America during the Victorian Age - A Victoria 3 Timeline

[LAKISYLVANIA]

The idea:

I'm going to make updates for every presidential term informing you about what the USA has done in my Victoria 3 game, based on the presidential terms of each president.

In the game America starts with Andrew Jackson as president in 1836. The first update will be the 1836-1840 term of who gets elected president. This election took place in the midst of a war America had with Venezuela, while Mexico handled the Texas war. Therefore i won't rate Andrew Jackson yet, given you start with him.

Each time i get to 1840, 1844 etc. there will be an update.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Presidential election of 1836





Andrew Jackson - deciding to run for a third term - wasn't able to win re-election in december of 1936. The coalition of the Southern Planters, Petite Bourgeoisie and the Rural Folks lost to that of the Whig Party, a coalition of liberals (intelligentsia) and evangelicals. The whig party won with 49% of the vote, and after the election a coalition of the Whig Party and the Patriotic Party (armed forces) would form the government.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Henry Clay 1: 1836-1840

Domestically

In terms of domestic affairs, the Clay administration was able to pass some reforms such as ensuring guaranteed liberties, as well as establishing the first dedicated police force in America. His term would be overshadowed by the harsh treatment of the Cherokee people, the sudden death of Andrew Jackson and the start on the debate of slavery, something Henry Clay was strongly against. While the campaign for the 1840 election already started, the debate on slavery was still ongoing with some people in America calling for armed insurrection. This ensured that the rural folks split from the Democratic Party as the new representative of the Rural Folks didn't defend slavery as much as Andrew Jackson used to do.

Clay would also focus on industrializing the United States, mostly by focusing in New York on manufacturing and creating iron mines. Pennsylvania would see some new coal mines, while in New Hampshire the logging industry started booming with Maine following suit. Massachussets would see the expansion of some whale industry and most states that were incorporated by now would see the construction business hiring some people to aid with the process to industrialization, while in the northeast and mideast the first railroads were also constructed. Furthermore the first munition industry and motor industry was being built in New York, while the arts academy and university in New York were expanded, the most profitable state in the USA as of now



GDP by state



Standards of living by state



Population by state




New York



Profession distribution



Culture distribution

Foreign affairs

America was very active in foreign affairs during the Clay administration. While he managed to finish the war on Venezuela to add Venezuela as a dominion of the United States succesfully that Jackson started, this wasn't the only thing Clay would do. After the war on Venezuela, a war on Haiti to also add Haiti as a dominion to the United States, which was finished succesfully. When the Central American Stated started to fracture, Henry Clay also declared war on Honduras to create an American puppet here. Clay also started a war on Uruguay, as he wanted to expand America's influence over the continent according to the Monroe doctrine. The administration would also have to deal with insurrections of the Great Sioux nation as well as the Cherokee one, while during the campaign a Pawnee revolt was looming around the corner. During the campaign for re-election Henry Clay was at war with Oman to expand America's influence over the Middle East, Persia and East Africa (given Oman had land over all those three areas), greatly expanding America's influence over the world.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Presidential election of 1840





Henry Clay was able to win re-election, running on foreign policy successes, which enabled him to spend some political capital on trying to outlaw slavery, something the slaveowners didn't really like. However some liberals also criticized him for his harsh treatment towards slavery as well as American agression globally, however they were in a strong minority and Clay was able to win and also profit from disagreement among the opposition.

Compared to last election, Clay won 1.6% more, increasing his vote share from 49% to 50.6%. While the Democratic Party (losing the backing of the agrarian class and suffering horrible momentum) fell down by 28.87%. The newly formed People's Party by the agrarian class won 25.3% of the vote. The Patriotic Party and Free Trade Party were also able to make some gains.

If we look at the map from the states, we get this map

This is based on political clout which is not the same as actual results but I still think it would fun to try to come up with an estimate based on the clout by state and the parties each of the interest groups belong to by a winner takes it all approach



The closest state was Vermont which was narrowly won by the Whig Party over the Free Trade one. In most states of the north both the Whig and especially Free Trade Party did well, but the latter was virtually non-existent in the South which went for the most party to the People's Party while the Whig Party and Democratic Party fought in many states for the second place.

This doesn't really work, esp since the rurals split off from the Democratic Party after Andrew Jacksons death and most of the South went for the rural folks. Some states esp. near the west (or Florida) are also very recently incorporated and contain little population so can be weird; As the game progresses some states will dramatically change perhaps.

