Well, IMO, your American King is borderline ASB.Haha, thanks! I'm opposed to criticism, but A-H is always going to seem "unbelievable" to some extent because it's, well, alternate.
This one is not so.
"What Madness Is This?" - A Timeline
- Thread starter Napoleon53
- Start date
This one is not so.
American King has been an AmeriWank so far for all extents and purposes, aye. It won't be coming up, though. *evil laughter*
Well, I hope you follow along! This TL is going to get really debauched and shattered and showcase moral failings on epic scales. Pretty much the opposite of American King.
"Hang Hamilton!"
-John Adams, July 4, 1801, New York City Treason Trials
Execution of Alexander Hamilton
-John Adams, July 4, 1801, New York City Treason Trials
Execution of Alexander Hamilton
The new "government" of New York City decided they would hold off on a trial until the the country's messes could be sorted out. Hamilton, Adams, Tom Pinckney, Rufus King, and many others rotted in the Livingston Sugar House for several months, eating gut-wrenching gruel and moldy bread and moldy water. However, when Rufus King was let out of the prison for a few minutes to get some air following a breathing attack, a mob (mobs were present every day outside the prison) rushed the guards, seriously injuring one, and ripped King limb from limb. The gruesome scene was quickly ended by another platoon of guards, but King was well and truly dead.
Virginia seceded almost as soon as the new came of the overthrow. Several extremists had declared their county independent in 1800, and the "1800" on the seal of the Virginia Republic was used only so Virginia could say "we did it first." Uprisings in the Northwest Territory were just barely put down. Virginia helped itself to some of the land, and the "US government" didn't seem too upset about it.
Lynchings reached epidemic proportions. Federalists were seen as traitors to be killed immediately, even if most were innocent and were not aware of the ballot-stuffing plot. Hundreds fled to Canada, to seek refuge in Quebec City, joining many Royalist Americans who had fled there 20 and 30 years earlier.
Finally, the trial was agreed to be held on July 4th. The Federalists in the sugar house knew nothing good was going to come of it.
The blue-coated New York constables came and escorted them out of the jail. Professional soldiers formed a wall around them, making sure no radicals tried to kill them all before the trial. However, many of the citizens seemed willing to let the trial go on as planned, just so they could see Alexander the Ungreat and Octavian Adams answer for their deeds.
The trial was largely a joke. John Jay, the quite moderate judge in charge, tried to be fair, but he couldn't hold against the tide of revenge wanted by the Jeffersonians. The Democratic-Republicans sat in the boxes in the upper floor of the courthouse, cursing and blaspheming the Federalists' names.
John Jay
Adams was marched to Jay first, where he was told to explain himself. He stammered and stuttered something about "love of country" and then, pointing at his Vice President, his voice rising to a falsetto Cockney-Bostonian screech, exclaimed, "Hang Hamilton! Not me! This was all his idea, the disgusting snake! He plotted it out at Fraunces Tavern in '96! He was the puppet-master, controlling and manipulating the party like some sort of evil maniac! Hang him, sir! I have only done what I believe or have been threatened or bullied into doing! I love this country! Hang Hamilton the Traitor!"
The cries that arose from the Federalists' area were furious, and they countered that Adams had been complacent and even helped as much as he could in the scheme. Hamilton, by all accounts, just sort of sat there, his face in his hands. The jury immediately voted to kill Hamilton, and he was dragged out, his body like a rag-doll, to the front of the courthouse. A noose was draped from a branch, and Willard Crawford's drummers sounded the death beats. Hamilton looked at the crowd gathered around him. Then, slowly, he spoke. "I wish I had something to say that would redeem me in all your eyes. That you would think of me as a Patriot. That I would go down as a hero to all. But I can't. And I'm beyond caring." His voice rose: You people don't deserve me! You all can go to Hell, and take this sorry country with you!" As soon as the words were out, Crawford twirled his sword blade downward as the signal, and Hamilton's neck was snapped. He hanged there limply for a few minutes, and was then cut down and thrown in a ditch.
The other Federalist leaders joined him over the next few hours, each hanging on the same branch. Finally, Adams' turn was up again. After speaking for ten minutes (Jay had allowed him twenty), the restless crowd stormed the courthouse and dragged Adams out. He was shrieking and screaming as tar and feathers were dumped on him, as fists hit him, and finally a radical ran up and stabbed him in the stomach with a dagger. Bleedy profusely, the noose was tightened around his neck, and the 17th and last President of the United States in Congress Assembled was executed. John Jay and the guards and soldiers barely put up a show of resistance to the mob action, as they knew they might get called "Federalist sympathizers." And thus the 4th of July, Independence Day, became "Liberty Day."
