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This Mighty Scourge of War: A Reconstruction-Era Quest

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If this does go to war I can see a future where the US just had an open call to any anti British malcontents for support, 'If you hate Britain come to America! Well give you all the support you need to ruin their tea!'
 
...Maybe they'll say yes?...oh crumbs :oops:

At least the Irish will likely get the guns and means to still give the British a walloping. Buckle up, comrades. We're in it now, maybe next time the moderates will carry the day. Best of luck. God, y'all make this a great Quest. :p
 
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Silvis said:
Please go back and consult the QM's response to my question of if we could win a war with Britain right now.
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I did read it and I don't see how it contradicts anything I wrote. The US is not in a position to benefit from a war with Britain. Britain also being in bad shape does not mean we are able to capitalize on it. Any war at this point is likely to devolve into a pointless stalemate due to the distances and expense involved.

My prediction is that if things escalate to a war, we aren't likely to lose much unless things go very badly, but we're also unlikely to make any significant gains. Probably the war will last for a couple years of minor actions until both sides call it quits with a white peace. The issue is that in the process the government will have to take its focus off reconstruction, which means letting the industrialists run free with minimal oversight in a critical period.
 
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Chapter 13: The First Dominoes Fall
  • Threadmarks
    • June 1, 1867

    [X] Demand the extradition of David Herold.
    [X] Sign the treaty with Alaska.

    The USA's sudden pivot towards a hardline stance against the United Kingdom—and tacit support of the actions of its veterans in Ireland—was naturally taken with jubilation by the Fenian rebels. While outnumbered and outgunned, they were emboldened to continue fighting; a planned British assault on Dublin was forced to change plans to settling in for a long and bloody siege. In London, on the other hand, fears about America fomenting rebellion seemed to be completely confirmed. The demand for Herold's extradition was sharply rebuffed, and Britain began to call up its reserves in preparation for a possible Anglo-American war.

    But in doing this, the British ruling class encountered problems that they had failed to anticipate. Though the British military's officer corps was overwhelmingly composed of aristocrats, its rank-and-file soldiers were drawn from the working class—amongst whom Lincoln's cause had been popular even when he was alive, and had become all the more so since his martyrdom at the hands of a slaver conspiracy. Besides this, mass Irish immigration since the Great Famine had created large Irish minorities in many English cities, and these communities were not keen on being called up to fight against their own countrymen. The unpopularity of the conflict (and the economic instability brought on by the sharp reduction of trade with America) led several reserve units to defy their officers' orders and refuse to muster out.

    In reality, these incidents were few and far between, and rarely violent when they did occur. But in the growing atmosphere of paranoia at Whitehall, it was seen as the first sign of rebellion—the "Fenian disease" spreading across the Irish Sea. A furious House of Lords voted down the 1867 Reform Act as a "concession to anarchy", but this only inflamed tensions further. Demonstrations in Hyde Park turned to riots, and the country began to spiral further into instability.

    The rest of Europe, meanwhile, was viewing the situation with almost as much alarm as Britain itself. There was a growing perception—not helped by the extremely public trials and even hangings of prominent Confederate figures—that a newly-radicalized America was now turning outside its borders to export revolution abroad. American relations with much of the continent cooled sharply, and trade suffered not just with Britain but with the other European great powers as well.

    But perhaps fortunately for America, they could not afford to turn their attention across the Atlantic for long, for they were quite occupied with matters closer to home.

    France and Prussia had been at loggerheads since late March over a French attempt to purchase Luxembourg, which had led Prussia to threaten war if the sale went through. Ordinarily such a situation would have called for an international conference, most likely hosted by Britain. But with the unrest in the British Isles, the UK was in no state to deal effectively with foreign affairs; and all the other possibilities were considered insufficiently influential, biased towards one side, or both.

    This left war as the only recourse.

    With Prussia squaring off with a second great power in as many years to determine the fate of Germany (and Italy seizing the opportunity of France's distraction to march on Rome and finally complete the Risorgimento), it seemed that the events of the last two years had gone on to alter the course of European affairs as much as those of America. But the Sumner administration found itself forced to focus on those changes it could control.

