Editing How Few Remain (section)

==Aftermath of war==
In April 1882, the Confederates once again defeat the United States, which allows the purchase of Sonora and Chihuahua to stand. Along with losing the war, the United States loses in a war against the United Kingdom, cedeing the northern part of Maine to the Canadian province of New Brunswick.

Following a series of speeches in Utah and [[Montana Territory|Montana]], and a gathering of Republicans at the Florence Hotel in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], former president Abraham Lincoln leads a group of left-wing Republicans into the new [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist Party]], an action that leads to the sharp decline of the Republican Party, allowing the Socialists to eventually become the primary opposition to the Democrats. As a result, the Republicans fade into a minor [[third party (United States)|third party]] representing only the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]], which is booming in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries. Meanwhile, the Democrats are driven to the [[political right|right]] by [[Benjamin Butler (politician)|Benjamin Butler]], who leads the right-wing Republicans to merge with the party and causes a majority of the party to adopt a hard line foreign policy and the gearing of American society to [[nationalism]] and [[revanchism]].

After the U.S. defeat in the Second Mexican War, President Blaine declares April 22 of every succeeding year to be [[Remembrance Day]] to remember the humiliation of defeat and to vow revenge. The holiday parades will be somber, with the [[U.S. flag]] being flown upside down as a sign of distress, signifying the two defeats by the Confederate States. As a result of the U.S. defeat in the Second Mexican War, Blaine loses the [[1884 United States presidential election|1884 presidential election]] to an unknown Democratic candidate in a landslide and becomes the last Republican to hold the office of the presidency.

In effect, he concedes defeat in this war but sets the stage for the next one by instilling in U.S. citizens an ever-present desire for and expectation of revenge upon the Confederacy and the [[British Empire]] and embarking on an intensive program of systematic militarization on the German model, with the vision of making the United States a kind of second [[Prussia]].

In this timeline's New York City, there is no [[Statue of Liberty]] on [[Bedloe's Island]], and its name does not get changed to [[Liberty Island]] since relations between the United States and [[French Third Republic|France]] are poor because of France's support for the Confederacy, and there is no question of the French donating such a statue to the Americans. Instead, the island is taken up by a similar but grimmer German-influenced statue, known as the Statue of Remembrance holding the "Sword of Vengeance." Whether Germany gave the statue to the United States or the latter built it itself is never mentioned.

Meanwhile, the United States will move centers of administration from Washington, DC, to Philadelphia because the [[District of Columbia]] bordering the Confederate State of Virginia, which makes governing increasingly difficult and impractical for the United States. The [[Powel House]] becomes a secondary White House whenever tensions between both countries are high.

To continue to receive assistance from the United Kingdom and France, Confederate President Longstreet had to propose a [[constitutional amendment]] calling for the [[manumission]] of all country's slaves and making them [[resident alien]]s, but the free blacks do not have the same rights as whites, setting up an important conflict for succeeding volumes of the series.

After losing two wars within twenty years, the U.S. begins an alliance with the strengthening German Empire (formed in 1871), and it eventually starts to reform itself along [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussian]] lines.