Triple Calamity: What if the Three Most Important Men in the Executive Branch Died in One Night?

[Mr.Q]

10:10 PM- He vigorously pounded at the door. Perhaps a bit too vigours. Powell stopped to calm himself before the door to the home slid open. A black man stared back at Powell.
"Sir?"
"Ah. Uh. Yes. Uhm," Powell grabbed a small vile out of his pocket. "Terribly sorry, Doctor Verdi requested that I deliver this medicinal product to the Secretary," the servant blankly stared back at Powell before responding.
"The good doctor had requested that Mr. Seward remain undisturbed. Mister?-"
"No, no I am the doctors personal assistant he simply forgot to hand this vile to the secretaries' son." The servant looked back into the house and then back to Powell.
"If you would excuse me for just a moment-"
"No! No time. I insist!" Powell knew he had pushed his luck. He pushed past the black servant and rushed inside the home and started rushing up the stairs.
"Excuse me sir!" Powell looked up to see the face of Fredrick Seward. The eldest son of the man he was rushing to visit.
"Ah. Uhm Mr. Seward. I must see your father I have some- Uh." The next few seconds were a blur. He and Fredrick argued some it was really going nowhere. He had a mission. He pulled out his gun and fired at Fredrick. The gun misfired. Fuck. Powell slammed the gun against Seward's head, barged through the bedroom door, pulled out a knife slashed a guard against the arm and began giving his all, right at the bedridden Secretary of State's face and neck. Powell heard his knife clanking on some sort of metal. He saw the brace around Seward’s neck that was supporting his broken jaw. In a split second decision Powell removed the brace just enough to thrust his knife into Seward's neck. [1]. He knew then that his end of the plan was accomplished.

10:15 PM- Booth knew this play. He'd preformed it before. He bet he could recite every line of Our American Cousin by heart. The audience always laughed at one line. One line that blew the roof off. Wait... Wait... Wait...
"Well, I guess I know you enough to turn you inside out old gal; you sockdologizing old man-trap!" The president laughed for the very final time. Booth squeezed his index finger and... BANG. The next moments were a blur. A man jumped towards him, Booth slashed him on the arm. Seeing few other options he jumped to the stage. He felt a sharp pain in his leg, he knew he had to say something to the audience who just witnessed John Wilkes Booth's magnum opus. So, Uh.
"Sic Semper Tyrannus! The South is Avenged!"

10:17 PM- Oh god. Oh god. Come on George you have the courage. Oh lord almighty. I can do it I can! Atzerodt looked towards the stairs of the hotel. Then back to that sweet sweet bar. Then to the stairs. Then to-. [2] No. No not back to that damn bar. George Atzerodt will be a name feared by the north and honored by the south! He oughta slay the traitor from Tennessee! With all the courage he could muster he rushed up the stairs of the Kirkwood House. He walked down the hall, towards the Vice President's room for... admittedly the second time. He chickened out the first. NO MATTER! He walked right up to the right door and knocked! Oh shit. Oh fuck. What have I done by god! The palm grasping the revolver in his hand got very sweaty as he watched the door knob turn and then the door open and then- BANG.

10:22 PM-
"BY GOD! HAVE YOU HEARD! THE PRESIDENT'S BEEN SHOT!"
"Not just him sir! I heard from my dearest that the Secretary of State was stabbed just down the road!"
"No! That simply cannot be! I heard that the Vice President was slain at the Kirkwood House!"

TRIPLE CALAMITY!
PRESIDENT LINCOLN DECLARED DEAD BY DOCTORS!
SECRETARY OF STATE SEWARD DEAD MERE MINUTES AFTER STABBING!
VICE PRESIDENT JOHNSON CLINGING TO LIFE IN HIS HOTEL ROOM SURROUNDED BY FAMILY!
New York Herald April 15th with it's infamous Triple Headlines
​

"The death of Seward was found out relatively quickly. He died almost immediately following the stabbings at somewhere around 10:12 the night of April 14th. Over the next ten minutes both the President and Vice President would be mortally wounded. Most congressmen and cabinet members would be awoken around 11:00. The timeline gets confusing around here. We know that at 1:00 AM many members of congress convened to figure out who would succeed Lincoln, should Johnson not survive. It is not known when a consensus was reached. What is known is that there was bitter debate between many figures over whether it was to be the Senate Pro Tempore Lafayette S Foster or the Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax. From a couple memoirs however, we can gather it was never a real debate, most people there thought the radical republicans were just complaining. To most it was natural that the head of the senate should assume the Presidency it's the 'upper house' of course. That said the radical view was that Colfax ought to be President because he was the Speaker of the People's House. After some re-readings of the constitution, it became clear that the Foster faction won out. From what I was able to gather this happened sometime between 3:00 and 6:00 AM. To appease the radicals however a special election would be held in November to ensure the people don't have a president no one voted for.

At 7:22 in the morning President Lincoln was pronounced dead. The next day on the 17th as Johnson's doctors made it more clear to congress that he wouldn't make it, preparations were made to swear in Foster. The congressmen who weren't in the initial meeting were promptly informed of the line of succession around noon on the 17th. The next day's newspapers announced to the people that Foster would be sworn in should Johnson die. At 3:44 AM on April 19th Vice President Johnson died. At 4:24 the same morning, Lafayette S Foster became the 17th President of the United States. (Some circles like to say that he is actually the 18th President because Johnson was president for two days yet that is false, as Johnson was never sworn in. Instead those two days simply had no president at all.)"

- From The President No One Voted For
by Kieren Hutchinson, published 1982


[1] - The first POD, in our timeline the brace deflected the most damaging knife blows. (For those unaware Seward had been in a carriage accident a few days prior which is why he was in a brace.)

[2] - The second POD, in our timeline George went to get a drink to bolster the nerves. He never went upstairs.

Treat this as a prologue. It'll be the shortest update by far.
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[Mr.Q]

"Atzerodt and Powell were both arrested not far from the locations of their crimes. The angry populous of DC ensured that. Practically as soon as they were in handcuffs a death sentence was assured. Booth however was missing. President Foster rushed to organize the biggest manhunt in American history. After his swearing in he offered 100 thousand dollars cash for anyone who got Booth alive and $10,000 for any information on the conspirators. Within the next two days most people even tangentially involved in the assassinations were in cuffs and awaiting what were going to be speedy trials.

On April 23 the three bodies were prepared the largest funeral procession in American history. Millions of people turned out as to catch a glimpse. Each body would be returned to their hometowns. Thus three trains were sent off in different directions. One to New York, one to Tennessee and of course one to Illinois. Every newspaper in the north, Republican leaning or Democratic leaning, paid their respects to the three men. In fact many southern newspapers would do the same identifying the time as one of sorrow. (Also probably hoping for some brownie points). When news of the assassinations reached the remaining confederate soldiers and officials reactions were mixed. Some saw it as dishonorable. Many commanders surrendering in the coming weeks. Others however, saw the assassinations as a blessing."

- From Lincoln
by Jack Howe, published 2002

"Even though Lee surrendered few can consider that moment to be the end of the American Civil War. For many confederate soldiers the Triple Calamity was seen as a total decapitation of the US government. Some believed that they could continue the fight. The War Department and Stanton realized this after the Battle of Columbus on April 16th. You see, pretty much all throughout April 15th the Federal Government was quite loud. Relaying orders to union divisions throughout the south that even though it was a time of mourning, it was also a time of vengeance. These telegraphs were probably a mistake as Confederate generals would also relay the information to their soldiers on the 15th and 16th. General James H. Wilson had been given a order to capture one of the last Confederate supply hubs at Columbus, Georgia. He had ninety five hundred men at his command outnumbering Confederate general Howell Cobbs garrison by 3:1. Yet Wilson and his men didn't capture Columbus on the 16th. They were repelled at least two times before they finally took the city on the 18th after heavy casualties. All things considered that should've been an easy battle with no less than a hundred losses. [1] Instead 1000 more men lost their lives.

The Confederate garrison had learned of the Triple Calamity mere hours before the battle began. It seems like a mixture of Union sadness and Confederate lifted spirits cost 1000 union lives for a small town. When that news was relayed back to DC along with reports of supply line attacks and near constant calvary raids, it became clear that the war would be continuing in some form or another for some time..."

From The Final Months: American Civil War April-September
By Lindsey Beck, Published 1955

"Aside from the manhunt for Booth, President Foster had a lot on his docket. First he needed a new Secretary of State. As it was that particular Secretary that was needed to begin the special election process. It wasn't much of a competition of who luckily. The current assistant SoS was Frederick Seward. Though he was injured after a pistol whipping given to him by the assassin of his father, he was also the perfect choice. Foster appointed him to the vacancy, and within a week the Senate near unanimously approved him. Frederick had little time to mourn. After his appointment was confirmed he informed the States that a special election was to be held on the first Tuesday of November and thus they should begin preparations for elections.

President Foster was rapidly approached by many political figures in congress to see what his view on reconstruction was. Foster himself was a moderate and hoped to follow the example of Lincoln. This infuriated many radical republicans who believed that Foster was nothing more than a lame duck and that 1865 was going to be a year of nothing on the issue of reconstruction. They weren't really wrong either. Foster really was hoping to kick all these issues down the road until the next president was inaugurated. He had no real intention of doing anything meaningful other than stop the government from collapsing. He essentially moved to be nice to everyone. Did the confederate states commit suicide and forfeit their right to statehood? Foster said maybe. Can former confederate states participate in the special election? Foster said absolutely not. This didn't really jive with congress.

One thing Foster did want to achieve and fast was the end of the war. On April 20th Foster met with General Ulysses S. Grant. Foster was hoping to be able to declare the war over. If he does that, then he can say anyone still holding up arms is committing full treason and won't be eligible for post war amnesty. Grant told the President that he probably couldn't take that action until General Sherman receives a full surrender from General Joseph E. Johnston's 30,000 men in North Carolina."

- From The President No One Voted For
by Kieren Hutchinson, published 1982

"General Johnston told his general staff his intent to agree to General Sherman's final terms of unconditional surrender on April 23rd. About half of his general staff agreed and half certainly did not. After a lot of back and forth, Johnston, sick of the war, left the camp with around 18 thousand of the soldiers. They accepted the terms of Sherman. He then warned the union general that around 12 thousand men wouldn't accept the offer. Sherman continued to parlay with these men for a couple weeks. By May 15th, 12 thousand was whittled down to around 8,200. Sherman thought he could have a surrender by the end of May, but with extreme pressure from the War Department and under the encouragement of General Grant, Sherman gave a final date of May 20th. If the 8,000 didn't surrender unconditionally by that day there would be a battle. This whittled 8,000 down to 6,000 and after a quick skirmish near Greensboro the Department of Tennessee fully surrendered. May 21st is considered to be the last official day of the war....

...When news reached Jefferson Davis and his few remaining cabinet members of the surrender, they had one final meeting in a friend’s house in Georgia where Davis officially declared the dissolving of the Confederate government. Davis had actually pulled together a small army with Secretary of War, John Breckinridge, and had continued fighting for around a month. After dissolving the nation he ordered his men to surrender before attempting to flee to Europe. However, both Davis and Breckinridge were caught trying to flee to Europe on May 25th. Both were taken to a jail cell in Maryland...

...fighting would continue until mid-September yet by this point, President Foster had declared an end to the war saying, "Any citizen maintaining a rebellion against the United States by July 4th is nothing more than a looter or raider and shall be dealt with as one." After the 4th, news of confederate skirmishes had mostly stopped circulating as well. Most eyes were now on the upcoming election..."

From The Final Months: American Civil War April-September
By Lindsey Beck, Published 1955


"After declaring the end of the war, the President took more concrete stances on reconstruction. First off, he made it clear that re-admission to the union was none of his business as it wouldn't be happening before the special election anyway. In the meantime, he followed congressional advice and set up a plan to establish basic military districts. [2] He assured the people of the south these districts were temporary. On July 30th, he offered amnesty to any soldier in the confederate army who's personal property didn't exceed $15,000. He made it clear that pardons for confederate officers were to be on a case to case basis. (Though he did offer Robert E. Lee and Joseph Johnston pardons for their timely surrenders.) He also announced that the federal government would be prosecuting certain confederate congressmen and of course they would also prosecute Jefferson Davis and his cabinet. Attorney General Bates prepared a mobilization of the Justice Department.

Controversially, Foster shut down Sherman's thirty acres and a mule plan. Saying, "No major moves such as Sherman's redistribution should be carried out until after the election." He ensured that the War Department had strong oversight over the military districts to ensure they were only keeping the peace and not much more. Foster also in tandem with allies in the moderate republican and democratic caucuses made sure every military district would have an elected council of local unionists to help advise the military administrations.

Many people even today criticize Foster's early reconstruction. It's pretty clear that he didn't want to be micromanaging reconstruction and bigger than that, didn't really want to be president. The Foster reconstruction instead delegated rebuilding to congress, the DoJ, the Department of War and anyone else he could find to keep the nation floating until March 4 1866."

From RECONSTRUCTION: A Complete History
by Doris Goodman, published 1999



[1]: Essentially what happened in the real Battle of Columbus
[2]: Roughly the same borders as the districts established in OTL. I'll go in more depth about each one after the special election.

Next chapter will be tomorrow! Yes it'll be about the special election. Sorry to the people that are big on strategy and stuff. I'm not militarily minded so I couldn't go that in to depth with the war stuff. I think you get the point.
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[Mr.Q]

The 17th President of the United States

Frederick Seward. Secretary of State succeeding his father.

The Funeral Carriage that carried Vice President Johnson during the funeral procession.

Columbus, Georgia. Location of the Battle that prolonged the war.

Schuyler Colfax. The Speaker of the House with high ambitions

 

[Mr.Q]

"The beginning of the special election process started around May of 1865. It's well known that congress had agreed to hold one just days after the Triple Calamity under the 1792 Succession Act, but the gears of bureaucracy didn't begin turning until mid-May when the State Department alerted the union of it's imminence. A few days after the state governments were warned, local news was informed and thus the people were as well. The first headache that came with the announcement of the special election was continued violence throughout the states still in rebellion. Many southern whites became quite infuriated at the notion that they would not be voting. Some of these men ended up joining local confederate garrisons (or early White Leagues), to take out their anger, which once again prolonged the war in the south. President Foster had initially hoped to declare the war's end in late May, yet the influx of new confederates post-election announcement caused the President to postpone his declaration until July."

-From Resentment in Dixie
by Peter Barnett, published 1927

"The general election was a foregone conclusion. It was clear to everyone that the Democratic Party, no matter how hard it tried, would lose. The only question was by how much. The truth is with every southern state removed from the election and the national mood firmly in republican hands even the border states weren't assured Democratic wins. This meant that the real election was going to be the Republican nomination process. Many candidates threw their hats into the ring. Schuyler Colfax the Speaker of the House was first. He said that should he be elected, congress would have free reign over reconstruction. That was appealing to many. Then there was Hannibal Hamlin, the former Vice President encouraged his friends to offer his name to the convention. Hamlin ran on a return to the first "true" republican administration under Lincoln. Then there was Salmon Chase, Lincoln's old Republican rival.

All three of these men were expected and somewhat boring. Sure if nominated they would win. Yet they weren't inspiring. Some urged President Foster to run for a proper election. He adamantly declined any offer. However, many moderate Republicans seeing the field full of "radicals" decided they would push for Foster anyway unless there was a better alternative. Some people believed they had found that better alternative.: Ulysses S. Grant.

For the better part of a year General Ulysses S. Grant had been constantly pestered over politics. Reporters would consistently try to find out if Grant was a Republican or Democrat. In June, just a week before the Republican National Convention (planned to be held in Springfield, Illinois to honor the late President Lincoln) Grant affirmed he was a Republican to the press. "I generally lean more towards that side of the boat. Yes."- Grant said in response to a reporter asking if he leaned Republican. Grant thought he was safe. He didn't say he was a Republican just that he leaned towards them. Either way, that was enough for most of the party to see Grant as the perfect candidate."

