Editor says, what if Andrew Jackson had spent 1815 chasing Indians around Florida? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the May 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.

Share this Article on:

Facebook

Twitter

Editor says, in this article we explore a point of divergence with Scott Palter, Robbie Taylor and Jeff Provine. We also repurpose content from Wikipedia.

Jared Myers commented on 2012-04-13 02:24:15 ~ Intriguing, that's for sure -- but I'm not sure the racial barriers (for that time) would have garnered enough votes for Santa Anna to win the Presidency.

Robbie Taylor commented on 2012-04-13 06:32:20 ~ Racial barriers, nothing - he wasn't born in the US. If you think the current birther nonsense is ridiculous, this would have been apocalyptic!

Eric Lipps commented on 2012-05-29 12:06:20 ~ I think that's what ws meant by the reference to "obscuring his place of birth." Even so, a Santa Anna presidency seems unlikely; at that point in history, the White House was closed to everyone but northern/central European-derived Protestants, and an ex-Catholic would likely have been seen by many voters as faking his religious conversion on orders from his Church to put an agent of the Pope in the presidency. This was an wera of frantic anti-Catholicism beside which what JFK had to cotend with in 1960 was nothing.

Jeff Provine commented on 2012-05-29 18:16:32 ~ One thing he might've done to overcome racial issues would be to change his name, most likely "Louis St. Ann" if he's Louisianan. If he could rally enough military success in the War of 1812, there could be hope of presidency, though I think Congress would be happiest if he was sent West to fight Indians for expanding imperialism. He would be all for conquering Mexico rather than just forcing the treaty for the Southwest.

Mike McIlvain commented on 2013-02-21 03:40:05 ~ At some point he could have also recklessly taken U.S. forces into a conquest mode, and made life miserable, or short, for a lot of people. Much safer if sent west, and not exposed to attacking Europe, and other places.

Jackie Rose commented on 2013-02-21 12:05:16 ~ But then there would have been no Alamo, where Santa Anna was on the wrong side. Since the Alamo helped inspire both Easter Week in Ireland and the Warsaw Ghetto uprising...as an example of a doomed but glorious cause...its absence might have changed history for the worse. Just for starters, the Irish Republic would not exist.