Hail, Columbia! (Master Thread)

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Hail, Columbia!

Map of the Commonwealth of North America, circa. 1924

PRESIDENTS of the COMMONWEALTH OF NORTH AMERICA
1. Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania [Continental] April 3, 1784 - March 4, 1789
2. Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla of Mexico [Continental] March 4, 1789 - March 4, 1797
3. John Jay of New York [Continental] March 4, 1797 - March 4, 1801
4. Gilbert du Motier Lafayette of Quebec [National Republican] March 4, 1801 - March 4, 1809
5. Thomas Strange of Acadia [Continental] March 4, 1809 - March 4, 1813
6. Martin Van Buren of New York [Ancien Democrat] March 4, 1813 - March 4, 1821
7. François Blanchet of Quebec [Whig] March 4, 1821 - March 4, 1829
8. Samuel Lewis Southard of New Jersey [Continental] March 4, 1829 - March 4, 1833
9. Henry Clay of Kentucky [Continental] March 4, 1833 - March 4, 1841
10. Louis-Joseph Papineau of Quebec [Liberal] March 4, 1841 - March 4, 1849
11. Thomas Hart Benton of Lafayette [Liberal] March 4, 1849 - March 4, 1853
12. Juan Álvarez of Mexico [Whig] March 4, 1853 - March 4, 1861
13. Joseph Albert Wright of Ohio [Whig] March 4, 1861 - May 11, 1869
14. Samuel Jones Tilden of New York [Whig] May 11, 1869 - March 4, 1873
15. Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. of New York [Commonwealth Liberal] March 4, 1873 - February 9, 1878
16. José María Iglesias of Mexico [Commonwealth Liberal] February 9, 1878 - March 4, 1885
17. Gerald Joyce Campbell of Kansas [Whig] March 4, 1885 - March 4, 1893
18. August Vinzent Spies of Manitoba [Democratic] March 4, 1893 - March 4, 1901
19. Charles Edward MacDonald of Niagara [ASWI˚] March 4, 1901 - March 4, 1905
20. Manuel Méndez of Nuevo Leon [Concordite] March 4, 1905 - March 4, 1913
21. William Green of Ohio [ASWI˚] March 4, 1913 - March 4, 1917
22. William Howard Taft of Ohio [National Liberal] March 4, 1917 - March 4, 1921
23. Francisco Ignatio Huerte of Mexico [ASWI˚] March 4, 1921 - June 8, 1921
24. Charles Wayland Bryan of Kansas [Social Democratic] June 8, 1921 - March 4, 1925
25. Felipe Carrillo Puerto of Yucatan [Socialist] March 4, 1925 - March 4, 1929
26. Theodore Roosevelt III of New York [National Liberal] March 4, 1929 - January 27, 1941
27. George Catlett Marshall of Pennsylvania [Independent] January 3, 1941 - incumbent

