- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Nominate Thaddeus Stevens for Vice President.
This Mighty Scourge of War: A Reconstruction-Era Quest
- Thread starter Kirook
- Start date
- Alt. History
[X] Nominate Winfield Scott Hancock for Vice President.
- Location
- NY
[X] Nominate Winfield Scott Hancock for Vice President.
It seems like a sensible concession to moderates and should help electorally. I don't think Stevens (who is old, especially by 19th century standards as etranger pointed out) as VP really would help Reconstruction that much and would probably do more harm than good electorally, and I think Stevens is more helpful in Congress anyway.
It seems like a sensible concession to moderates and should help electorally. I don't think Stevens (who is old, especially by 19th century standards as etranger pointed out) as VP really would help Reconstruction that much and would probably do more harm than good electorally, and I think Stevens is more helpful in Congress anyway.
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Fleurs de Merde
horde captain dipshit
[X] Nominate Thaddeus Stevens for Vice President
Fuck it, thad the chad let's gooooo
Fuck it, thad the chad let's gooooo
mynameisyouQQQ
Miss Brightside
- Location
- A Hell of my own making
- Pronouns
- Fae/She/They
[X] Nominate Thaddeus Stevens for Vice President
[X] Nominate Thaddeus Stevens for Vice President
[X] Nominate Winfield Scott Hancock for Vice President.
Its not worth much that our vp has to be our guy VP is not a particularly prestigious position within this period. Its antagonism for dubious gains, let our moderates have this one we still need them to pass bills.
Its not worth much that our vp has to be our guy VP is not a particularly prestigious position within this period. Its antagonism for dubious gains, let our moderates have this one we still need them to pass bills.
[X] Nominate Thaddeus Stevens for Vice President.
- Location
- The Frozen North
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Nominate Winfield Scott Hancock for Vice President.
Vote closed
This has aged like milk.
- Pronouns
- He/They/She
Yeah yeah I know when I've been owned. Kudos to a reasoned argument that Stevens is better off where he's at winning over name recognition.
Chapter 9: Battling the Hydra
- Location
- SF Bay Area
[X] Nominate Winfield Scott Hancock for Vice President.
March 5, 1866
Though Stevens's supporters put up a respectable showing, it was decided that in a time of instability, the maintenance of the grand coalition that had led the nation through the Civil War was paramount, and General Hancock ascended to the Vice Presidential position on the ticket of the National Union Party. Radical Republicans were frustrated by the snub, but consoled themselves with the fact that they still held the lion's share of Congressional power and might yet secure more (unlike the moderates, who had perceived gaining a voice in the executive branch as their last chance to save themselves from political irrelevancy). With little in the way of organized opposition—especially now that President Foster had tarred the Copperheads with the brush of the White Camelia Conspiracy—the Sumner/Hancock ticket coasted to victory, receiving particular plaudits from the Western states for having waited for the fighting to (mostly) die down so that their votes could be properly counted.
As the Sumner administration began, many Americans were beginning to wonder if the long national nightmare was finally over. With the advance of Union forces in Texas and the signing of the Camp Napoleon Treaty, peace began to return to the Western frontier. The 13th Amendment was finally ratified by the requisite three-quarters of state governments (with the assistance of Reconstruction governments in Virginia, Tennessee, and Louisiana, which had been established for longer than those in the rest of the South) late in the year, putting an end to chattel slavery across America at last. And, on Christmas Day of 1865, Houston—along with Edmund Kirby Smith and John Wilkes Booth—fell into the hands of Union troops.
For a time, all wings of the National Union Party were united in rejoicing. The last of the traitors had been defeated in the field, and Booth ("the Judas of our time", as the New-York Daily Tribune dubbed him) would soon hang. But all of this was a silver lining surrounding a dark storm cloud.
That cloud's name was the Ku Klux Klan.
