An Uncertain Future Game Thread

[S019]

Welcome to An Uncertain Future!


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1848_United_States_presidential_election


Some General Reminders/Tips:

In person campaigning was frowned upon during this time, if you must do it, you will be penalized, and do it in moderation, no tours of states, it will sink your campaign. Having surrogates campaign for you is a much better idea.

The nomination will be decided by a convention, this means you should not be criss-crossing the country, even if you want to campaign. You should be trying to win support of delegates, writing letters and pamphlets and meeting with party insiders is much more standard practice.

You need to appeal to both the northern and southern wings of your party, extremely alienating either one will make it hard to win the nomination. Also it may make that wing of the party apathetic to your general campaign were you to win.

What you say in your letters and pamphlets may be noticed and publicized, so do be careful about what you say.

Travel, if needed for any reason, will take several days, please be reasonable in terms of this

Unlike most other games, you do not really need to post schedules here, you can, but it's not required, I'm going to give leeway here, do whatever you think is best to win the support of delegates


Here are the Rules for reference:

1. Do not use racial slurs such as the ni- and ne- word uncensored, preferably don't use that at all, I understand you might have to use them in the context of the time period, if you must, please censor as many letters as you can.
2. Do not play out of character, I'm going to give you guys lots of leeway here, but I don't want to see Lewis Cass advocating for abolition of slavery or Henry Clay arguing for low tariffs
3. If you are going to travel across the country, which I will allow in moderation with the conditions laid out under the Tips/Reminders heading, please make your trips of reasonable length, you are not going from New York to Charleston and back in 2 days, be realistic.
4. Have fun!

Initial Pamphlets (It is highly recommended you answer these questions at some point during this turn)

Whig Pamphlet

1. What is your stance on chartering a third National Bank?

2. Do you believe more harm or good came out of the Mexican American War? Why?

3. What are your views on our current tariff rates?

4. What is your stance on further expansion of the United States?

5. What is your overall view of the Polk Administration and what do you view as his biggest failure?

Democratic Pamphlet

1. How do you believe the issue of slavery should be handled in the territories carved out of the Mexican Cession?

2. What are your views on the Independent Treasury?

3. What are your views on our current tariff rates?

4. What is your stance on further expansion of the United States?

5. What is your overall view of the Polk Administration and what do you view as his biggest success?

Turn 1 will last from January 1, 1848 to March 20, 1848, at the conclusion of the turn, media reports may hint where candidates may be weak among delegates and where they should focus in the last two months before the convention, also this turn will end next Sunday night.

[KaiserDave]

From the Desk of the 8th President of these United States, Martin Van Buren

[1]

The discourse in the American political sphere today is centered on the question of the territories acquired in the Mexican Cession. The nation asks itself whether these lands should be settled by honest, God-fearing white men, or by a greedy slaveocracy which increasingly displays its contempt for the Republic and the constitution. This nefarious conspiracy of slave owners have employed a variety of lies and mistruths to advance their duplicitous agenda of turning the entirety of the west into slave country. It is of the highest importance that the Democratic Party rejects these lies, and continues to be the party of working white men in this country. It must nominate a candidate for the chief magistracy that does so.

The first of these lies is that Congress lacks the authority to regulate the institution of slavery in the newly acquired territories. This without any basis in the law, and is merely an attempt to redistribute power from the people's representatives to a small group of landowners entirely detached from this land and its people. It would be a callous betrayal of ideals of the late President Jackson to place the party in servitude to these American monarchs. The Democratic Party must resolve simply that we must have no more slave States and no more slave territory. We must revolve that the soil of our extensive domains be kept free for the hardy pioneers of our own land, and the oppressed and banished of other lands, seeking homes of comfort and fields of enterprise in the New World. 

The second of these lies is a blatant attack on the constitution and the framers. The Slave Power has waged a relentless war of lies, claiming that somehow, the constitution is a document that guarantees their rights as slaveowners to export their practices to the Pacific Ocean and beyond. This is the most nefarious of lies, constructed entirely by falsifications of the worst sort. Presidents Washington, Adams, and Jefferson all resolved that slavery should be localized and contained, President Washington went so far as to declare "I wish from my soul that the legislature of this State could see the policy of a gradual Abolition of Slavery." President Jefferson wrote that "the day is not distant when we must bear and adopt [the abolition of slavery], or worse will follow." It was undeniably the belief of the framers that the institution of slavery ought to be gradually contained and extinguished, not to spread rapidly to the west and beyond.

