A Destiny Made Manifest - Part 21: Reform and Reaction

Published: 2017-02-23, edited: 1970-01-01

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A Destiny Made Manifest

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Game: Victoria 2

A Destiny Made Manifest - Part 20: The Free States

Images: 75, author: CargoShortsSensei, published: 2017-02-23, edited: 1970-01-01

Across the Free States, a golden age of industry is taking place. Cities such as Buffalo (pictured here) become powered by electricity. The Star-Spangled Banner, while not technically the flag of our nation, still shows the people's devotion to liberty and democracy.

President Robert Pattison leads this fine nation, and she truly is a beauty. But before the American people can know peace, fighting appears to be the only way forward.
Shortly after the election, reports by scouts on the Confederate border report militant socialist activity in the South. Calling themselves "Christian Socialists," these partisans object to the state atheism imposed by the Brothers of the Revolution, the ruling party.
While the Third Republic's military is already vast, our potential is so much higher. New regiments are trained as Pattison once again eyes the Commune.
News from the Old World reaches our shores. The crippled Ottoman Empire, propped up by the Japanese, are facing the demands of the Russians, who support the liberation of the Bulgarian people.
A group of labor unions in New jersey has gotten rather uppity with their demands, but Workingmen presence in Congress is too strong for any legislation to pass restricting the unions.
The new format for armies in the Third Republic is established. The new basic unit will be 60,000 soldiers, as improvements in supply and communication means that more troops than even can occupy a province without shortages.
While the Free States, of course, are a bastion of democracy and republicanism, not everyone is guaranteed a vote. The Republicans in the House and Senate attempt to restore these rights to all.
In a brilliant speech to the House of Representatives, James T. Lloyd, a young Dem whip from Missouri, delivers a passionate speech in support of the Democrats and President Pattison. The free people of the Third Republic will rally around their leaders.
As the Senate is assembled, two alliances emerge. The Republican Party essentially fractures, with six of the Senators joining the Democrats in the Anti-Socialist Bloc, while the remaining three Republicans ally with the Workingmen to form the Progressive Bloc.
An interesting proposal arrives for the government from France. Pierre de Coubertin, a French hellenophile, has founded the International Olympic Committee, an athletic organization designed to revive the old Olympic Games of antiquity. We agree, and the Free States Olympic Committee is formed. Time to prove the supremacy of the American athlete!

Also pictured is the Confederacy, who have annoyingly been sphered by Japan, not to mention an alliance with New England. Pattison knows he must be careful in possible conflict with them.
Excellent news comes to Philadelphia! Frederick Cook as his team of explorers have located the North Pole, and planted both the Free States flag and - controversially - the Star-Spangled Banner. Regardless, the Third Republic has established itself as a leading scientific powerhouse.
As the Free States continue to develop their identity, many begin to shy away from mainstream politics. Fringe groups begin to form. Whispers of a conservative movement that intended for vigorous American expansion begin to spread.
In order to dislodge the Confederates from the Japanese sphere, Pattison meets with President Farnsworth once more. While Pattison despises the God-hating socialist, he sees it as necessary in order to ensure that no foreign power interceded in American reunification.
The Macedonian Crisis has continued. Germany has decided to back the Ottoman-Japanese claim, while France throws it its lot with Russia. Britain declares its neutrality.
Unfortunately, after months of negotiations, Japan prevails in defending the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire. Pattison had hoped for the Japanese government to be distracted for the time being.
Aggressive military construction takes place as men flood to join the armed forces.
On June 5th, 1901, Congress declares war on the People's Republic of America. Citing the fact that the Free States are the true successors to the Union, the leader of the Progressive Bloc, Republican Theodore Roosevelt from New York, declares that the nation is destined to eventually control the continent. The New Manifest Destiny Address, as it became known, dominated FSA foreign policy for years.
New England, once again, is utterly useless.
Roosevelt, emboldened by his newfound popularity, successfully fully restores the Bill of Rights in the summer of 1901. He champions a new surge of progressivism, combining it with a strong foreign policy. He begins to remind people of Robert Todd Lincoln.
On July 12th, 1901, the Seventeenth Amendment is officially restored. The Progressive Bloc has won its crowning achievement.
As the Empire of Mexico declares that it will intervene on the side of the Commune, a draft is declared. This war will not be as easy as the one in 1898.
While early expansion into Commune towns and cities has been mostly successful, small armies attempt to retake what was lost. An army of conscripts is sent to deal with a force attempting to take Madison.
General Joseph Taylor smashes Henry Babcock in the Battle of Madison. Another General Taylor is a good thing, considering everything that the first one did.
As Third Republic soldiers spill across the Great Plain, what little Communal resistance in the army that remained is crushed in the Battle of Cedar Rapids.
The other tattered remnants of the Commune are quickly swept away.
In Bismarck, North Dakota, James Pope gives the Free States another smashing victory.
The Free States - a nation forged by war - begin to develop advanced military technology. While the bolt-action rifle had been popular in Europe for some time, the technology is finally standardized in the Third Republic. The M1901 Springfield serves as the main weapon for the American soldier for the next twenty years.
D U N K I N
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*throws up hands* nope not even gonna try, sorry y'all
Bad news from the South. While Pattison had hoped that Texas would petition the FSA for annexation, it seems as though the blasted Confederates have gotten to them first. In addition to this, California invades and successfully occupies the Puebo Republic. While California is, of course, a rebellious breakaway state that will be crushed, they could perhaps be of some use in the short term.
In early 1902, a military alliance is struck between the Free States of America and the California Republic. As Mexico will likely need to be coerced into accepting a peace treaty, Pattison needs the Californians to allow Third Republic troops to pass through their land.
In response to the relentless warfare and violence facing the American people, a strong existentialist movement begins in the vein of Nietzsche and Kierkegaard, both names that I hate to spell.
The official demands from the FSA government are:

- The liberation of the American people in the states of Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin
- Military disarmament
- The official recognition of the Free States of America as the true successor to the old government.

This treaty is sent to the Commune's capital in Sitka, Alaska, where it is rejected by Chairman Albert Kasprzak. The now old man is slowly going mad from syphilis, and already whispers of a possible revolution are heard.
In response to the rejection of Pattison's demands, California agrees to join the war on May 16th. American troops cross Arizona and New Mexico on the way to ensure that the treaty is agreed to.
While almost no resistance is encountered in Mexico, FSA morale wavers. This was supposed to be a war against the Commune; why were the brave fighting men of the nation fighting Mexican farmers instead?

Pattison delivers speeches railing against the corrupt Mexican Emperor, Maximilian Bourbon, for propping up a Communist dictator. William Randolph Hearst, a newspaper publisher with his eyes on the House of Representatives in 1902, casts his lot with the jingoistic Democrats and supports the war as well.
Theodore Roosevelt continued to lead the Progressive push in Congress, and the National Education Act of 1902 is passed. The American scholastic system again becomes the gold standard of the world; 95% of Americans are literate, an impressive feat.
Seeking a repeat of the Mexican-American War, troops are sent to Mexico City. Perhaps bringing the war directly to the Emperor's face will change his mind.
Grand news from the West! Some of the top generals of the Commune turn against Chairman Kasprzak and he is killed in a bloody coup on September 24, 1902. General Peter Sanderson declares that the American rump state is to be a republic again, and that elections are to be held soon.

Delegates from this nation are sent to Free State soil, asking for a peace. Pattison, unsure if he can keep morale up for much longer, sets out to negotiate.
The new government - brazenly calling itself the "True Third Republic," to the shock of the people of the Free States - agrees to cede the land to Pattison, but refuses to capitulate completely to American demands. Emperor Maximilian, having lost who he believed to be a staunch ally in Kasprzak, shrugs and tells Pattison that he can do what he wants.