-From GRANT
by Howell Leanman, published 1977

Presidential Ballots	1	2	3	4	Vice Presidential Ballots	1	2
US. Grant	198	301	315	488	H. Hamlin	222	378
L. Foster	150	150	150	152	S. Colfax	178	22
S. Colfax	118	117	112	10	R. Fenton	150	155
H. Hamlin	96	0			N/A	0	0
S. Chase	88	82	73	0	N/A	0	0

"These were the final results of the 1865 Republican National Convention in Springfield, Illinois. The first ballot set the tone almost immediately. Most of the delegates upon seeing the early Grant lead began to make deals with the people who voted for Grant. The funny thing is the delegates that voted for Grant didn't really know his political views, few knew the man at all. Thus 198 republicans got anointed as campaign managers for a man they had never really met. They were a mix of moderates and radicals so over the course of the convention, Grant was portrayed as a man who supported Land Distribution yet also supported the immediate readmission of all southern states. As voting on the second ballot got closer and closer, the radical Grant supporters promised the Hamlin men the Vice Presidency. Some moderate Grantite men were off put by this. After all, Hamlin was a radically inclined man from Maine. That said, Hamlin might also inspire the American people as he was the former Vice President under Lincoln, making him almost a return to normalcy. (An odd thought considering he was Vice President in the thick of the war.) Either way, with Hamlin encouraging his men to flip to Grant, the conclusion was foregone. After some radical flips on the third ballot it became very clear that Grant would be nominated. On the 4th the rest of the radicals hopped on board with Grant.

Interestingly enough, the actual man that had just been nominated as the Republican nominee had absolutely no clue. Grant had been informed that some delegates were going to put his name forward, but in Grant's mind there was no way that rich politicians would choose him over the President of the United States or the Speaker of the People's House. Yet on June 22nd, the same day as the convention, Grant was given a message via telegram at his father's house in Cincinnati. Jesse Root Grant read the message first and nearly had a heart attack. He sent his boy to the train station that night headed to Illinois.

Back in Springfield it was time to nominate the Vice President. The choices were Hamlin for the Grant men and moderate radicals, Colfax for the radical radicals and Ruben Fenton, a former democrat from New York who was nominated by the moderate faction. It didn't take long for Hamlin to be nominated fulfilling the Grant supporters' promise.

The next day Grant arrived in Springfield. He met his new Vice President and walked into a room full of cheers and banners. Grant would later write that "The Republican National convention felt more like a coronation to the Presidency than a nomination as the Republican Party's choice to the Presidency...

Presidential Ballot	1	2	3	4...	...35	36	37	Vice Presidential Ballot	1
H. Seymour	22	0	1	5	144	151	240	G. Pendleton	159
G. Pendleton	55	133	112	103	54	66	2	WS. Hancock	158
WS. Hancock	26	69	99	122	103	77	20	N/A
Numerous Others	214	115	105	97	16	23	55	N/A

Not nearly as many people focus on the Democratic National Convention during the special election. That makes sense considering the outcome of the general election, but the 1865 Democratic National Convention was very interesting. Of the fifteen candidates in contention for the nomination only three actually wanted to become the nominee. Of those three only one, George Pendleton had a shot to get the nomination. Everyone within the hall knew that the democrats would lose the special election and so we had the interesting circumstance of candidates telling delegates not to vote for them. Chief among them was Horatio Seymour. On the first ballot 22 people voted for Seymour. He loudly told them to flip their votes. After that it seemed like Pendleton was on the road to victory. This scared a lot of delegates who had a bad taste in their mouth when it came to Pendleton because he had been George McClellan's Vice President a year prior and McClellan lost big against Lincoln.

This led to Winfield Scott Hancock taking the lead. After all, a war hero may be their only shot against Ulysses Grant. Yet many democratic career politicians believed that Hancock had no experience and stood for nothing. Plus Hancock himself didn't want to be nominated. Even though Pendleton and Hancock were frontrunners, both were unappealing. Many delegates hopped ship to alternatives. Thomas Hendricks, James English, Stephen Field and more. This caused continuous deadlocks for over 30 ballots.
Eventually many saw Seymour as the only hope. He had been slowly gaining, but many candidates threw their supporters to him once it seemed like they would become front runners themselves. By the 36th ballot, it seemed like there were still 100 to go. Yet Pendleton urged his supporters to vote for Seymour. Historians still debate over why. Perhaps he realized his win was impossible and he was ready to be done. As the Pendleton supporters flipped their votes many Hancock enthusiasts did the same seeing the end as near. Seymour himself reportedly shed a tear upon realizing he would be the nominee. He gathered himself and begrudgingly accepted after realizing he had no choice.

Then came the Vice Presidential balloting. The convention hall was tired and in an attempt to get things done fast they made it clear that the choice was either Pendleton or Hancock. Pendleton was furious, saying, "I refuse to be the Vice President to another landslide loss!" He urged his supporters to vote for Hancock. Hancock however, also desperately didn't want to be Vice President seeing it as a career death sentence. He urged his supporters to vote for Pendleton. After a chaotic ten minutes, by one vote, Pendleton won and Hancock breathed a sigh of relief."


From Every National Convention in American History
by Jacob Cohen, published 2012


"As for the 1865, uh campaign... Well, it wasn't much of a campaign. Seymour and Pendleton practically hid from any kind citizen asking questions and few democratic surrogates were interested in any active campaigning. Meanwhile, Grant and Hamlin's surrogates presented a vote for the Republican Party as a vote for the memory of Lincoln, Seward and Johnson. They waved the bloody rag and blamed the war on the Democrats. I mean... It wasn't a surprise who won that year."

-From The Civil War Show
Starring Special Guest Kieren Hutchinson, radio episode premiered June 22nd 1988

Hope that wasn't a surprise to anyone. Tomorrow's chapter is gonna be about the real beginning of a very different reconstruction so get hyped. Feel free to comment predictions or critiques. Keep an eye out for chapter 4.

-​

 

[Mr.Q]

“John Wilkes Booth had been captured by US Marshals in May. Though he challenged his captors to a duel, his request was denied and he was sent to the same prison that Jefferson Davis would later be held in. In August, Booth, Powell, Atzerodt and 12 other conspirators were executed by hanging. Many believe that 9 of the 12 other conspirators were probably only tangentially related to the Calamity and did very little if anything illegal but the nation was mourning.

It is truly important to examine the effect that the Triple Calamity had on the American psyche. Especially the northern psyche. The President being assassinated alone would’ve been a disaster, but the decapitation of the executive branch to the point where one of the three sacred branches of government did not function, was a calamity. There were a couple reforms immediately. The 1865 Succession Act and the subsequent passage of the 14th Amendment moved to ensure there would be no more than an hour of executive incapacitation if something similar were to occur. The line of succession became as follows.

President
Vice President
Senate Pro Tempore
Speaker of the House of Representatives
Secretary of State
Secretary of War [1]
Secretary of the Treasury
Attorney General
Secretary of the Navy
Secretary of the Interior

If and when a new department was created its secretary would be placed in the line of succession by congress to where they believed it should go. (Perhaps the Secretary of Homeland Security shouldn’t be behind the Secretary of Labor and so on.)

The 14th Amendment:

Section 1
In the case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

Section 2
In the case of the removal of the President and Vice President from office or of his death or resignation, the Pro Tempore of the Senate shall assume the office of President

Section 3
In the event that the Pro Tempore of the Senate has assumed the office of President, an emergency election shall be held on the first Tuesday of the next November post the assumption of the Pro Tempore. The special election shall not affect the normal election timetable.

Section 4
In the case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation and in the case that the next member in the line of succession is incapacitated, said incapacity shall be skipped over in the line of succession to ensure a new President is inaugurated at a quick pace.

The 14th Amendment was passed and ratified relatively quickly. [2] (Though some radically minded congressmen weren’t happy to see the 14th amendment not be on the matter of civil rights.)”

-From Forty Eight Hours: Two Days Without a President
by Lucy Harlaw, published 1992

GRANT'S FIRST ADMINISTRATION

Secretary of State	Frederick Seward
Secretary of the Treasury	Edwin D. Morgan
Secretary of War	Edwin Stanton (until January 1868), John Schofield
Attorney General	Benjamin Wade
Postmaster General	William Dennison Jr. (Until February 1867), John Creswell
Secretary of the Navy	David Farragut
Secretary of the Interior	John P. Usher (Until June 1867), Jacob D. Cox

“After President Grant assumed the Office of the Presidency on March 4, 1866, he and a friendly congress got to work laying out a proper plan. President Foster had left behind some ideas of his own but they were mostly put to the side and seen as far too moderate. It was universally agreed upon by Grant’s administration that reconstruction ought to be started off with a real bang. Something people would remember for many, many years to come. Benjamin Wade and the Justice Department were asked by President Grant to set their plans into motion. (Some believe that Wade's position as Attorney General was pre-selected by the Speaker of the House...) They were prepared to put the whole war on trial. That said they wouldn’t put any generals on trial. (Except for John Breckinridge the Secretary of War for the CSA and some really nasty cases out west.) President Grant instructed the DoJ not to move forward with cases against people like Lee, Longstreet, Early and Forrest. Grant only wanted to see the politicians and aristocrats go to trial.

This wasn’t because Grant admired people like Nathan Bedford Forrest. It was because Grant thought it would be far more unpopular among confederate veterans to put these men on trial. He understood that while they would be mad to see their former president on trial, they would kill a man to see their very own Moss Robert go on the stand. Even in 1866 some bands of criminals continued to claim the war was not over. Grant didn’t want to see their numbers grow.
United States v Davis was among the largest of a series of court cases known as Union v Confederate cases. In truth, most of the trials were the same (and were lumped together by the Supreme Court) thus for the purposes of this chapter, I’ll focus on Davis.

First off, what was Davis actually indicted for? Conspiracy against the United States, Treason, Mistreatment of Prisoners of War and controversially Conspiracy to Kidnap or Kill the President of the United States. Quite the hefty list of crimes. While President Grant never directly commented on any of the Union v Confederate cases, we know that he was heavily involved in the trials. The actual trial was long and heavily debated over by scholars. Some believed that they were giving Confederate leaders unnecessary platforms while others believed that secession was legal. While scholars debated the actual citizens of the country were pretty uniform. Most northerners wanted to see Davis hung. Conspiracy theorists had run rampant with the story that Davis aided or abetted John Wilkes Booth.

The trial was truly the one of the century. It was held in Washington DC from June to August of 1866. The prosecution had a mountain of evidence and witnesses. Some very high profile witnesses such as Ambrose Burnside, James Longstreet, William Tecumseh Sherman and Edwin Stanton. Mixed in were average soldiers, former slaves and confederates who took plea deals. Davis and his legal team used one primary defense throughout the trial. In 1861, secession was legal. So firstly, any crime Davis committed in the CSA couldn’t be tried in the USA and secondly, it was the Lincoln administration that committed a crime by provoking the Confederate States, a sovereign nation. This led to a whole week of arguing about Fort Sumter and the months before. The prosecution also tried to frame Davis for the Triple Calamity. Davis called this insane. Unfortunately, these sections of the trial are generally restricted to the public. We do know that the prosecution admitted evidence of a telegram that Davis sent to General Breckinridge where he expressed great joy to hear the news. He also expressed that “the beast Stanton” should've been killed as well. [3]. This was a bombshell. The defense argued that the telegram proved nothing and that there was plenty of reasonable doubt that Davis ordered the Calamity…

…When the jury finally returned, Jefferson Davis was found guilty on all counts but one. Conspiracy to Kidnap or Kill the President of the United States. (This has spawned endless conspiracy theories.) The Judge sentenced Davis to death by hanging. Over the summer of 1866 the Federal Government did not lose one of the Union v Confederate cases. All the men indicted were sentenced to death. They also all appealed to higher courts. In December 1866, all the Union v Confederate cases were accepted by the Supreme Court. The defense made the argument that the trial was invalid as secession was legal and thus they could only be tried in a Confederate Court. The prosecution argued that no state had the right to leave the union in 1861 or 1866 and thus the trials were valid and these men ought to be hanged.

This landmark case ended up being 7-2 in favor of the federal government. I want to quickly go over each justice.

Justice Wayne- A man from Georgia but a staunch unionist, Wayne actually agreed with the idea that the Confederacy illegally seceded from the Union. However, he held a strong belief that the Confederate officials shouldn’t have been prosecuted and ruled in the favor of the Confederates.

Justice Nelson- Nelson was an old school justice appointed by President Tyler. He disagreed with the death sentence for the confederates but believed that the confederate secession was illegal. It was for that reason he ruled in favor of the Union, believing it was not his business to overturn a legal Judges’ opinion.

Justice Clifford- Clifford wrote the dissenting opinion. He was already somewhat suspicious of President Lincoln’s handling of the war. Though he didn’t entirely agree that the Confederacy legally left the union, he also believed it was federal overreach to prosecute their leaders.

Justice Grier- Grier was a Polk appointee and a democrat. Yet he ruled in favor of the union with very little reservations. He was deeply affected by the loss of Lincoln, Johnson and Seward. He thought that the country could not heal if traitors went back to their homes scot free. He ruled for the Union.

Justices Swayne, Miller, Davis, Field and Chief Justice Chase- All of these men were appointees of Abraham Lincoln and they all ruled in favor of the Union. The Chief Justice wrote the majority opinion.

On New Year’s Day 1867, Jefferson Davis, Alexander Stephens, John Breckinridge and fifteen other confederate officials were hanged. The same day in New Orleans, a protest turned into a riot. Five freedmen, ten “carpetbaggers” and one Union Solider were lynched. The mob killed the same amount of people as the executed Confederates. New Orleans was placed under Martial law for two weeks as Union Soldiers occupied the city. When news reached the North of the “New Orleans Massacre” (along with numerous other lynchings throughout the south on New Years day), the already boiling anger exploded. President Grant and every member of congress knew that to the people, reconstruction was not going far enough. Not only that but the 1866 midterms had opened up a huge influx of “radical republicans”...

-From Resentment in Dixie
By Peter Barnett, published 1927

(The Senate remains roughly the same as OTL. The House however sees an extra ten seats and a even larger voter share)

[1]: Some of you might notice that the Secretary of the Treasury is ahead of the Secretary of War in the line of succession OTL, I know. Congress changed this ITL believing the SoW should be ahead of the SoT.

[2]: This is a different 14th Amendment. The OTL 14th Amendment will be the 15th and the OTL 15th will be the 16th. The 25th Amendment just showed up early.

[3]: Jefferson Davis wrote a telegraph to John Breckinridge in our timeline as well. In it, he said the job was not finished and said he wished Johnson and Stanton were killed. ITL one of Davis’ hopes is realized.





There we go, another chapter done! I thought I'd give you guys a riveting one about court cases. Next chapter will be about the political side of early reconstruction, the 15th and 16th Amendments and all that stuff you’ve been waiting for. See you guys tomorrow! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

-​

 

[Mr.Q]

"In the midst of the Confederate v United States trials, congress was mixed up in its own bloody battle. After the easy bipartisan passing of the 14th amendment (on the issue of succession) the republicans were ready to take their next big step. A 15th Amendment, one that would certainly not have the same level of bipartisan support. The 15th Amendment was to be on the issue of freedmen citizenship and more than that, freedmen suffrage. A law had been passed and signed in March that already addressed black citizenship (The 1866 Civil Rights Act) but it was seen as unenforceable and something larger would need to be done, something like an Amendment to the United State Constitution. While citizenship wasn't really that hard of a sell to many moderates in the republican caucus. Suffrage certainly was. The first seeds for this amendment had been planted from the speeches of the late President Lincoln, and had been evolving over the course of 1865 and 1866. By June of 1866 two versions of the 15th amendment had already been denied. In July a third version was presented. One that was radical, but not absurd. The most radical part was Section 4. The suffrage clause.