Virginia seceded almost as soon as the new came of the overthrow. Several extremists had declared their county independent in 1800, and the "1800" on the seal of the Virginia Republic was used only so Virginia could say "we did it first." Uprisings in the Northwest Territory were just barely put down. Virginia helped itself to some of the land, and the "US government" didn't seem too upset about it.
Lynchings reached epidemic proportions. Federalists were seen as traitors to be killed immediately, even if most were innocent and were not aware of the ballot-stuffing plot. Hundreds fled to Canada, to seek refuge in Quebec City, joining many Royalist Americans who had fled there 20 and 30 years earlier.
Finally, the trial was agreed to be held on July 4th. The Federalists in the sugar house knew nothing good was going to come of it.
The blue-coated New York constables came and escorted them out of the jail. Professional soldiers formed a wall around them, making sure no radicals tried to kill them all before the trial. However, many of the citizens seemed willing to let the trial go on as planned, just so they could see Alexander the Ungreat and Octavian Adams answer for their deeds.
The trial was largely a joke. John Jay, the quite moderate judge in charge, tried to be fair, but he couldn't hold against the tide of revenge wanted by the Jeffersonians. The Democratic-Republicans sat in the boxes in the upper floor of the courthouse, cursing and blaspheming the Federalists' names.
John Jay
The cries that arose from the Federalists' area were furious, and they countered that Adams had been complacent and even helped as much as he could in the scheme. Hamilton, by all accounts, just sort of sat there, his face in his hands. The jury immediately voted to kill Hamilton, and he was dragged out, his body like a rag-doll, to the front of the courthouse. A noose was draped from a branch, and Willard Crawford's drummers sounded the death beats. Hamilton looked at the crowd gathered around him. Then, slowly, he spoke. "I wish I had something to say that would redeem me in all your eyes. That you would think of me as a Patriot. That I would go down as a hero to all. But I can't. And I'm beyond caring." His voice rose: You people don't deserve me! You all can go to Hell, and take this sorry country with you!" As soon as the words were out, Crawford twirled his sword blade downward as the signal, and Hamilton's neck was snapped. He hanged there limply for a few minutes, and was then cut down and thrown in a ditch.
The other Federalist leaders joined him over the next few hours, each hanging on the same branch. Finally, Adams' turn was up again. After speaking for ten minutes (Jay had allowed him twenty), the restless crowd stormed the courthouse and dragged Adams out. He was shrieking and screaming as tar and feathers were dumped on him, as fists hit him, and finally a radical ran up and stabbed him in the stomach with a dagger. Bleedy profusely, the noose was tightened around his neck, and the 17th and last President of the United States in Congress Assembled was executed. John Jay and the guards and soldiers barely put up a show of resistance to the mob action, as they knew they might get called "Federalist sympathizers." And thus the 4th of July, Independence Day, became "Liberty Day."
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Preview. I'll finish it later.
"We the People, of the Great Republican Union..."
The United States Shatters
Flag representing the union of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania
The Chesapeake Republic of Maryland
Maryland was swift in seceding and forming its own republic. It was divided in what to call itself, with some wanting it to be named "The Chesapeake Republic." Eventually, the name "Chesapeake Republic of Maryland" became the obvious choice and was adopted. It was much like Virginia in its culture, but due to a more trade-oriented culture, the large number of Catholics, and the overall nationalistic spirits of many US states, it decided to stay independent of its western neighbor, though they immediately formed a close alliance after the election of Samuel Chase as President. The Maryland militias started doing the same job they had when they were US militias; like many other states, the vast number of volunteers regiments made secession quite easy and caused minimal disturbances. Catholic nations immediately started trading with it. The Vatican States was the first country to recognize Maryland independence, followed by France, Naples, and then the Confederation of the Carolinas.
President Samuel Chase
President Chase and his new government did a good job, considering the circumstances, of making the new country equipped for the future. As long as war was avoided, it would do well. In 1802, a constitution was drawn up that created Legislative, Judicial, and Executive branches and aided in the separation of power and prevented any kind of dictatorship or opposite thereof, anarchy. It also made clear it was neither a Catholic country nor a theocracy of any kind, and would welcome all kinds of citizens. Maryland served as a worthy example for the other states now on their own, and Andrew Jackson's Confederation of the Carolinas copied its constitution.