    The European conflict came at an inopportune time for America, as its economy was just beginning to finally recover from the ravages of the Civil War when the sudden shock of the trade crisis—made twofold by the deliberate action of Europe's angered rulers on the one hand and the chaos engulfing the continent on the other—plunged it back into the doldrums. With the continuous flow of capital becoming ever more key to the government's Reconstruction policy, it was imperative that a solution be found as soon as possible. A special session of Congress was called to propose solutions, and with the wide variety of political positions to be found in the big tent of the National Union Party, there was no shortage of ideas for how to stop the spiral. But just as the task of the legislative branch was to create policy, the task of the executive was to live up to its name and execute it—and thus to take the blame for any of its flaws…

    National stability is declining.
    The government's legitimacy is strong.
    The capital is agitated.
    The mood of the War Democrats is angry.
    The mood of the Liberal Republicans is angry.
    The mood of the Radical Republicans is angry.
    The international situation is chaotic.
    The status of Reconstruction is hindered by economic recession.
    The intensity of conflict on the frontier is low.
    Of the assassins of Lincoln and his trusted subordinates, two have been killed in the field, five have been executed, and the last one is in exile in Britain.

    Vote for an economic recovery plan including any three of the following options:
    Expand the labor pool by loosening restrictions on immigration.Expand the labor pool by allowing the hiring of Native American workers.Subsidize key industries directly with greenbacks.Begin nationalization of major railroads.Strengthen trade ties with Latin America to compensate for the loss of trade with Europe.Encourage consumer cooperatives and farmers' associations in order to reduce prices.
    Given the situation in Europe this will likely lead to a large influx of immigrants which will further alter the demographics of the nation, including the South. The economic burden on the business interests running Reconstruction will be lessened. However, the growing labor movement will be displeased, as will nativist groups.This will lessen the economic burden on business interests, and has a small chance of leading to a limited path to citizenship for certain indigenous people. However, labor generally opposes this action and it may cause tensions with tribal leadership.This will somewhat lessen the economic burden on both business and labor, and is tolerated by most sectors of society. However, it will further strengthen the political influence of capitalists and may lead to corruption in the Reconstruction state governments.This will greatly lessen the economic burden on the laborers but will infuriate business interests, who may retaliate in an unpredictable manner that may worsen the crisis. It will also increase the government's control over the course of Reconstruction.This will somewhat lessen the economic burden on both business and labor, and is tolerated by most sectors of society. On the other hand, it may be difficult to implement and will increase the USA's involvement in Latin America and international affairs in general.This may eventually lessen the economic burden on the laborers, but it is a highly experimental policy which may take a very long time to produce results, if it does so at all. However, if successful, it will also strengthen the political prospects of Reconstruction.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [x] Plan: Balancing progress and placation
    -[x] Begin nationalization of major railroads.
    -[x] Expand the labor pool by allowing the hiring of Native American workers.
    -[x] Strengthen trade ties with Latin America to compensate for the loss of trade with Europe.
    aid the worker, the red man, and the market, while hopefully not pissing off anyone too much. not a good time for a business plot
     
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    [] Plan: Coorperative Balancing
    -[]Expand the labor pool by loosening restrictions on immigration.
    -[] Strengthen trade ties with Latin America to compensate for the loss of trade with Europe.
    -[] Encourage consumer cooperatives and farmers' associations in order to reduce prices.
     
    [X] Plan Co-ops and nationalisation
    -[X] Begin nationalization of major railroads.
    -[X] Strengthen trade ties with Latin America to compensate for the loss of trade with Europe.
    -[X] Encourage consumer cooperatives and farmers' associations in order to reduce prices.
     
    I know we all like nationalizing things and kneecapping robber barons, but I think that that can wait in favor of reducing immigration restrictions and starting cooperative experimentation. I'm leaning toward Laurent's plan as the smartest long-term.
     
    [X] Four Planks
    _Expand the labor pool by loosening restrictions on immigration
    _Subsidize key industries directly with greenbacks.
    _Begin nationalization of major railroads
    _Encourage consumer cooperatives and farmers' associations in order to reduce prices
     
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