carolina fell. Cotton was becoming less and less important and the boll weevil hit its crops hard. Worse a smallpox epidemic hit it in 1908. The state least happy with the “transit limit” amendment was South Carolina and secession was considered but discarded as it would have thrown the state to the mercy of the US and it still wouldn’t have prevented anything. However the reactionaries of the South rallied around the state governor the next election and the Democrats broke their losing streak with his election.

The Brown Administration and the Rise of the Southern Abolition Movement Bain Books Chicago 1943

 

[zert]

New changes to the CS, though how well they may stand in the change of Administration. How appropriate that South Carolina suffers the most with this update.

 

[Johnrankins]

Arsonists from the Black Liberation League set fire to the Virginia State Employment Services Agency. The agency seems to have been targeted because it helps enforce the race based employment restriction laws. The fire caused 20 million dollars’ worth of damage. The White Defense Organization has stated “This is the reason we need such laws. Without such those boys get out of control and loot, burn and pillage everything that they can. We need more restrictions passed so that they know their place. Give ‘em an inch and they get uppity. “
ZHLW News Richmond April 23, 1982 Broadcast

Cyrus Vincent had a disappointing presidency. Although he tried to restrain the growing abolitionist sentiment among the young and the border states he failed. After the last two states passed the “transit limit” amendment during his term more people agitated for abolition in Texas.

In 1916 Texas outlawed slavery ending in 1920 giving its owners six years to sell their slaves. Interest rates started dropping soon afterwards as US banks started buying “Slave and Small Business Banks” in communities where slavery was being phased out the quickest and turning them into “Small Business Banks” . To this day “Mortgage Banks” and” Small Business Banks” still dominate the CSA due to being under different laws and different business models.

The price of slaves crashed 23% over the next four years as thousands of slaves were sold east from Texas. The price rose again in 1919 as most of the slaves that were going to be sold from Texas were already sold and as the Birmingham iron industry bought more of them. Some planters were forced to sell earlier than they wanted to as the banks discounted the value of slaves. The growing oil economy mitigated much of the effect. Some planters freed their slaves early during this time period as they figured they would still need workers after emancipation went through and if they sold them east they wouldn’t be there to work. Freeing them early would likely raise their morale and have them work harder.

The “Wilson Laws” passed at this time named after Senator Otis Wilson of Houston. They forbade “all Negros from being outside after dark without a pass from their employer or owner. Requires all Free Negroes to sign one year contracts with their employers on pain of imprisonment. Banned Negroes from being employed in professions not specified in the act. Allows employers to fine Negroes for laziness or other infractions as they saw fit Banned Negroes from gathering in groups of more than ten outside of work or church. Allowed Negroes to sue and be sued, to enter contracts, to buy property, to loan or borrow money and to be able to learn to read and write.” It also created “Negro Courts” that handled “civil and criminal law when all specified parties are Negros and appointed Negro judges to hear them”. It allowed “Negro Churches” to be set up to preach gospel, preform weddings and funerals and conduct other religious services, It was slavery in almost all but name.
Jefferson and Davis followed the following year and ended had their date for emancipation set for 1922. They also passed laws based on the Wilson Laws.



The failure of the Vincent Administration DK Meyers Chicago 1932

 

[Johnrankins]

List of CS Presidents
Jefferson Davis 1861-1866 Democrat
P.T Beauregard 1867-1872 Democrat
Nathen Bedford Forrest 1873-1878 Democrat
George Washington Custis Lee 1879-1884 Democrat
Wade Hampton 1885-1890 Democrat
Robert E Lee Jr 1891-1897 Democrat
Robert Foster Carter 1896-1903 Whig
Alfred Johnston 1903-1909 Whig
Thomas Brown 1909-1915 Whig
Cyrus Vincent 1915-1921 Democrat

 

[Essam]

Interesting to see the developments of parallel institutions based on "race." How do the mixed-race communities fair in the South ITTL? Any chance for society-based updates on "passing," etc.?