VICE PRESIDENTS of the COMMONWEALTH OF NORTH AMERICA
--. James Livingston of Quebec [Independent] April 17, 1784 - March 4, 1785
1. Alured Clarke of Quebec [Federalist] March 4, 1785 - March 4, 1789
2. Alexander Hamilton of New York [Continental] March 4, 1789 - March 4, 1793
3. John Johnson of Niagra [Federalist] March 4, 1793 - March 4, 1797
4. Samuel Adams of Massachusetts [Ancien Democrat] March 4, 1797 - March 4, 1801
5. Aaron Burr of New York [Ancien Democrat] March 4, 1801 - March 4, 1813
6. François Blanchet of Quebec [Republican] March 4, 1813 - March 4, 1817
7. José María Morelos of Mexico [Whig] March 4, 1817 - March 4, 1829
8. Henry Johnson of Louisiana [Continental] March 4, 1829 - March 4, 1833
9. John C. Calhoun of South Carolina [Whig] March 4, 1833 - March 4, 1837
10. Lyman Beecher of Connecticut [Liberal] March 4, 1837 - March 4, 1841
11. Thomas Hart Benton of Lafayette [Liberal] March 4, 1841 - March 4, 1849
12. James Buchanan of Pennsylvania [Liberal] March 4, 1849 - March 4, 1853
13. Stephen Douglas of Illinois [Whig] March 4, 1853 - March 4, 1857
14. François-Xavier Garneau of Quebec [Canadien] March 4, 1857 - March 4, 1861
15. Louis-Tancrède Bouthillier of Quebec [Canadien] March 4, 1861-March 4, 1865
16. Samuel J. Tilden of New York [Whig] March 4, 1865 - May 11, 1869
VACANT May 11, 1869 - June 5, 1869
17. Harrison H. Riddleberger of Virginia [Whig] June 5, 1869 - March 4, 1873
18. José María Iglesias of Mexico [Commonwealth Liberal] March 4, 1873 - February 9, 1878
VACANT February 9, 1878 - March 1, 1878
19. James A. Garfield of Erie [Commonwealth Liberal] March 1, 1878 - March 4, 1881
20. John Irvin Gregg of Pennsylvania [Independent] March 4, 1881 - March 4, 1885
21. Alexander S. Clay of Georgia [Whig] March 4, 1885 - March 4, 1893
22. Luman Hamlin Weller of Missouri [Democratic] March 4, 1893 - March 4, 1901
23. Victor Luitpold Berger of Winnebago [ASWI˚] March 4, 1901 - March 4, 1905
24. Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts [Concordite] March 4, 1905 - March 4, 1909
25. James Beauchamp Clark of Missouri [Democratic] March 4, 1909 - March 4, 1913
26. Robert Josef Strauss of Winnebago [Social Democratic] March 4, 1913 - March 4, 1917
27. Thomas James Walsh of Montana [Center Democratic] March 4, 1917 - March 4, 1921
28. Charles Wayland Bryan of Kansas [Social Democratic] March 4, 1921 - June 8, 1921
VACANT June 8, 1921 - June 15, 1921
29. Felipe Carrillo of Yucatan [ASWI˚] June 15, 1921 - March 4, 1925
30. Burton K. Wheeler of Montana [Socialist] March 4, 1925 - March 4, 1929
31. Joseph Taylor Robinson of Lafayette [Center Democratic] March 4, 1929 - July 14, 1937
VACANT July 14, 1937 - July 17, 1937
32. Hiram Warren Johnson of Sacramento [National Liberal] July 17, 1937 - January 3, 1941
33. John George Diefenbaker of Niagara [Progressive Conservative] January 3, 1941 - incumbent


˚ American Section of the Workers' International

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Prologue

“The bodies of Empires litter the American landscape.”

-Thomas Paine, 1783

I. October, 1762. London.
The news swept through the British capital like an early spring breeze, carried on the whispers of courtiers and ladies-in-waiting, spreading through the pubs and shops to nestle in the ear of every Englishman. The features of the tale seemed to shift with each retelling, until few could discern the fact from the fiction, but the heart was always the same: Louis XV had capitulated, the French had laid down their arms, and the Kingdom France had sent emissaries to King George to secure the terms of peace. Never had a rumor been so happily received in London, and cries of “God Save the King” could be heard not just in the streets of the capital, but in British holdings around the world.

The terms of peace would prove even sweeter than victory itself. Unable to maintain its empire, the French would cede the entirety of their claims in America to Britain, reserving only a small patch of the Caribbean for their own. Not only the prized Ohio River Valley, but Canada, Louisiana, and Spanish Florida would become the domain of George III, who at the age of 22 became the ruler of the largest empire ever seen in the Western world.

“No prince has ever begun his reign by so glorious a war and so glorious a peace,” the Lord Egremont said of the young monarch. But wars and empires have their fee, and it would soon become clear that the victory had cost more than it was worth. Britain had taken on the curse of Achilles, and she would pay the price.

II. April, 1775. Concord.
Indeed, the two decade that followed the signing of the Treaty of Paris would prove the most frustrating of the century for the rulers of the British Empire. Weighted by the debts of nearly a century of wars, Parliament was in desperate need of revenue. Attempts to raise funds by taxing her American colonies were met, not with gratitude, but with outrage. Long accustomed to governing their own affairs, the American colonists were not inclined to surrender their sovereignty to a monarch an ocean away, and they resisted the new taxes with tooth and nail.

What began as peaceful protest against Parliamentary overreach turned to simmering contention and then to war. By the spring of 1775, the situation had grown so grave that both sides had begun to prepare for war. The tension was worst in Massachusetts, where British soldiers occupied the city of Boston, and the fear of a military reign of terror grew to the point where colonial militiamen began stockpiling arms and ammunition in the town of Concord in case they were called upon to defend their homes with force of arms.

That day came in early April 1775, when a force of British regulars commanded by Major John Pitcairn began a midnight march on Concord to seize the munitions and arrest the leaders of the revolutionary movement. Instead, they met with a force of armed colonials who, after an initial skirmish on the village green in Lexington, repelled the British troops at the North Bridge in Concord. Retreating back along the road to Boston, Pitcairn’s troops were harassed by scores of colonial militia, who appeared on all sides and nearly destroyed the regulars entirely. The American Revolution had begun.