President Samuel Chase
The Republic of Virginia
Great Seal of the Republic of Virginia; for the first several years, the national flag was simply this seal on a white banner.
Great Seal of the Republic of Virginia; for the first several years, the national flag was simply this seal on a white banner.
Virginia was quick to elect Thomas Jefferson and James Madison as President and Vice President respectively. The two men set out to make sure Virginia was as strong as the "Northern Aggressors" in the Republican Union, and thanks to its tremendous economy supported by slave labor was the second largest economy in North America and was in a better debt situation than any of the others. Virginia also became the first of the seceded states to form a professional military. It was immediately used to try to chase out remaining natives from their lands and to monitor the north. The border with Maryland was extremely casual, and Maryland's Chase got along just splendidly with Jefferson. Virginia's military also formed an alliance with Maryland's militias, agreeing to come to each others' aid if need be. Virginia was home to several naval bases, and it rivaled the Republican Union in fleet strength.
Virginia's House of Burgesses was resurrected, which fit in nicely with the aristocratic attitudes of the land-owning gentry, and was essentially a congress. The constitution they adopted in 1803 was largely the work of Jefferson and Madison, and allowed a very large amount of freedom and limited government power. Many citizens claimed it was "what the USA should have been."
Virginia's House of Burgesses was resurrected, which fit in nicely with the aristocratic attitudes of the land-owning gentry, and was essentially a congress. The constitution they adopted in 1803 was largely the work of Jefferson and Madison, and allowed a very large amount of freedom and limited government power. Many citizens claimed it was "what the USA should have been."
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I'm open to all suggestions about where I should take this. I'm also looking for a creative name for New England besides New England, as it includes Jersey, NY, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.
EDIT: Just noticed I told Darth earlier "I'm opposed to criticism." *facepalm* I meant to say NOT opposed.
EDIT: Just noticed I told Darth earlier "I'm opposed to criticism." *facepalm* I meant to say NOT opposed.
Just read the new updates yesterday, and......well done sir, well done.
Can't wait till the last chapter you put up is done, and I also can't wait for the new chapters. I have some ideas and questions, but for starers have the new rump USA be called "The Republican Union of America", the RUA. Sounds like a good name.
Whats going to happen with the Native Americans? They could get there own nation in the Northwest Territory if you want to screw the TTL's USA even further.
Will the Napoleonic Wars go the same, or will some butterflies manage to creep over across the pond? I image it will; if Louisiana still becomes French, then Napoleon will have to devote some time away from Europe to re-creating France's colonial empire, without anyone to sell the land to. I do image that Nappy might sell small snippets of land to the American nations.
Will the events in the USA have any effect in the future revolutions in Latin America?
That's it for now. On an unrelated subject, American King POD's in ancient times?
Good God, and here I thought they were all the early to mid 18th century. I'll have to PM you about that. On a semi-relevant note, my new, edited/completed AKII map is up. Edit: This meme sums up perfectly TTL's United States.
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I know there hasn't been an update in a while, but I made this so I might as well post it.
Edit: Made a new and improved infobox in new post.
Edit: Made a new and improved infobox in new post.
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Thanks! That looks great! You're pretty handy with those. I'm actually going to update this again, soon. I've only just started writing again.
You're pretty handy with those. I'm actually going to update this again, soon. I've only just started writing again.Thanks! That looks great!
Can't wait till the new update.
Plus, I made a new and improved infobox. All I did was change the caption BTW. Here it is. Sorry for the extra post, I forgot to attatch more posting it above.
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Here it is. Sorry for the extra post, I forgot to attatch more posting it above.
Did you draw that? That looks awesome. I laughed quite a bit.
Yes I did.
In paint program btw. Glad you liked it. I may fix it later thought, only error is capitalization in the title.
Quite impressive, specially as this goes against the constant stream of über-USA and alt-ACW timelines we get spammed these days. For that, it is time to add up a new subscription. And with a title such as "What Madness Is This?", it seems quite befitting.
For some reason, this made me crack up a lot. Given, it might have had a different context when it was said.
Yes I did.
Very good job, then! I stink in Paint compared to that.
Thanks a lot! You detected the reason I made this; to go against the norm.
And I can tell we'll get along great, judging by your username.