The Democratic Party in the state of New York and beyond must reject the hydra of lies being presented by the ruthless slaveocracy in these lands, and stand for the principles of free men, free speech, free labor, free soil, and free democracy. If not, the nation will be left to the mercy of two parties in service to a small clique of landowners, and the people will suffer for it.



Published April 1848, Edited by Samuel J. Tilden and John Van Buren, to be known as the Barnburner Manifesto



1. How do you believe the issue of slavery should be handled in the territories carved out of the Mexican Cession?

There must be no new slave territories, nor any new slave states. This is line with the intents of the framers of the constitution and the principles of the Declaration of Independence. The western territories must be settled by free white men and women, not gobbled up by the all consuming slaveocracy. Let me make clear I am far from an abolitionist in this debate, but to allow slavery to consume the entirety of the west would destroy the Republic.

2. What are your views on the Independent Treasury?

I have supported the Independent Treasury from the beginning, and have supported it in all my campaigns for the Chief Magistracy. It is the greatest accomplishment of President Polk that he established such a system and I congratulate him for it. The next President should maintain this system to organize the country's finances.

3. What are your views on our current tariff rates?

I have always supported the Democratic ideal that tariffs should only be as high as those necessary to provide revenues for the Federal Government, this has not changed. I support a low tariff, and oppose sectional divisiveness on this issue.

4. What is your stance on further expansion of the United States?

The United States should not pursue further expansion, given that this will provide only greater opportunities for the slave power to assault the liberties of the people. It would be entirely irresponsible and unwise to push for further expansion when the nation is at a breaking point with the current new territories.

5. What is your overall view of the Polk Administration and what do you view as his biggest success?

President Polk has had a great many successes as Chief Executive, and I hold the opinion he has left the economy of the Republic in a robust state. The Walker Tariff was a great legislative success, and as I have stated previously, the Independent Treasury is a great triumph, and one I have worked for for a great many years. It was a good thing for the Republic that Polk was elected and that the devious Henry Clay was prevented from becoming Chief Magistrate. However, the Mexican Cession has opened up an opportunity for the sectionalist slave power to force a vicious debate among the American people, one that if they are victorious could doom the Republic. The next President of these United States must act to enforce a policy of free soil in these territories.






[1] Wikimedia Commons, Cropped by Me

[JoeInator]

STATEMENT FROM THE DESK OF HENRY CLAY: My friends, we are at a difficult point in our great country's history. In the last four years we have seen a President willing to spar an impractical and an immoral war with Mexico. Since the war has ended and Mexico has ceded acres of territory to the United States, tensions on whether the new territory should have slaves have reached a new high. It is time for a change in leadership. Experienced leadership that has a proven record on reaching compromise. That is why, my friends, I have decided to run for my party's nomination to be the next President of the United States. Thank you, and God Bless.




1. What is your stance on chartering a third National Bank?

I have supported a new National Bank, similar to the second National Bank, since the days of Andrew Jackson. I still hold this position, and as President I will charter a new National Bank.

2. Do you believe more harm or good came out of the Mexican American War? Why?

I believe that the war with Mexico will cause more harm than good to the United States in the long term due to the tensions it will cause around the slavery issue. When I ran for President in 1844 I strongly opposed annexation of Texas because I feared it would lead to a war with Mexico. Sadly I was proven right in this case.

3. What are your views on our current tariff rates?

For decades I have called for an economic proposal I call the American System. An important part of the American System is higher tariffs. Higher tariffs would free the United States from having to depend on foreign imports. For this reason I oppose the 1846 Walker tariff and believe it should be replaced with a higher tariff.

4. What is your stance on further expansion of the United States?

I oppose any further expansion of the United States. It would lead to further divisions over slavery in any potential new territories. There are tensions as it is over whether our current territories should become slave states. I don't think it would be a wise decision to continue to expand  and shift the free state-slave state balance further.