With the full backing of the Grant Administration the 15th Amendment was presented to the US House of Representatives on December 9th 1866. The Amendment easily passed through the republican owned House committees with little issue. Speaker Colfax was terrified that the suffrage clause would get this Amendment shot down. On July 5th, the House voted 145-71 to pass the 15th amendment by two votes. Next up was the senate. An objectively harder fight. Multiple more moderating amendments were proposed, including only granting voting rights to black veterans or removing the suffrage clause all together. These were shut down, albeit barely. Mostly due to the work of the Grant Administration, offering jobs and favors in exchange for votes. Thus on July 28th the Senate was going to vote on an un-altered 15th Amendment. With all eyes on the senate floor, the vote was 43-21 by exactly one vote the 15th Amendment was passed through congress. Two days later the Secretary of State Frederick Seward presented this Amendment to the States.

Amendment XV​

Section 1.​

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2.​

Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state.

Section 3.​

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4.​

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. [1]

Section 5.​

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 6.​

The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
(The Grant Administration would make it that any former state that had left the union, and wanted to return would have to ratify this amendment first)
The trick up congresses' sleeve that would get this amendment ratified was the fact that no former Confederate State would get the chance to vote and deny it. Only 25 states would get that chance. (19 needed for ratification. 3/4) Thus while that increased the chances of its ratification, it wasn't assured. Already California and Oregon were hostile to it. The border states were livid and even states like Ohio and New Jersey were tossups. Though the Grant Administration did all it could to leverage favors all they could really do was wait and see.

The States that ratified, in order
Connecticut, August 9th 1866
Vermont, August 12th 1866
Illinois, August 18th 1866
New Jersey, August 19th 1866
New York, August 28th 1866
Massachusetts, September 10th 1866
New Hampshire, September 19th 1866
Michigan, September 20th 1866
Rhode Island, September 25th
Maine, September 27th 1866
Indiana, September 29th 1866
West Virginia, October 1st 1866
Pennsylvania, October 5th 1866
Kansas, October 8th 1866
Nebraska, October 17th 1866
Minnesota, October 18th 1866
Wisconsin, October 22nd 1866
Ohio, November 19th 1866
Nevada, November 26th 1866
19 Reached
States that rejected the Amendment, in order
Kentucky, September 9th 1866
Delaware, September 15th 1866
Missouri, October 8th 1866
Maryland, October 29th 1866
California, November 23rd 1866
Oregon December 10th 1866

The 15th Amendment had mixed reactions in the North. Some hailed it as true progress towards a more perfect union and others thought the federal government had gone too far. In the border states there was absolute fury and the amendment was practically ignored. Considering they weren't under occupation there was little the Grant administration could do. Moderates also denounced the Amendment as overreach but remained cautiously optimistic that it would be the most radical thing the Grant Administration supported."

-From an Overview of the Amendments to the Constitution
by Kid's Learning, published 2012

"1866 for the Grant Administration was a year that was meant to set the tone of the reconstruction to come. The Union v Confederate cases, 15th Amendment and increased funding of the Freedmen's Bureau. In March, President Grant resurrected the pocket vetoed Wade-Davis Bill, increasing the Oath of loyalty threshold to re-enter the union to 15 percent of a state's white population and not 10. President Grant also supported the breaking up of big plantations and re-distributing the land to former slaves. (Mostly through homesteading) He also worked with the Freedmen's Bureau to ensure that financial compensation was given to former slaves. Both of these measures made sure that freedmen wouldn't be forced to return to the cotton fields to make a living.

Congress also passed a series of "Reconstruction Acts" that the president quickly signed. These acts strengthened the military districts powers and deployed an extra 35,000 Soldiers to assist in the occupation. They also returned Washington D.C to its pre-war territory (re-taking the seized land that Virginia took during the war). The Reconstruction Acts were responses to increasing violence all over the south, rampant lynchings, lootings and burnings had been occuring left and right especially after Jefferson Davis' execution. President Grant also created the Department of Equity [2], headed by Attorney General Benjamin Wade, to assist in the prosecution of former Confederate officials in the Union v Confederate cases but also to assist in the prosecution of the southern White Leagues that popped up with more fervor post the ratification of the 15th Amendment. In May of 1867 Congress gave control over the Freedmen's Bureau to the DoE as well. In the south, the Attorney General and the DoE became the "villain of reconstruction" as Benjamin Wade essentially became the face of the occupation.

In late 1867 President Grant signed the Enforcement Act. Which essentially gave teeth to the 15th Amendment and its enforcement. Especially over Section Three which mandated

"No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."

President Grant wanted to ensure that no former Confederate soldier could hold a position on a Military Districts advisory board or be allowed as a delegate in a southern states' new constitutional convention. Said conventions were going to be hard to begin in their own rights. In order to hold any such convention under the Enforcement Act of 1867, 15 percent of the white population of the territory would have to swear an Oath of Loyalty, then the Military Governor and the Advisory board of the larger Military District would have to approve of the convention, and then the Department of Equity would have to approve. By November of 1868 only Tennessee had gotten approval from the DoE to hold a Constitutional Convention, which it did in late November. By the Election of 1868 no southern states had been re-admitted to the union.

-From Reconstruction: A Complete History
by Doris Goodman, published 1999

[1]: Obviously this is the major change from OTL 14th Amendment.
[2]: This is the DoJ from our TL.

That's it for Chapter 5. As mentioned, reconstruction is indeed far harsher. (The impacts of this for the Republican party and the reaction of the people of the North will be discussed in Chapter 7) but DON'T STOP READING! I told you yesterday that you'd be getting two chapters today and I'm sticking to my word!
-
Chapter 6: Grant, Grant, Grant​

"When people talk about the Grant Administration they almost always only focus on reconstruction. While reconstruction is certainly interesting it's also important to mention that the Grant Administration didn't only focus on reconstruction. Let's talk about foreign policy. Grant was an avid supporter of the republicans in the Mexican Civil War raging to the south. Only a month after taking office he made multiple demands to France, ordering their total withdrawal. Juarez throughout the war was provided with plenty of weapons and Phillip Sheridan was even allowed to do small raids in northern Mexico and weaken the monarchists. The Grant Administrations strict adherence to the Monroe Doctrine led to a quick downfall of Emperor Maximilian by June of 1867. Other than Mexico there were also dealings with Russia. Prior to his death, William Seward hoped to acquire the Territory of Alaska from the Russian Empire. His son and the current Secretary of State Frederick Seward pushed Grant to allow him to make the deal, the Tzar for his part had been trying to sell Alaska for some time. However Grant was uninterested in Alaska. He, like the Tzar, only saw it as a financial liability and told Seward to drop the idea. Instead Grant pushed for the acquisition of the Danish West Indies, seeing it as a more financially intelligent territory to buy. The Senate approved that deal in 1868.

The Virgin Islands weren't the only land expansion into the caribbean during Grant's term however. In 1867, the government of the Dominican Republic was in Crisis. The caribbean nation was being threatened by its neighbor Haiti. On top of that Haitian pirates were regularly attacking and raiding the coast. Out of fear that their country would fall to invasion, the Dominican government appealed to President Grant for a possible annexation. At first Grant was intrigued but skeptical of the island's usefulness. In July he raised the proposal to his cabinet and asked for their opinions. Both Stanton and Farragut saw extreme militaristic value. Farragut was especially interested in the idea writing up a list of reasons why the Navy would benefit from the annexation. The Department of the Interior believed that if properly managed, the island would have immense resource value and Vice President Hamlin believed such a treaty would be admired by the people as a smart move. All of this convinced Grant, who asked Frederick Seward to send some men from the State Department to the island to hammer out a treaty. By December of that year a treaty had been made. The US would Annex the Dominican Republic, pay off its debt and give it statehood within 10 years of the treaties' passage through the senate. (To give the bureaucracy some time to incorporate the Dominican.) In January the Dominican Government approved the plan, and in March so did the Senate, though there was some opposition from anti imperialist radicals. Especially from Charles Sumner. Yet the reports of the Departments of the Navy, Interior and State minimized the damage Sumner was affording to the deal. Thus, on March 24th, The Dominican Republic was now a territory of the United States.

The other major piece foreign policy that took place in 1868 was the compensation battle with Great Britain. During the war the British built multiple warships for the Confederate Navy. These ships sank lots of American shipping. The ship that did the most damage was the CSS Alabama. The Americans wanted the British to pay up to 100 million dollars in damages. The British outright refused. Seward, seeing another opportunity to expand North West, then offered to take British Columbia. Once again the British refused. After multiple months of back and forth the British proposed that the Austrians arbitrate. Seward said no. The Austrians were mad about Mexico, which takes France off the table as well. Seward then said the Russians would be agreeable or the Danish. The British declined seeing that both would side with the US. At the end of the day in March of 1869 the British ended up saying sorry and paying 8 million in damages. Which was practically nothing compared to the actual cost of the Alabama's rampage.

Aside from foreign policy the Grant Administration would work to improve infrastructure, especially the damaged infrastructure in the south. Post war inflation was rising. The Treasury under Edwin Morgan successfully stabilized this by issuing more greenbacks and investing into new railroads and homesteading. All in all the economic work that was done was hugely successful. Under the Grant Administration only one new State was added to the union. The state of Nebraska, the first state added post war.

Grant's cabinet was held in high regard by the people and seen as very efficient. Vice President Hamlin was known to help President Grant quite a lot throughout his term. Grant wrote later in life that Hamlin was "his closest ally in Washington". Hamlin had the experience of being in the executive branch in a stressful time, and would constantly advise Grant on what to do as a politician and not a general. Grant stated as much saying, "Hamlin helped me keep the strategic mind intact, but translate it into this new setting." Grant did see three resignations though. Edwin Stanton resigned in 1868. He told the President that he was tired of politics one night and Grant told him that even though he would be saddened, Stanton's service to the nation couldn't be understated and it would be fine for him to leave. John Usher the Secretary of the Interior was a carry over from the Lincoln administration. Grant asked him to resign in 1867 after some mismanaged homesteading on the frontier. Or at least that was the official reason. In reality Grant was trying to become his own man at this point. While the cabinet full of Lincoln appointees was useful in his early presidency, it was becoming a liability as 1868 came along. He asked the same of the Postmaster General General, William Dennison Jr. He ensured however that Dennison would get a new job in the Department of Equity."

-From GRANT
by Howell Leanman, published 1977

Boy am I tired! Hope you guys enjoyed these two chapters. As always, keep talking in the thread. For those who want a quick summary of the TL changes in this chapter- Mexican Civil War ends a couple months early, no Alaska Purchase, Danish West Indies Purchase instead, CSS Alabama stuff happens a couple months early. Next Chapter coming tomorrow will be about the election of 1868 and the people's reactions to reconstruction.
-​

 

[Mr.Q]

"Due to the ratification of the 14th Amendment, Ulysses Grant would only get three years in his first term. By mid 1868 election season had returned. Yet even though it had been a shorter term, there was no shortage of things that the President had accomplished. Reconstruction was well underway, the US had expanded in the caribbean and a terrified angry populous was feeling much more mellow. Except for the occupied southern states... The prospect of a second election without a single southern voter being allowed to vote was too much to bear for many southerners. On election day, thousands took to the streets to protest this and other grievances, like that of the 15th Amendment. Like always, these protests turned to riots and lead to more lynchings. The soldiers stationed in the south were ordered to clear out the rioters and the Department of Equity handled their persecution. (The Grant administration was cracking down on the near constant lynchings that began after the ratification of the 15th Amendment.)

In the north the election of 1868 was special for another reason. Black men had gained the right to vote! While in states like Kentucky and Missouri this was, restricted to say the least, in the Midwest and New England many black men felt they could go out and do their constitutional duty. As expected President Grant would gain their votes by an overwhelming margin. Many say black votes in the extremely close state of New York were key towards a Grant-..."

-From Reconstruction: A Complete History
by Doris Goodman, published 1999

Presidential Ballot	1	Vice Presidential Ballot	1
US. Grant	577	H. Hamlin	442
H. Greeley	73	S. Pomeroy	208

"The Republican National Convention of 1868 held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was one of the smoother National Conventions of the reconstruction era. Truly it was quite peaceful. Almost everyone threw their unapologetic support to President Grant for re-election. Only one man was crazy enough to try and beat him. Horace Greeley. A famed Newspaper Editorialist. Back in 1865 it was his very newspaper that coined the term Triple Calamity. Back then Greeley supported Grant for the Republican nomination. He and his newspaper held very moderate stances on reconstruction as the war was coming to a close but, after the Calamity he saw that the national mood was towards progress. Over the course of Grant's term however Greely became a critic. He supported the message behind the 15th Amendment but thought it was a bit radical and that perhaps it could be toned down, he supported reconstruction but thought it was absurd they hadn't let any states re-enter the union yet. In the Convention Hall Greeley said that the Grant Administration was supporting federal overreach. While he garnered some moderate support, many voted for Grant anyway. In all fairness he had done a pretty good job and while to them reconstruction was going a bit far, the economy was also really strong and Grant overall was an inspiring force. Thus, on the first ballot the President was re-nominated. Though Greeley was unhappy he still congratulated the President and endorsed him. (Though he very much entertained going to the Democratic convention the next month and trying once again for president).

Hannibal Hamlin faced far more resistance. Many moderates blamed Hamlin's radical thought for the radical reconstruction, at this point Hamlin was also getting older and had technically had two terms as Vice President. Many believed he had to go. Moderates rallied around Samuel Pomeroy, a Senator from Kansas. For at least a second, it looked like Pomeroy would beat Hamlin out, he certainly had the support of Greeley and even former President Foster! Yet current President Grant avidly supported Hamlin and he made that very clear to big players in the convention. To Grant, Hamlin was a close friend, and he didn't want to see him go. It was almost certainly Grant who handed Hamlin a third term as Vice President.

Presidential Ballot	1	2	3	4	5	Vice Presidential Ballot	1	2	3
T. Hendricks	102	123	132	132	162	FP. Blair	107	141	171
J. English	120	115	128	127	155	T. Ewing	110	128	141
J. Parker	55	60	52	54	2	WS. Hancock	100	48	5
WS. Hancock	37	19	5	3	7	N/A
H. Seymour	3	0	0	1	1	N/A

Over at the Democratic National Convention held in New York City, things were far less smooth. In this election, unlike the one back in 1865, people thought they could win. The Democrats certainly knew it was a long shot but perhaps an excellent ticket could pull it off. Many believed that Winfield Scott Hancock was the perfect choice! But, uh, well the General wasn't in the United States. He was doing a Grand Tour of Europe that he convently planned the day after the dates of the Democratic National Convention were announced, and the tour itself was to to last until June of 1869. On top of that he left a letter that said very specifically for no one to nominate him at the 1868 convention... It seemed he had bad memories from the 1865 convention. This didn't stop some supporters but it was clear to most that his wishes ought to be respected. With Hancock out and Pendleton and Seymour with very dead careers after the 1865 landslide loss, the Democrats knew it was time for some new faces.

In consideration were three real contenders. 1st Thomas Hendricks, a Senator from Indiana, Hendricks said that should he be elected President, he would attempt to work with congress to find a compromise of ending reconstruction in the near future. After that he would ensure every former Confederate State is quickly re-admitted during his term, ending the military districts in the south. Next was James English the current Governor of Connecticut. English was... controversial. In 1865 he was in the senate and voted in favor of the 13th Amendment. Many in the party saw him as far too moderate to nominate for that exact reason, and sided with Hendricks a man who voted against the Amendment. Others however saw English's vote as a good thing. It would moderate the Democrats to the people. The slavery issue was dead and gone anyway. On top of that he was from Connecticut, perhaps he could steal some of the North Eastern vote. If his VP was a staunch anti reconstructionist, it could begin something beautiful. The final man in contention was in between Hendricks and English. Joel Parker was the former Governor of New Jersey. Back in 1865 he was the favorite son of the New Jersey delegation but this year he was seen as the choice for those that didn't want to chose one of the other two candidates, he had no real shot of winning.

