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This Mighty Scourge of War: A Reconstruction-Era Quest

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John Wilkes Booth's infamous assassination of Abraham Lincoln was only one of several planned killings in a conspiracy meant to destroy the Union's leadership in a single stroke. In our timeline, it was the only successful murder committed on that fateful night.

In this timeline, there were more—and the quest puts us in the shoes of those who are left to pick up the pieces…
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Chapter 1: No Time To Mourn
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    • Kirook

    Kirook

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    SF Bay Area
    Washington, D.C.

    April 14, 1865

    10:45 PM

    As Senator Lafayette S. Foster prepared to go to bed, his heart was lifted with a jubilation that was soon to be shattered.

    General Lee had finally lain down his arms not a week past, and it seemed the brutal spectre of war would soon release the nation from its crimson embrace. And to add to the triumph, with the help of his efforts as president pro tempore of the Senate, the Thirteenth Amendment was marching inexorably towards ratification. The day was not far off when America would be washed clean of the stain of slavery for good. Foster allowed himself a smile—a rare sight on any face during those dark days of civil war, but appearing more and more often as rays of sunlight began to shine through the clouds.

    Then there came a terrible clangor from outside his front door.

    The Senator's brow furrowed, and he made his way out to his porch, rubbing the beginnings of sleep out of his eyes. Rushing down the street was a band of men who—from their distinctive capes, torches, and the symbol of the eye they bore on their clothes—could only be President Lincoln's loyal Wide Awakes. At a glance it was clear that they had been roused into a fury, and all of them were armed, brandishing pistols, rifles, and daggers with nothing less than murderous intent.

    And what they were shouting…

    His heart dropped into his stomach. No, it couldn't possibly be true. They must be mistaken. Or if not, surely this was some horrible dream…

    Foster was roused from his stupor by the clatter of hooves, as a Union Army officer galloped up the street on horseback. He reined in his steed as he reached Foster's house, and dismounted in one smooth motion.

    From the look on his face, it was clear that the nightmare was becoming more real by the second.

    "Senator Foster," he said without preamble, "I have grave news."

    "The President," Foster murmured, forcing his voice to steady itself. "Does Vice President Johnson know…"

    There was a deathly silence, and then: "The Vice President is dead. As are the Secretary of State and General Grant. A Confederate conspiracy was underfoot under our very noses, and we didn't realize until it was too late."

    Another man might have fainted dead away then, or stood dumbstruck by the horror he had just been informed of. But for Lafayette S. Foster, the effect was a sudden, terrible clarity. A last, desperate stroke from the dying slave power, to decapitate the Union before it could strike its own killing blow. And it had taken the lives of Lincoln and Johnson both, which meant…

    "There's no time to lose," said the officer. "The nation is awaiting your command…President Foster."

    THE STATE OF THE NATION:

    National stability is critical.
    The government's legitimacy is unknown.
    The capital is engulfed in rioting.
    The mood of the War Democrats is angry.
    The mood of the Liberal Republicans is infuriated.
    The mood of the Radical Republicans is murderous.
    There are four major Confederate armies remaining in the field.
    The progress of Reconstruction is undetermined.
    The intensity of conflict in the Western frontier is     high.
    Of the assassins of Lincoln and his trusted subordinates, all are still at large.

    Washington is in an uproar over the Confederate conspiracy, and riots have broken out as angry citizens of the capital take it upon themselves to hunt for the murderers of Lincoln, Grant, Johnson, and Seward. Before the President can take command of the country, he must restore his command of its center of government.

    What is to be done?

    Take direct command of Federal forces in the District of Columbia to search for the conspirators.Speak directly to the people. Try to calm the situation and convince them not to resort to violence in Lincoln's name.There is no choice but to recall the Army of the Potomac from Virginia to restore order in the city.
    Taking immediate and decisive action will help the the President's reputation and the government's legitimacy, but riding out into the city at such a chaotic time—even with Federal troops at one's back—is a significant personal risk.Foster is a skilled orator and a known ally of the lamented President Lincoln, so this will help in calming tensions in Washington. However, without a concerted effort to find them, the conspirators may escape and regroup in the South.This will bring an immediate end to the rioting and will likely result in the capture of at least one of the conspirators. On the other hand, governmental legitimacy will suffer, and the army's presence in the capital may have other unpredictable effects.
     
