The following is a history of the United States of America, the predecessor to the United Socialist States of America, from the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 to the beginning of the Second American Revolution in 1917.
The First American Civil War[]
1863: Abraham Lincoln is assassinated by a Confederate sympathizer. Lincoln's death is a blow for the United States of America, while his death is considered a victory in the Confederate States of America. Hannibal Hamlin is sworn is as president of the United States.
1864: John C. Fremont is elected president of the United States, giving the Radical Republicans control of the White House. Fremont vows to be victorious over the south and to punish them harshly for the death of Lincoln once the war is over.
1865: General Robert E. Lee, fearing what the new Fremont administration would do the former states of the Confederacy, orders his army to disperse and keep up the fight against the United States through guerrilla warfare.
1866: An attempt on President Fremont's life by southern rebel John Wilkes Booth, convinces him to expand the power and scope of the Secret Service Division (SSD), to act as a national law enforcement agency under the direction of the President.
1867: The last organized force for the Confederate States is defeated. The former states of the Confederacy are demoted to territories governed under martial law. Meanwhile, the Radical Republicans push through Congress new laws to protect the rights of free blacks. These actions increase the ranks of southern resistance fighters.
Alaska is purchased by the United States.
1867: Distracted by occupation duty of the rebellious Southern states, the United States is unable to prevent the French from reinforcing the Second Mexican Empire and preventing it from collapsing.
The American Empire[]
1876: Liberal Republicans, angry over Radical Republican control of the party, split from the party and throw their support behind the Democratic nominee for President, Samuel Tilden. The Republican nominee, Rutherford B. Hayes, still wins the election amid allegations of vote fraud. Many of the leading protesters are arrested by the SSD for sedition. When the protesters attempt to get the Supreme Court to intervene, President Hayes packs the court with several new justices who support his decision. The Supreme Court has now become a rubber stamp for the President.
1880: In an effort to cement their power over the United States, leading Republican politicians begin cutting deals with wealthy industrialists, or "Robber Barons" as USSA history would call them. In return for pro-business laws, these industrialists promised to finance Republican candidates on every level of government. Deregulation, monopolies and union breaking thrive.
1886: Resistance in the southern territories has reached its lowest level with many hardcore southern rebels either being killed, captured, or taken exile in Brazil.
1898: The Spanish–American War. The United States gains control of Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam. Both the Philippines and Cuba revolt after it becomes apparent that the US will not give them independence. This marks the United States emergence as an imperial power.
Hawaii is also annexed by the United States.
Resistance Builds[]
1901: President William McKinley barely avoids being killed by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist. Paranoid he rushed through Congress and the states the 16th amendment, which gives the President the ability to suspend the Constitution and assume emergency power during a national crisis.
1904: Former Vice President Theodore Roosevelt is elected president over Democrat Alton Parker and Socialist Eugene V. Debs, who did surprisingly well for a third party taking a significant amount of the vote. The Socialist Party of America and other organizations with Socialist ties (International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World) have been growing in strength in the United States, even in the occupied southern territories.
1905: A strike in Chicago turns bloody after police and strikers battle in the streets of the city. As rioting increases the national guard is called in to bring order to the city. The fighting in Chicago leads to sympathy strikes across the country, encouraged by Eugene Debs and other Socialist leaders. Fearing open revolt President Roosevelt uses the 16th amendment and declares a national emergency. Chicago and other American cities are put under martial law. Meanwhile, an arrest warrant is issued for Eugene Debs, but he fled the country with the help of some associates and makes his way to Geneva, Switzerland. While in Switzerland, Debs comes in contact with Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and other leftists. These meetings lead to Debs to move father left politically.
Roosevelt enacts by decree the Treason and Sedition Acts which effectively curtail the First Amendment and makes membership to some political organizations and certain unions illegal. The IWW still attempts to lead resistance to Roosevelt's regime and creates cells across the country that gather weapons and fight the SSD.
1908: President Roosevelt wins reelection by a landslide with neither the Democrats or Socialists putting any serious candidates against him for fear of reprisals.
1912: President Roosevelt again wins reelection. During this year also Roosevelt negotiates the United States entrance into the Quadruple Entente.
1914: Archduke Franz Ferdinand is killed when bomb is thrown into his car while he is driving through Sarajevo. This begins World War I.
Continue on toward World War I.