Also i'm not sure why the industrialist party did so horrible, esp. given they have a lot of clout in some of the most populous states. I'm seeing though that nationally they have 13.1% clout so far some reason they did really bad in that election by only getting 4.2%. And the reason they win states is because they're very concentrated in the states that i have been developing (or start already somewhat developed), hence why they win New York etc.

I think if you merge free trade with whig and peoples with democratic party that you get a better representation of the two party system

Spoiler alert! Click Show to show the content.

Show

this would be the map if you try to merge which makes more sense, aside of some weird things (also at the time they were was no established two party system yet.

Of course as you gradually progress in the game, the pro-industry parties (Whig and Free Trade party here) will tend to do a lot better later on, but it's a game and there will also be no two party system of course.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Henry Clay 2: 1840-1844

Domestically

After solidly winning the Clay administration continued to focus on passing reforms, such as the debate on slavery, and Clay ultimately - despite threats from the South to secede - did manage to succesfully pass the ban on slavery for now. While the debate is still ongoing, Clay has managed so far to rally the nation behind the slavery ban and it seems like consensus is slowly but surely shifting towards a ban on slavery, massively crippling the power of the slaveowners.

Building on that, president Clay also succesfully ended racial segregation and moved to a system of cultural exclusion where people with a similar heritage to that of white Americans, usually European colonists would be accepted in the nation. Clay also managed to change the system of how bureaucrats are chosen, from an elected system to an appointed system, in an attempt to have more control and more of a sway on the government employees, which he believes would further help him in passing the laws he believes the new nation needed.

While the harsh treament on the Cherokee people continued, Clay also tasked general Zachary Taylor with mapping the Oregon trail. A first attempt - after many challenges - has failed, though during the presidential campaign a second attempt has been made to map the Oregon trail.

Clay continued to industrialize the United States, by building iron mines, coal mines, building more wood. He also expanded the paper mills and universities, not just in New York but in more areas over the nation however it cannot be ignored that New York has been the center of expansion so far. Some new states were fully colonized including North Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas and Wyoming and are in the process of full corporations.

Foreign affairs

Continuing on his ventures of the first term, Clay would succesfully handle the Oman war, creating a dominion in Oman. Clay also succesfully managed to puppet Guatemala, Nicaragua & Costa Rica expending America's presence in central America. During the Nicaragua war, Mexico opposed the United States, however the US responded by creating a manifest destiny and claiming hegemony over a new area, including claiming several currently Mexican territories as new homelands for the future American state!

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Presidential election of 1844





Henry Clay decided to run for a third term after his succesfuly presidency and while not always liked especially over the South over the slavery debate, Clay managed to increase his popularity. This did not result in a better result than last time, however a lot of that might be because of the increased turnout.

Compared to last election, the Whig Party lost 0.9% decreasing their vote share to 49.7%. The big winner of the election was the People's Party increasing their share to 29.0% being led by Aaron Emmett. The other three parties all lost votes, with in particular the Democratic Party suffering, falling to a share of 6.9%.

Looking at the map



Quite a few flips compared to 1940 can be noticed. Importantly, the People's Party was able to flip Florida and Louisiana, two southern states it didn't win last time, and overall had stronger turnout and won by larger margins across the south, especially due to losses of the Democratic Party.

Meanwhile in the North it is a battlefield as usual between the Free Trade Party and the Whig Party. The Whig Party managed to flip the oh so important battleground state of New York certifying the election, however the Free Trade Party managed to flip Vermont, which they narrowly lost last time, and also gain ground in the Acela corridor flipping Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland but falling short in the capital itself. Iowa had the largest shift compared to last time as it grew noticeably in population, siding just like neighbouring state Wisconsin with the Whig Party.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Henry Clay 3: 1844-1848

Domestically

During the third term, Clay didn't really pass any new major laws and focused on stabilizing the domestic situation keeping relations between the several factions and parties in check. The slavery debate hasn't been over yet, but for the most part the question has been settled.

Continuing to colonize uncolonized territories, to the great disgust of the Cherokee and Sioux people, Clay also was able to welcome several new states to America. Having negotiated a deal with the British, at the end of the third term Idaho, Oregon and Washington were transferred to the United States.

Mapping the west has been a challenge so far but the discovery of the Oregon Trail and the Salt Lake river flats has been welcomed in the States. Clay also as usual continued to industrialize the states, not just by building more but also make industries more efficient.