Hamilton never seems to come out well in your TL's does he?
Nope, he's my running signature story element.
Working on a new chapter, good citizens!
Good amount of new stuff at the end, and the whole lightly-edited TL.
"What Madness Is This?"
John Adams' Fateful Presidency Changes History Forever
Emblem of the Federalist Party
General Washington formally announces before the Congress that he will not seek a third term.
"What Madness Is This? That brother might fight brother, and father might fight son? That countless homes and families be ripped asunder all for the sake of their piece of dirt? of their political party? Why must we hate each other so?"
"The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever. The President of these United States in Congress Assembled, elected for four years at a time by the Members of the Congress Assembled, is to keep these Articles observed and to be chief negotiator of state relations, captain of international diplomacy, and has the right to form alliances, form trade agreements, and go to war upon consent of the Congress here Assembled on this day in the Year of Our Lord, March the First, Seventeen Hundred and Eighty-One, and all future Congresses Assembled, So Help Us God."
The First Term of the Adams Presidency
The Franco-American War
"Then Make Them Exist."
The first international crisis to hit Adams was something that had been going on for a decade in Europe and that Washington had tried to distance himself from as far as possible. The French Revolution had toppled King Louis XVI and beheaded him and his family. Europe was engulfed in war as the French tried to imitate their American cousins across the Atlantic, only they added more blood and much, much more beheading. Guilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, French Hero of the War for Independence, had taken it upon himself to be the George Washington of France. He seemed, however, to go off track fairly soon, and after 1790 and the Feast of the Federation (which was the establishment of the constitutional monarchy), lost power to men much more radical men, like Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre, who turned around and beheaded Louis.
Marquis de Lafayette
Robespierre
After Robespierre's own execution, the Committee of Public Safety which had long governed France lost power, and was succeeded by the less-radical Directory. Less-radical or not, the American public loathed the French Republicans and Washington and Adams' diplomats told them that the war debts that were owed were owed to the French Crown, not to the Directory. France became inflamed, and what followed was known as the RST Affair.
The RST Affair took its name from the letters R, S, and T, which were used instead of the French ambassadors' real names in documents released by Adams' administration. In the documents, the oily and infamous Monsieur Talleyrand, French Foreign Minister, demanded that America stop following the Madison Treaty of 1794, which made Great Britain America's chief trading partner. France was furious over the treaty, and as French and British ships seized trading vessels dealing with their enemies, 300 American ships were captured or sunk and their crews held for ransom or pressed into service. Talleyrand demanded not only money to pay that ransom, but also money to even begin bargaining in the first place. Adams, thinking the same way as the public, was insulted, and refused to kowtow to the Directory.
Maurice de Talleyrand
Adams was willing to accept the imprisonment of the sailors, thanks to Hamilton discussing it with him. Hamilton convinced Adams that the sailors, as neutrals, would remain in prison until the next French government took power and tried to get in the USA's good graces ("and they always do").
However, not agreeing to play Talleyrand's game incensed the Directory even further. On July 4, 1798, off the coast of Florida, the USS Trenton was sunk and the USS Charleston was captured by 12 French Republican Navy warships. The French had killed much of the crews, and among the dead was US Ambassador to France and devout Federalist, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.
Ambassador C. C. Pinckney
"Kill the Bugger!"
-New York mob battle-cry following the fraudulent election of 1801
Willard Crawford leads his militia against the Presidential Mansion
Chancellor Andrew Jackson
The Carolinian constitution was fairly balanced and was largely based on the quite nicely-constructed Maryland Constitution. It did, however, grant the Chancellor (Jackson) rather great "Emergency Powers" in the face of catastrophe (the type and size of such a catastrophe was up to debate). Jackson seized more power all the time, but it was still better than what the Carolinas had had before, and Jackson was popular enough that the people generally went along with it. Jackson didn't seem eager to abuse his power, but he was still a very young man, and he had plenty of time left to turn into a dictator or be corrupted by power.
John Adams' Fateful Presidency Changes History Forever
Emblem of the Federalist Party
General Washington formally announces before the Congress that he will not seek a third term.
"What Madness Is This? That brother might fight brother, and father might fight son? That countless homes and families be ripped asunder all for the sake of their piece of dirt? of their political party? Why must we hate each other so?"