III. January, 1776. Quebec.
A month after the battles at Lexington and Concord, delegates from 13 of Britain’s North American colonies met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as the Second Continental Congress. Unlike the first Congress that had met a year previously in Carpenter’s Hall, this Congress was to be a war government. By June, the body had approved the formation of a Continental Army commanded by Virginian war hero George Washington, who assembled his forces and laid siege to the city of Boston, where several thousand British troops still held the colonial militiamen at bay.

Later that year, Congress authorized an expedition into Canada whose aim was to liberate the city of Quebec and bring the northern provinces into the Union. Commanded by Generals Benedict Arnold and Richard Montgomery, the army moved north along the St. Lawrence River and, after a long and arduous campaign, succeeded in wresting Quebec from British hands on New Years Day, 1776. This victory, and Washington’s successful liberation of Boston two months later, would convince France to enter the war on the side of the Americans when independence was declared that summer. Though Britain would launch a successful campaign later that fall, taking New York City and forcing Washington to retreat to Philadelphia, the arrival of a French army led by the Comte de Rochambeau in the spring of 1777 meant that the war was, effectively, over.

IV. November, 1782. Mexico City.
The war raged on. In New York, Washington and his French allies defeated the British at Brandywine Creek and lay siege to New York City. To the North West, Benedict Arnold and George Rodgers Clark drove the British from  the frontier, while Richard Livingston battled Loyalists in Upper Canada. To the South, Nathanael Greene led an combined French-American force into Florida and succeeded in taking Pensacola in May of 1778 and New Orleans five months later. By 1779, it was clear that Britain stood little chance of subjugating the colonies, and reluctantly agreed to recognize the independence of the new United States of America.

The success of the American Revolution inspired revolutionaries the world round. In France, members of the Third Estate declared themselves the National Assembly, overthrew the King, and proclaimed the birth of the French Republic. Across the ocean in the colony of New Spain, Mexican revolutionaries launched their own campaign for independence in the spring of 1780. With the powers of Europe embroiled in yet another war with France, the new republican regime having declared war on her monarchial neighbors, Spain could do but little to maintain her colonial holdings, and reluctantly recognized Mexican independence in 1782.

V. May, 1783. Philadelphia.
The euphoria that had followed the coming of independence was soon muted by the realities of building a republican government in a world at war. By the time the eighth session of the Continental Congress adjourned in the waning months of 1782, it was clear that the patchwork “Confederation” that united the 19 states was not strong enough to govern so vast a country. Saddled with debt, beset by pirates on the high seas, and plagued with turbulence at home, the Union seemed in danger of collapsing. The war in Europe only exacerbated the growing crisis: trade with the continental has slowed to nearly a standstill, and the navies of both Britain and France have taken to seizing American ships at random, ostensibly to prevent them from falling into the hands of the enemy. To the south, the newborn Republic of Mexico labored under similar burdens, with the new republican government struggling to establish order.

In its hour of crisis, the continent turned to Benjamin Franklin, the famed "father of electricity," to light the way. In a secret meeting between Mexican and American delegates in the spring of 1782, Franklin proposed a radical and world-changing course of action: the two fledgling republics would unite to form a single, Continental Commonwealth spanning from the icy northern territories of Rupert's Land to the rainforests of the Yucatan Peninsula. Only then, said Franklin, would North America be strong enough to demand the recognition and respect of the powers of Europe.

A Convention composed of delegates from Mexico and the 19 American states met at Philadelphia the following year. There, Franklin introduced a proposal to create a united Continental government much like the Albany Plan he had authored during the French and Indian War. The new government would be composed of three branches: a legislative Congress composed of representatives from each province, a president chosen by an "Electoral Council" every four years, and an independent judiciary appointed jointly by the two other branches. As expected, the idea was controversial, and several delegates threatened to walk out, but Franklin's prestige, combined with the timely seizure of several American merchant ships off the coast of Maryland, convinced the Convention to approve the plan. By the following May, the proposed "Charter of Government for the Commonwealth of North America" had been ratified by all 19 states and the Mexican legislature.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Election of 1784

Benjamin Franklin [Pennsylvania]—27 Electors
Alured Clarke [Quebec]—7 Electors
Bernando de Galvez [Louisiana]—5 Electors
Miguel Hidalgo [Mexico]—5 Electors

