1. A method for managing a distributed transaction system, comprising: managing transactions with at least an active database, where the active database reflects an application of a first set of transactions; managing transactions with a merge database, where the merge database reflects an application of a second set of transactions and where a first subset of the first set of transactions is affiliated with the second set of transactions; generating transaction log information that reflects a second subset of the first set of transactions that are not affiliated with the second set of transactions; determining whether to transfer control of the merge database to an active transaction manager; and if a determination is made not to transfer control of the merge database to the active transaction manager, instructing a latent transaction manager to apply transactions to the merge database to reflect a set of transactions affiliated with the second subset of transactions reflected in the transaction log information, and instructing the active transaction manager to manage transactions with the active database.