The actual voting was quite, partisan. Hendricks and English supporters were locked in with their man, and constantly tried to convince the other delegates, that were throwing their votes away to Parker or Hancock to switch. After Hancock voters mostly switched to Hendricks, prying Parker voters off became far easier. On the 4th ballot these Parker voters were told to pick a damn side. Most of them went for Hendricks and thus a nominee was chosen.

Though tensions were high English himself took the loss with grace (surprised he had gotten that far at all) and asked his people to support Hendricks. He then suggested to the floor that a Civil War veteran be selected as Vice President. The Hall generally agreed on that and three general's names were cast forward. Francis Preston Blair of Missouri, Thomas Ewing Jr. of Ohio and of course Winfield Scott Hancock. Hancock never said in his letter that they couldn't nominate him as Vice President! on the first VP ballot the vote was really close, all three within a few votes of one another. It would've been a Hancock sweep had he been within the US. Yet right before the second ballot the often mouthy and controversial Blair gained the endorsement of Hendricks (hoping to gain the more radical anti-reconstruction vote), Blair himself made a fiery speech after the Hendricks endorsement that made many in the hall believe they had a man who actually wanted to be the Vice President (something that was not common). Ewing meanwhile had very little enthusiasm towards the job. It was because of this that on the third ballot, Francis Preston Blair was selected."

From Every National Convention in American History
by Jacob Cohen, published 2012

"The Presidential Election of 1868 was far more heated than the Special Election three years prior. This time the Democrats were actually trying. Hendricks' surrogates really went on the attack against the Grant administration. The Democrats portrayed Grant as a tyrant that was blocking southern states admission, they said he believed Black men and White men were one in the same, they said Hannibal Hamlin was running the whole administration and that radical thoughts had infected the good General Grant's skull. The Democrats droned on and on about how Hendricks was the choice of the White man and Grant the choice of the black.

Meanwhile the Grant administration pointed to economic success. They attacked Blair as a attack dog and to a lesser degree an incompetent general during the war. The Grant campaign also told the people that reconstruction was working, that the two halves of the nation were healing and that southern states were soon to be readmitted. It was this sense of hope that resonated more with the american people. In the end it was hope and also high black turnout throughout the north that would win the President his re-election."

-From GRANT
by Howell Leanman, published 1977

(No southern states have been readmitted.)

Another election in the series. Fell free to pick apart to your own pleasure. Next chapter we will be talking about the 2nd term of old President Grant!
-​

 

[Mr.Q]

You guys are getting Chapter 8: States, States everywhere (today)

Chapter 9: Term 2, Electric Boogaloo (on Saturday )

Chapter 10: The Election of 72’ (the day after)

Chapter 11: Architecture, Lincoln and Santo Domingo (two days after)

Chapter 12: Like Father like son (the day after)

 

[Mr.Q]

The Grant Administration in Grant's Second Term:

Vice President	Hannibal Hamlin
Secretary of State	Frederick Seward
Secretary of the Treasury	Hamilton Fish
Secretary of War	John Schofield
Attorney General	Benjamin Wade (Until January, 1870), Amos Akerman
Postmaster General	John Creswell
Secretary of the Navy	David Farragut (Until May, 1870), George Robeson
Secretary of the Interior	Jacob D. Cox

"The readmission of states to the Union proved to be the largest challenge the Grant Administration was facing in it's second term. Unsurprisingly many different parties in each individual southern state wanted to be represented in a constitutional convention, some forces for good, and some forces for bad. The first state to be given express permission by the Department of Equity to begin this process was Tennessee. Wade and the DoE knew that how they handled Tennessee's readmission would become the precedent. So, it raises the question. How would readdmisson be handled? Grant and Wade decided that readmission would be a slow process. One that the Federal government checked in on every step of the way. Grant told Wade that he had free reign over Tennessee.

Wade first sent Edward Ord and Phillip Sheridan (the co-commanders of the 4th district that included Tennessee) a list of Tennessee locals that he believed would be good to invite to the State's constitutional convention. Ord and Sheridan took that list to the 4th district advisory board who added their own names, before the DoE checked that list and finalized it. Wade then asked that the convention be held in the more Unionist Eastern Tennessee (to avoid the KKK and other White Leagues in Central Tennessee) this request was granted. On November 23rd 1868 the convention began in Knoxville. The city was occupied with 500 soldiers under the command of Philip Sheridan. The list of delegates were full to the brim with Republicans and staunch Unionists. There wasn't a Democrat to be seen. Each man had been vetted beforehand to ensure they had very few ties to the states' secession. Also present in the hall were six freedmen. Above all that was shocking. Yet Wade and the DoE insisted that some literate freedmen be invited to every single readmission convention.

It was made clear to the delegates that before even writing a constitution they had to affirm that they would ratify the 15th amendment. When that was out of the way the state revised and rewrote the previous State Constitution. After two weeks they sent their new constitution to DC along with a petition for statehood. In March of 1869 Benjamin Wade approved the new constitution and gave a 58 page recommendation to congress to readmit the state. On March 13th Congress approved Tennessee's statehood and Tennessee held special elections that November to fill up their government, electing the first ever Black Men to a southern state's legislative branches. Their new governor was staunch a republican and the Grant Administration considered Tennessee's readmission a wide success.

Yet after the admission of Tennessee there wasn't another for the rest of 1869. Which is odd to say the least. Especially because Louisiana and both Carolina's had reached the 15 percent loyalty oath limit and had been recommended by their military governors to begin the readmission process. Yet, Wade hadn't approved them. By New Years their were loud complaints, even by republicans in Louisiana and the Carolina's and it got picked up as a big story in the north. Horace Greeley called the failure to admit more states a disgrace to the nation. With even northern opinions souring day by day against Wade, many moderates pressured Grant to fire him. Wade defended himself by saying that increased violence by the White Leagues was causing the postponements. This only inflamed the controversy. Many believed that with the civil war conscript's service expiring, the Military districts were inefficient at combating these groups. At this point if they just admitted Louisiana and the Carolinas their national guards could handle the White Leagues. After another week Grant was being further pushed to replace Wade. At the same time radicals in congress were threating Grant to keep Wade, insisting he was just doing his job.

On January 29th Benjamin Wade resigned himself. He saw the political walls caving in, and knew that if he stayed public opinion might sour irreparably on reconstruction. He was quickly replaced by Amos T. Ackerman. Ackerman was moderate radical. He continued to keep a close eye on the new states like Wade but Ackerman would move to admit them as fast as possible. By the 1872 election only four states hadn't been readmitted. Virgina, Mississippi, Texas and Georgia."

-From Reconstruction: A Complete History
by Doris Goodman, published 1999

"Throughout Grant's second term organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan and the White League rapidly grew. In Grant's first term these groups were founded in an attempt to organize the angry mobs of southerners into an effective fighting force. By the second term with states being readmitted, plantations being mostly broken and redistributed and the first freedman voting in the 1870 midterms, both groups went into overdrive. The threatened, extorted, tortured and lynched hundreds of black men and women a week. They wrestled redistributed lands away from freedmen, and towards white men and they regularly bribed government officials. Many former aristocrats who lost sums of money and acres of land saw these paramilitary groups as their only hope, and thus funnelled money into them. All together the damage these groups were causing made some people think the war had never ended.

Some historians say that from 1869-1873 the civil war continued after a quick pause. Occupying soldiers and these paramilitary groups regularly skirmished and battled as Benjamin Wade and later Amos Ackerman sent hundreds of men after the White League and KKK. The Second American Civil War was not only fought in the field but also in courts and and congress. President Grant was furious that these groups were not better combatted, and in tandem with congress signed legislation that branded them as terrorist groups and even ensuring that any trial involving a member of the KKK or White League would be held by the Freedmen's Bureau and not a normal southern judge. However many of the richest White Southerners would continue to fund the White Leagues and also fund hundreds of civil suits to empower white men over freedmen. The DoE could only combat these rich war lords by investigating each aristocrat individually, which took a lot of effort and far more time. Even if they got an arrest warrant, the court case, it could last as long as three years and only cause more anger. The white men of the south were refusing to hand the keys over to the Republicans and would fight tooth and nail for anything they could grasp on to. Yet as long as a strong administration like that of Grant's was in power these groups were being fought and were being fought effectively."

-from The Second American Civil War
by Jack Carson, published 2017

"In April 1871, President Grant and his cabinet were talking. While freedmen currently had more freedom than ever (hell some had just been elected to congress in 1870) it was clear this might not last. Eventually an ultra-moderate republican or worse a democrat would be elected to the presidency, and once that happens, freedmen might get overrun by the White Leagues. Luckily the Department of the interior under Secretary Cox had a plan. The idea was to encourage freedmen to move to the newly acquired Santo Domingo territory. Tax benefits and a propaganda campaign would be the incentives. Obviously this was a backup plan if Grant and his successor can kill the pushback in the south, the plan wont be unnecessary, but for now at least they had a contingency. Grant didn't love the idea but he saw its usefulness. By late 1871 early stages of this plan were implemented."

-From The 38th State
By Cassius Hernández, published 1999

Another chapter down! Sorry it took so long. This chapter and the next took a lot of research! See you guys tomorrow with Chapter 9: term 2, Electric Boogaloo! It’ll be a bit longer as well.
-​

 

[Mr.Q]

"Grant's second term was relatively smooth, if one ignores reconstruction and looks to his domestic policies. The economy was on the rise after Grant's first term, he and his new Secretary of the Treasury, one Hamilton Fish planned to reorganize the Treasury and secure it, in hopes that the post war economy wouldn't take any major dip. Fish and Grant dismissed many unneeded and unqualified Treasury employees, streamlined the bureaucracy, attacked counterfitters and faced down the national debt. Later in his term Grant would begin a series of large infrastructure investments across the still broken south, and interestingly across the west in the future states of New Mexico and Lincoln. Grant also worked to forgive and pay some of the new southern states debts. Particularly in West Virginia, which had been saddled with Virginia's prewar debt. Almost certainly saving the state from a century of economic sluggishness. All together the President was largely praised for the rising economy.

The Grant Administration had a particular interest in the western territories. The Transcontinental railroad was finished in 1869, and more people out east were making their way west. As previously mentioned Grant invested in numerous infrastructure projects. He also adopted a new, more lenient policy towards the native americans on the frontier. (Not the native americans in Lincoln that sided with the CSA however. Those tribes were treated very harshly and moved into the deserts of Arizona. Many Freedmen would take their place in what would become the state of Lincoln.) Grant also created the first National Park in Yellowstone at the tail end of his presidency hoping to preserve it's natural beauty after expeditions to the region had their findings published in the papers.

It's under the second term of President Grant that civil service reform became an actual debate in the Republican Party. The Republican factions of the Stalwarts, Half Breed and Homers [1] were seeing their early roots around this time. Grant saw himself as against the Homers and in between the Stalwarts and Half-Breeds. Throughout his term he urged unity and helped craft some early compromises on the next big issue, Civil Service Reform... Grant made sure that his cabinet was full of people that didn't identify with any of the three factions. Over the course of Grant's second term there was really only one major scandal. The Wade scandal, over the readmission of states to the union. [2] Overall Grant's administration was remarkably stable with almost no resignations. Other than Wade, David Farragut also resigned from his post as Secretary of the Navy but that was due to poor health.

As for foreign policy the second term of Ulysses Grant saw lots of changes in both the world, and their american neighborhood. In Europe the North Germans defeated the French in a quick war and proclaimed the German Empire. Grant saw the rise of nationalism in Europe as a good thing. In his mind old feudal politics and squabbling city states were no more. Grant congratulated Otto Von Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm I on their new nation. In 1868 Cuba exploded in the flame of revolution against the Spanish crown. In the US there was a lot of sympathy towards the Cuban plight, and many urged the president to do something to help. Grant was deeply uninterested in going to war for the Cubans, but out of respect towards the Monroe doctrine, asked Frederick Seward to figure out some way they could cool the tension. In 1871 Seward offered that the US mediate a peace treaty between the rebels and Madrid. Though the Spanish were weary, they agreed to peace talks in February as the war was looking unfavorable. In a stoke of excellent foreign policy, Seward helped the two nations hammer out a peace treaty. In exchange for autonomy, the Cubans would pay the war reparations (with a loan from the US bank) and Cuba would remain under the Spanish crown. This deal would be widely praised by the general public (for assuring Cuban autonomy) and by many political figures (for economically tying Cuba to the US because of that loan.)

The same year as the Cuban mediation American ships attempted to force the Korean market open like they did with Japan. American ships were fired upon soon after being spotted causing a quick crisis between Korea and the US. After a refusal to negotiate by the Koreans, American marines destroyed some Korean forts and forced negotiations. A few years later, during President ******* [3] term Korea would open it's market to the Americans.

-From GRANT
by Howell Leanman, published 1977

​

[1]: The Homers are not from our timeline. They will be the third faction of the Republicans going into the 1870s. They generally support the spoils system but their main identity is ending reconstruction fully and heading Home. They are basically an earlier and more radical Mugwumps with a less stupid name. They are collecting a lot of moderates and former Democrats that flipped during or after the war. Next chapter we will discuss the Republican factions and the Democratic factions (and their differences from our timeline.)

[2]: See the last chapter.

[3]: No spoilers.

These first two Term overview chapters aren't really that long because aside from reconstruction, the Grant administration really wasn't dramatically different from OTL. Well... except for a distinct lack of scandals. As many of you predicted, Grant's competent cabinet stopped many scandals in their tracks. Yes, this includes the infamous Gold Corner Conspiracy. With Hamlin in his ear, Gould and Fisk never really got the important contacts necessary to even think about pulling their scheme off... This will affect Republican party politics quite a bit. It's also gonna hurt the Lost Cause Myth and

perhaps save Grant's image in the minds of your average American.​

-​

 

[Mr.Q]

"The nation was really shaking in its boots as 1872 approached. Many pundits of the day believed that Grant was only keeping his party popular, because he was popular. They believed that should US Grant not be on the ticket, the Republicans chances of winning would be greatly diminished. It seemed that the election itself would be a referendum on reconstruction. Due to this President Grant was an avid campaigner, and did damn near anything possible to to ensure that this election would be free and fair for all voters. (Many white Leagues had threatened to restrict Freedmen voting by any means necessary.) Grant gave an executive order and worked in tandem with the Equity Department, to make sure that any Freedmen that wanted to vote, could cast a ballot. The Freedmen's bureau also provided personal security for black candidates all throughout the south (A policy that began with the 1870 midterms.) This particular election had the nation on edge. Everyone knew what the election would end up meaning for the future..."