Having done more than any other man to bring about the birth of the American Commonwealth, Benjamin Franklin was the natural choice for president when the Electoral Council convened in Philadelphia in the fall of 1784. Though his advanced age and long career in public office led some to believe that he would decline the office, officials close to Franklin assured the Council that he would not refuse the presidency if elected, and the electors promptly voted him in by an overwhelming margin. The results of the balloting left Franklin with 27 of the 44 available votes, twenty votes ahead of his nearest competitor, a majority that likely would have been even larger had his victory not been so certain. Instead, several electors - hoping to influence the vice presidential selection - instead cast their votes for Franklin's lesser-known competitors, who together polled just 17 electoral votes. Of these men, Alured Clarke of Quebec received the greatest support and was therefore declared Vice President, a distinction that - in light of the president-elect's poor health - was not to be taken lightly.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

The Election of 1788

First Ballot

Miguel Hidalgo [Continental-Mexico]—20 Electors
Alexander Hamilton [Continental-New York]—15 Electors
Matthew Lyon [Democrat-Vermont]—9 Electors
Alured Clarke [Federalist-Quebec]—2 Electors

Whereas Benjamin Franklin's eventual victory in the Election of 1784 was all but certain, given his prestige and near-universal support among the members of the Electoral Council, the Election of 1788 was another matter entirely. While Alured Clarke's campaign quickly withered under allegations of "monarchial aspirations" wielded by Democrats and Continentals alike, Matthew Lyon, Alexander Hamilton, and Miguel Hidalgo all maintained strong followings, with the result that no candidate received the majority vote necessary to be elected president. Had either Hamilton or Hidalgo not been a candidate, the other likely would have been elected handily, as both were supported by the emerging Continental faction; such as it was, the Council was forced to conduct a second ballot between the two front runners to determine which would become president and which vice president.

Second Ballot

Miguel Hidalgo [Continental-Mexico]—25 Electors
Alexander Hamilton [Continental-New York]—21 Electors

Miguel Hidalgo was just four votes away from a majority at the end of the first ballot, and the results of the second left him with just enough votes to claim victory in the North American Commonwealth's second-ever presidential election. While New York Congressman Alexander Hamilton won the grudging support of the slave states, who objected to Hidalgo's support for emancipation, as well as most of New England's electors, Hidalgo's popularity with Catholics and Americans of the Mid-Atlantic region allowed him to claim 25 of the 46 electoral votes.

[Goldwater]

Will there be any election result maps?

[Cranberry]

Will there be any election result maps?

I'm currently still trying to tweak the base map a bit, but once that's done, yes, maps will come!

[Cranberry]

And here they are:



The Election of 1784

Benjamin Franklin [Pennsylvania]—27 Electors
Alured Clarke [Quebec]—7 Electors
Bernando de Galvez [Louisiana]—5 Electors
Miguel Hidalgo [Mexico]—5 Electors



The Election of 1788

Miguel Hidalgo [Continental-Mexico]—20 Electors
Alexander Hamilton [Continental-New York]—15 Electors
Matthew Lyon [Democrat-Vermont]—9 Electors
Alured Clarke [Federalist-Quebec]—2 Electors



The Election of 1788 - Second Round

Miguel Hidalgo [Continental-Mexico]—25 Electors
Alexander Hamilton [Continental-New York]—21 Electors

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

These look great, Cranberry!

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

The Election of 1792

 

Miguel Hidalgo [Continental-Mexico]—37 Electors
John Johnson [Federalist-Niagara]—8 Electors
William Maclay [Democratic-Pennsylvania]—7 Electors

Having successfully bridged the gap between Catholic and Protestant America, continued Franklin's internal improvement program, and negotiated the construction of a new national capital at Mobile Bay, President Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla was all but guaranteed to win reelection. When the Electoral Council convened for the third time in 1792, its members elected him over his Federalist and Democratic opponents by an overwhelming margin, defeating his closest rival - Niagra Governor John Johnson - by nearly 30 votes.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Election of 1796

John Jay [Continental-New York]—28 Electors
Samuel Adams [Democratic-Massachusetts]—21 Electors
John Johnson [Federalist-Niagara]—3 Electors

