Union and Liberty

Union and Liberty is an Alternate History timeline written by wilcoxchar and hosted on AlternateHistory.com. It can be read here.

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 1890s, but the author has stated that he plans on keeping up until the modern day.


 * Abraham Lincoln: That's Chief Supreme Court Justice Lincoln to you.
 * 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
 * The American Civil War: Between the USA and the Confederacy, but with a few differences. It's also called the National War in this timeline.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * The Irish Diaspora: Made much worse by a more conservative Britain that is trying even harder to push the Gaels out of Ireland.
 * Istanbul (Not Constantinople): Many examples, including San Francisco remains being called Yerba Buena.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: It covers world history for over half a century.
 * 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.
 * The Pope: Two of them now. One in Rome and one in Mexico.
 * Put on a Bus: Vice President James A. Bayard becomes ill and is never mentioned again.
 * Queen Victoria: It is the 1800s, after all.
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
 * 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?


 * Berserk Button: "Don't call me Teddy."
 * Bomb-Throwing Anarchists: They attack the presidential airship.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: Cornelius Vanderbilt.
 * Fountain of Youth
 * Island Base: Vanderbilt's island in Lake Nicaragua.
 * Queen Victoria: Found the Fountain of Youth.
 * 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.