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User:Benkarnell/Ideas
From Alternative History
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[edit] Knox's Treaty
In 1790, American Secretary of War Henry Knox concluded a grand treaty with Alexander McGillvary, leader of the Creek Nation. The Creek leaders were welcomed in New York with all the pomp and dignity befitting leaders of a sovereign power. McGillvary secured a vast swathe of land for the Creeks, largely within the borders of the State of Georgia. This was the first major treaty between an Indian nation and the United States since the US had adopted its new Constitution. It seemed to set the tone for the new republic's dealings with its indiginous people.
But Knox soon found that he lacked the military strength to enforce his promises. Before the ink on the treaty was dry, pioneers - settlers - squatters - were pouring into Creek territory with the full blessing of the Georgian government. The U.S. military, underfunded and undermanned, could do nothing to stop them.
POD: Knox consulted with President Washington and Attorney General Edmund Randolph. The three leaders were all of federalist temperment and were aghast at Georgia's open flaunting of United States law. They decided to "enforce with the gavel where we cannot with the bayonnet:" the case was brought before the Supreme Court, the first case of its kind in U.S. history.
The court of Chief Justice John Jay, also dominated by federalists, ruled in favor of the plaintiff in the landmark case, United States v. Georgia (1792). For failing to abide by federal law, Georgia was fined $100,000 (is this a realistic amount?), a large sum that Georgia was reluctantly forced to pass on to the squatters. The case set key precedents: Federal law now trumped state law, completely and unequivocally. Also, states could be fined for failing to respect the rights of Indian nations. The constantly cash-strapped U.S. government would often turn to this new source of revenue in the years to come.
Ideas for fallout:
- Accelerates the states' rights controversy, with Indian Removal joining slavery as a cause for Southern animosity toward the federal government.
- Three decades of legal precedent may hamper Andrew Jackson's bid to remove all Indians. The Indians, at least the "Civilized Tribes", have a stronger position, more territory, and more support from the U.S. government.
- Likely that this policy would be carried across the Mississippi and lead to more long-term arrangements with western tribes
- The lack of displacement leads to even more cultural interaction between Indians and U.S.
- An earlier civil war perhaps, with the Indians being just as much a subject as slaves? If so, will Jim Crow laws extend to Native Americans?
Known dates:
- 1792: United States v. Georgia
- 1796: Election of John Adams (President) and Thomas Jefferson (Vice President)
As long as grass grows, Ben
[edit] The Golden Horde
Emir Timur chooses not to ride northward with his armies in 1395, deciding that Tokhtamish, Khan of the Golden Horde, is more valuable as an ally than a rival. The great empire of the northern steppes is spared. Timur instead directs his energies westward toward Iraq, Syria, and Asia Minor.
Results:
- Russia remains dominated by a Muslim/Turkic empire. Greater transmission of Islamic culture into Russia.
- Among the Christian states, Moscow still becomes dominant (it was the most successful appeaser of the khans), but an Islamic overlord remains in power.
- The rising Ottoman Empire and the fading Byzantine receive the full brunt of Timur's armies. The Ottomans are never able to regroup.
- After Timur's death, the power vacuum in the Balkans is filled by local powers. Venice and Genoa tighten their hold on the coasts. Hungary becomes a major power in the northwest. In the northeast, the Crimeans, themselves loyal to the Golden Horde, expand into the Danube valley. Greece itself is divided among petty principalities that show only nominal loyalty to the Emperor in Constantinople.
[edit] An Accomplished Revolution
"[Better to consider] the organization of actual government by the seven seceded states as an accomplished revolution - accomplished through the complicity of the late [Buchanan] administration - & letting that confederacy try its experiment."
- - Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the United States Treasury, in a private letter to Alphonso Taft, April 28, 1861 (italics in original)
The debate within the Lincoln administration largely came down to two options: conciliate the South, the better to persuade more states from seceding; or, stick to the policy set forth in Lincoln's Inaugural Address and fight to keep federal control over federal property, including the beleagured Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Lincoln eventually took the latter course. But apparently, there was a third option, held by Sec. Chase but never really discussed: let the South go, and hope that they come running back eventually.
At this point, the Confederacy was brand new and consisted of seven states: South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Montgomery, Alabama was the capital. Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland were still more or less committed to the idea of the Union, although many of their sympathies certainly lay with the would-be nation forming in the Deep South. Chase believed, apparently, that fighting the Confederacy would further alienate the border states.
I know that doing nothing while the union fell apart went contrary to Lincoln's nature. But in my mind that's what makes it a point of divergence. Suppose Lincoln and his administration had been persuaded to "let the confederacy try its experiment" - how soon before war would erupt? Would the remaining border states have seceded? What happens to slavery?
March 1861: Chase privately confides to Lincoln that he'd just as soon the Deep South goes alone, and good riddance to them. Lincoln at first is horrified at the thought that he would simply allow the Union to dissolve, but the give-em-hell policies advocated by Postmaster General Blair and his powerful family are also unpalatable to Lincoln, who does not want to be responsible for starting a civil war.