The Election of 1796 would rank among the most hotly contested - and therefore the closest - elections up to that point in North American history. Whereas Miguel Hidalgo had faced only token opposition four years earlier, the 1796 campaign would see Samuel Adams of the Democrats nearly topple Hidalgo's chosen successor, John Jay, with only the Catholic strongholds of Quebec and the Spanish provinces preventing a Democratic sweep. As it was, Jay won 14 of the 26 provinces for a total of 28 electors, while Adams carried ten for a total of 21 (with the Democrats and the Federalists splitting Niagara). While Adams would receive the vice presidency, and thus a platform from which to promote his philosophy for the next four years, the Federalist Party would loose out completely, with incumbent Vice President John Johnson carrying only the Province of Acadia and thus sealing his party's doom.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Election of 1800

First Round

Gilbert Lafayette [Républicain-Quebec]—23 Electors
John Jay [Continental-New York]—12 Electors
Aaron Burr [Democratic-New York]—12 Electors
Charles C. Pinckney [Federal Unity-South Carolina]—5 Electors

Having only narrowly won the election of 1796, the Administration of John Jay would be characterized mainly by conflict between the pro-administration Continental Party, which maintained control of Congress as a result of Miguel Hidalgo's residual popularity, and the opposition elements led by Vice President Samuel Adams. While Jay essentially continued unaltered the policies of Hidalgo and Benjamin Franklin, he lacked the charisma of his predecessors, contributing to a highly competitive contest in 1800.

The biggest surprise of the campaign was the rise of the Francophile Républicain Party, which chose as its nominee former Revolutionary War general Gilbert Lafayette. With the Continentals and Democrats weakened after four years of bitter fighting, Lafayette was able to use his status as a war hero to build a broad coalition of French Canadians, Catholics, and frontier voters. Jay's enduring strength, however, and anti-Catholic sentiment in the former British provinces, prevented him from gaining an electoral majority on the first ballot, prompting a runoff between the general and the incumbent president.

Second Round

Gilbert Lafayette [Républicain-Quebec]—40 Electors
John Jay [Continental-New York]—12 Electors

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Election of 1804

Gilbert Lafayette [National Republican-Quebec]—38 Electors
Charles C. Pinckney [Federal Union-South Carolina]—8 Electors
John Marshall [Continental-Virginia]—8 Electors

Four years into his presidency, Gilbert du Motier Lafayette remained enormously popular throughout most of the country as the Election of 1804 approached, and by the time the Electoral Council convened in Franklin City the question was not whether Lafayette would win a majority, but how large it would be. The result was a veritable landslide for the former Marquis, who swept the Catholic provinces and much of New England and the Northwest for a total of 38 electors (more than any other presidential candidate up to that point in history). The Continental Party, meanwhile, suffered its first bottom of the barrel defeat ever, claiming the electors of just four provinces (Virginia, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Delaware), while pro-slavery leader Charles Pinckney expanded upon his 1800 performance to carry the votes of every slave province south of Virginia.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Election of 1808

Thomas Strange [Continental-Acadia]—28 electors
Aaron Burr [Democratic-New York]—26 electors

In one of the closest electoral contests on record, former Acadian Chief Justice Thomas Strange narrowly defeated Democratic candidate Aaron Burr, besting the incumbent Vice President by a mere two votes in the Electoral Council. The campaign was largely seen as a battle for the future of the Commonwealth: while Burr received the support of the Western and Middle provinces, who were attracted to his vision of an agrarian republic free from the evils of centralization, Strange was supported by voters in the northern provinces of Canada and New England as well as the old Spanish territories, where his message of a strong national government and an end to slavery resonated deeply with Catholics and the merchant class alike. Yet while Strange was able successfully revive the Continental coalition conceived by Miguel Hidalgo, his hold over Congress was significantly less than that of the second president, and Strange would face fierce resistance from the legislature over the course of the next four years.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Election of 1812

First Ballot

Miguel Hidalgo [Continental-Mexico]—22 Electors
Martin Van Buren [Union Democratic-New York]—20 Electors
John Breckinridge [Democratic-Kentucky]—14 Electors

With the Democrats divided and many Americans wary of returning the Continentals to power, even with so revered a man as Miguel Hidalgo at their head, the first ballot of the Electoral Council failed to produce a majority, with Higalgo and anti-slavery Democrat Martin Van Buren locked in a heated struggle for first place. While Hidalgo did well in the Catholic provinces as well as parts of New England, Van Buren was able to build off of Gilbert Lafayette's old coalition to win an impressive 20 electors, just two votes behind the former president. As the Council proceeded to a second ballot, Breckinridge was forced to concede, with the slave provinces fuming over the choice of two abolitionists for the presidency.