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    • Chapter 2: The Day of Four Presidents
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    • Washington, D.C.

    April 15, 1865

    2:43 AM

    In some ways, the hastily-ascended President Foster had an unusually easy time quelling the riots in Washington. After all, the people's ire was directed not against the government of the Union, but against those who had sought to destroy it. When it became clear that there was a man ready to take command and hunt down the enemies of the Republic—a man known as a close ally of the martyr Lincoln, to boot—the Wide Awakes and Rail Maulers gladly acquiesced to be deputized, as the D.C. garrison was deployed in an all-hands manhunt for John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators.

    Then came the hard part.

    Though the upwelling of mass anger had been directed, it had not fully abated, and an atmosphere of paranoia prevailed throughout the city. Many wondered who the next victim of the slavers' plot would be—or whether they would be falsely identified as abettors of that plot themselves. (And, indeed, several prominent Copperhead figures were turned in by their neighbors to federal authorities on suspicion of treason, or tarred and feathered by zealous Wide Awakes.)

    But in the end, the decisive action of President Foster made all the difference. The first of Booth's band to fall was George Azterodt, the killer of Vice President Johnson, who had required a dose of "liquid courage" to embolden him to go through with the deed, and who consequently had dulled the sensory and mental faculties necessary to deflect suspicion and evade the authorities. With alcohol and the Pinkerton Detective Agency loosening his tongue, he was quick to start naming names: besides himself and Booth, he identified Lewis Powell, David Herold, John and Mary Surratt, Michael O'Laughlen, and Samuel Arnold as having played a role in the assassinations.

    On hearing this, the President set off at once with an escort of soldiers and Wide Awakes to the Maryland boarding house owned by the Surratt family, where he hoped to capture many or even all of the conspirators at a single stroke, in much the same way that they had attempted to undo the Union. As strategic moves went, it was well-chosen, particularly for a man with little military experience…but not perfect, for a cornered animal could still bite, and would often bite the hardest of all.

    The first part of the plan went off without a hitch. The President and his men arrived at the boarding house quickly, surrounding it with several of the conspirators—who had hoped only to make a brief stop there for supplies before fleeing to friendlier territory—still inside. But if they could not escape, Booth's allies were determined to take as many Union men down with them as they could—especially when Foster's presence became known. When the President demanded that the Surratts allow them to search the building, he was met with a hail of gunfire from John Surratt as well as Powell and Arnold.

    Vastly outnumbered, the conspirators could not hold out for long; and indeed, by the end of the brief but bloody skirmish, Powell had been fatally shot and Arnold forced to surrender. But in the chaos, the Suratts themselves were nowhere to be found.

    And worse, one of the last shots fired in the battle took President Foster in the leg.

    It wasn't a mortal wound, for which all present thanked their lucky stars. But it was still serious. Recovery, if indeed he did recover, would take time—and that was one commodity that was in direly short supply for the Union at that moment.

    The Federals and Wide Awakes bore the imprisoned Arnold, the corpse of Powell, and the wounded President back to Washington. But it soon became clear that while he was under treatment for his wound, Foster would be in no condition to give orders. The post of Acting President of the United States passed to Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax in what became known as the "Day of Four Presidents".

    Colfax, like Foster only a few hours earlier, was now faced with momentous decisions. But unlike Foster, it was not clear whether he had the authority to make them. On the one hand, the incapacitation of the President had not removed the need for clear leadership in a crucial time for the nation; to the contrary, it had only increased it. But on the other, should Foster recover, overusing the authority of the Acting Presidency might be seen as an overreach—or even an attempted coup—on the part of Colfax.