How is immigration (if any) to the Confederacy, as well as emigration from it? What is the difference between white emigrants and their black homologues?

Keep on with the good work.

 

[Johnrankins]

Interesting to see the developments of parallel institutions based on "race." How do the mixed-race communities fair in the South ITTL? Any chance for society-based updates on "passing," etc.?

How is immigration (if any) to the Confederacy, as well as emigration from it? What is the difference between white emigrants and their black homologues?

Keep on with the good work.

Mixed race communities fare poorly as the "one drop of blood" policy is still strictly enforced in TTL. If you can "pass" you can pass. After all if you look White and no one knows you have Black blood how can they sop you from pretending to be White? There is very little immigration to the CSA as there is no real reason to move there. A large number of Poor Whites have moved from the CSA and escaped slaves which mostly escaped to Arizona, Kansas and Missouri. Arizona has a much higher Black population than OTL. At least a third of its population is Black although the percentage is dropping due to Phoenix becoming the Hollywood of TTL.

 

[Johnrankins]

List of US Presidents

George McClellan Democrat 1861 Shortest Presidency in US History dies in stagecoach accident after only 3 days in office

George H. Pendleton Democrat 1861-1865

Joseph Hooker Republican 1865-1873

George Meade Republican 1873-1881

George Washington Morgan Farm and Union 1881-1889

Robert Todd Lincoln 1889-1897 Republican

Joseph Butler 1897-1905 Republican

Peter Stanley Farm and Union 1905-1913

 

[Johnrankins]

" The fiftieth anniversary of the Russian Federation later this week will be celebrated by an unusual number of fireworks and ceremony. The president has stated that the US congratulates the Russian Federation on its fiftieth anniversary. Fifty years of good relations with Russia has paid off over the years."

WASG News Boston Apr 10th, 1987 TV broadcast

The second Stanley Administration is most noted for its being in power during the First Great War. Although President Stanley tried to mediate an end to the war in the first year it was to no avail. In the second year the French stepped up their harassment of US shipping which led to the war. No less than 3 US ships were sunk by French subs before the war broke out.

The Stanley Administration , noticing French use of trucks during the war, contracted with Lincoln Motors to come up with more rugged trucks for the war. They delivered 200 before the war's end but since men had to be trained to drive them it was only in the last three months of the war that they were used, mostly for transporting wounded back to field hospitals. It should be noted that the Lincoln trucks tended to break down less than French ones so the project was a success in that sense. Lincoln Motors naturally used it in their advertisements after the war to widen the lead they had on their competitors

The US also experimented with airplanes during the war. They were never used during the war being too short ranged, unreliable and expensive to compete with balloons at the time but it did give the US an advantage after it. By the end of the war the US had a 20 MPH edge on speed and a 30 mile range edge on their next competitor Great Britain. The Allies, unlike the Coalition, didn't have the money to develop aircraft at the time so France started off behind even Russia in aircraft after the war. The Spanish were even farther behind but caught up somewhat as Spain had less war debt than France.

The Russian invention of the radio, which helped them greatly during the war spread quickly to the US and GB. Within five years of the war end both the US and GB surpassed Russia on radio technology and the US became the biggest manufacturer of radios soon afterwards. US arms and food production was the countries biggest contribution to the war. Although the troops certainly helped the arms and food came much quicker and in much larger quantities. By the end of the war the US produced as much ammunition as GB and Russia combined.

The Farm and Labor Party made some inroads on the Republican Part with the Negro vote during this time. President Stanley's upholding of the Supreme Court decisions made a difference on how Farm and Labor was looked at in some communities. It won about twenty percent of the Negro vote at this time, which was about four times what it was previously. The Republicans then scrambled to do something about it.

The Second Stanley Administration and the First Great War HK Hewitt Kramden Books New York 1944

 

[Darth_Kiryan]

Joseph Butler 1897-1903 Republican

Peter Stanley Farm and Union 1903-1911

What happened there. I actually can't remember, but i am having trouble finding the exact post. Was Butler impeached or something?