-From Like Father, Like Son
by Emma Pearlman, published 1997

Presidential Ballot	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
FW. Seward	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	42
C. Adams	68	78	122	124	124	151	157	163	177
J. Blaine	62	69	81	84	89	86	93	84	88
J. Creswell	59	73	80	79	118	122	121	121	122
S. Colfax	51	42	45	58	52	43	47	56	11
R. Fenton	44	45	56	42	4	0	1	1	0
H. Maynard	31	55	77	89	105	114	127	139	155
Numerous Others	437	390	283	276	260	236	206	188	157

10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Vice Presidential Ballot	1	2
96	133	166	201	289	331	377	H. Wilson	308	388
185	182	181	193	208	212	175	R. Fenton	202	202
55	19	3	0	0	0	0	C. Adams	145	142
135	144	159	167	191	201	199	S. Colfax	52	1
2	0	0	0	0	0	0	L. Trumbull	34	8
0	0	0	0	1	0	0	A. Curtin	11	11
132	111	90	72	42	5	0	N/A	0	0
147	163	153	119	21	3	1	N/A	0	0

"THE CONVENTION OF THE CENTURY! That's the title that was given to the 1872 Republican National Convention, held in Boston, Massachusetts. truly the convention had everything. Multiple major candidates, over 12 native sons, three factions vying for power, many tries for a compromise and in the end the nomination of a dark horse... When the convention opened and the names of the men running were revealed, everyone in the hall knew they were in for a long week. On the first ballot it became abundantly clear that this was an utter deadlock. Of the 752 dealagtes, 437 voted for either a native son or someone random, being displeased with the options in front of them. Names like Rutherford Hayes, Andrew Curtin, Benjamin Wade, Philip Sheridan, Former President Foster and many more were thrown around. That didn't mean there weren't men who had a chance however. In an early lead was Charles Francis Adams, the Son and Grandson of former Presidents, Adams represented a faction of the party that was pushing for civil service reform and a moderation on reconstruction, right after him was the Speaker of the House since 1871, James Blaine. Blaine represents moderation, continued reconstruction and business interests. Then there was John Creswell of Maryland, a former senator and former Democrat from before the war. He along with Ruben Fenton represented a newly born republican faction. The Homers, ultra moderates that called for an immediate end to reconstruction, or at the very least a set date for its completion. Finally, representing the radicals was the former Speaker of the House, Schuyler Colfax. After the 1870 midterms, Colfax left the house and got very close with many business leaders, particularly in the railroad industry.

By the second ballot there was already hope for a compromise candidate. Enter Horace Maynard. Maynard was a moderate mind from Tennessee. He was the only man from a former Confederate State running, and many thought he would be a perfect candidate to show there were no hard feelings. Though Maynard was moderate, he was not a Homer and advocated for continued reconstruction until a better alternative could be found. On the third ballot he rapidly gained and by the 4th he was becoming a powerhouse. After voting concluded on the 4th ballot, Ruben Fenton successfully brokered a deal with John Creswell. (A promise for the Vice Presidency). In Turn Fenton dropped out and endorsed Creswell. On the fifth ballot Creswell became the only choice for the Homers. The next of the major candidates to start getting comprise ideas was Schuyler Colfax. He and the radicals knew by the 7th ballot they had no shot, but a compromise under their wing... might. Colfax thought it should be a Grant Cabinet member. Afterall, none were running. Colfax scanned the crowd. Wade? Far too controversial, Hamlin? The party was tired of him... AHA! The Secretary of State! Frederick Seward! He had everything! He was popular, cared for by the nation, his dad is a martyr. Thus on the 9th ballot Colfax and the radicals along with some moderate Blaine supporters jumped to Seward. They branded him as the true moderate. Seward for his part was shy and rarely spoke. He believed however, that his father would want to see him do this, and announced that should the hall nominate him... he would accept. Colfax saw a pawn on his hands and began whipping among the deadlocking voters.

By ballot 11, Blaine had officially endorsed Seward, seeing the winds of change. Charles Adams and his men got scared, but found it very difficult to gain any more votes, by the 13th Ballot both Adams and Creswell had essentially found their cap. Maynard who originally looked strong was now being left in the dust, Colfax and Blaine's arguments were proving persuasive. At this point you were either voting for a Democrat in Republicans clothing, with Creswell. A Half Breed Republican, with Adams. Or a popular Secretary of State, with Seward. On the 16th ballot Frederick Seward was officially chosen as the Republican nominee. The Vice Presidential balloting was far more calm. Adam's supporters were split and tired and the Homers didn't have the votes to pull Fenton through. Thus the only candidate with a chance at victory was Henry Wilson. He seemed like he had a stainless record and Seward endorsed him (under the advice of Colfax.) By the second ballot. Henry Wilson had won.

Republican Ticket
Seward/Wilson

After the voting was done, both the Homers and Adamites were thinking of a walkout. However the Homers were persuaded (with job offers) and the Adamites were persuaded to stay after a good acceptance speech from Seward encouraging civil service reform and Republican Unity...

Presidential Ballot	1	2	Vice Presidential Ballot	1	2	3
WS. Hancock	355	589	J. Stevenson	301	349	424
J. Black	227	88	J. Bayard	300	247	194
A. Packer	150	54	J. Parker	131	126	114

The 1872 Democratic National Convention was a predicted outcome since way back in 1865. General Winfield Scott Hancock had been in contention for the Democratic nomination since then. Even though he had actively fought against the people nominating him, in the past two Democratic National Conventions, that was only because Hancock knew that a Democrat would never win in either of those two years. However in 1872 Hancock believed that even if the Democrats do not win, it would be a close enough election that his carrer wouldn't be dead in the water, like Hendrick's or Seymour's. Thus when Hancock announced his intention to seek the Democratic nomination, many in the party rushed to his aid.

Some in the party saw Hancock as too ambitious and the redeemers of the deep south outright disliked him for his role in the CSA's defeat, but none of his opposition really mattered. After the first ballot a clear frontrunner had emerged. The Bourbons that voted for Packer and Black flipped their votes and General Hancock was on the ticket. The Vice Presidential race was more contenouis. The battle between a John, James and Joel. Joel Parker had been nominated by the New Jersey delegation and was presented as the perfect candidate. That said he wasn't the most charismatic man and was also seen as a flip flopper for his, pro war statements during the war, but anti war statements after the war. James Bayard was a close second, yet was seen as too old and far too conservative. Even amongst democrats, many believed he was out of touch with the national mood. That really only left people with one choice John Stevenson. A respected career politician, that many believed could be the Hamlin to Hancock. Stevenson was generally inoffensive and a popular Senator from Kentucky. After gaining Hancock's endorsement on the second ballot, he won on the third.


Democratic Ticket
Hancock/Stevenson"

-From Every National Convention in American History
by Jacob Cohen, published 2012

"The campaign trail during the 1872 Presidential Election was violent and nasty. This wasn't due to the candidates fiery personalities. Both Seward and Hancock were inoffensive and quiet. It was their surrogates that got into the mud. Once again the Democrats painted themselves as the Party for Whites and the Republicans as the Party of the freedmen. The Democrats argued that reconstruction had gone too far, and that Fred Seward was a puppet of Schuyler Colfax and the radicals (which wasn't untrue). The Republicans on the other hand rode the wave of the Grant Administration. They attacked Hancock for being inexperienced and impulsive while portraying Seward as a man that was finishing his father's legacy. It was shaping up to be a normal campaign. That was until September... In mid September a story broke from the west. A newspaper had acquired letters that linked the Union Pacific Railroad and a sister company Crédit Mobilier, to congressional bribery...

The nation was shocked. People were glued to the newspapers as the story progressed and by late October, it became apparent that corruption had tentacles all over the Republican held congress. The house was yet to submit names, but this was very bad for Fred Seward. The Democrats immediately, blasted the Republicans for corruption. While this certainly gained Hancock votes, it also seemed like hypocrisy, as a few Democratic congressmen were also linked to the scandal. By the time November finally rolled around and the results came out the nation was shocked again. Though the Republicans won (as expected), the race was very close. Both in popular vote and electoral vote. In fact, the State of New York, was only decided by 1101 votes. Many believe that had the Republican not been from New York, Hancock would've taken the state. Not only that but Hancock did what his preceding Democrats could not. he cracked the north and took his home state of Pennsylvania..."

-From General Hancock
by Kenneth Haley, published 1932

Alrightly! Sorry this one took so long folks! School started back up and I slowed down. Don't worry the timeline isn't dead, updates will just be weekly and not daily, hope you can understand. SEWARD WON! But, as many of you may guess... Seward's allies are about to get implicated in a ring of corruption! For those of you wondering the liberal republicans had little reason to revolt this year. That will change in 1876... Get ready for the Seward Presidency. It's gonna be a wild ride... As always feel free to comment! I’ll try to respond to you all when I can!

-​

 

[Mr.Q]

Sup guys. Sorry I’ve been so busy! I’m done with the first Seward Chapter, (we shall talk about architecture don’t worry, also a new state). Expect that tomorrow or the day after depending on how I’m feeling. Then later this week either on Thursday or Friday I’ll drop two chapters at once to keep you pre occupied over Labor Day weekend.

Also. The election of 1876 is shaping up to be kinda crazy, complicated and convoluted. I’ve sorta been storyboard if the whole thing (plus there are two nonexistent states involved). I’ll tell you now it’s a three way race. So get excited. I wonder if you can predict what might occur before I even drop the first Seward chapter… (the election will be split into two posts)

Finally I’m gonna drop a couple mini chapters once an a while. The first one will be on Grant’s world tour. I’ll either drop that right before or right after the 1876 chapter.

Hope you all haven’t forgot about this TL. I haven’t. Just realized it’s starting to get bigger so I needed some time to get facts straight and connect the story a bit more! Hope you guys had a good week. Get ready for some more triple calamity.

 

[Mr.Q]

Seward Administration

President	Frederick Seward
Vice President	Henry Wilson (until 1875)
Secretary of State	Elihu B. Washburne
Secretary of the Treasury	William A. Richardson (Until 1874), Benjamin Bristow (Resigned and joined Liberals in 1875), Charles Folger
Secretary of War	William Belknap (Until 1875), J. Donald Cameron
Attorney General	Amos Ackerman (resigned out of disapproval in 1875), Edwards Pierrepont
Postmaster General	James W. Marshall (until 1875), James N. Tyner
Secretary of the Navy	Richard Thompson
Secretary of the Interior	Columbus Delano (Until 1875), Zachariah Chandler

"Seward wanted his cabinet to be distant from Grant's and was careful to choose different men from Grant. Only Columbus Delano and Amos Ackerman survived the purge. However more recent evidence shows that Seward was actually inclined on keeping most of the Grant cabinet. At least those who wanted to stay. Yet many high ranking Republicans convinced Seward to use their list. Grant in both of his terms chose his cabinet, independent from party bosses and only with the help of Vice President Hamlin. The bosses were unwilling to see this next President do the same, and gave him a list of their desirables in December.

This would come back to haunt Seward later. In 1873, the new congress was inaugurated and the Republican’s began opening its investigation into the Credit Mobilier scandal. Over the next month and a half, much of the Republican congress was implicated. Chief among them the former Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax and the Vice President Henry Wilson. The evidence on Colfax was insurmountable, the evidence on Wilson would require further investigations. While many focus on Credit Mobilier as simply the first of many scandals that would come to haunt President Seward and cause a schism in the Republican Party, it also hampered any further progress on reconstruction. The offensive stage of reconstruction had ended. Congress and the President were fighting new battles in Washington. The Equity Department, Freedman’s bureau and the non racists of the south were now playing defense. They had to consolidate any gains and all remaining gains during the past 8 years now. Or it was gone forever.”

-from The Rise of the 3 Party System: The Birth of the Liberals
by Kenneth Jackson, published 1988

“The Battle for Reconstruction had begun. With the Seward administration preoccupied with scandals and the recently failing economy (after the panic in 1873) everyone in the south knew it was now or never. Over 1873-1877 an endless fight between a Freedmen’s bureau (starved for cash after the panic) and Redeemer Democrats heated up. The Grant Administration had dome well attacking the White Leagues, during his term but the flood gates were broken in Seward’s term.

In some States, particularly States in which reconstruction has gone particularly well, such as Tennessee, Alabama and Florida. This was little to no concern. The state governments picked up where Grant left off. However in other states that had just begun the process such as Louisiana, Arkansas and South Carolina the legal fight got nasty.

Louisiana in particular seemed like a lost cause. While Seward did his best to keep as many troops in the south as possible, to stop street violence. He could do nothing but watch as Democrats vigorously began taking municipality after municipality and fighting the Republican state government. It became clear that the 1874 midterms would be crucial towards the futures of these states.”

-from The Twilight Days
by Mariah Smith, published 2019

“Santo Domingo was admitted to the Union on April 23rd 1873. It elected a Republican Governor and sent a split delegation to congress. The original contingency plans to make the island a sanctuary for Freedmen were dropped. For a couple reasons. First it wasn’t practical, encouraging freedmen to get on boats to the Caribbean for a better life didn’t look great optically. Second the people and Government of Santo Domingo, even the Republicans, were strongly against any such action. On the surface for the optics, but under the surface for racism and recent fears of their majority black neighbor, Haiti.

That said President Seward felt guilty for the rapidly destabilizing reconstruction and felt that he had to do something to salvage his image with freedmen. With the 1874 midterms looking unfavorable, the president and the radical republicans not under investigation officially set the ‘Lincoln Plan in motion’. An idea to split Indian territory into two future states. Lincoln and Sequoia. A Freedmen and Native State respectively. Essentially for a the next few years or so, the federal government would give financial aid to freedmen in southern states deemed ‘potentially lost causes’ to move west. After this plan begun, states like Tennessee and Alabama began denying freedmen from failing reconstruction states and telling them to go west instead. Seward and congress passed multiple infrastructure plans for western Indian Territory in 1874 and a propaganda campaign was launched. Initial success was limited, with only a few hundred families packing up and moving west in 1874. However next year, that was bound to change.”

-From Lincoln’s Legacy: Lincoln’s State
by Cincinnatus Seward, published 1953

“The 1874 midterms were famous for a lot of reasons. The end of America’s two party system for three decades, the abrupt halt of Grantite reconstruction and much more. That said few talk about the key players and the campaign.

In March of 1874 as the election season had just begun, the nation was in a time of crisis. Many key Republican figures were facing jail time and investigation, the economy was in a deep recession that was turning towards depression and then on the 13th, The Secretary of the Treasury was fired by the president for corruption, separate from Credit Mobilier. Another scandal and another Republican in legal trouble. It was for these three reasons that on March 21st a group of Republicans, particularly supporters of Charles Adam’s run for the Republicans nomination two years prior, staunch Half Breeds, a few radicals and moderate Homers came together to form the Liberal-Republican Party. (Now known to history as simply The Liberal Party) These men who broke from the republicans and argued for

-An end to patronage and corruption
-A moderation of reconstruction and the admission of the final confederate states. (Though they importantly are not arguing an end to reconstruction)
-A fix to the economy without shortcuts or inflation

Their platform was simple, to the point and to many in the north and south a strong compromise between the Democrats and Republicans. Not only that, but they had big names behind them. Charles Adams, John Sherman, Ruben Fenton, Salmon Chase and even light endorsements from men like Charles Sumner and Cassius Clay. This wasn’t any old third party. This was real and a threat. (In fact many of Sewards cabinet members starting getting cold feet. Most prominently Amos Ackerman who resigned due to the corruption and joined the more radical wing of the Liberals the next year.)

This three way campaign was fierce but come November, the Liberals came out with a plurality of the House and 12 Senate Seats. Congress was officially contested. The Liberals promised to coalition with the Republicans to get their United Congress, however they made it clear that they were now in command of the House. Not the Republicans.

State legislature wise, Democrats got huge gains in many legislatures. From Louisiana, Arkansas, South Carolina and Mississippi. Thought no Democrats were elected governor. Arkansas and South Carolina did kick out Republican governors in exchange for Liberals. While these men did not say it openly. The unfortunate truth was that many of the southern liberals… were Homers.”

-from The Terrible 70s’
by Jackson Howe, published 1967

“After the 1874 midterms, 4500 Freedmen families moved out of South Carolina and towards Indian Territory. The new Liberal government had begun curbing federal interference in the state and with the recent minor defunding of the Freedmen’s Bureau to balance the budget, there was little the Equity Department could do. While they weren't instituting any black codes or passing direct attacks on Freedmen, that was almost certainly on its way.

Congress also began decreasing the troop presence in the south and blocking any peace time conscription. Thus the amount of soldiers down there was capped. Reconstruction wasn’t over by any stretch of the word. But, the Liberals had moderated the spending on it and loosened the leash just a little bit. Overall this was a largely popular action in the North as many believed reconstruction had become a cost burden (mostly due to Bourbon propaganda efforts over the past ten years). In July of 1875 Georgia was re admitted to the union and the following year in May, Texas was brought back in as well. Virginia would remain occupied until after the 1876 presidential election.