    THE STATE OF THE NATION:

    National stability is critical.
    The government's legitimacy is middling.
    The capital is on edge.
    The mood of the War Democrats is angry.
    The mood of the Liberal Republicans is infuriated.
    The mood of the Radical Republicans is infuriated.
    There are four major Confederate armies remaining in the field.
    The status of Reconstruction is undetermined.
    The intensity of conflict on the frontier is high.
    Of the assassins of Lincoln and his trusted subordinates, one has been killed, two have been captured, and the rest have gone to ground.

    The situation is improving, but the wound received by President Foster has put the government in a precarious position. Colfax must decide what the proper balance is between continuing the momentum towards stabilizing the government and avoiding a constitutional crisis when Foster is ready to retake command. Note, however, that it is unclear how long his treatment will take—it could be a matter of days, weeks, or months…

    What is to be done?
    Take command solely for the purposes of hunting down the remaining conspirators.
    Take command and focus on re-establishing contact with the army, putting a subordinate in charge of the manhunt.
    		Take command and assume the full duties of the President of the United States.
    This will ensure that government legitimacy is maintained and that the conspirators are pursued, but until Foster reassumes the Presidency it will leave the military with no one in overall command.This will ensure the continued loyalty and effectiveness of the armed forces, but with authority over the search being devolved from Colfax's direct command, some of the conspirators may escape to the South.
    This will both ensure a clear chain of command during Foster's convalescence in case the Confederate remnants rally or war breaks out on the frontier and keep up the momentum against the conspirators, but may provoke a crisis depending on your actions while in power.
     
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    • Chapter 3: Redrawing the Battle Lines
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    • May 1, 1865

    Schuyler Colfax—or "Smiler" Colfax as he was sometimes known—was a legislator first and foremost. The House of Representatives was his domain, and his sudden ascension to the Acting Presidency forced him to hastily adapt to a new role. As such, perhaps due to discomfort with leading the executive branch, or perhaps out of concern for the appearance of constitutionality and legality, he made it clear to all involved that he was merely doing his civic duty by taking up the Presidency until such time as Foster could recover.

    This declaration soothed many fears about the nature of his ad-hoc administration, but it also tied the hands of his staff to a significant degree. Colfax chose to focus their limited capacity on reestablishing contact with the various Union armies in the field rather than on hunting down the remaining conspirators, believing that it was only a matter of time before they were caught and that a Confederate military resurgence would drastically multiply the Union's woes.

    The Army of the Potomac, not far from Appomattox Courthouse where it had accepted General Lee's surrender, was the first to have its chain of command confirmed. Lincoln's and Grant's simultaneous deaths had provoked tremendous sorrow and anger amongst the soldiers, but there was little confusion in this case—Grant's command passed on to his immediate subordinate, General George Meade, with assistance from Grant's Chief of Staff, General Henry Halleck. Ordinarily, given their abrasive and confrontational personalities, the two men would have been at each other's throats almost instantly; but the plot against the Union gave them a common enemy against which to direct their anger. "Old Snapping Turtle is looking for someone to bite," wrote one soldier of Meade's infuriated reaction to the news of the assassinations; and Halleck, who had worked closely with Grant in some of the pivotal campaigns of the war, was keen to seek revenge against his killers. Both men immediately moved to place the Army of the Potomac at Acting President Colfax's disposal, ready to be deployed once more against what was left of the Confederacy.

    Contacting General Sherman and his army group proved to be more complicated. Sherman had marched deep into enemy territory—being in the process of occupying the Carolinas when President Lincoln and his allies were killed—and getting a message to him took longer than expected. He confirmed that he would accept Colfax's orders (and Foster's, if the situation should permit it). But he had only just managed to restore order to his ranks when Confederate General Johnston—hoping to take advantage of the chaos in the Union to catch Sherman off-guard—attacked him in what would become known as the Battle of Haw River. Had the disorder in Sherman's armies been allowed to persist, Johnston might well have been able to do serious damage; but thanks to the new clarity of command, the severely outnumbered and undersupplied Confederate troops were successfully repulsed (though not yet shattered).

