Hello. I'm not sure how much of this has already been done, but as of late I've been thinking of all that we don't know about TL-191. Here are some of my educated guesses.
US Presidents:
1865-1869: I believe Turtledove said outright that Horatio Seymour defeated Lincoln. As an erstwhile War Democrat, we'll pair him with George Pendleton of Ohio. I don't think he'd really do much other than negotiate a treaty of commerce with the Confederates and start to work down the US's national debt by cutting the budget.
1869-1873: A rift arises between the soft-liner and hard-liners within the Democrats, and sitting Vice-President Pendleton challenges Seymour for the nomination. With nobody able to attain two-thirds, Senator Thomas Bayard of Delaware emerges as the consensus pick, and he easily defeats Radical Republican Salmon Chase. I can see Bayard signing a treaty for the return of escaped slaves to the South.
1873-1877: The prewar one-term tradition reasserts itself, and Bayard steps down in favor of Pennsylvania Governor George Woodward, the leader of the growing protectionist wing of the Democratic Party. He defeats dark-horse John Geary, former territorial governor of Kansas, and a fellow Pennsylvania, and attempts, mostly without success, to alter the nation's economic policies. The Panic of 1875 puts a damper on his plans.
1877-1881: Woodward steps down and is succeeded by New York Governor Samuel Tilden, a known reformer, who narrowly defeats spoilsman Senator Roscoe Conkling, another New Yorker. Although Tilden intended to make civil service reform his primary focus, he became embroiled in controversy after acquiescing in the 1877 Spanish sale of Cuba to the CSA (the agreement having been worked out before the election). He seals his party's fate by ordering twelve stars removed from the US flag, one for each of the departed Confederate states. The Republicans recapture Congress in the 1878 midterms, for the first time in 16 years.
The two Presidents between Seymour and Tilden (there needs to be two, since Blaine is the 21st) can be any of the sundry Democratic notables from this period. I like Woodward in particular because he faded into obscurity in OTL after losing to Andrew Curtin in 1863.
1881-1885: We all know what happened to James Blaine. Part of the trouble with this is that Blaine is the 21st, and TR is the 28th. The terms don't exactly match up for the six Presidents in between, so I had to make a rather strange decision with the next one.
1885-1889: With the Republican party in ruins, the Democrats are assured of winning this election. But the elder statesman of their party is Senator Thomas Hendricks of Indiana, a prewar soft-liner. To balance him, they choose Winfield Scott Hancock of Pennsylvania, the only general to emerge from both wars with his reputation intact. Hendricks dies early in 1885, clearing the way for Hancock, who is also ill. His sole accomplishment is seeing through to passage the Conscription Bill of 1886, which Hendricks had threatened to veto as a federal usurpation of states' rights. Hancock dies later that year as well, and power passes to Senate President pro tempore Allen Thurman of Illinois.
1889-1897: Since two Presidents had died in office a little over a year, the elderly Thurman is passed over in favor of Speaker of the House Thomas Reed of Maine. Under Reed the Democrats' hard-line policies are cemented, as when he signed a treaty of alliance with Haiti in 1892 as a sign of solidarity against Confederate expansionism. Under his watch the US also began building a true two-ocean navy, as envisioned by his Secretary of the Navy, Alfred Mahan.
1897-1905: By 1896, the barons of the Democratic party have become restless under eight years of a single Administration. Two of these titans, Grover Cleveland of New York and Robert Pattison of Pennsylvania, deadlock at the convention. The party brokers then hand the nomination to the relative-unknown Alfred Mahan, who defeats both the Republican nominee Benjamin Harrison, and young Socialist Congressman William Jennings Bryan. It is the first time that the Socialist candidate has outpolled the Republican. Early in his first term the Entente tests him with a plan to build a transoceanic canal through Nicaragua, but they back down after he unambiguously threatens war. Mahan goes on to defeat Bryan in a rematch in 1900.
1905-1913: Although Mahan is a national hero, the Democratic machines despise his relatively nonpartisan stances. Accordingly they nominate the safe, stolid political soldier Henry Cabot Lodge. During Lodge's two terms (he defeats Robert LaFollette of Wisconsin and Tom Johnson of Ohio), US-CS relations soften to a considerable degree, and he acts as a moderating influence upon the impetuous Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany.
(Edit: Per reader suggestion, substitute Nelson Aldrich, Senator from Rhode Island, for Lodge. Or if you want to get crazy, Henry Adams. He's probably too old, though.)
1913-1921: The machine politicians bow to the inevitable as the unpredictable, crusading Governor of New York, Theodore Roosevelt, wins the nomination and defeats Senator Eugene Debs of Indiana in a landslide. THeir worst fears are confirmed as he immediately signs the Civil Service Reform bill vetoed by Lodge, and asks Congress for powers to break up the powerful trusts which dominate the economy. A war within the Democratic party looms.