-Thomas Jefferson
"The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever. The President of these United States in Congress Assembled, elected for four years at a time by the Members of the Congress Assembled, is to keep these Articles observed and to be chief negotiator of state relations, captain of international diplomacy, and has the right to form alliances, form trade agreements, and go to war upon consent of the Congress here Assembled on this day in the Year of Our Lord, March the First, Seventeen Hundred and Eighty-One, and all future Congresses Assembled, So Help Us God."
-Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union
President Washington's masterful taping-together of the states while following the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was emblematic of the man's personal strength of character, mental fortitude, and extremely able political skills. Other Presidents of the United States in Congress Assembled had preceded him, but none had been given so much power to consolidate the nation's strength. Washington had gotten all of the Thirteen Colonies to agree with the Articles, and had served two terms. When he stepped down after completing the second four-year term, he was visibly aged. He claimed that, while he served to protect the Articles, they simply were a poor excuse for something such a large government should operate on. He also claimed that "the States will walk all over future presidents. I pity the men who get my position. God bless them." The Good General also worried that future presidents might find a way to abuse their power, which was one reason why he stepped down after his second term, hoping to set an example to those who would follow.
The man who was eager to get into Washington's seat of power was none other than one of the men whose political maneuvering had prevented the adoption of a document stronger than the Articles: John Adams. He had very little in common with Washington when he served as his vice president; another of Washington's ideas was to have presidents and vice presidents be from opposing parties or ideologies. Adams, however, wasn't about to pick Thomas Jefferson, the writer of the Declaration of Independence. Many were avidly campaigning for Jefferson to get the job, but Adams would have none of it. The two men simply did not get along. Washington was accommodating and listened to what Adams had to say. Jefferson, to Adams, was a self-righteous Anti-Federalist and had come close to screaming in Adams' face when the Federalists blocked the request from Washington for a new "Constitution of the States." Adams and his men knew that if the Articles went down, so would they, and their dreams for a strong centralized government would be over.
Alexander Hamilton
So, when Alexander Hamilton was picked by Adams as his vice president, it came as little surprise to most. Hamilton was a quasi-monarchist who had advocated Washington become an American King years before. Loved by some, hated by many, Hamilton was a target for severe political attack, but the Federalists were determined to pull him and Adams over the finish line... by whatever means necessary.
The Federalists outright bribed the Congressmen to get votes. When Jefferson requested that an amendment be made to the Articles allowing "free and fair elections by the people of these States," the Federalists had difficulty taking him seriously. Surely, they thought, putting the right to vote for who would be President in the hands of the uneducated mobs was a pure, terrible, folly, and all manner of crackpots and lunatics could win. Then, oily Hamilton arrived at a new idea. A very, very corrupt one. But it was for "the Good of the Union."
Fraunces Tavern, home of the 1796 Federalist Convention
Strong government was their motto among themselves, even though they knew it would not be popular among the people to phrase it that way. So, they promised whatever the people wanted, knowing it wouldn't matter. Benjamin Franklin finished assisting the Congress draft the amendment that enabled elections and then, loosing his balance and falling down the steps in front of Independence Hall, died two days later.
Adams liked the Old Man as well as anyone, but Franklin had sided with the independents like Washington, and more than not drifted toward the Anti-Federalists. Plus, the last thing Adams and Hamilton needed was for Franklin to use his genius to figure out the ballot-stuffing and giving some wise quip, bringing the entire Federalist Party into the gutter. Yes, Franklin's death was quite convenient for them, no matter how sad.
When it came time for the election, only white males over the age of twenty were allowed to vote. When the votes were being counted at their respective state capitols, the Federalists went to work. Stuffing, erasing, re-writing, and voting multiple times. It was a dark day of cheating, bribery, and outright corruption on an incredible scale. The cheating was accompanied by an unimaginable amount of anti-Jefferson propaganda, accusing the Declaration of Independence author of outright atheism.
Adams and Hamilton knew, though, that if too much of the vote percentage went for them, people would become suspicious. So, they had dispatched orders to make sure it wasn't a ridiculous victory. 60, 65, or 70 percent of the vote would seem believable but strong. Yes, around that number would put the Federalists in the "we have a mandate from The People to accomplish our agenda" zone. Thus, three weeks later, when all was said and done, John Adams became the Seventeenth President of the United States in Congress Assembled, and Hamilton became the Vice President of the same.
With Adams and Hamilton in the Presidential Mansion, the Federalists entered their own metaphorical high castle on a hill and started, after a few months, to drift farther and farther away from political reality. Before long, everything was an elected position, and cheating had the Federalists running victory laps all around Philadelphia, the national capital.