Reconstruction had gotten off to a slow start, with the provisional national leadership first focusing on ending the rapidly expanding Indian Wars and then on retaking all remaining Confederate territory, and white supremacist fanatics like the KKK and the Knights of the Golden Circle were springing up to fill the gaps. The destruction of the Confederate armies in the Southeast had left these groups without a solid military core to rally around, but what they lacked in veterancy and discipline they made up for in volume, especially as former bushwhackers began to drift back east with the end of support from Texas and Mexico. With their help, white militias claimed responsibility for countless riots, lynchings, and even political assassinations across the former CSA. It was even suspected that some of the remaining White Camelia conspirators, who had not been heard from in most of a year, had found refuge among Klan sympathizers in Virginia or the Carolinas. By the time President Sumner took office, the situation had become so dire that the winter of 1865-66 was becoming known as the "Bloody Winter" in common parlance.
Obviously, this meant that the first test of the incoming Sumner administration would be whether it could put an end to the violence, and at what cost. In pursuit of this end the President received a wide range of advice, some of it framed as mere suggestions and some as barely less than demands.
Many Congressional Radicals advocated in the strongest possible terms for a military response, stating that the disorganized lynch mobs could not possibly stand up to the full might of the Union Army. They also hoped that quick and decisive action might root out any remaining conspirators who had fled southwards; some were calling for a mass treason trial of all of the conspirators and Confederate leaders at once as a grand gesture of victory over the Slave Power. Whether or not this would actually happen was still undetermined, but the benefits of a swift and decisive effort could not be denied—nor could the potential risks to Southern infrastructure, agriculture, and demography.
Outside of Congress, many prominent individuals offered their aid in rallying volunteers to the cause of equality. These ranged from John C. Fremont, who planned to raise a militia from Northern Black communities; to former Prussian army officer and current Union General (and noted communist) August Willich, who suggested relying on the famously Unionist community of German Texans; to even former Confederate General James Longstreet, who had been horrified by the perfidy of the White Camelia Conspiracy and vowed to oppose the white supremacists if pardoned for his crimes against the Union. Their contributions would have to be weighed carefully, for they were less reliable than the regular Army but more organic and adaptable to the conditions of the occupied South.
Of course, there were also non-military options on the table for addressing the problem. The government could make use of propaganda and local sympathizers (where they existed) to exploit the divisions among white Southerners and turn portions of the population against the slaveowning classes. In the most extreme cases, state borders could even be redrawn to create geographical formations more favorable to the Union. And then there was the economic factor, upon which rested the possibility of undermining the material basis of slavery and white supremacy by transforming the Southern economy through industrialization.
All of these ideas had their own merits, and if the federal government and its Reconstructionist state allies had complete freedom to act, they would no doubt have put all of them into practice. Unfortunately, the very tide of violence these plans were meant to stem also severely reduced the state capacity with which they could be enacted. Put more plainly, resources and personnel were simply spread too thin to do everything at once. As had become an all-too-common problem in the days following the Civil War, the administration would have to choose its priorities carefully…
THE STATE OF THE NATION:
National stability is shaky.
The government's legitimacy is improving.
The capital is recovering.
The mood of the War Democrats is concerned.
The mood of the Liberal Republicans is concerned.
The mood of the Radical Republicans is angry.
There are no major Confederate armies remaining in the field.
The status of Reconstruction is seriously imperiled by white supremacist resistance.
The intensity of conflict on the frontier is dropping.
Of the assassins of Lincoln and his trusted subordinates, one has been killed, five have been captured, and the status of the rest is unknown.
Choose any two of the following:
March 5, 1866
Though Stevens's supporters put up a respectable showing, it was decided that in a time of instability, the maintenance of the grand coalition that had led the nation through the Civil War was paramount, and General Hancock ascended to the Vice Presidential position on the ticket of the National Union Party. Radical Republicans were frustrated by the snub, but consoled themselves with the fact that they still held the lion's share of Congressional power and might yet secure more (unlike the moderates, who had perceived gaining a voice in the executive branch as their last chance to save themselves from political irrelevancy). With little in the way of organized opposition—especially now that President Foster had tarred the Copperheads with the brush of the White Camelia Conspiracy—the Sumner/Hancock ticket coasted to victory, receiving particular plaudits from the Western states for having waited for the fighting to (mostly) die down so that their votes could be properly counted.
