Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM

Texas über Alles

The German Texas Timeline

This is quite obviously inspired by the Scotsman article on the Adelsverein linked by Christopher Nuttall in the Changing the Times mailing list. Interpretations are my own; in particular, I haven’t done any real research into why the Adelsverein could or couldn’t have been established earlier. Criticisms, particularly of that point, will be taken with as much resignation as the author can muster.

1836 The Republic of Texas is declared. Houston defeats Santa Ana at San Jacinto, establishing Texan independence.

1837 The Adelsverein, an association nominally devoted to the colonization of Texas by German refugees, and with an actual aim of those colonists dominating Texas, is formed (PoD: the Adelsverein was actually founded some years later).

1837-1842 Some 8,000 German colonists, theoretically refugees fleeing political and economic oppression in Germany, in actuality mostly aristocrats and military officers, go to Texas. The German element makes up some 20% of the population of Texas by the end of this period; already, there is considerable natural friction with the American and Mexican elements.

At the same time, there are difficulties between the U.S. and Canada (Caroline affair, Aroostook County War). The British government comes to believe that a German-dominated Republic of Texas would provide a useful counterweight to the U.S. in North America.

1842 German coup in Houston (9 August). The government (such as it is) of Texas is quickly overcome, and the Texas Rangers dispersed. A new constitution is promulgated; a strong presidency is created, appointing a chancellor not responsible and having the power to issue ordinances with force of law when the legislature is not in session. The Landsrat is organized with two houses; the upper house (Hochhaus) is envisioned as the bulwark of a landed aristocracy (not yet in existence), the lower house (Volkshaus) is nominally elected by weighted universal suffrage. In fact, literacy requirements and frank discrimination exclude both Americans and Mexicans from it. U.S. outrage is transformed to enforced sullenness when British approval of and support for the new regime become manifest.

Friedrich von Radowitz elected first president of the new State of Texas (Zustand von Texas). Although constitutionally he has near-absolute power, he is in fact dominated by a group of officers and nobles (Herrenclique).

1842-1847 An additional 16,000 German “colonists” sent over; the pretext of their being refugees is dropped.

1848-1849 Liberal revolution, eventually suppressed, in Germany. The right-wing government of Texas is nonplussed at the prospect of being swamped by genuine refugees, liberal and bourgeois, and mandates measures, largely successful, at preventing them from entering Texas. A result of this concern is a rapprochement with the Mexican element in Texas, now informally admitted as a “junior partner” in the power structure.

Additionally, the issue of runaway slaves (largely from Arkansas) is perforce dealt with. Although despised by the aristocratic German element as near-savages, they are also seen as a counterweight to the (largely southern) white American element in Texas, which also despises them. Hitherto held in near-serfdom (although nominally free, as the Texas constitution did not allow slavery), their oppression is eased (although legally and socially they are not acknowledged as equals). A population of “Schwartzvolk” rapidly grows up in and around Houston and Galveston, acquiring considerable wealth and culture (origin of Seidets musical form, called “the authentic voice of Texas”).

1849-1852 Texan-Mexican War. Inappropriate expressions of sympathy in Mexico City for the liberal revolution in Germany, combined with insistence on viewing Texas as “a rebellious state” (the latter undoubtedly having given rise to the former), had irritated the Houston government for months. The matter was brought to a head by the declaration of Mexican president Martinez that “the Revolution will return to Germany from America[1], and flow back from there to crush the rebels of Texas”. Radowitz demanded apologies and a formal repudiation of this language; when demand was spurned, the Landtag declared war on Mexico. Despite incompetent Mexican leadership, the disparity in numbers (the population of Texas was still under 70,000) might have resulted in them swamping the Texans, had it not been for British aid.

1849 California Republic declared (4 July). It was almost immediately recognized by the U.K. and, shortly thereafter, by the U.S.

1850 Clayton-Lytton Treaty establishes a U.S.-U.K. (effectively Canadian) condominium in the Oregon Territory (British Columbia, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho) for thirty years.

1851 The Landsrat declared the official status of a “municipal nobility” (Burgherren) administering villages; nominally to save local governments the trouble of supporting themselves, this was in fact a means of giving magisterial authority to large landowners.