And that leads to one of the first acts the Federalist government ordered, that the national capital and capitol be moved to New York City, the heart of the Federalist Party.
John Adams
After a year, beginning around June of 1798, the citizens began to feel openly resentful of Adams and Hamilton's "pseudo-monarchy." Most longed for the days of the apolitical Washington, and his patriotic policies. The Federalists were even starting to take away some basic rights, like when a newspaper editor in South Carolina, Joshamee Worthington, wrote that Adams should be removed from office and that Hamilton was a "pointy-nosed lying bastard-prince," the South Carolina state militia raided his offices and arrested him, holding him for two weeks in a moldy prison until public outcry demanded his release.
Things continued escalating, and the Federalists were thrown into a panic in New York.
The man who was eager to get into Washington's seat of power was none other than one of the men whose political maneuvering had prevented the adoption of a document stronger than the Articles: John Adams. He had very little in common with Washington when he served as his vice president; another of Washington's ideas was to have presidents and vice presidents be from opposing parties or ideologies. Adams, however, wasn't about to pick Thomas Jefferson, the writer of the Declaration of Independence. Many were avidly campaigning for Jefferson to get the job, but Adams would have none of it. The two men simply did not get along. Washington was accommodating and listened to what Adams had to say. Jefferson, to Adams, was a self-righteous Anti-Federalist and had come close to screaming in Adams' face when the Federalists blocked the request from Washington for a new "Constitution of the States." Adams and his men knew that if the Articles went down, so would they, and their dreams for a strong centralized government would be over.
Alexander Hamilton
The Federalists outright bribed the Congressmen to get votes. When Jefferson requested that an amendment be made to the Articles allowing "free and fair elections by the people of these States," the Federalists had difficulty taking him seriously. Surely, they thought, putting the right to vote for who would be President in the hands of the uneducated mobs was a pure, terrible, folly, and all manner of crackpots and lunatics could win. Then, oily Hamilton arrived at a new idea. A very, very corrupt one. But it was for "the Good of the Union."
Fraunces Tavern, home of the 1796 Federalist Convention
The idea was to allow the Jeffersonians to go through with amending the Articles. Then, Federalists would stuff the ballots for Adams to keep "those lunatics Jefferson and Madison" from attaining power. Adams and a small group of elite Federalists, including Hamilton, Thomas and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and Rufus King, gathered in Fraunces Tavern, in the adopted Federalist capital of New York City, for a mini-convention. In secret, the men discussed their "ingenious" plans over some ale, and layed out the plot. Hamilton took charge, with Adams being reluctant at first, being somewhat honest even if he was power-hungry. A few others resisted as well. Hamilton eventually dragged them to accept it in the name of the "public good." The Federalists were what America needed, he proclaimed, and the Anti-Federalists would bring about the "promiscuity of the States." An ironic line, considering Hamilton himself was the bastard son of two loose persons in the Caribbean colonies. More plans were drawn up to prevent any more Federalists than necessary from learning of the plot.
Strong government was their motto among themselves, even though they knew it would not be popular among the people to phrase it that way. So, they promised whatever the people wanted, knowing it wouldn't matter. Benjamin Franklin finished assisting the Congress draft the amendment that enabled elections and then, loosing his balance and falling down the steps in front of Independence Hall, died two days later.
Adams liked the Old Man as well as anyone, but Franklin had sided with the independents like Washington, and more than not drifted toward the Anti-Federalists. Plus, the last thing Adams and Hamilton needed was for Franklin to use his genius to figure out the ballot-stuffing and giving some wise quip, bringing the entire Federalist Party into the gutter. Yes, Franklin's death was quite convenient for them, no matter how sad.
When it came time for the election, only white males over the age of twenty were allowed to vote. When the votes were being counted at their respective state capitols, the Federalists went to work. Stuffing, erasing, re-writing, and voting multiple times. It was a dark day of cheating, bribery, and outright corruption on an incredible scale. The cheating was accompanied by an unimaginable amount of anti-Jefferson propaganda, accusing the Declaration of Independence author of outright atheism.
Adams and Hamilton knew, though, that if too much of the vote percentage went for them, people would become suspicious. So, they had dispatched orders to make sure it wasn't a ridiculous victory. 60, 65, or 70 percent of the vote would seem believable but strong. Yes, around that number would put the Federalists in the "we have a mandate from The People to accomplish our agenda" zone. Thus, three weeks later, when all was said and done, John Adams became the Seventeenth President of the United States in Congress Assembled, and Hamilton became the Vice President of the same.