    Over the next few weeks, reports trickled in from Union forces further afield, mostly in the Western and Trans-Mississippi theaters of the war. The picture they painted was, perhaps unsurprisingly, a rosy one: notwithstanding the deaths of so many high officials of the Union government and the resulting reinvigoration of Confederate morale, the Confederacy remained materially and militarily on its last legs. With full control of the Union Army restored, the final end of the Civil War remained close at hand.

    Then, as the New-York Tribune rather histrionically put it, "a devil arose from Hell to bestow his unholy blessings upon the South"—by which it meant that John Wilkes Booth had returned.

    It emerged later that with the help of Confederate sympathizers in Virginia, he had run the Union blockade of the South, landed in French-controlled Mexico, and from there crossed the border into Texas. But regardless of the means of his escape, his return to Confederate-held territory galvanized the South's will to fight, and he was widely fêted as a national hero for the slaying of "the tyrant Lincoln" and his inner circle. The incident was a serious embarrassment for the government that strengthened Radical Republican calls for harsh punitive measures against the South, but more concerningly, Confederate partisan actions began to intensify (especially west of the Mississippi, where Booth had made his new headquarters).

    This spike in "bushwhacker" raids was of particular importance because it coincided with a surge in violence between settlers and Native Americans in the western Great Plains. Ever since the mass murder of over 150 natives (mostly women and children) at Sand Creek in November 1864, a large-scale uprising of Plains indigenous tribes had been brewing, with the participation of a variety of Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho groups. The simultaneous presence of Confederate and Native American guerrillas in the region threatened to provoke a general crisis in the West, perhaps even cutting the Union off from its Rocky Mountain and Pacific territories.

    On the bright side, as the weeks rolled by, President Foster's condition began to improve. His doctors anticipated that he would soon be ready to reassume the full duties of the Presidency; while Colfax's temporary administration would be deciding the Union's immediate military policy, its results and ongoing conduct would fall to Foster's official one.

    THE STATE OF THE NATION:

    National stability is shaky.
    The government's legitimacy is middling.
    The capital is on edge.
    The mood of the War Democrats is angry.
    The mood of the Liberal Republicans is infuriated.
    The mood of the Radical Republicans is murderous.
    There are four major Confederate armies remaining in the field.
    The status of Reconstruction is undetermined.
    The intensity of conflict on the frontier is severe.
    Of the assassins of Lincoln and his trusted subordinates, one has been killed, two have been captured, one has escaped to Confederate territory, and the rest have gone to ground.

    The manhunt for the remaining conspirators continues, but Colfax has primarily concerned himself with military matters and the still-ongoing Civil War. The President's initiative to reconnect with the Union armies in the field has allowed him and his administration to essentially identify three major arenas of conflict.

    The first is the eastern CSA, i.e. all Confederate states east of the Mississippi River. It contains the Confederate government, including President Jefferson Davis, as well as three of the four remaining Confederate armies (the Army of Tennessee under Joseph E. Johnston; the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana under Richard Taylor; and Nathan Bedford Forrest's cavalry force).

    The second is the western CSA, centered almost entirely on Texas but including small parts of neighboring states and territories. It hosts the fugitive John Wilkes Booth, as well as the fourth remaining Confederate army (the Trans-Mississippi Department under General Edmund Kirby Smith). Because it has been cut off from the rest of the CSA since General Grant's capture of Vicksburg in 1863, Kirby Smith has been acting largely independently and has taken steps to make the territory self-sufficient, meaning that it is the most economically and militarily coherent Confederate remnant.

    The third and final theater is the Union's western territories. These contain no centralized Confederate armies, but federal authority there has been weakened significantly by recent events, and frontier violence has seen a dramatic rise. The region's isolation and underdevelopment means that it would be extremely difficult to restore order if the situation there worsened (not to mention that this would also interrupt the supply of precious metals from California and Nevada, harming the nation's finances).

