Eighteen Eighty Four: Rise of AmCap

The 1880's of USA Inc. is electric!

Unconstitutionality and Confederation (1791-1837)

In 1791, the Federalist Alexander Hamilton's National Bank was deemed unconstitutional by a Republican controlled Supreme Court and is never brought to fruition. In the Jeffersonian era, the presidencies of Thomas Jefferson from 1801-1809, James Madison from 1809-1817, James Monroe from 1817-1825, John Quincy Adams from 1825-1829, and Andrew Jackson from 1829-1837 further limited what the national government was allowed to do, slowly turning the federal republic of the United States into a confederate republic. The now confederation of the United States included Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, and the national capital of Washington, DC (which wasn’t a state, but was a part of Virginia and Maryland, which meant that Virginia and Maryland shared joint jurisdiction over DC). The Second Great Awakening further strengthened the Protestant/Puritan work ethic and the free enterprise system of economy. Thomas Jefferson’s presidency began the long, slow transition to a confederate republic for the US. The main major accomplishment of the Jefferson administration was the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The purchase includes the modern states and parts of modern states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. The US state of Minnesota and the Canadian states of Alberta and Saskatchewan would be fully acquired by the United States during the War of 1811, while Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Montana, South Dakota, and North Dakota would be fully acquired during both the Mexican-American War and westward expansion in 1837 alongside California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.  

Expansion and Slavery (1811-1867)

The War of 1811 during James Madison’s administration against British-controlled Canada turned into a 10-year cold war. Fraught with other military matters elsewhere in the world, particularly with Napoleon, the British Empire decides to sell the French half of Canada to the United States in 1821 during James Monroe’s administration. This passes in the Senate, and the United States more than doubles its area in size. The purchase is split into about 12 territories (which include Ontario, Quebec, Labrador, Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota) for future statehood. Quebec's application for statehood is quickly accepted. John Quincy Adams’ administration was ultimately a quiet presidency, without a lot of major accomplishments. The Mexican-American War from 1834-1837 during Andrew Jackson’s administration, made famous because of the defense of the Alamo by the independent Texans and that it occurred simultaneously with the Texas Revolution, gave the United States the whole of Mexico, divided into 29 territories, which are now states. These territories include Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuilla, Veracruz, Sonora, Mexico City, Yucatán, Chiapas, Texas, California, Oregon, Washington, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, and Florida. There is talk of an "American Empire" in other parts of the world, especially in Europe. The slave issue was relegated an issue of the state government by the federal government. The Union is preserved through political maneuvering, though tensions are still high. However, Civil War was averted, and the North largely ignored the slavery in the South to avoid raising tensions. This show of power by individual states make some term the states "sovereignties", and sometimes "Sovereignties", to show that they now hold more sway over their areas than the national government and thus countries in their own right. This means also, that West Virginia is still a part of Virginia to this very day, and President Abraham Lincoln lives longer than in OTL. The reason that the Civil War was averted is a force that had been gaining tremendous power in the North: the corporation. A result of advanced and unfettered capitalism, the North entered a state of technological advancement the world had never seen before. The South struggled in its dated agriculturally-based economy. But the free enterprise system is not only limited in the North. Soon, entrepreneurs all over the South built corporations of the Industrial Age. The slave owners gradually lost power over time. The aerocraft, a flying steam vehicle, was invented in 1854. It became a tool for exploration of the expansion. In 1860, electric generators now generated power to the growing Northern cities. In the South, each plantation came to have their own electric generator to operate machinery. On April 15, 1865, because of the speeches of Lincoln, all Southern states abolished slavery, except as a method of criminal punishment. Slaves were no longer needed for the most part, efficient farming machinery operated by a one person became widespread. Steam tractors and plows multiplied the South's agricultural output. In turn, more and more of the populace began to dwell in the urban areas.  

International Capitalism and Incorporation (1867-1916)

In 1867, Karl Marx publishes "Das Kapital". But he praises what Capitalism has done instead of degrading it, as in this timeline. He inspires a generation of radical entrepreneurs. Karl Marx dies a rich factory owner. The more industrialized nation began expanding in three prongs: northwards to Canada, southwards to Mexico, and westward to the untamed wilderness. City building is rapid and accompanied by quick advances in technology. Needing a communications network between their polises, the corporations of the sovereignties built telegraph and the newly-invented telephone networks. As the corporations grew in power, it was just logical that their power structures limit the governments. In 1878, the United States national government was incorporated (jokingly referred to as “USA Inc.”). It still functions as a intermediary between state governments, and the sovereignties maintained the power in their borders. The incorporated National Government is still the only power legally able to perform diplomatic relations with foreign nations, inter-state law enforcement, and since it is incorporated to make profits, no taxation. The government is now run by the citizens as they invest in it as any corporation. The voting system is overhauled. All citizens can still vote for the House of Representatives and the electoral college for the President, however, the Senate is voted on by investing in government stock. The electoral college votes using the sovereignties investments and stock in the government for the President. Afraid of the rapid technological change, the Neo-Luddite Party is formed. Initially, their main base of support are farmers. They prove to be unpopular in the long run as they turned radical. They are responsible for some terrorist acts, including 9/11. Because of the exponential automation and rapid entrepreneurship, an interesting side effect is revealed. Urbanization gave way to massive suburbanization, and even ruralization of families. Most, if not each small town and community has a capitalist bringing in money from the outside. By 1884, Europe is fraught into a war by pro-Capitalist and pro-Socialist groups. The Socialists push for government acquisition of property. Five years later, in 1889, the pro-Capitalists win the war, thus further solidifying capitalism's grip on the world and pushing socialism to the fringes of economic thought.  Generation of electricity by hydroelectric and alternative means has become so efficient that fossil fuels lost their appeal in their discovery, although some applications, such as chemical synthesis of plastic substances, use the petroleum. In 1902, atmospheric space travel is invented. By 1916, Railgun technology, not only for military means, becomes practical and mobile enough to be used by civilians.    

