OUR FATHERS' WEEPING
AN ALTERNATE HISTORY
IN CHARACTER THREAD || MAP || OFFICIAL DISCORD
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Co-OP: Kannap
Nobody can say for sure where it all went so terribly wrong. Were the Founding Fathers still alive, though, most agree they would have reason to have wept twice: first, in grief; and then, in joy and relief.
Their reason for grieving might be because of the standoffs during the Civil War that could not decisively be ended. George McClellan offered the sweet release from war that the Union was starting to desire and that the Confederates had so desperately hoped to gain, and with no end to the war in sight, and many soldiers on both sides tiring to go home, McClellan won - barely, but he won.
The time between his election and swearing-in ceremony allowed for an unspoken ceasefire to take place, mostly because both sides knew that McClellan was going to be ending the war at the negotiating table.
On March 5, 1865, both sides would be proven correct. Presidents McClellan and Davis met in neutral territory; neither side truly had the upper hand, and both knew it. The Confederacy's sovereignty would be recognized, but McClellan knew he had to appease the abolitionists of the North somehow, especially if he so wished to attempt a second term. In return for the Confederacy's sovereignty over its territory, the Confederates would no longer be allowed to send troops or “slave catchers” into Union territory, as the Fugitive Slave Act would be nulled as well as McClellan 'honoring' President Lincoln's efforts by upholding the Emancipation Proclamation for all blacks in Union territory.
Understandably, many Confederates were dubious of these terms, but nonetheless, the fighting had stopped and the war was over. In the end, the Union and the Confederacy were now in a very cold relationship with one another. With McClellan mostly focused on repairing the Union side of things, and Davis having his own issues to settle amongst the newborn Confederacy, neither side was able to really oppose the self-proclaimed California Republic which claimed sovereignty over the western territories. Besides which, the Confederacy proved that secession was legal, whether it had to be achieved with violence or not.
The fracturing of the Union was, understandably, upsetting to the more radical Republicans of the northern states as well as numerous citizens. A result of this was a radicalization even further in opposition to all forms of inequality, such that by 1900 most of the radical Republicans and other disillusioned peoples of the north had joined a new political party that was starting its rise to power in the end of the 19th century: the Socialist Party of America, who were beginning to see capitalism as inherently exploitative and were doggedly against any and all forms of racism, and even had a number of male and female feminists among their ranks.
With the Union holding closer ties to Germany due to the number of ethnic Germans within their borders, and in spite of the socialist leanings among the populace, there was an increase of hostility toward the Confederacy; especially once, due to encouragement from the British and French economic allies of the Confederacy, they ended up instituting a gradual emancipation policy of their own anyway.
When the Great War began, the Union immediately began trying to send supplies to their allies in Germany to spite the British, French, and Confederates; and the Confederates did much the same. There were a few minor skirmishes out to sea, as well, but mostly things didn't boil over - not until the Zimmerman Telegram was intercepted by the British, asking the Union to invade the Confederacy so that the Confederates could no longer aid their allies. As a result, the Great War came to the American continent. The Republic of California took the side of the Union.
By the end of the Great War, though, the Union had come out victorious over the Confederates, and their punishment was to place the states under indefinite martial occupation and to force them to reapply for eventual Union membership as states. This also saw to the passing of several amendments making secession illegal, among other reforms that allowed further racial and sex-based equality at the pushing of the socialists.
Because of a lack of American support for either side due to fighting their own battles on their own continent, the Allied and Central Powers eventually had to agree to an indefinite ceasefire, though the German Empire's holding of Belgium and the Netherlands assured that it was essentially a partial victory for the Central Powers. All sides agreed to pay reparations to one another, and the Union continued trade relations with the Germans, with some limited new relations being opened with the British and French. The United States was now an active member of the newly founded League of Nations, in spite of it being a proposal from the Brits, in order to keep a steadfast eye on potential enemies willing to support a new fracturing of the freshly reunited nation.
Our Fathers' weeping in joy and relief at the reunification, even if not complete, would surely be immense. The Roaring 20s' economic success for the Union allowed for an easy transition of power even as southern states were reintegrated but kept under heavy watch, with the Department of Electoral Security being created to ensure all states allowed fair and equal election processes.
And when the Great Depression hit, the Socialists blamed both the freshly reintegrated Democratic Party from southern states and the Republican Party in many of the northern states - to a rather large amount of success when it came time for the 1930 Midterm Elections where they gained a massive majority of the House of Representatives, as well as most of the Senatorial seats up for grabs.
By 1932, many reforms had been proposed but were blocked by either Republican or Democrat interference, as well as Herbert Hoover's fear of socialism. As a result, Louis Waldman was able to win the Presidency that year on a Socialist ticket, along with the Socialists maintaining their majority in the House and Senate. Morris Hillquit became the Speaker of the House. Many gubernatorial elections also ended in a change of power.
And by the year 1936, the United States under President Waldman had officially called for a new Constitutional Convention with the approval of a large majority of the states as well as Congress. At the end of that year, the United States of America was reformed into the United American Commonwealth: the world's first “true” socialist/communist nation, brought about through a peaceful transfer of power.
The year is 1950. It has been just over ten years since the reformation of the American nation into something new, but deep-seeded tensions that have lied silent since the Great War are bubbling beneath the surface as the Depression finally ends peaceably across the globe. And the Empire of the Rising Sun, no longer busy with its conquests over Asia whilst the European powers were too weak to do anything about it, has finally begun to turn its eyes towards its east.
Can you hear it? Our Fathers' weeping? Is it sadness, this time? Is it joy? Will they ever stop weeping for us?
Hello! And welcome to a new AH RP I decided to make. In this world, WWI kinda-sorta ended in a stalemate, and the Great Depression had a bit more of a long-lasting effect on the world at large to prevent WWII from starting until later as well. Currently, the tech level is probably around WWII-era, but barely, and there are no nukes yet. Things are simmering, though, and the world has changed a lot. You can play any nation you want, just keep in mind the time period and the established timeline.
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