    What is to be done?
    Focus on subduing the Eastern Confederacy.
    		Focus on subduing the Western Confederacy.
    		Focus on restoring order to the West.
    This will most likely destroy most of the remaining Confederate military forces and will also allow an immediate start to Reconstruction, but Booth will be left to his own devices to agitate against the Union and emancipation and the situation in the frontier may deteriorate dramatically.This will most likely lead to the capture and trial of John Wilkes Booth, but the time spent reconquering Texas will allow Eastern Confederate partisans to organize more freely. It will also cut off direct Confederate access to the Western territories, although it should be noted that this in itself does not mean that the frontier will be pacified.
    		This will prevent any serious loss of control of the Union's frontier territories, constrain Booth's activities to regions under actual (Western) Confederate military control, and free up troops for later campaigns against the CSA remnants. However, it may lead to the rise of a coordinated anti-Union resistance across the South.
     
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    • Chapter 4: The Razor’s Edge
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    • June 31, 1865

    Convincing Congress—especially its Radical Republican faction—to acquiesce to ending the war in the east once and for all instead of pursuing Lincoln and Grant's killer to the bloody end was no easy feat. But Colfax, long accustomed to wrangling the legislature for his own ends, was up to the task; and as Commander in Chief the military answered to him first and foremost.

    His statement on the matter was simple: "We have cut off the hydra's heads; now we must burn its stumps." And with that, Sherman and Meade were dispatched to put an end to the last Confederate holdouts east of the Mississippi River.

    Cut into tatters by Grant and Sherman's campaigns, the Old South could field no armies capable of resisting the Union any longer, and over the following two months the remaining Confederate generals fell one by one—first Johnston, his rapidly shrinking forces crushed when Sherman finally caught up to him; then Richard Taylor, giving control of Alabama, Mississippi, and eastern Louisiana to the Union; and finally Nathan Bedford Forrest, whose cavalry was caught in the midst of attempting to disperse into the countryside, no doubt hoping to harass federal forces as guerillas.

    And there were other pieces of happy news as well. With no friendly and unoccupied territory for them to flee to, it seemed certainly that the remaining plotters in what was becoming known as the "White Camelia Conspiracy" would soon be caught—indeed, in mid-May the Surratts were discovered attempting to board a ship in Norfolk and promptly arrested. More importantly, however, the process of reconstructing the former Confederate states (at least, those not belonging to the "Kirby Smithdom" in the West) could begin at once. Congressional debate on how to handle the process was lively, albeit largely dominated by the Radicals; but the early stages of the discussion were soon swept aside by the winds of change from both the frontier and the capital.

    The first of these changes was the return to power of President Foster, whose wound had healed enough for him to once again discharge the duties of his office. Colfax, who had considered himself a temporary executive from the beginning, returned to the House of Representatives as he had planned. But this also meant that just as Reconstruction was beginning, the Presidency passed from the hands of a known Radical Republican to a man of a far more moderate temperament. The War Democrats rejoiced, but the Radicals—though they tolerated Foster for the time being because of the bravery he had shown at Surratt House—were suspicious.

    But while Congress and the President deliberated, the situation in the West became far more ominous. With the Confederacy's last field army and the instrument of its racist vengeance both present in Texas, the area became a magnet for pro-slavery "bushwhackers" and deserting or fleeing Confederate soldiers. Attacks on pro-Union Native American tribes in the Indian Territory, and on known Union supporters in Kansas, New Mexico, and Colorado, became commonplace. At the same time, the Union's various border conflicts with the indigenous tribes of the Great Plains and Southwest began to escalate, as had been feared. The flow of gold and silver from the mines of California and Nevada slowed to a trickle, then stopped altogether. And in late June, the government received word that Brigham Young, the president of the LDS Church, had called out the Mormon militia (known as the Nauvoo Legion) to defend his faithful against Confederate and native attacks.

    Nothing further was heard from west of the Rocky Mountains.