As the Sumner administration began, many Americans were beginning to wonder if the long national nightmare was finally over. With the advance of Union forces in Texas and the signing of the Camp Napoleon Treaty, peace began to return to the Western frontier. The 13th Amendment was finally ratified by the requisite three-quarters of state governments (with the assistance of Reconstruction governments in Virginia, Tennessee, and Louisiana, which had been established for longer than those in the rest of the South) late in the year, putting an end to chattel slavery across America at last. And, on Christmas Day of 1865, Houston—along with Edmund Kirby Smith and John Wilkes Booth—fell into the hands of Union troops.
For a time, all wings of the National Union Party were united in rejoicing. The last of the traitors had been defeated in the field, and Booth ("the Judas of our time", as the New-York Daily Tribune dubbed him) would soon hang. But all of this was a silver lining surrounding a dark storm cloud.
That cloud's name was the Ku Klux Klan.
Reconstruction had gotten off to a slow start, with the provisional national leadership first focusing on ending the rapidly expanding Indian Wars and then on retaking all remaining Confederate territory, and white supremacist fanatics like the KKK and the Knights of the Golden Circle were springing up to fill the gaps. The destruction of the Confederate armies in the Southeast had left these groups without a solid military core to rally around, but what they lacked in veterancy and discipline they made up for in volume, especially as former bushwhackers began to drift back east with the end of support from Texas and Mexico. With their help, white militias claimed responsibility for countless riots, lynchings, and even political assassinations across the former CSA. It was even suspected that some of the remaining White Camelia conspirators, who had not been heard from in most of a year, had found refuge among Klan sympathizers in Virginia or the Carolinas. By the time President Sumner took office, the situation had become so dire that the winter of 1865-66 was becoming known as the "Bloody Winter" in common parlance.
Obviously, this meant that the first test of the incoming Sumner administration would be whether it could put an end to the violence, and at what cost. In pursuit of this end the President received a wide range of advice, some of it framed as mere suggestions and some as barely less than demands.
Many Congressional Radicals advocated in the strongest possible terms for a military response, stating that the disorganized lynch mobs could not possibly stand up to the full might of the Union Army. They also hoped that quick and decisive action might root out any remaining conspirators who had fled southwards; some were calling for a mass treason trial of all of the conspirators and Confederate leaders at once as a grand gesture of victory over the Slave Power. Whether or not this would actually happen was still undetermined, but the benefits of a swift and decisive effort could not be denied—nor could the potential risks to Southern infrastructure, agriculture, and demography.
Outside of Congress, many prominent individuals offered their aid in rallying volunteers to the cause of equality. These ranged from John C. Fremont, who planned to raise a militia from Northern Black communities; to former Prussian army officer and current Union General (and noted communist) August Willich, who suggested relying on the famously Unionist community of German Texans; to even former Confederate General James Longstreet, who had been horrified by the perfidy of the White Camelia Conspiracy and vowed to oppose the white supremacists if pardoned for his crimes against the Union. Their contributions would have to be weighed carefully, for they were less reliable than the regular Army but more organic and adaptable to the conditions of the occupied South.
Of course, there were also non-military options on the table for addressing the problem. The government could make use of propaganda and local sympathizers (where they existed) to exploit the divisions among white Southerners and turn portions of the population against the slaveowning classes. In the most extreme cases, state borders could even be redrawn to create geographical formations more favorable to the Union. And then there was the economic factor, upon which rested the possibility of undermining the material basis of slavery and white supremacy by transforming the Southern economy through industrialization.