5. What is your overall view of the Polk Administration and what do you view as his biggest failure?

Unfortunately, the Polk Administration left the United States in a worse place than it was 4 years ago. His biggest failures were tangling the United States up in an abhorrent war with Mexico and allowing any potential slave territory into the United States.

[Left Wing]

Speech at Bowdoin Square

Wikimedia Commons

Good day, In my capacity of a member of a body of congress, it is not my duty nor my place to speak out on the issues of the day to crowds in the public. However, I have been compelled to do so at Bowdoin square a great many times and I take comfort in informing my fellow man.

As we speak today, our country is engaged in a great many crises. Our current president has chosen to expand our nations borders through the Texas territory resulting in a great war at our southern border. These actions have not been in the best interest of the United States. In my judgement, a leader must come to the conclusion in any given situation, what will best serve our nation's future and protect our citizens. What Mr. Polk did flies directly into the face of any semblance of this principle. We have lost countless men and resources to this bloody war. We must move forward as leaders and not make these same mistakes again.

We also face an impending crisis on the domestic front. We have Mr. Polk's cuts in tariffs. These seem to have only been passed for the sake of appeasing the states which sought to nullify many of these tariffs years ago. The government has an obligation to resolve on sound economic policy. Not capitulate to the needs of states which seek to undermine our laws. Mr. Polk's policies are all the negatives of Jacksonianism, without any of the compromise Mr. Jackson showed.

We must return to a form of Whig government in this next election and I will stand in support of whoever the nominee of our party may be.

After Webster's speech in Bowdoin, he formed a committee to begin a campaign for the presidency. Consulting with his closest advisors and family, he decided to put his name into the running. He returned to Washington over the next week and made a number of speeches denouncing the policies of the president. Shortly after arrival, received the pamphlet from the Whig National Convention in which he was to answer.

1. What is your stance on chartering a third National Bank?

While yes, many years ago I did oppose the formation of a national bank. Times have changed. Our country is a much larger and more economically diverse nation than it was in 1816. We require stability in our financials in these turbulent times. This is why I stood vehemently against Andrew Jackson's brutal attacks on our national bank and it is why I believe we must charter one anew.

2. Do you believe more harm or good came out of the Mexican American War? Why?

The Mexican American War has been a moral, tactical and devastating loss for our nation. Mr. Polk should not have attempted to craft policy out of slogans he used to win the election. Mr. Polk's only attempt to reach over the aisle on this war, was to provide my fellow Whigs with false and misleading information on this conflict's necessity. And for all of our efforts to seize this land, we have lost thirteen thousand men doing it. And for what? To expand the slave territory? To further exacerbate the divides in a further and further fracturing nation? Mr. Polk's action's on this front have been those of a tyrant.

3. What are your views on our current tariff rates?

I have always been a tariff man, through and through. The Walker tariff was one of the most ill-conceived bills I have ever seen pass congress. Already we are seeing decreases in business activity, which I attribute to as a result of this tariff. I support a return to the Black tariff of 1842 which will lead us into a more prosperous future.

4. What is your stance on further expansion of the United States?

I stand steadfast against the acquisition of any new territories. Further expansion will only further center the national debate around the issue of slavery. This is tearing our national identity apart and it pains my soul greatly to see so many politicians egging it on. Already we are seeing long standing agreement such as the Missouri Compromise being called into question. I will not blindly abandon our principals in this way and will not seek the admission of any new territories at this time.

5. What is your overall view of the Polk Administration and what do you view as his biggest failure?

The current president unfortunately has not worked in the best interest of our nation  in his time in office. He foolhardily rushed us into a war with Mexico with his insistance on the annexation of Texas. He did not seem to weigh his options and use his best judgement as all great leaders should. Instead of relying on facts and information, our president used campaign promises as a way of governing blindly.

Furthermore, his opposition to any form of internal improvements has been so extremely misguided that it feels he would rather the nation suffer under Democratic ideas than prosper under Whig ones.  If we are to re-take the White Hosue in 1849, we must do it by contrasting our ideals with that of Mr. Polk's.

After announcing his campaign and responding to the Whig Pamphlet, Webster began to seek the support of the delegates by using his decades long connections in congress to influence their decisions. As he performed his duties in the senate over the course of the next months, he scheduled several private meetings with his fellow members of congress to win over their support.