    However, in this grim situation there remained a glimmer of hope—albeit one that presented a dilemma of its own. On May 14, a group of representatives of Native American tribes of the Indian Territory who had supported the Confederacy (as well as several groups from further west) convened at the Camp Napoleon Council. With the Union occupation of the Confederacy's core territories, these representatives had come to the conclusion that now was the time for negotiation with the United States government, so they chose to form an intertribal compact in order to present a united front in the face of Union dominance. Ordinarily the government would simply have dismissed this agreement as unauthorized and gone on to dictate its own terms to the natives, but with the West in chaos, conducting diplomacy with the compact presented an attractive opportunity to help restore peace.

    But there was an obstacle to this plan: the Radical Republicans. Many of them were strongly in favor of westward expansion and settlement, and if the government chose to treat with the assembled tribes at Camp Napoleon, many of them would perceive it as a surrender (especially in light of the presence of the bushwhackers, whose actions were often conflated with those of the Native Americans in the Radicals' rhetoric). Should President Foster choose to go forward with that course of action against their will, he would have little political capital with which to push forward his own plans for Reconstruction. This in turn would mean that the Radicals could ram through their own plans, which had taken a sharp turn for the punitive since the White Camelia Conspiracy and especially since Booth's escape—to the dismay of the War Democrats and the outrage of white Southerners of all classes.

    Then, in the waning days of June, one more option presented itself: a devil's bargain of a sort. A small group of industrialists, led by a surprising partnership between Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, James Fisk Jr., and Daniel Drew, presented the President with a plan to open parts of the West and South to private investment. Their hope was to reach these unindustrialized areas and expand into the untapped markets for railroads, steamboats, and other means of transportation; in exchange for which they promised to transform both regions into prosperous industrialized states that could provide jobs for people of all races, be they white, black, or even indigenous or Chinese—and to wield their influence on Foster's behalf, allowing him to see through his preferred policies in both East and West. On the other hand, they were tight-lipped on how these grand promises would be accomplished…and several of them were known to have ties to Tammany Hall.

    Of course, there was always the bold option of attempting to go it alone—but who knew how the Radical Republicans might react to a President they believed to be soft on the Confederacy…

    THE STATE OF THE NATION:

    National stability is shaky.
    The government's legitimacy is middling.
    The capital is nervous.
    The mood of the War Democrats is cautious.
    The mood of the Liberal Republicans is angry.
    The mood of the Radical Republicans is murderous.
    There is one major Confederate army remaining in the field.
    The status of Reconstruction is pending a policy decision.
    The intensity of conflict on the frontier is severe.
    Of the assassins of Lincoln and his trusted subordinates, one has been killed, four have been captured, one has escaped to Confederate territory, and the rest have gone to ground.

    President Foster's current task is to balance the demands of securing the West and reconstructing the South, using any means at his disposal—political, diplomatic, economic, or military—to help the nation heal. A great deal of finesse will be required here to avoid serious consequences.

    The issue of civil rights is a pressing one, but one with a clear consensus—it is the overwhelming majority view among members of Congress that Black people should be elevated to full United States citizenship with all the attendant rights and liberties thereof. The question of "moderate" versus "radical" (or perhaps more accurately "strict") Reconstruction, therefore, revolves largely around the questions of who should be punished for the pro-slavery revolt, how harsh that punishment should be, and what steps should be taken to ensure that the Confederacy never rises again.

    This has led to debate over the Radical proposal of the "ironclad oath"—a requirement that 51% of a state's white population swear loyalty to the United States before it can be readmitted into the Union—and their demand that anyone who took up a weapon in the Confederacy's service be permanently stripped of voting rights. They claim that such strict measures are necessary in the face of the perfidy shown by the Confederates in the White Camelia Conspiracy, but Liberal Republicans and War Democrats fear that disenfranchising so much of the white population might stoke tensions (with some of the latter suggesting it could even lead to a race war). Nevertheless, the mood among the Radicals is so agitated in the present situation that they are determined to punish the South for its crimes.