Second Ballot

Martin Van Buren [Union Democratic-New York]—28 Electors
Miguel Hidalgo [Continental-Mexico]—22 Electors
Blank Ballots—6 Electors

After twenty-four years of Continental federalism, interrupted only partially by the presidency of Gilbert Lafayette, Americans were ready for a change in 1812, and so it was that Martin Van Buren - at age 30, the youngest president-elect in the short history of the North American Commonwealth - was elevated to the highest office in the still-young republic. An unusual combination of anti-slavery idealism and a belief in the wisdom of the common people, Van Buren was able to unite North and West to win a close but decisive victory on the second ballot, defeating former two-term president Miguel Hidalgo. While the provinces of the upper Southeast - Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee - were persuaded to support Van Buren in spite of his position on the slavery question, the planter provinces of Georgia and the Carolinas refused to support either candidate, instead casting blank ballots in protest of John Breckinridge's elimination.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Election of 1816

First Ballot

Martin Van Buren [Democratic-New York]—22 Electors
John Quincy Adams [Continental-Massachusetts]—18 Electors
José María Morelos [Radical-Mexico]—11 Electors
William Crawford [American-Georgia]—6 Electors
Jeremiah Smith [Liberal-New Hampshire]—5 Electors

The election of 1816 would go into the annals of history as one of the closest and most hotly contested elections. The President received strong challeneges from four candidates, and while counts of popular votes were inaccurate due to not every province holding popular elections to the presidency, instead having the legislature choose the two electors, it appeared as if the Continental challenger John Quincy Adams had beaten the President on that count. Nevertheless, the Electoral Council was what would eventually determine the President, and Van Buren could count on the support of the frontier provinces, giving him a first place finish ahead of Adams. Candidates with largely regional support (Morelos in the Southwest, Smith in the North and Crawford in the Southeast) would receive fewer electoral votes and not progress into the second round.

Second Ballot

Martin Van Buren [Democratic-New York]—39 Electors
John Quincy Adams [Continental-Massachusetts]—23 Electors

An outcry went through the northeastern cities when the results of the second, secret ballot of the Electoral College, held two days after the first on the 17th of December 1816, was made public. "PRESIDENCY STOLEN FROM RIGHTFUL WINNER ADAMS BY DUBIOUS BACKROOM DEALS" was the headline of the Hartford Courant that day, and it perfectly summed up the mood of many in the nation. Van Buren had gained the support of the Mexican electors by promising Morelos the Vice Presidency, and had won over Crawford's supporters simply by not being John Quincy Adams - in the end, this was enough to beat the Massachusetts Senator.
The dissatisfaction with the result, and the system of electing the President,however was so big that some, especially within the Continental Party, voiced their opinion to change the system radically, claiming that among popular vote counts, Adams had beat Van Buren 60 to 40 percent - numbers such as that were circulating among Northeastern, mostly pro-Adams newspapers and were determined only through independent research - thus have to be taken with caution.

[Cranberry]

Since this seems like the best place to do so, here is a short backup on the new territories established under Van Buren's "Great Western Expansion" policy in 1818 - names of the territories, capitals and additional trivia.



1 - Huron
Capital: Detroit
Significant francophone population minority (~35%)
Admitted as a province in 1815

2 - Ottawa
Capital: Dearborn (OTL Chicago)
Important link between Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes through a series of waterways and canals connecting Lake Michigan with the Illinois River currently under construction
Admitted as a province in 1815

3 - Illinois
Capital: Peoria
While founded by French settlers, the European population is nearly exclusively anglophone
Admitted as a province in 1815

4 - Missouri
Capital: Saint Louis

5 - Franklin
Capital: Fort Arnold (OTL Sauk Centre, MN)

6 - Winnebago
Capital: Juneau (OTL Milwaukee)

7 - Superior
Capital: Fort Burr (OTL Saint Paul)

8 - Lafayette
Capital: Giradot (OTL Cape Girardeau, MO)

9 - Hidalgo
Capital: Santa Fe de Arcansaw (OTL Pine Bluff, AR)
Mostly settled by spaniard and Mexican settlers (~70%)

10 - Indiana
Capital: New Echota (OTL Calhoun, GA)
Reserved for members of the "Five Civilized Tribes"
Its inhabitants are seen as members of their respective Indian nations, but the territory is "under protection of the Commonwealth"

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Woo, Great Lakes! Go Huron!

