The Rise of the Unitarian Party
To bolster the economy, President Van Buren decided to sell excess resources, in accordance to Congress's will. The best deal was to the Spanish Empire, to which we sold one coal resource for 19 gold per turn. The rest of the deals were quite mediocre, but they all added up.
King Philip of Spain came later with a tempting offer for President Van Buren; adopting absolutism. President Van Buren would consider the deal, but he eventually turned it down, despite his personal desires. He himself secretly wanted the Unitarian Party to ultimately have a chokehold on the United States, but he knew he would be overthrown if he did so outright. He must be more subtle.
One of these subtle activities was the recent tension rising between the North and South over slavery. While President Pinckney didn't do much to soothe the tension, President Van Buren took a much stricter and active approach.
In fact, one of his first actions as president was the abolition of slavery in the South. How could he do this to the South without any backfiring? He had secretly placed most of his warships near Charleston and New Orleans, and had many troops near the Southern states, along with having the Congress ready to cut ties with foreign nations that we were trading cotton to in case they rebelled, just to make sure we had the South in a twist.
Because of this, the South took the executive order made by President Van Buren, much to their chagrin. The South wasn't just done with this, however. There must be something they could do...
If President Van Buren was known for anything, it was his spectacular popular image. One of his main duties and promises as President was to improve culture and the economy of the United States. In doing so, he would take trips around the states encouraging wealthy families to enlist their children in trade schools.
After many years, one of the young prodigies from New Jersey moved to New York to make a living. This man was named Thomas Edison. Young Edison was a master inventor, and created multiple things that quickly became an important part of American life, such as the light-bulb and direct current electricity.
Word goes around though that when he filed a patent for alternate current that he wasn't the one who came up with the idea... Something about a Tikola Nesla.
Before President Van Buren left office, he wished to spread the borders of America. He didn't want to spread the borders too forcefully; he felt like there was something brewing in Canada, and he felt America was not quite prepared to take on Mexico with most of the troops stationed in the South and East.
So instead, he sent a Settler to the West to settle a city in the land that is called California, and is currently in the works of training Settlers in Washington D.C. to look for any overseas territory that might be of interest to America. Word says the ocean to the west of Seattle is pretty nice this time of year...
President Van Buren left office in 1864, giving the United States and the Unitarian Party a healthy image in the minds of the American people. Vice President Franklin wasn't known for much, other than breaking the tie in one bill to unite the Carolinas. Oh well.
The South did seem to be riling up for something... Something they said they should have done a long time ago.