Georgia had elected a Democratic Governor upon its reentry in 1875, and thought they promised to ratify the reconstruction amendments, that didn’t stop them from defying the Freedmen’s Bureau’s court orders. When President Seward was informed he was livid, but with the recent resignation of Amos Ackerman and the Equity Department being generally disorganized, punishment against Georgia was limited. This mismanagement on the behalf of Seward, basically ended any chance of saving Georgia from darkness.

After Texas was admitted the following year. Their special election for governor ended in a Liberal taking the Executive Mansion of Texas. Postponing anything as overt as what happened in Georgia.

Intriguingly, all throughout the south, including in successful reconstruction states and the border states the Liberals were seen as the ultimate compromise choice. Stories from Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama and West Virginia show that Freedmen, Democrats, Republicans and even ex confederates all siding with the Liberals to fix their still broken economies and to appease all sides. Thought the Liberals outside of the states where reconstruction was failing were generally on the side of the Freedmen. Far more than the Liberals in the states where reconstruction was failing…[1]”

-from The Twilight Days
by Mariah Smith, published 2019

[1]: Who needs readjusters when you have Liberals am I right?

Welp! Another chapter done. A lot of this was speculated. Mostly that in some states, reconstruction worked and in others cracks are forming. Also Liberals have popped into existence. For now they are pretty strong but they won’t co-opt the Democrats in 1876. Like what happened in OTL 1872. The Democrats aren’t really dying right now. They had a good showing in 1872 and gained in the midterms.

Next chapter we will talk about all those scandals, the bad economy, the revolting cabinet and the foreign policy of Seward. Also I know I promised but I’ve moved the architecture stuff until after the 1876 election when I talk about Lincoln and Sequoia! Thank you all again for the support! Feel free to comment! All that good stuff.
-​

​

 

[Mr.Q]

"Mere months after Seward took office the Vienna Stock Exchange entirely collapsed. Historians and economists generally believe this was due to all the wars related to Prussia’s unification efforts, but no matter what it was the effects of the crash began rippling across the globe. Congress began getting worried of a serious depression in September. Multiple American companies that worked overseas were filing for bankruptcy. By late 1873, the crisis turned into a panic, which turned into a bank rush, which would turn into the second biggest economic crash America had ever seen.

The reasons are numerous, the Civil War, the Guerrilla battles up to 1866, the large and costly reconstruction efforts under Grant, the emboldened bureaucracy, the Boston Fire. So on and so forth. The US economy in the early 1870's was a pile of dry wood and the match was the collapse in Vienna. Congress flew into disarray. Silver coinage was dropped, the treasury scrambled to assure the public and then in March of 1874. Right in the thick of the crisis, the Secretary of the Treasury William A. Richardson and much of his staff were caught up in corruption. Seward had no choice but to fire the offenders in the Treasury. Needless to say, this also did not soothe the panic.”

-from The Terrible 70s'
by Jackson Howe, published 1967

“The name Seward and the word corruption, even in the late 20th century. Are locked together. Interesting, because President Frederick Seward was not really corrupt. Many men from the time tried and failed to implicate the President personally in the scandals his administration faced. However even though Seward may not fit the definition of the word he is tied to, the men who worked for him… most certainly did. Of the seven people that left Seward's cabinet. One resigned for personal reasons, two resigned out of disapproval and four left in disgrace. (That said Vice President Wilson died in office before the investigation into him could continue.)

From the Treasury to the Interior corruption was being rapidly uncovered. Not only among the Cabinet Secretaries either. Many lower bureaucrats were also under investigation and some were even indicted. The corruption certainly shattered the public's trust in the Seward Administration, while approval polls weren't widespread at the time we can gather this from, newspaper articles, diary accounts and of course the slaughter that was the midterms in 1874. Famously this is the first election in which the Liberals took part and their wins, especially in the House were unprecedented.

After 1874, it's believed that the President grew depressed. He knew the nation was against him and everyone who assassinated themselves with him. Much of the old guard that adamantly supported him at the Convention back in 1872, started getting their careers ruined. Many being nearly kicked from politics. Even James G. Blaine the former Speaker of the House{1} was attacked for his vocal Seward campaigning. This attack would stick with Blaine for the rest of his career. The attacks against old party bosses opened the door to newer younger men in the Republican party. Mostly from, of all places, the Midwest.

During the Liberal revolt many Midwestern Republicans stayed the course. Even some Half breeds. Many historians still debate as to why the Liberals were so popular in New England and the South but just couldn't gain a presence in the Midwestern states. From geography, to demographics, to the attitudes of the people a lot of reasons are thrown around. I've always thought it was just because key figures like Rutherford Hayes the Governor of Ohio, personally thought splitting was unbecoming. Whatever the reason, it would be the only reason the Republicans didn't start truly dying out after the 1870's."

-from The Rise of the 3 Party System: The Birth of the Liberals
by Kenneth Jackson, published 1988

"At one of the President's very first cabinet meetings he proposed an old idea of his father's that fell through a few years prior. The acquisition of Russian America. For the second time in a decade his cabinet strongly advised against it. Saying it was a waste of money. Seward planned on going ahead with the plan anyway, but after the Panic of 1873 the deal fell through a second time as the Americans simply were not going to afford the deal. Interestingly foreign policy was generally not pressing during Seward's entire term. However the same was not true for Indian affairs. Numerous fights against the Sioux led to the Great Sioux War. A war that Seward was hoping to end fast to minimize the amount of money lost. Seward however wasn't really a military man and leaned on Generals Sheridan and Sherman to guide him. The fight would end during Seward's lame duck period. [2]."

-From Like Father, Like Son
by Emma Pearlman, published 1997

[1]: After the midterms a Liberal became speaker. Guy named George Washington Julian. A guy on the radical side of the Liberals. Interestingly OTL he'd later become a Democrat due to his economic views.

[2]: You may notice I did not mention Little Bighorn here. The battle has been butterflied away. On top of that Custer also is not as antagonistic to President Seward as he was President Grant. Grant thought he was impulsive and a bad commander and Custer's political attacks only served a large hatred between the two OTL. ITL however, even though Custer still politically attacks Seward, he relies on his military men and when people like Sherman tell Seward to keep Custer he does. Thus not only is George alive, but he also isn't under threat of a court marshal. Idk if I'll utilize this. He might be far too impulsive for politics, I'm just saying that after looking into it it would make sense that Custer has survived.

Ok really quick, giving you the rest of Seward's presidency. I'm gonna pump out the next chapter either later tonight or sometime tomorrow or if I’m lazy and full of homework for Labor Day weekend the latest will be Saturday or Sunday. That chapter is gonna be longer which is why this one is so short. Ask your final questions now before the next election. (The questions help a lot when I start the elections.) Also, as a reminder the 1876 election will be split into two chapters. Place your bets and make your predictions now!
-​

 

[Mr.Q]

"The first major question of the 1876 election season was crystal clear from the beginning. Would the Liberals work with, or against the Republicans? The answer was unclear. At first it seemed likely that the Republicans and Liberals might hold a joint convention, yet in May, just one month before the Republican convention, Liberal leaders ditched the plan. The Boston Herald published that they had set up their own national convention set for late July. It would be the last of the three nominations that year. President Seward upon hearing of the Liberal spilt and feeling immense guilt for splitting his party, decided that he would not be actively seeking a re-election attempt. That said, it seemed unlikely that the President really would've been considered by the National Convention anyway, he was just too unpopular. Seward would stay in the White House during the Republican convention and would quietly support the chosen nominee..."

-from The Rise of the 3 Party System: The Birth of the Liberals
by Kenneth Jackson, published 1988

Presidential Nomination	1	2	3	4	5	Vice Presidential Nomination	1
J. Blaine	321	304	307	301	410	R. Hayes	464
R. Conkling	188	210	211	212	215	R. Conkling	238
O. Morton	125	99	71	55	23	F. Frelinghuysen	54
R. Hayes	122	143	167	188	108

"The 1876 Republican national Convention was held on June 8th in Cleveland, Ohio. It's planning and execution were an absolute nightmare. It had already been decided that there would be 756 delegates to the convention, however after the Liberals split off to create their own convention last second, over 300 of said 756 were no longer going to Cleveland, they were going to Boston. Originally they planned to shrink the number of delegates in response, but party bosses didn't want to admit the party had indeed shrunk. Thus, they filled in the empty seats with the equivalent of random people. Pretty much every midwestern businessman was now a Republican delegate. Not only that but local doctors and lawyers in Cleveland, and in a few cases even middle class shopkeepers were now dining with the high society of the Republican Party.

The four candidates that had a real shot to win were, James G. Blaine the former Speaker of the House, who had just tried his hand at the presidency four years prior, Roscoe Conkling the head of the Stalwarts who were by far the largest group left in the party, Oliver Morton an inoffensive Senator from Indiana that many remaining Homers liked and Rutherford B. Hayes the Governor of Ohio. The convention was largely consistent throughout. Blaine grabbed an early lead but couldn't capture the majority for the first four ballots. He was considered a good choice for his compromising attitude and many held hope that he could bring the Liberals back in the fold, something they knew Conkling could never do. Afterall many Liberals left the Republicans because of Conkling and his Stalwart gang.

By the third ballot Morton and Hayes made an uneasy alliance but even their unity wasn't enough to catch up to either Cokling or Blaine. With the convention quickly heading into a deadlock, the Blaine men began spreading rumors that they'd support Hayes for the VP spot. Thus on the 5th ballot many Hayes supporters jumped ship and Blaine got his majority.

The Vice Presidential balloting was quick and easy. Concking supporters went for him, a couple radical republicans went for Frederick Frelinghuysen but the Blaine/Hayes alliance pulled through and finished up their ticket. It seemed that the Republicans went for the two most inoffensive men they could possibly find in hopes of reconciliation. These hopes however would be quickly dashed.

Republican Ticket
James G. Blaine for President
Rutherford B. Hayes for Vice President

Presidential Nomination	1	2	Vice Presidential Nomination	1	2	3
C. Adams	219	336	G. Walker	227	321	370
B. Bristow	188	166	B. Brown	168	65	13
A. Curtin	112	42	C. Sumner	159	151	150
S. Chase	87	72	J. Sherman	114	131	135
J. Blaine	63	63	F. Douglas	1	1	1

"The 1876 Liberal Convention was held in Boston Massachusetts. The hall was full of excitement, the Liberals actually thought they might be the first ever third party to take the White House. It's not really that hard to see why, they owned the House of Representatives and the faces in the room included the likes of multiple cabinet secretaries, the Speaker of the House, civil war generals, Supreme Court Justices, Half Breeds, Radicals, Homers and even Frederick Douglas who had come to the convention to see if the Liberals would stand up to their word about reconstruction. The Liberal party was certainly a big tent.

Luckily the actual balloting wasn't all too controversial. Charles Adams had almost been the nominee for president four years prior, and though he had opponents from every single wing of the party after the first ballot those that weren't already in line mostly began to fold to him. Adams basically pleased everyone but the Homers anyway. By the second ballot the only man to lose no votes was James Blaine, the Republican nominee. Even after such a nasty split some Liberals were still hoping to compromise with their former party. At the end of the day however, it didn't matter. Thus for the first time in over 50 years another Adams would be nominated for President. The Vice Presidential balloting was going to be far more controversial. Every faction put up it's own man. The Half Breeds liked Senator John Sherman, the radicals liked Senator Charles Sumner, and the Homers were split between two candidates. Benjamin Gratz Brown the Liberal Governor of Missouri or Gilbert Walker the Liberal governor of Virginia.

The first ballot was generally chaotic. Walker came in first and all the rest came really close together. One man even voted for Frederick Douglas, making Mr. Douglas the first ever black man to have his name cast forward for the Vice Presidency. Obviously it was more of a protest vote, but nonetheless this would be a Liberal talking point in the northern states. Because Walker gained an early lead, and because he was from a former Confederate state, the Homers decided to coalesce around him as opposed to Brown on the second ballot. This struck fear into many of the Sumner voters but Charles Adams personally intervened. He knew the only faction he was on bad terms with was the Homers, thus he needed a Homer VP. He promised the radicals that they would maintain a hold on the Department of Equity and reconstruction, which made them fall back in line, and accept the nomination of the Virginia governor.

The first Liberal Convention had overall a success. Everyone came out of it more energized than ever...

Liberal Ticket
Charles F. Adams for President
Gilbert C. Walker for Vice President

Presidential Ballot	1	Vice Presidential Ballot	1
S. Tilden	523	W. Allen	511
T. Bayard	199	J. Parker	217
WS. Hancock	16	N/A	N/A

The 1876 Democratic National Convention was held in Wilmington Delaware on July 1st. It was by far the quickest convention out of the three held that year. All the work had been mostly completed before the start of the actual convention. At first, many had attempted to convince Winfield Scott Hancock to run once again, but Hancock stated that he was uninterested in re-entering politics and would outright delince any attempt to nominate him. Thus Democrats opened up a search for a new candidate.

They knew that it needed to be a man who was inoffensive and easily marketable to the public. Similar to Hancock four years ago, they needed a man who could take advantage of the Republican split. That man in their eyes was Samuel Tilden, the wildly popular Governor of New York who had been outspoken in his attacks of Seward's presidency. He was really everything the Democrats wanted, a unionist, popular, and a man that mostly anyone could get behind. By the time the voting started, the hall had already chosen it's candidate. That said, a certain amount of Redeemers weren't interested in the moderate Tilden and pushed hard to get Delaware Senator Thomas Bayard on the ticket. There just weren't enough of them to stop the force that was Tilden and his supporters.

The Vice Presidential nomination was also a quick affair. Tilden believed that his ticket could be seen as the exact alternative to the Blaine/Hayes ticket. Blaine was from New York and Hayes from Ohio, Tilden was from New York so he wanted an Ohioan as his VP, to stay even slightly competitive in the midwest. Fortunately for him, the former Governor of Ohio directly preceding Hayes was actively campaigning for the job. Thus Tilden gave his endorsement to former Governor William Allen. Once again the redeemers tried to combat Tilden with Joel Parker, the popular Governor of New Jersey, but most agreed that Parker would add no advantage to the ticket as New Jersey was a no doubt blue state.

After just two round of voting for the entire day, both halves of the Democratic ticket were complete and one of the nastiest and closest elections in American history had just begun...

Democratic Ticket
Samuel J. Tilden for President
William Allen for Vice President

From Every National Convention in American History
by Jacob Cohen, published 2012

I fully thought this was posted a few hours ago, but I'm stupid and didn't press the post button. Sorry! Also sorry this took so long. I spent like two days trying to figure out how to make a custom election map with Santo Domingo added as a separate state. MAKE YOUR PREDICTIONS NOW! Tomorrow I am posting the actual election... Thank you guys for the continued engagement! Hope you had a good long weekend.
-​

 

[Mr.Q]

“Once the Conventions were over and done with, the whole nation held bated breath as the first rounds of endorsements began flying in. Congress was historically divided. Though endorsements were generally party line, they were also largely region line. Especially within the Republicans and Liberals. An unprecedented amount of New Englanders threw their weights towards Adams, damn near every midwesterner got out and campaigned for Blaine and Hayes, the failed reconstruction states were more blue than the sea while the successful reconstruction states were more red than a cherry so on and so forth. However there were three regions that were hotly contested.

The Mid Atlantic was a battle for Blaine and Tilden as both Republicans and Democrats blocked out any Liberal inroads into New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. (It’s important to note that this is less about the liberals and more because both Blaine and Tilden were from the Mid Atlantic.) The second major tossup was in the Border states and moderately successful reconstruction states. Instead of the Liberals getting out matched, it was the Republicans. In fact, Texas, Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri were a brutal skirmish between Adams and Tilden with Blaine barley ever getting a mention. Finally there were the western states. Out west no one was locked out, it was a three way free for all. Many people out west supported whoever they thought would help their individual economies the most.

