 Cover of the book 1824: The Arkansas War | |
| Author | Eric Flint |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Trail of Glory series |
| Genre | Alternate history |
| Publisher | Del Rey |
Publication date | November 28, 2006 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 427 (hardback edition) |
| ISBN | 0-345-46569-5 (hardback edition) |
| OCLC | 69734649 |
| 813/.54 22 | |
| LC Class | PS3556.L548 A6187 2006 |
| Preceded by | 1812: The Rivers of War |
1824: The Arkansas War is a 2006 alternate history novel by American writer Eric Flint. [1]
The story takes place in 1824 and 1825, ten years after 1812: The Rivers of War . The United States, under the influence of Sam Houston, a Special Commissioner for Indian Affairs, has signed a treaty with the southern Indian tribes that establishes a confederacy of chiefdoms in the territory that in our timeline is composed of the state of Arkansas west of the Red River and the state of Oklahoma without the Panhandle, roughly the boundaries of the historical Arkansas Territory. As a result, the tribes of the Southern United States, particularly the Cherokee, have willingly left the Southeastern United States with their wealth and power intact, as opposed to their eventual and devastating forced removal in 1838 in our timeline.
Shortly thereafter, in Louisiana, Henry Crowell, a free black man and one of the officers of the Iron Battalion who won the Battle of the Mississippi, which in the novel was the battle that saved New Orleans from the British in January 1815, offended the local Creole leadership by courting a Creole woman. Slavecatchers waylaid Crowell and castrated him. In revenge, the Iron Battalion mobilized, destroyed the homes of the Creole leadership, and smashed the Louisiana militia who came after them to suppress "servile rebellion" that is later referred to as the "Algiers incident". Shortly afterwards, Crowell and the Iron Battalion moved to Arkansas.
The easternmost chiefdom, Arkansas, is ruled by Patrick Driscol, who is nicknamed the "Laird of Arkansas" and was once the brigade master sergeant under Winfield Scott during the Niagara Campaign. Arkansas banned slavery and quickly became a magnet for freedmen throughout the United States, who are forced to leave their home states by the influence of men like Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, who make the states pass Freedmen Exclusion Acts.
As the book begins, one such family, the Parker family, leaves Baltimore, Maryland, after the head of the household is killed by a mob of whites. They are stopped on the Ohio River by slavecatchers, who plan to take them before a partial judge, have them declared runaway slaves, and sold into bondage. However, before the slavecatchers can haul the Parkers away, a party of abolitionists, led by John Brown and his brother Solomon Brown, intervenes, and the family is able to continue its journey.
Flag of the "Arkansas Army"When the Parkers arrive in New Antrim, the capital of Arkansas, they learn that Crowell's bank will lend the family money to start again if the men join the Arkansas Army. Sheffield Parker and his uncle Jem enlist and undergo a rigorous training regimen. Meanwhile, Clay secretly finances an expedition, led by Robert Crittenden,, to attack Arkansas. The expedition fails, but Clay uses this failure as a lever to become the new President of the United States after James Monroe. Soon, Houston's wife, Maria, gets accidentally shot by an assassin from Georgia, who was aiming for Houston himself in retaliation for his liberal views on race. Houston and his son Andrew Jackson Houston leave for Arkansas to aid Driscol and Ross in coming war with the United States.
The novel ends in 1825, with the United States going to war against Arkansas (as an AU of the real American Civil War). Meanwhile, a varied group of politicians, led by the losers in the election of 1824, John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, meet to create a new political party that will both oppose and defeat Clay and work for an eventual end to slavery in all states after Clay's presidential term is finished.
John Quincy Adams was an American statesman, politician, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States secretary of state from 1817 to 1825. During his long diplomatic and political career, Adams served as an ambassador and also as a member of the United States Congress representing Massachusetts in both chambers. He was the eldest son of John Adams, who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801, and First Lady Abigail Adams. Initially a Federalist like his father, he won election to the presidency as a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, and later, in the mid-1830s, became affiliated with the Whig Party.
The 1824 United States presidential election was the tenth quadrennial presidential election. It was held from Tuesday, October 26 to Thursday, December 2, 1824. Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay and William Crawford were the primary contenders for the presidency. The result of the election was inconclusive, as no candidate won a majority of the electoral vote. In the election for vice president, John C. Calhoun was elected with a comfortable majority of the vote. Because none of the candidates for president garnered an electoral vote majority, the U.S. House of Representatives, under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment, held a contingent election. On February 9, 1825, the House voted to elect John Quincy Adams as president, ultimately giving the election to him.
