Free The Dominion's Dilemma: The United States of British America by James F. Devine Page A

allegiance to the union. In his speech to the Mississippi Legislature last Spring, in which he raised the possibility of the Empire acquiring Texas…”
         More than one chuckle was heard and several amused faces turned to the Foreign Secretary, who shook his head with disgust.
    “...in that speech, General Jackson was subtly raising an issue that has become of paramount concern among the Southern upper classes: the gradual erosion of their political power in Georgetown. Look again at this map, if you would, gentlemen.” He walked over to the easel and picked up the pointer the Colonial Secretary had put down.
    Pointing to the southeast corner of the map, he continued: “Here the slave power thrives in a tightly-held area of 10 physically-connected states and two territories, Florida and Arkansas, soon to become states.  As the Dominion expands north and west,” he pushed the pointer past the center of the map, “we run out of territory where slavery is economically feasible. The weather in the still-to-be organized portions of the Louisiana Territory simply rules out slavery, for the most part. And that’s without knowing what crops are most suited for the soil there. As we go further northwest into the vast uncharted lands we call the Canadian West, slavery is completely out-of-the-question.
    “Yet these areas will also eventually be organized and will send representatives to Georgetown. Unless the slaveholders can similarly expand, they will become a permanent minority in Georgetown, with or without their current alliance with Quebec. And, they have come to realize that with the abolitionist movement steadily gaining strength in the Northeast and, more slowly, in the West, as a permanent minority, they may not be able to hold on to their ‘peculiar institution.’”
    Bratton paused again and glanced briefly at the Colonial Secretary, who smiled slightly and nodded for him to continue.
    “So Jackson’s suggestion that the Empire acquire Texas was not simply interference in foreign policy. It was the opening salvo in the Southerners’ drive to expand into areas where slavery makes sense: the lands stretching from Louisiana’s current border with Mexican Texas all the way to California.” The pointer pushed west from the Gulf of Mexico across to the Pacific.  “Lands that can be carved up into new slave states.
   “And add Cuba to the equation, which is the reason the Southern newspapers and orators have lately begun decrying Spanish ‘oppression’ of the native population.”
    There was complete silence in the room as the Committee members stared at the American Office official in shock and dismay. Silence, that is, until John Quincy Adams, of the Massachusetts’ Adamses, broke it with a loud clapping of his hands and a louder “Bravo.”
    While the other members of the Committee sat stunned as they tried to grasp the full implications of Bratton’s analysis, the British American took command of the meeting.
    “Gentlemen, I have been aware of General Jackson’s intentions even before his Mississippi speech. Unfortunately, due to my well-known personal apathy for the man, as well as my reputation as an abolitionist, to have raised the issues presented with such clarity just now by Mr. Bratton would have been counterproductive.
          “Now, having proven himself extremely knowledgeable in the political affairs of the USBA, I would like the young man’s opinion on the question originally posed him: what will happen when word of the emancipation bill reaches the USBA?”
     Bratton put on a face as grave as that of Adams himself. “I believe the Governor-General and the South will fight any emancipation of their slaves, with compensation or otherwise…to the fullest extent of their abilities and resources.”
     “Militarily, as well as politically?” Lord Durham probed.
     “To the fullest extent, including armed