Many historians think that the campaigning in 1876 was by far the most nasty out of any of the elections from 1865-1892. Some of these fights even got physical. In a particularly unfortunate occasion, Tilden supporters beat and killed a Blaine supporter in a bar in Philadelphia. When it hit the papers, the Tilden campaign had to fight the scandal, vigorously denouncing any violence from their supporters. Yet that choice of words in of itself would hurt the already teetering support of Tilden among southerners, especially the members of the White Leagues. Interestingly Adams would gain the most from this. After all his ticket was the only one hosting an actual southerner. Gilbert Walker of Virginia. The Democrats would also face loud attacks in the north and south for remaining nearly silent on reconstruction. Tilden never mentioned it in any public statements and we can only gather from one interview, with William Allen that Tilden intended on setting a timetable for the end of reconstruction. This silence on behalf of Tilden was generally considered to be a mistake, as he ended up just depressing his support in both the north and more importantly the south. One of the primary things Tilden totally stood for was civil service reform, but Adams was even more vigours on that front and many people that deeply cared about the issue were always going to be voting Adams and not Tilden. All of that being said Tilden and Allen did a good job portraying themselves as a return to normalcy, and neither of the men individually were ever personally attacked, further adding to their validity.

By far James Blaine would have more troublesome scandals. Many considered him to be in the 'elite' (ironically even more than Charles Adams) and saw him as a failed Speaker, on top of that his Irish culture and his familial ties to Catholicism were rapidly and harshly attacked by vocal surrogates. Blaine would end up making the situation worse by going overboard on an anti-catholic hardline, depressing voter turnout in key states like New York, Santo Domingo and Massachusetts. States that Blaine desperately needed. By far though it was the 'Fisher Letters' [1] that damn near destroyed Blaine. In September of 1876, an anonymous leaker sent out letters that James Blaine had written to a businessman named Warren Fisher. These letters detailed corrupt dealings between Blaine and Fisher in the middle of the Credit Mobilier scandal. Blaine's surrogates universally attacked the letters as fakes. The confusion over who leaked it, what the letters actually said and the timeframe all added a confused fuel to the fire. Even Rutherford Hayes was confused about their reality of the letters, letting this slip in a private meeting. When this incident made its way to the press, more confusion arose. Did Hayes admit their reality? Was he dropping hints? Was he trying to take Blaine's place as nominee? Overall the confusion would end up saving Blaine who insisted until his dying day their were false. Yet they also undoubtedly would kill any and all chance towards winning many key states.

The only man who had practically no scandal was Charles Adams. Though he was attacked on all sides for being aristocratic or pro south or a vote splitter these issues were all combatted nicely. He was running with a man who came from a poor background, he made it quite clear that he is hoping to extend reconstruction for another four years while decreasing its cost and pulling some of the troops out, he wasn't a vote splitter he was a winner! All of these responses were spouted by the Adams' surrogates. He instructed his men not to go overboard on attacks against his opponents hoping to let them fight out and swoop from underneath them. He also kept hitting on the whole reason for the party. Civil service reform, civil service reform, civil service reform. Adams had more concrete answers and his opponents scandals turned his smaller third party campaign, into a proper major party campaign..."

-From The Third Adams
by Jacob Duffin, published 1955

NO ONE REACHED A MAJORITY OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE!

CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS
House of Representatives: 112 Liberals, 97 Republicans, 82 Democrats
Senate: 36 Republicans, 30 Democrats, 11 Liberals

"The second the results were confirmed by the papers in mid November the nation flew into chaos. No one had received a majority of the Electoral votes required to be President. The magic number 188 was not reached. This was the first time since 1824 this had happened. Tilden as expected, stole key states like New York, California and Indiana away from Blaine due to the Fisher letters and Adams successfully took most of New England and overperformed in the south! Tilden's blunders had granted Adams North Carolina, Texas and surprisingly Louisiana! This was a massive shock to the nation. People flooded the streets in protest and the backroom deals begun. A contingent election was going to head to the House for the President and the Senate for the Vice President.

In December, months before they would vote in February, many politicians moved to avoid the terrible thought of a deadlock in the House. Each state's delegation would deliberate and decide who their state at large would cast their ballot for. A majority of 20 states was needed to elect the next man in office. The Republicans and Liberals knew they had enough together to elect the next President and Vice President without having to talk to a single Democratic congressman. While that might not necessarily be a popular move, considering that Tilden won the popular vote by a somewhat wide margin, it's not like they really cared. Thus the talks began. Quickly it became apparent what the most natural course of action was. The Liberals would rather see Tilden in office than the corrupt Blaine. On top of that considering the Liberals held the House and the Republicans held the senate, why don't they compromise? Adams will be President and Hayes will be Vice President. The Liberals loved this idea and while they certainly got a lot of agreeing Republicans, they didn't get them all.

Off the bat once the deal was made, a few Republican representatives from Louisiana voted for Tilden taking their state away from Adams out of spite. However, Vermont, Nevada, Iowa, Nebraska, Florida, Arkansas, Wisconsin and most surprisingly Connecticut all cast a vote for Adams. Connecticut voted for Tilden the general election, but New England loyalty caused their politicians to vote for Adams. However that was only 19 states. Not the required 20. Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Kansas and Minnesota were all entirely off the table and made it damn clear that the midwest was Republican country. Hell Wisconsin just barley flipped. With only weeks away from voting day in the House they needed One More State.

The delegation of Santo Domingo was evenly split. They had two Liberal Representatives and two Republican Representatives. This caused a mad dash to get just one of the Republicans to switch their vote and give the state to Adams. Charles Sumner and Charles Adams sailed to Santo Domingo to open negotiations, Roscoe Conkling went to assure the Republicans that should they keep Santo Domingo out of the vote in the house they could force a new deal, Samuel Tilden personally wrote a letter to both appealing to the popular mandate. This went on for six days, before Ignacio María González Santín one of the Republican Representatives offered a deal to Adams. We don't exactly know what it was, however it is known that the deal wasnt in line with the Half Breed message of Adams. The rest was History.

On February 6th 1877, Charles Adams the man with the smallest popular vote became the President Elect, the next day the Senate would easily approve Rutherford B. Hayes as Adams' Vice President. The nation had just had it's first ever third party victory..."

-from One More State
by Jake Morton, published 2008

House Contingent Election Results:

[1]: These are the Mulligan Letters. In our timeline these were revealed years later and by a worker named Mulligan. ITL they are released by a different worker with democratic sympathies. In both scenarios they are released during the campaign season. The reason their validity is never really confirmed is because OTL Mulligan testified before Congress while ITL it's just a whistleblower.

ALRIGHT! See I told you things got bigger than expected. Next chapter will be about the chaos of the Congressional decision and the begging of the Adams Presidency! Feel free to comment and send in feedback I love reading it! Hey at least Reconstruction wont end just yet...
-
​

 

[Mr.Q]

"In May of 1874 former President Ulysses Grant, his wife Julia and their children left America on a tour across the globe. Visiting every nation in Europe bar Andorra and San Marino and being welcomed as a hero everywhere he went. Though the former president was extremely popular back home in the states, Grant wasn't expecting his popularity to be so widespread in the rest of the world. This in many ways could be attributed to Grant's "American energy". Many in europe had never seen an American let alone the President. His worldwide popularity led Grant to all sorts of crazy antics, from verbally battling the Tzar of all Russia on serfdom to negotiating a treaty between the Emperors of China and Japan. Back home the Grant family tour became widely popular among your average citizen. As the chaos of the 1876 election and Seward Administration engulfed the nation many liked to read about the popular president and his fun adventures. Many newspapers even added little illustrations to their papers of Grant as he explored the Outback, showed the British what a 4th of July celebration was like or watched a waterfall in Hawaii (some of these places Grant never actually visited). In many ways 'the Adventures of US. Grant' was a precursor to comic books.

In January of 1878, after the completion of his tour of New Zealand, Grant sailed home by way of San Francisco. You could be mistaken for seeing the parade in San Francisco as a military parade or national celebration, yet the celebration was over the simple return of the former President. Throughout 1878 Grant toured the nation in Chicago he was greeted by General Sherman to a military parade and in D.C he was hosted by President Adams. Some say that because Grant's tour coincided with the 1878 midterms he unintentionally led to the slight Republican edge that year. The Grantmania that swept the nation coincided perfectly with the overall military craze enjoyed by Generals Sherman, Hancock and Custer over the course of the late 1870s and many Republican leaders saw a great opportunity in the former President..."

-From The First 80's
by Tommy Douglas, published 1988

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August 8th 1879

George Armstrong Custer got out of his carriage and waved to the large crowd around both him and the White House. They cheered his name and journalists flooded him.

"General! Comment on the new indian state!"

"General! Will you put your name in contention for the 1880 election?"

"General! do you agree with the speaker o-"

"Please gentlemen! I woke up less than an hour ago, hound me with your questions when I leave the Executive Mansion!" Custer laughs as his brother Thomas shoves one of the journalists aside so they can get to the dammed steps. It seemed that the people cared more for Custer then the President who stood in front of the door and greeted General Custer. In his hand was a little box.

"Quiet down!" Vice President Hayes said as he gestured to the crowd.

"Generals, it is my honor to make you two the first men in the history of our nation, to receive this award for a second time. I admire your strengths and our nation thanks you for pacifying the Dakota territory!" President Adams open the box to show the crowd two medals of honor, one for each Custer boy. As 'Hail Columbia' began entering the air thanks to the army band, George Armstrong Custer saw his destiny in that crowd...

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"I am proud to call myself a supporter of Mr. Sherman, perhaps I am his strongest ally! I would like it to be known that the good Senator ought to be selected for another term! His commitment to the american people is truly unrivaled! In the annals of the Liberal history, I see John Sherman as a name etched in stone, right next to President Adams' own. Ohioans! Rejoice!"

-Short excerpt of a speech written in support of Senator John Sherman's campaign for Senate in 1880 written by Charles J. Guiteau.

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"MR. SPEAKER! I hate to be so frank but your unholy coalition has entirely debased the democratic system-"

"Sam, I'm sorry the caucus is more in tune with the Republicans than the Democrats on most bills. The President and I are on agreement in that particular matter. I'm sorry some of your bills are dying but committee appointments were fair..."

"Excuse me Mr. Speaker, that is untrue. You'd be hard pressed to find any southern Democrat on Ways & Means."

"Mr. Hale, there are plenty of southern Liberals, including myself on Ways & Means. The unfortunate truth is your parties caucus south of the Mason Dixon line are radicals. The Pro Temp agrees, Redeemers should be separated from the higher committees."

"Mr. Speaker Redeemer is derogatory! They aren't as radical as the New York Times may lead you to believe."

"I'm from Tennessee Sam!"

"Nowadays Tennessee ain't much different from New York..."

"OUT! Get out!"

"Mr. Speaker I'm sorry, Morgan was out of line,"

"Sam. Get the hell out of my office," The Democrats slowly get up and start shuffling towards the door.

"Have it be known that the gentlemen from Alabama will not be coming in here next meeting," Sam Randall, the Democratic caucus leader turns to face the Speaker and nods as they go. Speaker Horace Maynard sits back in his chair as he hears the door close. He puts his head in his hands and swears that the stress of running a three party congress will kill him. His heart is already giving out...

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No I'm not dead, no neither is Triple Calamity! Sorry I was pretty busy with school work, luckily winter break has given me and opening to bring it back. Over my hiatus I revamped my outline and I have a real solid views of the story. Here are some short tid bits for you that take place from 1877-1880. Later today you are getting a full chapter on the Adams Presidency and some time tomorrow you'll get the 1880 conventions!​

 

[Mr.Q]

President	Charles F. Adams
Vice President	Rutherford B. Hayes
Secretary of State	Andrew Gregg Curtin
Secretary of War	Robert T. Lincoln
Secretary of the Treasury	Benjamin Bristow (Until 1879), Hugh McCulloch
Attorney General	Lyman Trumbull
Postmaster General	Timothy O. Howe
Secretary of the Navy	Richard Thompson
Secretary of the Interior	Carl Schurz

(In bold the Republican members of cabinet)

"President elect Adams was under extreme protection leading into March, many in congress feared his assassination especially from angry Democrats. Though a few plots would later be uncovered, none were ever near success and the President would take office as planned. Almost immediately President Adams, Speaker Maynard, Vice President Hayes and President Pro Tempore Wheeler made an announcement... There would be a loose Republican-Liberal coalition in the congress. Barring civil rights and civil service the two parties would vote in unison on almost all other issues. It's important to note that this coalition only existed in Washington DC. Local Liberal parties and Republican parties only ever teamed up in certain states. In the West and South the two parties were strongly opposed to one another.

Out west Liberals, Republicans and Democrats were so equally prevalent that almost nothing would get done, each bill having three parties to hurdle through. In many southern states the Republicans fell off the face of politics. Failed and moderate reconstruction states became Democrat vs Liberals, while in New England, Democrats were practically gone as they became Republican vs Liberal states. The Liberals and their evolving party mostly looked towards the moderate President for their marching orders..."

-From The Third Adams
by Jacob Duffin, published 1955

"President Adams began decreasing troop presence in the reconstructing south, the strict occupation of successful states came almost to a complete close as soldiers were redirected to failed reconstruction states. It was here that they would enforce the Force Acts and aid many black citizens in moving west...

Adams strongly believed in the 'two state plan' devised under the Seward administration there was a dream of majority black state. After the plan fell through in Dominica it was approved in begin in Indian territory. In 1877 congress officially split indian territory in two, making the eastern half the new, 'Territory of Lincoln.' It was here that many freedmen and their families would move. Adams then used the army in conjunction with Secretary Schurz and the interior to move all the indians in Lincoln Territory to the new Sequoyah Territory. Adams hoped that by 1884 Lincoln Territory could be a state and by 1888 so too could Sequoyah Territory. This raised the question of indian citizenship however.

With the increasing number of indian wars out west and the increasing popularity of the American generals committing heinous crimes (Like General Custer), it was obvious that the mood of the nation was not in favor of granting blanket citizenship to all natives. Thus after intense negotiation it was decided that all the natives located within 'Sequoyah Territory' as of 1879 would be given American citizenship. The outrage this caused led many natives to try and move to the territory in the years that followed in an attempt to gain citizenship, none of the cases would get to the Supreme Court until 1883. The court decided... {1}"

-from One More State
by Jake Morton, published 2008

"Civil service reform. It was the reason the Liberals existed and one of the main things the President ran on. Day one in office President Adams signed an executive order banning office holders from contributions to political campaigns. He also thoroughly vetted his administration to ensure that it was in some form a meritocracy. Adams and the Liberals in congress with the support of the Democrats and a couple Republican flips were able to get a watered down civil service reform bill to the President's desk as well. Ironically all of these advances only emboldened Roscoe Conkling and the stalwarts going into 1880...

In terms of the economy President Adams restored the gold standard after it's weakening during the civil war with the support of Senator Sherman. Though Benjamin Bristow was a staunch Liberal, Adams' minatage of more silver and soon after flip and insistence on going full throttle on the gold standard off put him. (Especially with rising inflation.) Bristow resigned and Adams brought Hugh McCulloch in to help him finish the job. Adams would also work with Democrats in congress to lower wartime and Grant era tariffs, giving the Liberals a boost in the south and Dominica in time for the midterms.

All of these economic issues are overshadowed however by the Great Railroad Strikes. The Seward panic of 1873 led to lots of layoffs and lower wages among railroad workers. Come 1877 many of these workers began to strike, police agitation in Pittsburg turned protests to riots. Adams, a New England businessman himself, was easily persuaded by the liberal Governor of Pennsylvania and New York business mogul and close presidential advisor Theodore Roosevelt Sr. to shut down the strikes. Adams nationalized the guard and swifty destroyed them. Adams had made it clear that Liberals were not the party of the factory worker. Nationally this move was received with cautious praise. That said, many Republicans found these methods far too harsh and the Republican party would seize the opportunity to get cozy with labor in the midwest..."