Pattison agrees to the peace, but knows that it is destined to fail sooner or later. Those yokels in Alaska can parade around and call themselves the true heirs to Washington in the snow, while he can enjoy excellent steak in his mansion.
Extreme conservative reaction against the evils of Communism spreads across the United States. It begins in the form of club meetings of concerned men, and then becomes decidedly more sinister. These groups take the Latin "fasces" symbol (a bundle of rods with an axe protruding from one end) as their emblem - from here, the word "fascist" has come.
New tactics emerge as the very busy FSA generals begin to learn more about modern warfare. By using indirect artillery fire, artillery positions become far more defensible and effective.
Ohhh boy, all kinds of stuff is happening here, gang!
In just six years in office, Robert Pattison nearly triples the size of his republic. His popularity is through the roof, and many believe he would easily win reelection if he decided to pull an Augustus Beatty and do so, but privately he already organizes an early retirement.
As Congress is assembled in 1903, the fracture of the Republican Party is further shown. The ten Republican Senators elected by the state legislatures have split neatly in two, with half allying with the Workingmen and half with the Democrats. Theodore Roosevelt from New York leads the Progressive Bloc, while Joseph C.S. Blackburn from Kentucky leads the Anti-Socialist Bloc.
M I L I T A R Y E X P A N S I O N, M Y G U Y
And naval expansion too! While the Free States begin small thanks to its small amount of ports on the ocean, a grand navy is to be built to protect Third Republic interests.
A bi-partisan agreement to finally re-extend the vote to all citizens of America is passed in the form of the 19th Amendment, which finally gets rid of the last few property requirements that the government of the Free States had set up in order to ensure stability.
The Progressives, taking advantage of their majorities in both the House and Senate, roll back the American policy of assimilating immigrants and Native Americans. "Corrective academies" designed to squash cultural identity and bring about the Americanization of other peoples are shut down. Conservatives rail against this, pointing out that Jack Quinlan was Irish-born and that Albert Kasprzak was a second-generation Pole.
Across the Midwest, a series of rolling strikes occurs in a show of dissatisfaction with the currently appalling conditions for workers. While the Workingmen Party in Congress supports improved conditions, their Republican allies are hit-or-miss on certain reform packages.
As Americans feel a general dissatisfaction with a system that failed them, many seek to break from the norm. Radical futurists call for aggressive reform of society, and strange modern art is produced, claiming to portray what society ought to look like.
Hey, we're willfully taking naval techs! How about that?
The reformed 5th Army in Chicago is gathered, led by Augustus Ford, a young man named after Augustus the Great himself.
In order to further secure our influence in North America, we begin to influence the New England government. Pattison hoped that the New English, led by Democratic President Simeon E. Baldwin, might be sympathetic to the FSA's goals of restoring the Union and consider petitioning for annexation.
Unable to ignore the American worker anymore, the Federal Minimum Wage Act of 1904 standardized a wage floor across the country, while individual states could set a floor above it. While it's a small gesture, it's a start for the American socialist movement, and gives them a chance to rebuild and gain the trust of the American people.
In order to fully maximize the capability of American officers, bribery that allowed the rich to slide comfortably into officer commissions is cracked down on. Promotion through merit is the way forward.
So I have no idea how this happened, but you guys remember when the South almost fully assimilated to Yankee culture? As the CSA had re-emerged, Dixie has made an almost complete return in about 15 years. I suspect this is an event-based thing, because Arkansas and Tennessee - both of which were not states that seceded originally with the rest of the CSA - are still Yankee.

*Shrugs*
Interestingly, the first election in the Western Republic (as we call it here in the true Third Republic) has been won by their wing of the Workingmen's Party, with William Jennings Bryan being sworn in as president.
On March 21st, 1904, the Silver Legion of America is officially formed. It is at once both a private organization and a political party, and its founding document, written by Floyd Eubanks, a former military officer from Missouri, declares the Legion to be a "Third Way" in opposition to both liberal capitalism and communism. While the organization does not use the word "fascist," the word is used by European parties to describe the style of government, so many derisively referred to the group as fascists. The party preferred "legionary" or "national populist.
As the Election of 1904 approaches, Robert Pattison announces in a speech to Congress that he will not run for reelection. As the three main parties begin to look inwards to find a candidate, none feel strongly enough alone; the Republicans fully split, with about half supporting the Democrats and half supporting the Workingmen. While the party will remain, in this election, it will be a race of two horses.
The Democrats and their allies, disappointed by the loss of Pattison, scramble to find another suitable candidate. Former Attorney General Richard Olney and Senator Francis Cockrell of Missouri are considered, but several ballots are cast without conclusion. Finally, a dark horse candidate emerges: William Randolph Hearst, a young newspaper mohul and House Rep from New York's 11th district. Thanks to his skilled and flamboyant oration, Hearst wins over many hearts at the convention, and gains the nomination. Francis Cockrell is chosen as his running mate.