The 1832 United States presidential election was the 12th quadrennial presidential election, held from Friday, November 2 to Wednesday, December 5, 1832. Incumbent president Andrew Jackson, candidate of the Democratic Party, defeated Henry Clay, candidate of the National Republican Party.
Henry Clay Sr. was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. He was the seventh House speaker as well as the ninth secretary of state. He unsuccessfully ran for president in the 1824, 1832, and 1844 elections. He helped found both the National Republican Party and the Whig Party. For his role in defusing sectional crises, he earned the appellation of the "Great Compromiser" and was part of the "Great Triumvirate" of Congressmen, alongside fellow Whig Daniel Webster and Democrat John C. Calhoun.
Samuel Houston was an American general and statesman who played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two individuals to represent Texas in the United States Senate. He also served as the sixth governor of Tennessee and the seventh governor of Texas, the only individual to be elected governor of two different states in the United States.
This section of the timeline of United States history concerns events from 1820 to 1859.
John Jordan Crittenden was an American statesman and politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He represented the state in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and twice served as United States Attorney General in the administrations of William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, and Millard Fillmore. He was also the 17th governor of Kentucky and served in the state legislature. Although frequently mentioned as a potential candidate for the U.S. presidency, he never consented to run for the office.
Three events in American political history have been called a corrupt bargain: the 1824 United States presidential election, the Compromise of 1877, and Gerald Ford's 1974 pardon of Richard Nixon.
The following are events from the year 1825 in the United States.
Events from the year 1824 in the United States.
Events from the year 1828 in the United States.
Events from the year 1830 in the United States.
Events from the year 1832 in the United States.
Robert Perkins Letcher was a politician and lawyer from the US state of Kentucky. He served as a U.S. Representative, Minister to Mexico, and the 15th Governor of Kentucky. He also served in the Kentucky General Assembly where he was Speaker of the House in 1837 and 1838. A strong supporter of the Whig Party, he was a friend of Henry Clay and John J. Crittenden.
The presidency of John Quincy Adams, began on March 4, 1825, when John Quincy Adams was inaugurated as President of the United States, and ended on March 4, 1829. Adams, the sixth United States president, took office following the 1824 presidential election, in which he and three other Democratic-Republicans—Henry Clay, William H. Crawford, and Andrew Jackson—sought the presidency. Adams was not a strong president, and he was under continuous attack from Jackson who easily defeated him in the 1828 presidential election.
In Missouri, the 1824 United States presidential election resulted in the state's electoral college votes going to Henry Clay, but then its vote in the House of Representatives contingent election going to the eventual winner, John Quincy Adams. In the 1824 presidential election, five major candidates emerged: Clay, Adams, Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford, and John C. Calhoun, although Calhoun dropped out to run for the vice presidency. In the new state of Missouri, Crawford had little support, Clay was the popular favorite, Jackson was popular in rural areas, and Adams had some support in urban areas, particularly St. Louis. Clay won the popular vote, with Jackson second, Adams third, and Crawford fourth, and Clay received Missouri's three votes in the electoral college.
The inauguration of John Quincy Adams as the sixth president of the United States took place on Friday, March 4, 1825, in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The inauguration marked the commencement of the only four-year term of John Quincy Adams as president and the first term of John C. Calhoun as vice president. Adams was the first president to have been the son of a former president–John Adams; and Calhoun, at age 42 on Inauguration Day, was the second-youngest vice president.
Events from the year 1818 in the United States.
The 1824 United States elections elected the members of the 19th United States Congress. It marked the end of the Era of Good Feelings and the First Party System. The divided outcome in the 1824 presidential contest reflected the renewed partisanship and emerging regional interests that defined a fundamentally changed political landscape. The bitterness that followed the election ensured political divisions would be long-lasting and facilitated the gradual emergence of what would eventually become the Second Party System. Members of the Democratic-Republican Party continued to maintain a dominant role in federal politics, but the party became factionalized between supporters of Andrew Jackson and supporters of John Quincy Adams. The Federalist Party ceased to function as a national party, having fallen into irrelevance following a relatively strong performance in 1812.