1852 Wilhelm von Vincke, president of Texas.

1853 Treaty of Ciudad de los Hidalgos; New Mexico, Sonora, Chihuahua, and Tamaulipas ceded to Texas. Texas, in turn, somewhat reluctantly recognized California (including Baja California). The Mexican government reconstituted itself at Vera Cruz, henceforth the de facto capital of Mexico. The treaty did not define the border between Texas and California.

1853-1857 Southerners, seeing their hopes for the expansion of slavery decisively blocked by Texas, agitated for a “special status” for their states under the U.S. Constitution.

1854 An amendment to the Texas constitution definitely gave the new nobility (Landmeister and Burgmeister) control of the Hochhaus (16 members elected for seven years, the term of the Volkshaus, and 28 members elected for life, versus only four members elected by the Volkshaus)

1855 Another amendment definitely established the principle of freedom of the press, although it was ignored by the government. However, that amendment also definitely acknowledged the government’s power to control physical assembly.

1856 Landmeister Wilhelm von Lichnowsky zu Nassau, president.

1857-1873 American Civil War. Texas and the U.K. declared themselves armed neutrals, although Texan (and to a lesser extent British) sympathy was with the Confederacy, as yet another check on American power. Californian sympathy, on the other hand, was clearly Unionist, but it was unable to intervene.

Southern military ability appeared to be sufficient to give the Confederacy victory at first; Fox’s seizure of Washington (May 1858) seemed to European observers to presage an end to the war. However, the Union commander Scott and his field general Lee maintained a presence in the field even after the flight of the Union government to Cincinnati; gradually, Northern numbers began to tell, as the South pursued a seemingly promising strategy of “victory in the field”. The Emancipation Proclamation of President Joseph Bell (Jan, 5, 1863), promising freedom to Southern slaves and the confiscated property of their (still undefeated) masters, the brilliant victory of Lee over the over-extended Clinton at Wheeling (Feb. 1-3, 1863), and the end of infiltration of arms by von Vogt (ordinance of February 8, 1863) may be seen as the turning points of the war. Although Lee (appointed overall commander after Scott’s death in 1864) and his subordinates Fisher and Winchester destroyed organized military resistance at Bentonville in April 1866, guerilla war, “bushwhacking”, and terrorism (Knights of the Fiery Cross, White Brethren) continued until the “Scouring of the South” under Gaines effectively impoverished the Southern states.

1859 Appointment of Albrecht von Hõlderlin as Texan minister of war. His appointment, and with it his demands for reform and the monies to pay for them, opened a struggle between the president (and the Herrenclique), acting as the Republican Party, and the new nobility (which now started to include the Mexican element), acting as the Nationalist Party. The Landsrat, and particularly the Hochhaus, insisted that it had the sole constitutional right to vote and direct the use of appropriations; the president, as commander-in-chief, insisted on his power to direct the use of, and if necessary raise, funds intended for the army.

1861 Tripartite expedition (U.K., France, Spain) seizes Vera Cruz, overthrowing President Arista. Although the U.K. was acting to collect genuinely owed debt which Arista had defaulted on, it rapidly became obvious that France was acting in an attempt to counter British influence in North America, as exercised through Canada, Texas, and California.

1862 The U.K. withdrew from the Mexican expedition (April 8). On April 10, Napoleon proclaimed Maximilian von Habsburg-Lotharingen Emperor of Mexico (r. 1862-1911). First Mexican Civil War (to 1867) breaks out. The Spanish, expecting that a prince of the Spanish line of the Bourbons would be named emperor, also withdrew (May 12).

HELMUT VON VOGT, president. He was definitely the leader of the nobility (although not created Landmeister under 1865), but equally definitely not their creature. An deep, audacious man, already known for his strength and boldness in the Landsrat and the diplomatic service (member of the Volkshaus; 1849-1856, minister to Russia, 1856-1859; minister to Britain, 1859-1862).

1863 Von Vogt sent Landmeister Constantin von Gablenz zu Calderon as special envoy to President Bell of the U.S., assuring him that Texan neutrality would continue. Simultaneously, he sends Jäger and Schwartztruppen to seal the border with Louisiana; the latter, in particular, are seen as an assurance of his sincerity.

The idea of a congress of North American states, proposed by Confederate president Johnston as a way to settle the American war, is rejected by both Bell and von Vogt.

1864 In return for recognition by Texas, Maximilian ceded Coahuila and Nuevo Leon to it.

[1] Note that he meant “the Western Hemisphere”, not “the U.S.”