Hearst campaigns on a similar platform to Robert Todd Lincoln some twenty years earlier; in a concession to more liberal-minded Democrats, he promised moderate progressive reforms, but swore to be staunch in the face of Communism. He also championed an aggressive war policy, calling for a "reunification by way of arms."
In response, the Progressives convene in Cincinnati to nominate their own candidate. The leader and figurehead of the movement, Theodore Roosevelt, is chosen. A true renaissance man, Roosevelt also represented a bit of a compromise candidate; while he did support reforms in favor of the American worker and away from big business, he also abhorred Communism. Eugene V. Debs, that good old stalwart man, is chosen as his running mate.

The foreign policy of Roosevelt became the critical talking point of the campaign. Roosevelt and Debs disagreed on the military; while Roosevelt himself favored a strong military capable of reuniting the Continental 48 by force, Debs wished for internal improvements to come before external expansion. The two frequently argued about the issue.
In Pennsylvania, a state that Hearst and his Democrats readily expected to win, his more hands-off approach to the economy is more popular than Roosevelt's heavy-handed approach to regulating monopolies and other such institutions.

(Yes, interventionism is the policy of the Democrats and Laissez Faire is the policy of the Republicans in the game, but both parties had dynamically changing and shifting beliefs in this time period. This is RP.)
In Michigan, a wing of the Silver Legion recruits veterans and turns them into a sort of paramilitary organization. While the federal government is incapable of interceding in the local affairs, Pattison denounces these organizations as radical vigilante justice.
While the Silver Legion will not be running a candidate in the election, here is what their policies look like. Also pictured is the Populist Party, which showed up again! They nominate William Parker, an old state senator from Iowa. He only appears on the ballot in a few rural states.
Armies begin to sit on the Confederate border as the saber begins to rattle. With both Hearst and Roosevelt supporting aggressive expansion, many see the rebellious South as the logical next target.
In a speech given by Hearst in Chicago, he proclaimed his intention to "retake the land that is most certainly and rightfully American from the radical socialists in the South, who are hardly better than the God-hating communists." At the same time, Pattison's diplomatic administration successfully manages to remove Japanese influence from the Confederate government, hoping to keep the empire across the Pacific pacified in the event of an invasion.
We manage to sign a military alliance with New England, as well as secure trading rights with the smaller republic to our Northeast. President Baldwin even agrees verbally to hold a historic referendum, presenting the people of the republic with a simple yes/no choice: Should the Republic of New England petition for American annexation?

This victory is a great diplomatic coup for Pattison in his last days of office.
Interestingly, Iowa shows a very anti-military sentiment, which meshes with neither of the two main candidates.
In preparation of a possible war, all remaining volunteers are consolidated and outfitted. Further expansion of the military would have to be through a draft.
The referendum is to be held on August 25th, 1906. Many in the Free States begin to already consider New England annexation to be a foregone conclusion.
Extreme socialist sentient in Illinois leading to a pacifist philosophy is squashed by both parties.

As the election approaches, it becomes certain that America is at a crossroads. While Hearst and Roosevelt are similar candidates, it the success of the socialist movement seems to be largely dependent on the outcome of the election.
(I MISSPELLED HEARST'S NAME IN THE MAP, PLEASE ROAST MY DUMB ASS)

As the votes trickle into Philadelphia, Hearst finds himself winning by slim majorities in the powerhouse states of New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, which makes up nearly 40% of the electoral college. While Roosevelt is strong in the Midwest, he cannot find a foothold in the East.
Thanks for clicking! Next time, the Hearst administration begins, and here's a hot spoiler for you, we go to war with a week of the election. Stay tuned!

Next chapter:

Game: Victoria 2

A Destiny Made Manifest - Part 22: A Modern Age of War

Images: 91, author: CargoShortsSensei, published: 2017-02-23, edited: 1970-01-01

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