    Dispatch a representative to meet with the Camp Napoleon compact.Push for a less strict Reconstruction plan.Accept the industrialists' deal.Attempt to force a preferred policy slate through Congress.
    This will ease tensions in the frontier, but Reconstruction will become significantly more difficult. Westward expansion is likely to be permanently hindered, which may have both positive and negative consequences.This will escalate the violence in the West, but the progress of Reconstruction will be sped up. It will also allow further negotiations with Radical Republicans on sweeping civil rights measures in the future, particularly if Booth is captured or killed.This will combine the strengths of the first two plans, and will replace their weaknesses with a series of unpredictable effects as the government permits private development of the South and West and potentially ties itself to corrupt interests.This will immediately begin a new chapter in which the President's political strategy towards Congress will be determined. If the negotiations are successful, the government will make significant progress in dealing with both the West and the South. However, if negotiations fail, the Radical Republicans may take drastic action.
     
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    • Chapter 5: The Narrow Path
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    • July 2, 1865

    Perhaps it was no surprise that no single faction of in Congress was perfectly aligned with the President's aims. The National Union Party had been formed as a grand coalition of all those who opposed the Southern Confederacy, and the shocking tragedy of the White Camelia Conspiracy had helped them remain united behind the memories of their martyred leaders and against their common enemy. Nevertheless, the gulfs of opinion on how to deal with the prevailing issues facing the Union were often yawning—and in the process of forging his own political path, President Foster threatened to tear them open even further.

    And yet, the President persisted. With Speaker Colfax at his side, he walked the halls of Congress and struggled mightily to gather allies for his plan. The "Presidential Faction" of the National Unity Coalition that formed from these efforts was in truth not really a faction at all in the sense that it shared any guiding principles or policy goals. Rather, it was an eclectic alliance of individual Senators and Representatives who were willing to vote for a part or the whole of his agenda for their own reasons—here a War Democrat anxious about the Ironclad Oath, there a Liberal Republican willing to make compromises in the name of ending the national chaos, elsewhere a Radical bucking consensus with his sympathy to the natives' plight.

    All together, they were enough to protect the President from impeachment if one arose (and, possibly because his opponents in Congress realized this, no such attempt was made). But as Congressmen jumped ship from their factions or realigned themselves on an almost daily basis, the unity of the Coalition began to splinter. At a time when clear leadership was absolutely paramount—especially after the White Camelia Conspiracy and the Day of Four Presidents—the legislative unrest threatened to paralyze the government's response.

    Foster and Colfax knew they had to act, but the President was limited in what he could actually do, able to use only those powers delegated to the executive branch by the Constitution. Getting enough of Congress on their side to break the deadlock would require making promises in exchange for support—promises to which both men would later be held, or risk courting disaster.

    Before them lay a chance to design a grand, sweeping solution to the myriad challenges facing the Union…or a chance to sink deeper into the quagmire.

    THE STATE OF THE NATION:

    National stability is shaky.
    The government's legitimacy is declining.
    The capital is on edge.
    The mood of the War Democrats is angry.
    The mood of the Liberal Republicans is infuriated.
    The mood of the Radical Republicans is infuriated.
    There is one major Confederate army remaining in the field.
    The status of Reconstruction is pending a policy decision.
    The intensity of conflict on the frontier is severe.
    Of the assassins of Lincoln and his trusted subordinates, one has been killed, four have been captured, one has escaped to Confederate territory, and the rest have gone to ground.

    Executive Actions:
    Direct the Union Army to immediately march on the last remnant of the Confederate States.Open an investigation into the possible complicity of Congressional Copperheads in the White Camelia Conspiracy.Issue an executive order authorizing a new run of United States Notes.
    This will rally Congress behind a common enemy, but there will be serious logistical difficulties in sending the Army to campaign in the West at the present time unless additional action is taken.This is a heavy-handed use of executive authority and will be perceived as such, but it may sway Radicals and intimidate moderates, and potentially offer further options if any conspirators are discovered.Printing more "greenbacks" will help shore up the government's funds in the absence of West Coast precious metals, and as such will make the President less dependent on Congressional authority over the budget; but in the long run it may lead to economic instability, especially if the crisis continues.