-From The Third Adams
by Jacob Duffin, published 1955

"In terms of foreign policy the Adams administration was keen to avoid the rest of the world. When the Paraguayan war came to a close Adams refused to arbitrate the peace, largely leading to the annexation of said nation by Argentina. Adams also refused any piece of the newly annexed Samoa, letting London add the island to their collection without fuss. While this made him friends in parliament, neither the Democrats or Republicans were kind for this. Adams did approve funding for a survey of the Panama isthmus, in hopes of building a canal the region, when he saw the bill however the president shot this down...

As the 1880 presidential election approached more imminently Adams was more than popular enough to secure his parties nomination once again. He refused however, he wrote in a letter to the Liberal National Convention explaining why...

"Should our party be maintained throughout this century and beyond new faces must continuously be shuffled. I am old and though I respect the party and it's loyalty to me, a cult of personality would only lead to our reabsorption by the radical Republicans in a decade. Our party stands for fairness and a fresh take, I am under the impression that our party should only ever run a man for the presidency once for that reason..."

Like his father and his father before him, this Adams would not gain a second term, yet this time it was entirely by choice. Adams had just set a precedent for his party, the Liberal Washington was stepping down..."

-From 1880: The Election to Change History
by Jackie Lombardo, published 2021

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I told you I wasn't dead! Tomorrow you'll get the 1880 nominations! Like always I love your questions and comments so fire away!​

{1}- Wait a couple chapters we will return to this.

 

[Mr.Q]

"Three factions of equal strength. A nation bitterly divided. Gentlemen. I see no possible outcome in which this damned election doesn't reach the house!"
-Representative Billini of Santo Domingo (L), translated from spanish.

Presidential Balloting	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
R. Conkling	2	2	2	1	4	3	3	11	18
U. Grant	233	237	238	239	260	261	267	267	271
R. Hayes	221	221	221	215	234	234	234	234	230
J. Blaine	54	52	51	57	14	14	2	1	0
P. Sheridan	28	42	44	59	62	64	70	71	73
T. Settle	119	120	120	163	174	174	180	177	170
Others	103	86	86	28	14	12	6	1	0

10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
19	19	62	117	166	242	263	296	346	369
292	292	301	310	351	376	379	289	201	119
208	208	188	153	106	53	50	66	154	236
0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	1
74	74	74	74	21	0	0	74	23	1
169	169	132	101	96	42	20	0	12	21
0	0	5	11	17	45	46	33	19	10

20	Vice Presidential Ballot	1	2	3
381	P. Sheridan	322	348	427
43	J. Garfield	231	232	232
314	J. Alcorn	207	180	101
0
0
11
8

"Many feel bad for the Republican Party. After facing rebellion they were still yet to face any sort of order. The 1880 RNC held in Chicago was just another story of chaos. When the good delegates first arrived in the city most believed that either Vice President Hayes or Former President Grant would secure the nomination. Grant had been corralled after his world tour, ushered back into the spotlight by many Republicans, seeing him as hope for unity. However the Republican Party Grant left in 1873 was very different a mere seven years later. Grant was remembered fondly by the people but not by the moderates, the homers and the half breeds. So much had happened since his administration that many politicians saw him as unfit for a third term. Not to mention the breaking of tradition. Hayes however faced his own issues. Hayes was the face of the dreaded coalition with the Liberals. He was a compromise back in 76'. He had been a compromise for the past four years, why compromise again?

All of this meant that there was an opportunity, perhaps a very ripe opportunity for a dark horse to show up. Someone to sweep the convention off their feet! But who? After the first ballot, former nominee James Blaine put on a strong showing, still plagued by the Fisher Letters however, Blaine was seen as unsavory. The other two men of note after the first ballot were one Thomas Settle, a judge from North Carolina that many 'Homers' flocked towards and General Phillip Sheridan. A close friend of former President Grant who wasn't present at the convention. He was simply a Grant alternative for moderates.

Ballot 1-8 showed very little change, the only thing of note was the implosion of Blaine's camp which turned to Grant, Sheridan, and Hayes evenly. However it was on this eighth ballot that something changed. A group of Homers strolled over to the Stalwarts prior to ballot eight. After a quick discussion, Roscoe Conkling (Infamous leader of the Stalwarts) went from three votes to eleven. It's believed that the Homers, understanding they didn't have enough party support for an outright majority, saw Conkling as the best opportunity. (Conkling himself saw the chance and fed into this). A corrupt bargain had just taken place. Over the next few ballots as Conkling grew slowly as Hayes steadily saw his numbers fall. Grantite men were pressuring Hayes' boys into flipping in hopes of killing the deadlock. This was a slow process... until ballot 13.

Conkling breached the 100 mark. At this moment the Radicals, (few remaining Half breeds that didn't jump to the Liberals) and Mugwumps collectively shat themselves. Hayes' numbers took a nosedive as Grant ballooned faster than Conkling. By ballot 16 Grant stood at 379 votes. One away from a majority. It's at this pivotal moment that many in the hall realized Grant would win and so prepared to change their votes. No one knows what really happened next. Grant apparently stared at the hall from a balcony and whispered to his aide that he wanted to speak. Perhaps the talk of his lack of political knowledge or breaking of tradition got to him, perhaps he was tired, maybe he had lost hope for the nation. Whatever he decided, Grant marched to the front and said this.

"My friends. Please I urge you calm. I have an announcement. I shall not accept the Republican nomination for the presidency. My humble endorsement goes to the supporters of General Sheridan..."

Chaos broke out. Grant couldn't even finish. Sheridan's support had collapsed by ballot 17, his supporters had made a deal with Conkling. Hell the man wasn't even there. (Though he was being informed via telegram.) Either way the chaos led to a ballot 17 where the Sheridan camp was back, Hayes was stealing Grant's votes and Conkling was now the frontrunner. The next three ballots saw extensive courting and smoke filled rooms. On ballot 20 Roscoe Conking gained just enough delegates, denying Vice President Hayes the nomination. After a few more promises to the Homers (including an end to occupation of the south) Phillip Sheridan was nominated for Vice President in a far less climatic three ballots. Sheridan was in New York at the time.

Republican Ticket
Roscoe Conkling for President
Phillip Sheridan for Vice President

Presidential Ballots	1	2	Vice Presidential Ballots	1	2
WS. Hancock	344	584	G. McClellan	289	479
G. McClellan	286	101	T. Bayard/others	288	98
S. Tilden/others	110	55	GA. Custer	163	163

The Democratic National Convention held in Petersburg was a very short affair, yet it was still very interesting. In 1872 Winfield Scott Hancock ran a respectable campaign against the Republicans and President Seward. Back then, Hancock knew he wouldn't win. However in 1880 the man who was usually unenthusiastic about running for the Presidency, was all about it! He was itching to gain the nomination, personally whipping votes on the convention floor. The only two opponents that really mattered were Samuel Tilden, the nearly president of four years prior who said before the convention that he was not seeking the nomination due to his health and George B. McClellan. The man who in 1864 got trounced by Lincoln. In the years since he had become a senator from New Jersey and gained fame for his brash attacks on the Liberal-Republican coalition. He came to Petersburg hoping to win the Presidential nomination.

After one ballot and promises of the Vice Presidency McClellan's, support totally collapsed. Much to his dismay. He angrily expressed that he was not fit for some useless position like Vice President! Hancock and much of the party disagreed however. A ticket of two famed Union generals would deflect the bloody rag and any question that the Democrats were the party of redeemers.

Come time for the VP balloting many in the party wanted a politician in the second spot. A man like Thomas Bayard. There was also a steadfast contingent of delegates who voted for General George Armstrong Custer. Custer was also in the hall, he was only there to secure the second spot hoping to start his career in politics. Famously George McClellan endorsed him in hopes of not being nominated. While Custer was ultimately not nominated as VP, his respectable showing would make his name recognizable among party brass.

Democratic Ticket
Winfield Scott Hancock for President
George B. McClellan for Vice President

Presidential Ballots	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Vice Presidential Ballot	1
CM. Clay	23	21	21	122	231	241	397	G. Julian	499
BG. Brown	232	244	244	244	231	230	163	J. Cox	251
J. Palmer	111	118	118	99	27	28	8
A. Curtin	191	162	161	160	154	143	121
D. Davis	65	97	102	55	54	54	26
J. Sherman/ Others	118	108	103	48	31	30	11

There were lot's of expectations going into the 1880 LNC held in Concord. President Adams opened up the convention with a speech about the Liberal mission and asked for calm and civility. That was granted. The delegates were polite and calm. A stark contrast to the Republican convention held a month prior. This was a mission to find a new torch bearer, one to be treated with respect and dignity. On the first ballot many different Liberal factions came from the woodwork. Among he main contenders were The southern minded Liberals now calling themselves "Cotton Libs" rallied around Benjamin Gratz Brown of Missouri. Like the Homers in the Republican Party however, Mr. Brown and his Cotton boys had themselves a celling. There was General John Palmer, a famed war hero! Yet an aging one, there was Governor Andrew Curtin who had been seeking the presidency for some time now. Yet his connections to the Democrats were a drag and then there was David Davis, a Supreme Court Justice known for his independent thought. Davis' main issue came with the fact that he didn't want to be president sending many telegrams to Concord requesting that he not be nominated.

By the third ballot it was clear that a consensus was far from being found. It was at this moment that a compromise rose from the debates. Cassius Marcellus Clay was a General and a well known Liberal congressman from Kentucky. He appealed to every faction. A moderate, a war hero, a close friend of President Adams and a young man. After ballot four with steam gathering and wind in his sails, President Adams (Who was presiding over the convention) endorsed Clay. Soon after the nomination became a breeze. The Palmer votes switched particularly fast, happy to get a general as the nominee.

Selected as Clay's Vice President was George W. Julian, a former Radical Republican, now radical reformer. After promising to moderate some of his rhetoric the more progressive minded liberals were happy to flock to him as were the Clay supporters. "

Liberal Ticket
Cassius Marcellus Clay for President
George Washington Julian for Vice President

-From Every National Convention in American History
by Jacob Cohen, published 2012

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What's up! We are back. This one took a lot of math. Expect to see the election post in a day or two (I promise). Happy to see feedback! Also yes, both McClellan and Clay are in congress ITL. They weren't in OTL.​

 

[Mr.Q]

"When people hear about the 1880 elections in the United States, many historians refer to it as the "Liberal Revolution". However, if you look at the Presidential election that year (Picture of the map pulls up), clearly the Liberals didn't pull off a "revolution". Well, it depends on where you look..."
-From A Grand Web a video channel in 2021

"The 1880 Presidential election was seen as an even match. All of the candidates were perceived to be in their prime, every ticket had at least one war hero on board and every policy seemed appealing to most people. Realistically neither Clay, nor Hancock or Conkling differed dramatically in policy. That's not to say they were all the same...

On the issue of reconstruction all three agreed to end the occupation of the south in 1881. Individually ideas differed. Conkling wanted to end the occupation but continue a form of economic reconstruction, by continuing to link the failed reconstruction states to Federal sanctions. Clay hoped to maintain political pressure, his views were very similar to Conkling's yet were often down played by Liberal surrogates, leading to awkward contradictions on the campaign trial. Hancock advocated for a complete restoration of states rights. As far as he saw it, it was time for the nation to heal and move on. (This was the most in tune with the people out of the three.)

On the economy, once again Clay and Conkling found themselves in agreeance on tariffs and greenbacks. That said Clay was more antagonistic towards big business in the midwest. Hancock argued for the loosening of the economy. Adams and Seward had increased regulations and tariffs for eight years at this point many were sick of this. Hancock offered them a chance to see laissez faire back in action..

The last of the major issues of the campaign was civil service reform. On this Conkling and Clay were in staunch disagreeance, unsurprisingly. Liberals hammered Republicans on years old scandals, on backroom deals and on Conkling's extremely controversial stance as a politician. Republicans hit back, yelling about the backroom deal the Liberals made with the Santo Domingo delegation in 1876. Democrats mostly ignored civil service, but had a field day with the nastiness seen from their two opponents.

The Grand Coalition that runs our Congress hates one another more than the true "opposition..."
-Senator McClellan.

The Republican's similarities with the Liberals served to hurt them nationally as vote splitting became rampant in urban areas..."

-From 1880: The Election to Change History
by Jackie Lombardo, published 2021

"The Grand Coalition between the Republicans and Liberals that had ran congress for the past four years was largely unpopular among the electorate. More specifically the Republican side of the coalition was unpopular among the electorate. Most newspapers, especially in the North and border states, had Liberal owners. A phenomena seen since Horace Greeley endorsed the idea of a third party in 1872. These papers published numerous stories about how Republican Senators and congressmen clogged up the coalition's vital work. Even President Adams spread this point of view and trashed on Vice President Hayes from time to time. The stories were entirely false. Republicans had a near supermajority in the Senate without the libs and were vital towards stability in the House. The people, didn't see it that way. Come 1880, Democrats and Liberals were itching to seize ground in congress. The LNC and DNC quietly agreed to not run against each other in many down ballot races all over the nation. Ironically the ploy to slaughter the Republican coalition in congress. Was another coalition..."

-From The Grand Coalition: The Time Congress Acted Like Parliament
by Tommy Jones, published 2024

"The Presidential Race ended in a massive win for Democrats. Polls were projecting the Hancock would win and benefit from the Liberal-Republican vote splitting. However no one expected them to one, win by this much (after all the Liberals stole from Democrats in 1876 as well) and two, not outright. The expectation was that Hancock would gain a plurality but lack a majority, then the House would either elect Clay, or deadlock leaving the nation in peril. Ironically all the nail biting fear of the coming contingent elections were for nothing. The Democrats had won outright. Now many historians will leave the explanation at that, however I believe Hancock's win is more impressive than simple vote splitting. Hancock didn't lose many voters to the Liberals, he won some partial reconstruction states and he increased turnout in strongly blue states. One of the keys to Democratic success in the Presidential race was the fact that Hancock/McClellan was just a damn good ticket. Even if Little Mac hated to be apart of it."

-From 1880: The Election to Change History
by Jackie Lombardo, published 2021

CONGRESSIONAL RESULTS
THE HOUSE: 147 Needed for Majority
Liberals: 141
Democrats: 94
Republicans: 54
Others: 5
THE SENATE: 40 Needed for Majority
Liberals: 27
Republicans: 26
Democrats: 25
​

"The term 'Liberal Revolution of 1880', has nothing to do with the Presidential race. (Though the fact that Clay beat Conkling in the popular vote, was impressive.) That term refers instead to the congressional elections. The Liberal-Democratic divide and conquer strategy worked like a charm. Republicans only surviving in number in the midwest. In New England, the whole south, and the whole west, Republican congressmen dropped like flies. The Liberals jumped from barley having more seats than the Republicans to securing almost a majority. In a may I remind you, THREE PARTY CONGRESS! Democrats would also increase their numbers from the 1878 midterms by 16 seats, yet that means little in comparison to the libs. Republicans also gained a beating in the Senate, losing almost every seat up for election in 1880, bar Ohio and Minnesota. Each party was now a seat from each other. The Liberals were once again the main winners.

The absolute magnitude of the slaughter seen in the House and Senate was so bad for Republicans that the party began feeling major rifts. They needed a unifier and fast. With Conkling fresh off a wholloping nationally, many Republicans turned away from the Liberals (ending their coalition officially) and towards more radical strategists and wealthier businessmen..."

-From The Grand Coalition: The Time Congress Acted Like Parliament
by Tommy Jones, published 2024

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Alrighty! Please feel free to ask questions for more detailed results on specific states or congressional races. Feel free to drop feedback and feel free to drop predictions! thank you all for continuing to read!
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