On March 29, Lincoln asks his Cabinet which of the three policies to pusue: surrender Fort Sumter (per Seward, General Winfeld Scott, and most of the Cabinet), rearm it and prepare for attack (per Blair), or simply do nothing (per Chase). The next day, Lincoln telegrams the relevant Navy commanders telling them he has decided not to rearm the fort.
On April 13, Fort Sumter falls. Most of the Union troops escape unscathed.
On April 15, delegations from Virginia, Maryland, and Missouri reaffirm their solidarity with the Union.
On April 17, Tennessee votes to secede.
[edit] Stray ideas from AlternateHistory.com
A few what-ifs I've suggested on that message board
- Make Rum, Not War: At the Paris Peace of 1763, the British allow France to keep Canada in exchange for several much more profitable Caribbean islands.
- UAR Sticks Together: The Syrian coup of 1961 fails, and the United Arab Republic is able to expand to include Iraq.
- Allied Invasion of the Balkans: Basically just a map.
.PNG)
[edit] The Republic of Nicoya
| Language | Spanish |
| Capital | Nicoya |
| Head of state | HoS |
| Independence | 1988 (de facto); 1995 (declared) |
| Area | Area |
| Population | Population |
| Currency | Costa Rican Colon and Nicaraguan Córdoba used together |
Nicoya is a small breakaway state in the northwest of the former Costa Rica.
[edit] Background: Before 1983
Named for a 16th-century chief, the Nicoya Peninsula was a distinct cultural sub-region before Columbus, the southern limit of the Mesoamerican civilization. Nicoya was part of Nicaragua province in the colonial era, but shortly after independence it was annexed by Costa Rica together with the rest of Guanacaste. Within Costa Rica, Nicoya was one of the few regions with a substantial indigenous population. Divided between Guanacaste and Puntarenas provinces, its main settlement has always been Nicoya city, one of Costa Rica's oldest.
[edit] Civil War: 1983-1990
Nicaragua's Sandinista government invaded Costa Rica shortly after Doomsday in pursuit of Contra rebels. Nicaragua quickly declared that it was re-annexing all of Guanacaste, including Nicoya. By 1987 Nicoya was securely in Nicaraguan hands.
In December 1987 an alliance of Contra groups, called the People's Front of Nicaragua (FPN), stormed through Guanacaste and seized the cities of Liberia and Nicoya. The main Sandinista stronghold in Costa Rica, near Puntarenas city, was cut off from Nicaragua. But under General Joaquín Cuadra and with the support of local Costa Ricans, the Sandinistas managed to shatter the Contras' organization and drive them out of the province. The rump of the Contra army held out in Nicoya. That rump army included a number of prominent Contra leaders, including Alfonso Robelo and former Sandinista Edén Pastora.
The FPN lost contact with Contra groups outside Nicoya. But within their hideaway, they were somewhat secure. The Nicaraguans' attention was turned elsewhere: one Contra group had moved into Costa Rica's central valley; others had headed back north into the Mosquitia region; and Costa Rica's Limon government was contesting the Nicaraguans' occupation. The Sandinistas judged that attacking the remnant of the FPN was not worth a costly campaign in the rugged terrain of the peninsula.
After 1990, Sandinista forces in Nicaragua and Costa Rica split with one another. Nicoya once again was in the no-man's-land between them. The Contras in the peninsula were able to take advantage of the situation and maintain their hold on the area.
[edit] Contra rule
For several years, Nicoya was governed as a guerrilla outpost. Rebel leaders debated their next course of action. The energetic Pastora wanted to gear up for more attacks on the Sandinistas as quickly as possible. The more cautious Robelo wanted the guerrillas to bide their time in Nicoya for an indefinite period of time, securing their territory and waiting for a more opportune time to strike. While the more aggressive party was in power, they were unable to make good on their promises to attack. Even Pastora saw that it would be suicide for the small remnant force to provoke the Sandinistas in either Nicaragua or Costa Rica. So Contra energies were focused inward, on making sure Nicoya could support them in the long term. This meant establishing the rudiments of a government over the peninsula and making sure adequate food could be produced for both the guerrillas, and the people they were dependent on.
Alfonso Robelo and his followers staged an internal coup in 1995. Robelo fled to Puntarenas and (re-)defected to the Sandinista government there. Robelo declared the Republic of Nicoya, claiming that both Nicaragua and Costa Rica were "infested" with Communists. However, Robelo was not in power long. Another coup was accomplished in 1996 with substantial aid from local Nicoyanos. Robelo himself was killed, and many of his followers were either killed or driven to certain execution in Sandinista territory. In order to win local support, the new regime pledged an expansion of rights and democracy - pledges it had no intention of fulfilling.
[edit] The Counter-Counter Revolution
The Contra government was overthrown in 2001.
[edit] Darién
| Languages | Spanish, Kuna, Northern Emberá |
| Capital | El Porvenier |
| Governor | HoS |
| Form of government | 1991-1999: Protectorate 1999-present: Autonomous region of Colombia |
| Area | 21,715 km2 |
| Population | 40,000 |
| Currency | South American peso real ($) |
Darién - more properly, Darién-Kuna-Emberá - is an autonomous region of Colombia. It encompasses the wild rain forest region that used to be the eastern end of Panama.