All of these ideas had their own merits, and if the federal government and its Reconstructionist state allies had complete freedom to act, they would no doubt have put all of them into practice. Unfortunately, the very tide of violence these plans were meant to stem also severely reduced the state capacity with which they could be enacted. Put more plainly, resources and personnel were simply spread too thin to do everything at once. As had become an all-too-common problem in the days following the Civil War, the administration would have to choose its priorities carefully…
THE STATE OF THE NATION:
National stability is shaky.
The government's legitimacy is improving.
The capital is recovering.
The mood of the War Democrats is concerned.
The mood of the Liberal Republicans is concerned.
The mood of the Radical Republicans is angry.
There are no major Confederate armies remaining in the field.
The status of Reconstruction is seriously imperiled by white supremacist resistance.
The intensity of conflict on the frontier is dropping.
Of the assassins of Lincoln and his trusted subordinates, one has been killed, five have been captured, and the status of the rest is unknown.
Choose any two of the following:
| Initiate a military crackdown against the white supremacists. | Rely on Unionist and abolitionist volunteers. | Attempt to sway hearts and minds. | Undermine the opposition by shifting the basis of the Southern economy. |
| This will immediately destroy the Klan and its allies in the short term but has unpredictable long-term consequences that depend on your present and future choices. | This will somewhat strengthen the occupation forces and will also improve the political prospects of Reconstruction if the violence is successfully quelled. | This will somewhat weaken white supremacist forces and will also marginally improve the political prospects of Reconstruction. | This offers no direct military benefits but will greatly improve the political prospects of Reconstruction if the violence is successfully quelled. |
Astra Myst
Do you want a wish?
- Location
- Milky Way Galaxy
[X] Plan: Straightforward Hammer and Nail
-[X] Initiate a military crackdown against the white supremacists.
-[X] Undermine the opposition by shifting the basis of the Southern economy.
[X] Plan: Organic Opposition
-[X] Rely on Unionist and abolitionist volunteers
-[X] Attempt to sway hearts and minds
-[X] Initiate a military crackdown against the white supremacists.
-[X] Undermine the opposition by shifting the basis of the Southern economy.
[X] Plan: Organic Opposition
-[X] Rely on Unionist and abolitionist volunteers
-[X] Attempt to sway hearts and minds
- Location
- New York
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[] Plan: Straightforward Hammer and Nail
-[] Initiate a military crackdown against the white supremacists.
-[] Undermine the opposition by shifting the basis of the Southern economy.
Was about to vote for the same thing! No fucking around. Immediate and overwhelming military response and cut their legs out from under them economically. Total reconstruction!
Edit:
[X] Plan: Hammer and Hoe
-[] Initiate a military crackdown against the white supremacists.
-[] Undermine the opposition by shifting the basis of the Southern economy.
Was about to vote for the same thing! No fucking around. Immediate and overwhelming military response and cut their legs out from under them economically. Total reconstruction!
Edit:
[X] Plan: Hammer and Hoe
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nachtingale
20. On that "honk, mimimi" type beat everyday.
- Location
- Malaysia
- Pronouns
- He/They
[X] Plan: Straightforward Hammer and Nail
Wave the bloody flag for 50 years more!
Wave the bloody flag for 50 years more!
- Location
- Earth
- Pronouns
- She/Her/They/Them
[X] Plan: Straightforward Hammer and Nail
-[X] Initiate a military crackdown against the white supremacists.
-[X] Undermine the opposition by shifting the basis of the Southern economy.
-[X] Initiate a military crackdown against the white supremacists.
-[X] Undermine the opposition by shifting the basis of the Southern economy.
- Location
- somewhere on this dying planet
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Plan: Straightforward Hammer and Nail
Leave no stone unturned. Dixieland is dead and we shall ensure it stays that way.
Leave no stone unturned. Dixieland is dead and we shall ensure it stays that way.
[X] Plan: Straightforward Hammer and Nail