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Sifting through lecture videos in an online class about the "modern world" or whatever, and I gotta say it'd be cool to find a way to incorporate Bolivar, who apparently wanted a "Pan-American Union" of sorts, into this as a candidate.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Election of 1820

François Blanchet [Whig-Quebec]—44 Electors
John Q. Adams [Continental-Massachusetts]—32 Electors

At its outset, the Election of 1820 seemed likely to be an easy victory for John Q. Adams and the Continental Party. Having narrowly lost the previous election to Martin Van Buren despite winning the popular vote, Adams and his supporters lost no opportunity to remind the public of the "corrupt bargain" that had robbed them of the presidency in 1816, and their success in reforming the Electoral Council to strengthen the power of the most populous provinces combined with the obscurity of Adams' opponent led all but a few to predict the election of the Continentals by a strong margin.

Instead, in one of the most memorable upsets in American history, Adams would be denied the presidency yet again as former Vice President Francois Blanchet - candidate the newfound Whig Party - soared to victory across the frontier and the Mid Atlantic, defeating Adams by a margin of 12 Electoral Votes. This time, Adams did not even have the consolation of winning the popular vote, which modern scholarship suggests went 55-45 in favor of Blanchet. Thus, the Continentals were denied the presidency for the third election in a row - the party's longest loosing streak up to that point in its history - while Blanchet, vindicator of the "Little Magician," was elevated from relative obscurity to the most powerful office in the Western Hemisphere.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

The Election of 1824

François Blanchet [Whig-Quebec]—56 Electors
John Brooks [Continental-Massachusetts]—24 Electors

President Blanchet won a resounding mandate and crushed John Brooks in his quest for reelection, winning nearly everywhere but a few New England states and East Florida. Quick from his win, he wasted no time orchestrating what he had campaigned for, and let the marine set sail for Jamaica, while land troops crossed over the border into British Honduras in the south, and into Oregon Country in the north-west. Vice President Morelos' term was subsequently also renewed by the Whig controlled Congress.

   

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Election of 1828

Samuel L. Southard [Continental-New Jersey]—48 Electors
José María Bocanegra [Whig-Mexico]—32 Electors

Twenty years since they had last won the presidency, many had assumed that the Continental Party was doomed to collapse, such was the strength of the Whig coalition that had delivered landslide Francois Blanchet in 1820 and 1824. Public opinion, however, had turned decidedly against Blanchet and his party towards the end of his second term, with the ill-advised invasion of Jamaica and Oregon and the near-defeat of the American armies tainting the president's once-spotless record. Enter Samuel L. Southard, a little-known senator in the Continental Congress from New Jersey who managed to beat the Whigs at their own game, uniting French Canadians, Northeastern financiers, and anglophone settlers on the frontier to topple Blanchet's empire. Thus, Southard became the first Continental president in nearly two decades, while the Whigs were left to nurse their wounds and prepare for a comeback in 1832.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Election of 1832

First Round

Jeremiah Smith [Liberal-New Hampshire]—34 Electors
Henry Clay [Continental-Kentucky]—33 Electors
Andrew Stevenson [Whig-Virginia]—14 Electors

The results of the 1832 election came as a shock to many. Jeremiah Smith, the decidely abolitionist, Northeastern "radical" candidate came along and won a resounding victory in the provinces that had impelemented a popular vote for the presidency. Together with his Liberal party, he was able to gain inroads in the Spaniard South, the "Middle Provinces" along the Atlantic Seaboard, and the decidely populist and abolitionist forntier provinces. While this was not enough to capture a majority of the Electoral Council in the first round, the direction the nation was set seemed crystal clear.

Second Round

Henry Clay [Continental-Kentucky]—42 Electors
Jeremiah Smith [Liberal-New Hampshire]—39 Electors

In the end it was a tight contest, but the winner of the popular vote and the first round was not able to repeat his sucess in the second: with every ballot counted, Secretary of State Henry Clay was chosen over Jeremiah Smith by a margin of three votes in the Electoral Council. The Whig electors were what determined the outcome - while the frontier province Whigs (as well as, surprisingly, Georgia's delegation) chose Smith, most of the Southeast broke for Clay, giving him a narrow victory. While Smith and his Liberals fell short this time, they nevertheless managed to establish themselves as a potent third force next to Whigs and Continentals, with an unexpected appeal in the frontier provinces. Senator John Calhoun of South Carolina was elected Vice President, possibly as a token of gratitude for Whig support of Clay.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Election of 1836

First Round

Henry Clay [Continental-Kentucky]—38 Electors, 42.1% popular votes
William Lyon Mackenzie [Whig-Niagara]—25 Electors, 34.2% popular votes
Arthur Tappan [Liberal-Ohio]—19 Electors, 23.7% popular votes

The success of the Clay Administration in implementing the American system and the general prosperity of the nation would bode well for the Continental Party, with President Clay defeating his closest competitor - Niagara Governor William Mackenzie - by 8 points in the popular vote, 42% to 34%. In the electoral count, Clay held a large plurality on the first ballot, but fell just short of a majority of the 82 Electors; the election therefore proceeded to a second round, with the supporters of third place finisher Arthur Tappan holding the balance of power.