[edit] Background
The Province of Darién was formed in 1925. That same year, a revolution broke out among the Kuna people, who protested the suppression of their culture by the Panamanian government, specifially the police. Panama relented and granted self-rule to the Kuna by creating the autonomous comarca of Kuna Yala, administered by its own General Congress. Kuna Yala did not include all Kuna communities; several smaller ones in Darién remained without self-government. In 1983, a revolt broke out among the region's other major indigenous group, the Emberá people. By September, plans were underway to create an autonomous comarca similar to Kuna Yala, comprising forty Emberá villages; however, the destruction of Panama City that month ended such plans.
[edit] Aftermath
The swampy Darién rainforest is one of the most inhospitable places in the region - indeed, it is so impassable that the Pan-American Highway could not be built through it, the only gap in the highway's Alaska-to-Chile route. Nevertheless, survivors from the vicinity of the Canal attempted to pass through it and reach Colombia. Few survived the journey. Far more refugees attempted to eke out a living on the forest edge, but the disorganized camps that emerged offered a chance of survival that was little better than the forest.
The Kuna and Emberá societies, still very traditional, attempted to draw back into themselves and rely on their ancient cultural bonds to weather the crsis. But the humanitarian, ecological, and security pressures were too great. The tide of refugees pushed many Kuna and Emberá eastward into Colombia.
[edit] Cooperation with Colombia
Panamanian refugees were a great concern to the Colombian government in late 1983 and early 1984. Engaged in crucial negotiations with various guerrilla groups, Colombia could little afford to risk further destabilization, especially in its wild northwest. Camps were established in the vicinity of Turbo to accomodate those who were surviving the journey through Darién. In the meantime, a small complement of Colombian troops were sailed to Kuna Yala to help maintain security. It was reasoned that stibility in eastern Panama would prevent the refugee situation from becoming a crisis.
Kuna Yala authorities and Colombian troops attempted to bring order to the string of camps in eastern Panama. They were unsuccessful, and certainly not for lack of effort. Refugees often would not obey dictates from authorities whom they dismessed as tribespeople or foreigners. Resources were scares, violence was endemic, and sanitation nonexistent. Peace came to Colombia by 1985, so the country was able to send more troops and supplies into Darién. However, conditions in the camps and throughout the Darién region remained horrifying.
For a number of reasons, the situation began to stabilize by 1987-88. For one, Colombian aid was finally making a difference, and conditions began to improve in some of the camps. By then, Colombia had established several permanent bases for its soldiers in Darién, which made the humanitarian project more effective and efficient. Additionally, the staggering death rates of the previous years reduced the population and took some pressure off the region. The biggest factor, however, was that the Colombian army facilitated the immigration of many refugees into Colombia, where they could expect more food and better prospects than in the fracture remains of Panama.
Kuna and Emberá tribal structures were shaken but intact. The Kuna Yala government had survived mainly by being Colombia's go-to organization in the region. In 1988, the Emberá created a local government for themselves modelled on the Kuna. It relied far more on traditional tribal authorities than the planned Panamanian comarca. Other organs of local authority, however, had long collapsed by the end of the 1980s.
[edit] The creation of Darién-Kuna-Emberá
The greatest hindrance on the refugee communities was the absence of any authority to organize them. Colombian, Kuna, and refugee leaders hammered out a plan for the Darién Regional Authority in the summer of 1988. The Authority was intended to replace the collapsed governments of Panama and of Darién Province, and to handle such issues as sanitation, land use, and restoring the pre-Doomsday settlements in the Darién region. Security and defense were still to be provided by Colombia, and the Kuna General Congress was given a supervisory role as well, including a limited veto power over Regional Authority decisions.
The territory under the control of the Darién Regional Authority was never clearly specified. No indigenous communities were included, confirming the autonomy that the Kuna communities outside Kuna Yala had exercised since Doomsday. By the early 1990s, the regional government was effective enough that the people resented Kuna supervision, and the region's unclear relationship with Colombia.
Regional coordination was seen as the answer. In 1991 Colombian authorities met with local leaders, both indigenous and Latino, and created a new structure for governing the entire Darién region. The state that emerged was given the combersome name of Darién-Kuna-Emberá, which would function as a Colombian protectorate. The new state, which would quickly be called "Dakuném" by almot everybody, replaced the old Regional Administration and was placed above the indigenous governments, which would remain autonomous but have to follow the laws of the region.
The regional capital was located in El Porvenir, the Kuna capital, for reasons of convenience - El Porvenier had been the center of Colombian activity in the Dakuném area since 1984, and they did not want to change now. The decision was supposed to be temporary, but eighteen years later, the capital has not been relocated.
[edit] Annexation
Colombia's Congress voted to formally annex Dakuném, making it Colombian territory, in 1998. The final decision was to be decided in a referendum, but annexation was seen as non-controversial, a mere confirmation of the status quo. Before the new autonomous region was offically created - indeed, even before its boundaries were surveyed - local politicians were campaigning to represent it in Congress. The annexation was accomplished on January 31, 1999.
