President Benjamin Franklin

[Gamecrazy500]

What if George Washington had refused the Presidency? It was well known he hated politics and he only served because he saw it as his duty. But what if he had been a little more selfish and out right refused? The only other person who was even close to him as far as popularity at the time was Benjamin Franklin who was beloved by the populace of the U.S for diplomatic and Scientific heroism. To me it makes sense that if Washington had not become the first president Franklin would have. What would a Franklin Presidency have looked like? What kind of polices and laws would he have tried to establish? He was a big fan of science and education so personally I see him as trying to establish a publicly funded university probably in Philadelphia. What other polices and or laws do you think Franklin would have pushed for? How would he have handled revolutionary France? (FYI Franklin died April 17th 1790 so if he had become president he would have had a little over a year in office.)

[Evan]

Toward the end of his life, he signed a petition to Congress from the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. As it was, the petition sparked a very heated debate; if it'd come from the President, things might have been far worse. (Of course, they might have turned out better in the end.)

I think history books would universally view Franklin's early death as a missed chance. The Slave Power might try to pardon his abolitionist stance by saying he'd gone senile.

[SiddFinch1]

Pro ably too old. Ten years earlier..sure

[Gamecrazy500]

Sid I thought at first he would have been too old also but he was the govenor of PA untill 1788 so it seems he was lucid pretty much till the end.

[Evan]

Originally Posted by Gamecrazy500

Sid I thought at first he would have been too old also but he was the govenor of PA untill 1788 so it seems he was lucid pretty much till the end.

Oh, certainly. I'm sure he was getting tired (he was mostly silent at the Constitutional Convention), but he was quite lucid.

[naraht]

Franklin was born in 1706, Washington in 1732, Adams in 1735 and Jefferson in 1743 (just for comparison). At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Franklin was 81 and Washington at 55 was one of the oldest if not the oldest of all of the other delegates. Franklin was a generation older than everyone else in the room and enjoyed the heck of out it (there are authors who believe that the constitutional convention extended Franklin's life), but he *clearly* was physically limited.

I doubt *anyone* involved in either Pennsylvania politics or National Politics would have expected Franklin to live to the end of the presidential term in March, 1793.

If you want a President Benjamin Franklin, you are going to have have something come out of the Albany Congress in 1754 that actually get somewhere (Either to an independent country or Royally appointed President-General)

[casval]

Can't they make a pod where franklin lives a healthier life and reaches 90 years old?? For the sake of a very interesting story

[Gamecrazy500]

Listen guys the debate on Franklins age is interesting but I was really hoping to get at least a few answers on what a Franklin Presidency would have looked like policy wise.

[Evan]

Originally Posted by Gamecrazy500

Listen guys the debate on Franklins age is interesting but I was really hoping to get at least a few answers on what a Franklin Presidency would have looked like policy wise.

Except that a Franklin Presidency where he dies in office early on would be quite different from one where he survived. Which one would you prefer?

[Gamecrazy500]

I'm leaning towards him living till the end of his term. I think if he had been engaged in public service it would have given him a stronger will to live. A reason. If you noticed he died soon after he left the Pensilvania council.

[SiddFinch1]

Originally Posted by Evan

Toward the end of his life, he signed a petition to Congress from the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. As it was, the petition sparked a very heated debate; if it'd come from the President, things might have been far worse. (Of course, they might have turned out better in the end.)

I think history books would universally view Franklin's early death as a missed chance. The Slave Power might try to pardon his abolitionist stance by saying he'd gone senile.

Well pushing for an end to slavery would be a major shift. Not sure if the country at that point would have been strong enough to survive that

[WilliamPenn]

Perhaps the north and south split because there is no great compromise, Washington is president of the south and Franklin is president of the north. Slavery is illegal in the north, but legal in the south.

[Evan]

Originally Posted by WilliamPenn

Perhaps the north and south split because there is no great compromise, Washington is president of the south and Franklin is president of the north. Slavery is illegal in the north, but legal in the south.

Since neither Franklin nor Washington would have wanted that one bit, I don't think a division of the country would happen - especially since what you're really asking for here is for the states to join together into two different confederacies. Sectional interests aren't that strong yet. Cotton hasn't become that big a power yet, since Whitney's cotton gin hasn't been invented. Slavery is still legal across most of the North, and especially entrenched in New York State (where it wasn't abolished until the 1820's). In political debates, the greatest divide by far is between large and small states. In short, if the Federal Government is never formed or breaks apart, we aren't going to get two countries - we're going to get somewhere around fourteen.

[WilliamPenn]

Originally Posted by Evan

Since neither Franklin nor Washington would have wanted that one bit, I don't think a division of the country would happen - especially since what you're really asking for here is for the states to join together into two different confederacies. Sectional interests aren't that strong yet. Cotton hasn't become that big a power yet, since Whitney's cotton gin hasn't been invented. Slavery is still legal across most of the North, and especially entrenched in New York State (where it wasn't abolished until the 1820's). In political debates, the greatest divide by far is between large and small states. In short, if the Federal Government is never formed or breaks apart, we aren't going to get two countries - we're going to get somewhere around fourteen.

Thanks for informing me, i also guess that if the division was by no great compromise, then the middle states (New York, Pennsylvania, etc.) would be separate from New England.

[Derek Jackson]

WI Washington died after falling off a horse betwen ratification and t
he first election

[Evan]

Originally Posted by WilliamPenn

Thanks for informing me, i also guess that if the division was by no great compromise, then the middle states (New York, Pennsylvania, etc.) would be separate from New England.

If that's what the division was about, then I think the Convention would fail and the states would just continue under the Articles of Confederation. Perhaps you'd get some compact between several states, but I still don't think you'll end up with anywhere near as few as three or four federations.

[WilliamPenn]

Originally Posted by Evan

If that's what the division was about, then I think the Convention would fail and the states would just continue under the Articles of Confederation. Perhaps you'd get some compact between several states, but I still don't think you'll end up with anywhere near as few as three or four federations.

I was also thinking that the more western states (western Virginia, recently settled Kentucky) and the deeper areas south might be seperate

[WilliamPenn]

Ben Franklin invented things his whole life, if he lived to be 90, he might invent a mechanical computer to help him in his presidency, I'm thinking something like Babbage's difference engine.

[iddt3]

Originally Posted by WilliamPenn

I was also thinking that the more western states (western Virginia, recently settled Kentucky) and the deeper areas south might be seperate

They aren't their own states yet, they're all claimed by one of the coastal states.

[QuoProQuid]

Originally Posted by Gamecrazy500

Listen guys the debate on Franklins age is interesting but I was really hoping to get at least a few answers on what a Franklin Presidency would have looked like policy wise.

By the time Washington ascended the Presidency Benjamin Franklin was unable to walk because of severe gout, suffered from syphilis, was likely going senile and blind. He was so infirm that he had to be carried into the Constitutional Convention on a sedan chair. Robert Morris complains Franklin, as President of Pennsylvania, left all his responsibilities to the state General Assembly. This is hardly a good track record.

Assuming Franklin miraculously manages to survive until 1792 he will not be doing any governing. What we will see is a United States where the President is more a figurehead and rubber stamp to powerful Congressional leadership. There will be nothing "policy wise".