Well that is the end of our story. The creation of North America. What we call an Alternative History.
Some of you will ask what really happened, and how much of this is real history and how much is fiction. The short answer is about 95% of the story is real. The people are real and the events of their lives are largely real. Even the stunning life story of Santa Anna is true.
Of course, the outcomes of the major conflicts through the 1800s are not. I would encourage those who may be wondering what really happened to use the on-line services of the web to search out individual events in history. This would be a good exercise and you will learn even more of the interesting story of the forming of North America than we were able to present here.
But, for those of you who want to hear the Afterword, here it is:
Starting from west to east just as our story did. New Spain and Mexico. The early history is as told. The Mexicans did declare on September 16, 1821 their Independence from Spain and then proceeded to achieve it through the battles that ensued. France did successfully install Emperor Maximiliano in Mexico City for a short time. And Benito Juarez did win his country back just as described.
Then in 1836, as described, Texas won their independence from Mexico with major battles being the Mexican siege of the Alamo followed by the Mexican loss at the Battle of San Jacinto. At the time, Texas was a territory considered to be part of Mexico and they were fighting alone for their independence. They would have gladly had the United States with their large armies to the east join them, but the American government under President Van Buren did not want to add another southern slave owner state to their confederation – so Texas fought alone against the Mexicans – and won with the defeat of Santa Anna in 1836.
It became the Republic of Texas. However, nine years later, the United States government changed its mind about accepting another slave state and granted statehood in 1845. So when the Mexicans decided to dispute the settlement made by Santa Anna and reclaim a part of Texas in 1846, the might of the United States army was brought to fore in the Mexican-American war. Under the leadership of President Polk the US wanted to greatly expand its territories and pushed its armies into what was Alta California. They boldly marched south all the way to Mexico City. With this they gained a strong negotiating position which led to the purchase of the disputed lands plus all of Alta California, New Mexico, and the Oregon Territories - all for the sum of 15 Million dollars. Santa Anna of course was heavily involved. He had been brought out of exile in Cuba with the help of the US government when he claimed he could negotiate a peaceful land transfer from the Mexican government. He double-crossed the Americans and instead led a Mexican army into the conflict only to lose an early battle. Later he held the position of President of Mexico at the end of the Mexican-American war at the time of the sale of the territories to the Americans.
So this is how Mexico, and what are now the western States of America ended. It was the end of what had begun as the Spanish colony of New Spain some 300 years earlier. But what of New France?
With the battle above Quebec City in 1759, the French lost their claim to Lower Canada, what is now Quebec, and some of the maritime provinces of Canada. They also lost their General Montcalm as did the British lose their General Wolf as described. This became British North America and eventually Canada today. The French hold on the Mississippi watershed lands from Michigan to Louisiana were always going to be hard to maintain. It was mostly land-locked and with little wealth to bring to France. It was at a time when France was focused on the domination of Europe under Napoleon. Consequently, they would not try to defend what was left of New France. Instead, they would make the best of it and sell the lands to the United States in 1803 for a familiar sum – 15 Million dollars.
Interestingly France did not really "own" all of this land, or any of it, depending on your outlook. It was mostly unsettled by the French and was populated by the original native tribes. But in any event, it was a bargain sale in terms of size. The Louisiana Purchase, as it was called, stretched from Louisiana north-west all the way to Montana, then eastward though the Dakotas to Minnesota and then south along the Mississippi through Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas. This was the end of New France in North America. Only the names of some cities remain as relics of the French years; Detroit, Chicago, Louisville, St Louis, New Orleans,
But what of the native tribes? We probably sense that they were the biggest losers in all of this. As had always been the case in these stories of colonial dominance.
First of all the tribes around the Great Lakes did join the British and Canadians in the War of 1812 and did play a significant role in defending what is Canada from the American invasion. They were promised the buffer lands around the Great Lakes as their reward. But they were not present at the negotiations that led to the end of the war with the Treaty of Utrecht. It was probably much easier for both warring sides to settle on peace with no change of borders, and to avoid the prospect of returning to conflict by signing the treaty.
The Canadian tribes were treated relatively fairly by the British during the 1800s. They were valued trading partners during this time. Now they either live the white man's way of life, or in one of several small reservations around the Great Lakes. In more recent times the story for many of them is not a happy story, but at least they can say their ancestors were not exterminated as happened elsewhere.
The Plains Indians had a different story. The story of the Lakota and their war leader Crazy Horse is as told. Sitting Bull, the Head Chief of the seven nations of the Lakota, did foresee the end of their way of life long before it was over. The end of the buffalo herds, the ever-increasing numbers of white settlers, roads and railroads, and their military protectors. He knew they would overwhelm his people in both numbers and weaponry. He did flee to Canada for a time after his victory over General Custer. He was there for some four years. But, while he was protected from the American forces seeking him, he was not offered land in a reservation. He returned and settled in a reservation in South Dakota where he died by the hand of one of his own during a dispute at age 82. The northern Plains Indians story turned out to be similar to the southern tribes of Georgia and the Carolinas. The only difference was it happened over time and was not a dictated retreat along the Trail of Tears as in the south.
I suppose the only chapter that ended much as it began and has no need for the Alternate History treatment is Canada. It begins as both French and British colonies. The British ousted the French in Quebec, but allowed the people to maintain their language and culture. They then expanded to the west. But the immigration did not demand vast areas of farming lands for settlers and instead much of these early years in the west were stories of the fur traders with outposts and trade routes all the way to the Rocky Mountains. The Americans in the west, unlike the time of the 1812 conflict, were satisfied and had their hands full populating and managing their vast acquisitions from Spain and France and this left what they would call the northern hinterlands free of their interest.
Canada slowly moved forward, not drawing attention from other nations, content to win its independence from Britain through negotiation, not rebellion, in 1867.
Of course the main fiction in the story is that New England was limited to the lands east of the Mississippi. The original colonies did in fact expand westward and in doing so pushed the native tribes beyond the Mississippi as described in the Trail of Tears book. After gaining independence from Britain, the new United States of America did acquire all of the lands to the Pacific mostly through the Louisiana Purchase from France and then the purchase of Alta California and New Mexico from Spain (Mexico) . Texas was invited to join the union; but only after Texas gained independence from Mexico as described with the defeat of Santa Anna at San Jacinto. And most interestingly, all of Santa Anna's life is as depicted. The only exception is that he lost the battles for California and New Mexico to the United States in the Mexican-American War, not to New Spain as depicted in the story.
So the last point of this story is an important one. If you are a person or group at a moment when history is being made – it matters not if you are right or wrong in your convictions, for the history books it only matters if you are a winner and not a loser.
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New America: How America Could Have Happened. An Alternate History
Ficção HistóricaWhat if North America today was divided up the way the original colonial powers had settled it. With the English all along the Atlantic coast. The French down the middle along the Mississippi watershed. The Spanish in the west all along the Pacifi...