| February 5 |  |
Editor says, what if liberty had failed in 1776? muses Eric Lipps. 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 February 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1844, debate begins in British Parliament over the Colonial Reform Act.
Championed by Daniel Webster of the Massachusetts colonial legislature (pictured), the Act proposes that the American colonies be granted representation in the House of Commons.
Colonial Reform Act of 1844Webster points out that a battle cry of the original American rebellion was "taxation without representation" and asks Parliament to pass the Act "in the interests alike of common fairness and the national tranquility, which can only be fostered by a sense that colonist and home islander alike share common rights as Englishmen".
Peel observes that both the general colonial revolt of the 1770s and the Southern rebellion of 1838-41 arose from a sense on the part of those involved that, without representation, they had no such options; as evidence, he reminds his listeners that one of the key slogans of the first rebellion was "No taxation without representation".
This post is an article from the Liberty Fails thread.
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Eric Lipps
© Today in Alternate History, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Liberty Fails Source: Wikipedia Labels: Daniel Webster, America, Slavery, Georgia, Andrew Jackson.
~ I don't see a "Southern rebellion" happening, since there was strong Tory/Loyalist influence in the South during the American Revolution.
~ The problem with North American representation in Westminster was one of distance more than anything else. It took weeks, at least, to cross the Atlantic. Maybe after the transatlantic cables had made telegraphic service possible...
~ No Comment
~ Many colonial empires did allow this, Spain for example.
It would totally solve the problem s of the Imperial Zollverein and and Imperial Federation campaigners 40 years later in OTL, Chamberlain and Rosebery and others.
~ The Southern Rebellion in this timeline followed Britain's deecision in the 1830s to abolish slavery throughout its empire, as it also did in our history. The South would have been no more likely to quietly accept Negro emancipation from London than from Washington.
~ Several sectors of the British Empire (particularly those under the East India Company) got exemption from the slavery abolition for decades after. Also, many received compensation for "lost property" as slavery was abolished. Wonder how many Southerners were excited just to get the check (cheque)?
© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