Further Technological Advances (1916-1920)

After the innovations of space travel and railguns, USA Inc. makes rapid technological advances that shock the world and make the world 100 years more advanced than in OTL. The Ford Motor Company, for example, in 1917, invents flying versions of its revolutionary Model T. This transforms the way that automobile travel is done, with most people preferring flying in the sky in their cars rather than traveling on the failing roads. Eventually, from 1918-1920, USA Inc. makes improvements to the American roads, with President Woodrow Wilson creating interstate highways with the cooperation of the corporations of the sovereignties. These highways eventually make land automobile travel equal with its aerial counterpart.  

Prosperity and Political Controversy (1920-2020)

In 1929, in a decade of prosperity for USA Inc. (or AmCap, which is the official name of the national corporation) from 1920-1929 and the corporations of the sovereignties, the Great Depression is averted, continuing what would ultimately be 30 years of prosperity until 1950, when the US enters into a slight recession. The Great Depression is avoided because of the power of the corporations. The United States acquires Alaska from Russia in 1953, and Hawaii in 1955, which become states. In 2000, with the world 200 years more advanced technologically then in OTL, one of the most contentious elections in US history occurs, between George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore. Al Gore wins the popular vote, but Bush wins the electoral vote. Just a few weeks after the elections, Florida is given to Bush because of the majority conservative population. Left-leaning shareholders are furious, with some threatening to sell their shares in the government. On September 11, 2001, the radicals of the Neo-Luddite Party hijack two planes and fly them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, while a third plane hijacked by another radical of the Neo-Luddite Party crash-lands in a field in Pennsylvania en route to Washington, DC. As a result of the attacks, the Neo-Luddite Party is outlawed, and all members of the party are jailed. In 2016, another contentious election occurs, between Republican candidate Donald J. Trump and Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders. Sanders is seen by right-wing shareholders as a threat to the corporation of AmCap and the corporations of the different sovereignties. Sanders is a democratic socialist, in the same line of the European socialists from the 1880s, meaning that his possible election could have been the end of the American corporation. Sanders rails against the power of the corporations. Trump, meanwhile, wants to preserve AmCap and the corporations of the sovereignties. Trump wins the electoral vote with 312 electoral votes to Sanders' 266 electoral votes. Sanders, however, wins the popular vote, 55 percent to 45 percent. The election comes down this time to Virginia, which in a shocking turn of events, is given to Trump due to the decline of Democratic Northern Virginia. The western counties of Virginia (OTL West Virginia) served as an effective buffer to the Democratic “blue wall” of Northern Virginia, which reduced the Democrats‘ power in Virginia, and also elected Trump-supporting Republican Corey Stewart as the governor in 2017. Most left-leaning shareholders, most of them being “Bernie Bros,” decide to sell their shares in AmCap, as well as state and local governments, not interested in AmCap being now run by President Trump. After the controversial 2016 election, a sweeping political change coined as the “MAGA Revolution” starts, with Trump-supporting Republicans winning very large majorities in all states, and even supermajorities in states that elected Trump. This would happen at all levels of government, in the national government, as well as state and local governments. Trump-supporting Republicans became governors, state legislators, county executives and city mayors, and even non-partisan school boards had Trump supporters in the majority! The 2018 midterm elections saw more of the same, as the already very large Republican majority grew into a supermajority in both the House and the Senate. Representative Steve Scalise, who was almost fatally shot by a mentally ill Sanders supporter in 2016, became the new Speaker of the House after the midterms, while Senator Mitch McConnell stayed as the Senate Majority Leader. This is also due to most of the left-leaning shareholders in the national government, as well as state and local governments, selling all of their shares in the governments because of their dissatisfaction with President Trump. As of 2020, the world is 250 years more advanced than in OTL, AmCap is still a corporation, and the corporations of the sovereignties still exist. Also, the United States is still a confederate republic, with independent sovereignties and a limited national government that loosely unites the sovereignties into a nation.