I'll do the CS presidents later.
US Presidents:
1865-1869: I believe Turtledove said outright that Horatio Seymour defeated Lincoln. As an erstwhile War Democrat, we'll pair him with George Pendleton of Ohio. I don't think he'd really do much other than negotiate a treaty of commerce with the Confederates and start to work down the US's national debt by cutting the budget.
1869-1873: A rift arises between the soft-liner and hard-liners within the Democrats, and sitting Vice-President Pendleton challenges Seymour for the nomination. With nobody able to attain two-thirds, Senator Thomas Bayard of Delaware emerges as the consensus pick, and he easily defeats Radical Republican Salmon Chase. I can see Bayard signing a treaty for the return of escaped slaves to the South.
1873-1877: The prewar one-term tradition reasserts itself, and Bayard steps down in favor of Pennsylvania Governor George Woodward, the leader of the growing protectionist wing of the Democratic Party. He defeats dark-horse John Geary, former territorial governor of Kansas, and a fellow Pennsylvania, and attempts, mostly without success, to alter the nation's economic policies. The Panic of 1875 puts a damper on his plans.
1877-1881: Woodward steps down and is succeeded by New York Governor Samuel Tilden, a known reformer, who narrowly defeats spoilsman Senator Roscoe Conkling, another New Yorker. Although Tilden intended to make civil service reform his primary focus, he became embroiled in controversy after acquiescing in the 1877 Spanish sale of Cuba to the CSA (the agreement having been worked out before the election). He seals his party's fate by ordering twelve stars removed from the US flag, one for each of the departed Confederate states. The Republicans recapture Congress in the 1878 midterms, for the first time in 16 years.
The two Presidents between Seymour and Tilden (there needs to be two, since Blaine is the 21st) can be any of the sundry Democratic notables from this period. I like Woodward in particular because he faded into obscurity in OTL after losing to Andrew Curtin in 1863.
1881-1885: We all know what happened to James Blaine. Part of the trouble with this is that Blaine is the 21st, and TR is the 28th. The terms don't exactly match up for the six Presidents in between, so I had to make a rather strange decision with the next one.
1885-1889: With the Republican party in ruins, the Democrats are assured of winning this election. But the elder statesman of their party is Senator Thomas Hendricks of Indiana, a prewar soft-liner. To balance him, they choose Winfield Scott Hancock of Pennsylvania, the only general to emerge from both wars with his reputation intact. Hendricks dies early in 1885, clearing the way for Hancock, who is also ill. His sole accomplishment is seeing through to passage the Conscription Bill of 1886, which Hendricks had threatened to veto as a federal usurpation of states' rights. Hancock dies later that year as well, and power passes to Senate President pro tempore Allen Thurman of Illinois.
1889-1897: Since two Presidents had died in office a little over a year, the elderly Thurman is passed over in favor of Speaker of the House Thomas Reed of Maine. Under Reed the Democrats' hard-line policies are cemented, as when he signed a treaty of alliance with Haiti in 1892 as a sign of solidarity against Confederate expansionism. Under his watch the US also began building a true two-ocean navy, as envisioned by his Secretary of the Navy, Alfred Mahan.
1897-1905: By 1896, the barons of the Democratic party have become restless under eight years of a single Administration. Two of these titans, Grover Cleveland of New York and Robert Pattison of Pennsylvania, deadlock at the convention. The party brokers then hand the nomination to the relative-unknown Alfred Mahan, who defeats both the Republican nominee Benjamin Harrison, and young Socialist Congressman William Jennings Bryan. It is the first time that the Socialist candidate has outpolled the Republican. Early in his first term the Entente tests him with a plan to build a transoceanic canal through Nicaragua, but they back down after he unambiguously threatens war. Mahan goes on to defeat Bryan in a rematch in 1900.
1905-1913: Although Mahan is a national hero, the Democratic machines despise his relatively nonpartisan stances. Accordingly they nominate the safe, stolid political soldier Henry Cabot Lodge. During Lodge's two terms (he defeats Robert LaFollette of Wisconsin and Tom Johnson of Ohio), US-CS relations soften to a considerable degree, and he acts as a moderating influence upon the impetuous Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany.
(Edit: Per reader suggestion, substitute Nelson Aldrich, Senator from Rhode Island, for Lodge. Or if you want to get crazy, Henry Adams. He's probably too old, though.)
1913-1921: The machine politicians bow to the inevitable as the unpredictable, crusading Governor of New York, Theodore Roosevelt, wins the nomination and defeats Senator Eugene Debs of Indiana in a landslide. THeir worst fears are confirmed as he immediately signs the Civil Service Reform bill vetoed by Lodge, and asks Congress for powers to break up the powerful trusts which dominate the economy. A war within the Democratic party looms.
I'll do the CS presidents later.
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