Hi, folks. I was just looking thru some old historical documents for a TL I wanted to write, when I came across an old 1970s book about U.S. Presidential elections-I happened to read the 1848 entry and I found out a neat little tidbit: Zachary Taylor almost won the Whig nomination that year. Now, I'm fairly certain that at least some of us remember Lewis Cass, who actually attempted, even if only somewhat half-heartedly, to counter the ever-increasing ambitions of the Slave Power, or at least it's most onerous branches, but failed to do so; the Democratic Party nearly destroyed itself in the process, as the conservative Southerners blatantly obstructed nearly every policy initiative he signed after he spoke out in favor of the Dred Scott decision(and it didn't help that Vice-President Pierce often bent over backwards to give them what they wanted-the Runaway Registration Act of 1858 only passed thanks to him), even if more out of a sense of respecting the wishes of the residents of free states, rather than seeking to punish the slave states.
Now, here's the thing: Clay, by 1848, was starting to become an open Free Soiler, whereas Taylor, from what we know, had preferred legislative compromise to deal with slavery and was not particularly in favor of either of the two sides, but only lost because of his indecisiveness in regards to dealing with the former Mexican territories. If Taylor had won the nomination, and had been elected, how could American history have changed?
Would the Republicans still have had to wait until 1860 to get the White House as in OTL, when Abraham Lincoln was elected in a relative near landslide? Or could butterflies have allowed a Fremont victory in 1856?(he only narrowly lost IOTL) Would Texas have still tried to stay in the Union(which, despite Gov. Houston's initial popularity, ended up devolving into a state of civil strife), especially if Cass were still elected as per OTL? Or could they have also seceded whole hog with the rest of the South, especially if Cass's term were to be butterflied(Cass, though not friendly to the planters', was still seen as a sympathetic figure by many poor whites in a good chunk of the South, Texas included)?
(P.S. I am very much reminded, btw, of that epic classic collab TL, The Story of a Nation, which I contributed to a few times some years ago; it had both Lincoln as President, and a wholly Confederate Texas. Link's here, if you'd like to see it.)
OOC: POD is definitely sometime in the 1840s prior to the 1848 election, but I'm not certain of the 1847 POD I'd originally thought of was necessarily 100% sufficient, so any suggestions are appreciated.
Also, Dred Scott turned out in the completely opposite way that it did IOTL, thanks to Roger Taney's death in 1851 ITTL(John McLean became Chief Justice afterwards)-here, the Court actually ruled, 5-4, that because Scott had gone to Illinois, where slavery was illegal, he was therefore, a free man, because he stepped onto free soil: John Campbell was not appointed in this world, and Justices Grier and Nelson were actually fairly pliable here.
Now, here's the thing: Clay, by 1848, was starting to become an open Free Soiler, whereas Taylor, from what we know, had preferred legislative compromise to deal with slavery and was not particularly in favor of either of the two sides, but only lost because of his indecisiveness in regards to dealing with the former Mexican territories. If Taylor had won the nomination, and had been elected, how could American history have changed?
Would the Republicans still have had to wait until 1860 to get the White House as in OTL, when Abraham Lincoln was elected in a relative near landslide? Or could butterflies have allowed a Fremont victory in 1856?(he only narrowly lost IOTL) Would Texas have still tried to stay in the Union(which, despite Gov. Houston's initial popularity, ended up devolving into a state of civil strife), especially if Cass were still elected as per OTL? Or could they have also seceded whole hog with the rest of the South, especially if Cass's term were to be butterflied(Cass, though not friendly to the planters', was still seen as a sympathetic figure by many poor whites in a good chunk of the South, Texas included)?
(P.S. I am very much reminded, btw, of that epic classic collab TL, The Story of a Nation, which I contributed to a few times some years ago; it had both Lincoln as President, and a wholly Confederate Texas. Link's here, if you'd like to see it.)
OOC: POD is definitely sometime in the 1840s prior to the 1848 election, but I'm not certain of the 1847 POD I'd originally thought of was necessarily 100% sufficient, so any suggestions are appreciated.
Also, Dred Scott turned out in the completely opposite way that it did IOTL, thanks to Roger Taney's death in 1851 ITTL(John McLean became Chief Justice afterwards)-here, the Court actually ruled, 5-4, that because Scott had gone to Illinois, where slavery was illegal, he was therefore, a free man, because he stepped onto free soil: John Campbell was not appointed in this world, and Justices Grier and Nelson were actually fairly pliable here.
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