Union and Liberty is an Alternate History timeline written by wilcoxchar and hosted on AlternateHistory.com. It can be read here
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The timeline diverges from our history with Andrew Jackson adding a minor promise of lower tariffs in the 1828 presidential campaign. The official point of divergence occurs in 1830, when in a speech Vice President John C. Calhoun makes a toast "to the Union and liberty, our most dear" where in our history Calhoun said "to the Union; next to liberty, the most dear." Because of this, the rift that arose between Jackson and Calhoun during the Nullification Crisis is averted and Jackson keeps Calhoun on as his Vice President in the 1832 election. The timeline goes on from there and is written in the style of a history book, with short updates on various events around the world. Currently the timeline is up to the 1910s, but the author has stated that he plans on keeping up until the modern day.
This work contains examples of:
- Abraham Lincoln: That's Chief Supreme Court Justice Lincoln to you.
- The Alliance: The Lega del Mediterraneo is one against the the expansionist France.
- Allohistorical Allusion: Samuel Clemens writes memoirs of his time as captain of the steamship Proud Mary, which sails between Memphis and New Orleans.
- Alternate History
- Balkanize Me: Happens to Mexico and the Austrian Empire.
- Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Justified, since the timeline diverged in the early 1800s. Cameras and photography are luceptors and luzography, for one.
- Egopolis: Various states in the United States are named after people, including Jackson, Kearny, and Winfield.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: The Confederate States, while keeping slavery, has Hispanics in high positions. Better still is Judah P. Benjamin, a Jew, who is elected president of the Confederacy.
- For Want Of A Nail: The point of divergence is a subtle campaign promise, and a change of a single phrase in a speech.
- Gratuitous Spanish: With increased Spanish immigration in the United States, there are more Spanish loanwords. Like "goberitos", meaning warlords.
- Historical In-Joke: Karl Marx becomes an actual socialist revolutionary in Austria, alongside the grandfather of Friedrich von Hayek.
- Istanbul (Not Constantinople): Many examples, including San Francisco remains being called Yerba Buena.
- The Mentor: The Republicans see Levi Morton as this for William Jennings Bryan in the 1896 election.
- One Nation Under Copyright: The Hudson Bay Company has a rather large influence over the New Caledonia government.
- Our Presidents Are Different: Andrew Johnson is President Action during the National War and leads a campaign to try and capture Richmond after the Confederates massacred Greeneville, Tennessee.
- Peace Conference: The Berlin Conference to put an end to the European Wars.
- Put on a Bus: Vice President James A. Bayard becomes ill and is never mentioned again.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Jefferson Davis and Verarcuz when it is clear the Confederacy will lose.
- Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: To be expected, but some of the more extreme examples are Senator and Vice Presidential candidate Walt Whitman and retail store magnate Paul Gauguin.
- Shown Their Work
- Show Within a Show: The adventure serial, The Undisclosed Adventures of Theodore Roosevelt.
- What If?: What if the Nullification Crisis had been avoided and Andrew Jackson kept Calhoun as his Vice President?
Examples found in the in-universe series "The Undisclosed Adventures of Theodore Roosevelt":
- Berserk Button: "Don't call me Teddy."
- Bomb-Throwing Anarchists: They attack the presidential airship. Of course, since the President is Theodore Roosevelt, they are soundly defeated.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Cornelius Vanderbilt.
- Fountain of Youth: The British discover one and use it to make Queen Victoria young and attractive again. Roosevelt comes too late to prevent her depression, but proves to be very attracted to her new form, with the feeling appearing to be mutual.
- Island Base: Vanderbilt's island in Lake Nicaragua.
- Supervillain Lair: Cornelius Vanderbilt's base in the first story is in a volcanic island.
- Two-Fisted Tales
- Verbal Tic: Vanderbilt slips into a Dutch accent when he's angry.
- Zeppelins from Another World: The official presidential dirigible, Airship One.