Foreign affairs

Clay was able to handle the war ongoing during last election succesfully and puppetted Costa Rica. In a quest to add Gran Colombia as a dominion to the United States, Spain and Denmark both challenged the United States. Brazil decided to help the Americans and in return they would get a piece of territory from the Amazone Rainforest that Colombia controlled they had a claim on, while France had unfinished business with Spain and was willing to humiliate them. Venezuela - a dominion of the United States - decided to challenge the Americans as well, but the Americans in return - just like they did in Colombia - requested both Colombia and Venezuela to end slavery practices.

The war was disastreous for the Spanish, as they were utterly humiliated by the French and the Americans decided to take ownership of the island of Cuba and direct ownership as well of the island of Puerto Rico which is currently in the process of being incorporate as a US state. The war has been seen as a great success for president Clay!



The USA in 1948, Uruguay - in direct control of the USA - and Oman - a dominion - are not shown on the map

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Presidential election of 1848





Convinced of being able to easily win a fourth term, Clay decided to run again. He was re-elected again but this was definitely the hardest re-election for president Clay so far with major losses downballot. His Whig Party lost 8.3% compared to last time, losing somewhat of his share to the Free Trade Party which surged to 6.5%, almost doubling in size.

The Democratic Party - as they were showing a more moderate approach - was able to make a comeback. They went up with 10.8%, getting to 17.7%. The People's Party lost 6.9%, decreasing their vote share to 22.1%, their worst election since they participated for the first time. The Patriotic Party increased their vote share to 12%, 1.5 up compared to last time.



Downballot gains were made in most states by the Free Trade Party, who flipped numerous states including Louisiana, Wisconsin and the newly acquired Minnesota.

(this doesn't work, i guess this makes more sense for like downballot changes for the House).

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Henry Clay 4: 1848-1852

Domestically

During the fourth term, no new laws were passed and the slavery debate ended in favor of the end of slavery ownership. With the end of racial segregation and slave ownership, an era has ended, and the dawn of a new America has started. An accomplishment for president Clay.

During the fourth term, the nation was expanded bigly again and the nation now consists out of 50 integrated states (minus Alaska & Hawaii in our TL, added Puerto Rico and Uruguay)

Mapping the west has also been completed during the fourth term. The Indian territory also was peacefully annexed, and America started colonizing Togo.

Foreign affairs

The fourth term saw the war with Mexico for America's claim start. Ultimately the USA ended up being succesfully after humiliating Mexico, annexing all claims USA had and releasing the newly liberated Maya nation which signed a defensive pact with the USA. The USA also created an alliance with Liberia and signed a defensive pact with the nation of Brazil. Relations with Prussia, Austria and the Netherlands have been bad (and to be fair all of central Europe), while the USA took care of ensuring relations with the UK and France were good, while improving relations with Russia.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Presidential election of 1852





Being 75 years old didn't stop Henry Clay deciding that he did want to run again for a fifth term. During his overall tenure he saw the overall population almost rise by one third and this did bring some changes demographically. While Clay was re-elected, the whig party continued to suffer some losses, albeit quite minor but this was their worst election in at least 16 years, dropping below 40% and losing about 3% in total compared to four years ago.

The Democratic Party continued to see a resurgence and won 20.8% of the vote, 3.1% more than four years ago but nowhere near as where they used to be like in only twelve years ago. Though they saw some new competition for their political spot in the form of the People's Party and that party ended up being disappointing. The death by Aaron Emmet being a contributor to the disappointing result.

The Free Trade Party continued to grow and ended up for the first time over 10%. But the real winner of the evening was the Patriotic Party which also saw their best result in a long time ever increasing their vote share by 7.4%. The Patriotic Party notably campaigned on American successes in reclaiming the west, rallying around further domination and imperialism. While the People's Party suffered in their isolationist and non-interventionist approaches.



Uruguay and Puerto Rico both went for People's Party

Quite a bit of changes in the map. The People's Party went for the most party underdeveloped states that were agrarian focused, while the Democratic Party won a few states in the South, in particular because of additional support from the clergy. The South was in general very close between the Democratic Party and People's Party with quite a bit of states being among the closest decided ones.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Demographics update

[bagelman]

Paradox games aren't good at simulating US elections or elections in general.

[Del Tachi]

Paradox games aren't good at simulating US elections or elections in general.

At some point there will be a USA-focused DLC that will add better country-specific mechanics and flavor (for $39.99, of course!)