    Promises:



    Agree to hold an emergency Presidential election at the earliest possible convenience.Allow Congress to hold a vote to appoint a Vice President.Promise to open the floor of Congress for debate on new Constitutional amendments.
    This would reassure Congress that Foster is indeed a caretaker President as he claims to be, and has no long-term plans of using the crisis to his advantage. On the other hand, organizing an election in the current circumstances will be a major challenge.By doing this, the President would be ceding his executive power to nominate a Vice President to Congress, giving them a greater voice in the affairs of the executive branch. This choice's effects depend on the status of Congress—it will be useful in the future if the President's efforts are successful, but if not, it may backfire.This is technically a promise Speaker Colfax rather than President Foster would be making, but the President would still need to back the move. It could potentially strengthen the President's Reconstruction plans by enshrining parts of them in the Constitution, but allowing for continuous Constitutional revision may result in unpredictable outcomes…

    This is a plan vote. Plans may include any of these choices in any combination.
     
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    • Scheduled vote count started by Kirook on Feb 2, 2024 at 4:42 PM, finished with 46 posts and 38 votes.
    • [X] Plan Decisive Action
      -[X] Direct the Union Army to immediately march on the last remnant of the Confederate States.
      -[x] Open an investigation into the possible complicity of Congressional Copperheads in the White Camelia Conspiracy.
      -[X] Agree to hold an emergency Presidential election at the earliest possible convenience.
      [x]Plan Pushing All Buttons
      -[X] Direct the Union Army to immediately march on the last remnant of the Confederate States.
      -[x] Open an investigation into the possible complicity of Congressional Copperheads in the White Camelia Conspiracy.
      -[X] Issue an executive order authorizing a new run of United States Notes.
      -[X] Agree to hold an emergency Presidential election at the earliest possible convenience.
      -[X] Allow Congress to hold a vote to appoint a Vice President.
      -[x] Promise to open the floor of Congress for debate on new Constitutional amendments.
      [X]Plan: Warfare, political or otherwise
      -[X] Direct the Union Army to immediately march on the last remnant of the Confederate States.
      -[x] Open an investigation into the possible complicity of Congressional Copperheads in the White Camelia Conspiracy.
      -[X] Allow Congress to hold a vote to appoint a Vice President.
      -[x] Promise to open the floor of Congress for debate on new Constitutional amendments.
      [X] Plan: Secure the Home Front
      -[x] Open an investigation into the possible complicity of Congressional Copperheads in the White Camelia Conspiracy.
      -[X] Agree to hold an emergency Presidential election at the earliest possible convenience.
      -[X] Allow Congress to hold a vote to appoint a Vice President.
      -[x] Promise to open the floor of Congress for debate on new Constitutional amendments.
      [X] Plan: Keep it Together
      -[X] Direct the Union Army to immediately march on the last remnant of the Confederate States.
      -[X] Agree to hold an emergency Presidential election at the earliest possible convenience.
      -[X] Allow Congress to hold a vote to appoint a Vice President.
      -[x] Promise to open the floor of Congress for debate on new Constitutional amendments.
      [x] Plan Congressional Warfare
      -[x] Open an investigation into the possible complicity of Congressional Copperheads in the White Camelia Conspiracy.
      -[x] Promise to open the floor of Congress for debate on new Constitutional amendments.
      [X] Plan No Butternut Scare Please
      -[X] Direct the Union Army to immediately march on the last remnant of the Confederate States.
      -[X] Issue an executive order authorizing a new run of United States Notes.
      -[X] Agree to hold an emergency Presidential election at the earliest possible convenience.
      -[x] Promise to open the floor of Congress for debate on new Constitutional amendments.
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