Second Round

Henry Clay [Continental-Kentucky]—55 Electors
William Lyon Mackenzie [Whig-Niagara]—27 Electors

Whereas four years earlier Clay had benefitted by the grudging support of Whig electors, who preferred his cautious support for manumission with the fervent abolitionism of Jeremiah Smith, in 1836 it was the anti-slavery Liberal Party that rescued Clay's political fortunes. With their own candidate, Ohio Governor Arthur Tappan, having failed to proceed to the second round, the Liberals reluctantly cast their votes for Clay, unwilling to endorse the pro-slavery, anti-centralization policies of the Whigs. Out of gratitude for their support, Clay persuaded the Continental Congress to elect anti-slavery Congressman Lyman Beecher to the vice presidency, replacing the pro-slavery incumbent.

[Cranberry]

Outlook on Provinces and Territorities (1836)

The Original Provinces

#	Name	Capital	Languages
1	Acadia	Halifax	English, French (25%)
2	Quebec	Ville de Quebec	French
3	Niagara	Niagara City	English, French (20%)
4	Massachusetts	Boston	English
5	New Hampshire	Concord	English
6	Vermont	Montpelier	English, French (25%)
7	Rhode Island	Providence	English
8	Connecticut	Hartford	English
9	New York	Albany	English
10	New Jersey	Trenton	English
11	Pennsylvania	Harrisburg	English
12	Maryland	Annapolis	English
13	Delaware	Dover	English
14	Virginia	Richmond	English
15	North Carolina	Raleigh	English
16	South Carolina	Columbia	English
17	Georgia	Savannah	English
18	East Florida	San Agustín	Spanish, English (30%)
19	Louisiana	Nouvelle Orleans	French, Spanish (30%), English(30%)
20	Nuevo León	Monterrey	Spanish
21	Mexico	Ciudad Mexico	Spanish
22	Yucatan	Campeche	Spanish

Provinces admitted after 1784

#	Name	Capital	Languages	Year of Admission
23	Kentucky	Frankfort	English	1786
24	Tennessee	Knoxville	English	1789
25	Tejas	San Antonio	Spanish, English (40%)	1789
26	West Florida	Mobile	Spanish (40%), English (40%), French (20%)	1790
27	Ohio	Cincinnati	English	1802
28	Erie	Cleveland	English	1805
29	Huron	Detroit	English, French (30%)	1815
30	Ottawa	Dearborn1	English	1815
31	Illinois	Peoria	English	1815
32	Lafayette	Giradot2	English	1833

Organised Territories

Name	Capital	Languages	Year of Organisation
Capital Territory	Franklin City	English (33%), Spanish (33%), French (33%)	1790
Missouri	Saint Louis	English	1818
Franklin	Fort Arnold3	English	1818
Winnebago	Juneau4	English	1818
Superior	Fort Burr5	English	1818
Hidalgo	Santa Fe6	Spanish, English (20%)	1818
Indian Territory	New Echota7	Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee	1818

¹Chicago, IL
²Cape Girardeu, MO
³Sauk Centre, MN
⁴Milwaukee, WI
⁵Saint Paul, MN
⁶Pine Bluff, AR
⁷Calhoun, GA

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Election of 1840

Louis-Joseph Papineau [Liberal-Quebec]—47 Electors, 50.0% popular votes
Henry Clay [Continental-Kentucky]—29 Electors, 35.3% popular votes
George Dallas [Whig-Pennsylvania]—8 Electors, 14.7% popular votes

The election of 1840 would go into the annals of history as being the first one to see a Liberal, Louis-Joseph Papineau, being elected President. This was accomplished by a narrow majority coalition of Francophones, the frontier and southwestern provinces, giving Papineau a small majority of the Electoral Council in the first round. The Liberal plurality House of Commons and Senate elected Thomas Hart Benton, a Liberal Senator from Lafayette, to the office of the Vice President.