List of Presidents of the United States in Congress Assembled:
- Peyton Randolph (September 5, 1774 - October 22, 1774) Virginia
- Henry Middleton (October 22, 1774 - October 26, 1774) S. Carolina
- Peyton Randolph (May 10, 1775 - May 24, 1775) Virginia
- John Hancock (May 24, 1775 - October 29, 1777) Mass.
- Henry Laurens (November 1, 1777 - December 9, 1778) S. Carolina
- John Jay (December 10, 1778 - September 28, 1779) New York
- Samuel Huntington (September 28, 1779 - July 10, 1781) Connecticut
- Thomas McKean (July 10, 1781 - November 5, 1781) Delaware
- John Hanson (November 5, 1781 - November 4, 1782) Maryland
- Elias Boudinot (November 4, 1782 - November 3, 1783) New Jersey
- Thomas Mifflin (November 3, 1783 - June 3, 1784) Pennsylvania
- Richard Henry Lee (November 30, 1784 - November 4, 1785) Virginia
- John Hancock (November 23, 1785 - June 5, 1786) Massachusetts
- Nathaniel Gorham (June 6, 1786 - November 3, 1786) Massachusetts
- Arthur St. Claire (February 2, 1787 - November 4, 1787) Pennsylvania
- Cyrus Griffin (January 22, 1788 - November 15, 1788) Virginia
- New Amendment to Articles allows four year terms with no limit on how many times someone may run
- George Washington (April 30, 1789 - March 4, 1797) Virginia
- New Amendment to Articles allows election by popular vote
- John Adams (March 4, 1797 - ) Massachusetts
With Adams and Hamilton in the Presidential Mansion, the Federalists entered their own metaphorical high castle on a hill and started, after a few months, to drift farther and farther away from political reality. Before long, everything was an elected position, and cheating had the Federalists running victory laps all around Philadelphia, the national capital.
And that leads to one of the first acts the Federalist government ordered, that the national capital and capitol be moved to New York City, the heart of the Federalist Party.
John Adams
After a year, beginning around June of 1798, the citizens began to feel openly resentful of Adams and Hamilton's "pseudo-monarchy." Most longed for the days of the apolitical Washington, and his patriotic policies. The Federalists were even starting to take away some basic rights, like when a newspaper editor in South Carolina, Joshamee Worthington, wrote that Adams should be removed from office and that Hamilton was a "pointy-nosed lying bastard-prince," the South Carolina state militia raided his offices and arrested him, holding him for two weeks in a moldy prison until public outcry demanded his release.
Things continued escalating, and the Federalists were thrown into a panic in New York.
The First Term of the Adams Presidency
The Franco-American War
"Then Make Them Exist."
-Vice President Alexander Hamilton on the non-existent US Army and Navy
The first international crisis to hit Adams was something that had been going on for a decade in Europe and that Washington had tried to distance himself from as far as possible. The French Revolution had toppled King Louis XVI and beheaded him and his family. Europe was engulfed in war as the French tried to imitate their American cousins across the Atlantic, only they added more blood and much, much more beheading. Guilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, French Hero of the War for Independence, had taken it upon himself to be the George Washington of France. He seemed, however, to go off track fairly soon, and after 1790 and the Feast of the Federation (which was the establishment of the constitutional monarchy), lost power to men much more radical men, like Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre, who turned around and beheaded Louis.
Marquis de Lafayette
Robespierre
After Robespierre's own execution, the Committee of Public Safety which had long governed France lost power, and was succeeded by the less-radical Directory. Less-radical or not, the American public loathed the French Republicans and Washington and Adams' diplomats told them that the war debts that were owed were owed to the French Crown, not to the Directory. France became inflamed, and what followed was known as the RST Affair.
The RST Affair took its name from the letters R, S, and T, which were used instead of the French ambassadors' real names in documents released by Adams' administration. In the documents, the oily and infamous Monsieur Talleyrand, French Foreign Minister, demanded that America stop following the Madison Treaty of 1794, which made Great Britain America's chief trading partner. France was furious over the treaty, and as French and British ships seized trading vessels dealing with their enemies, 300 American ships were captured or sunk and their crews held for ransom or pressed into service. Talleyrand demanded not only money to pay that ransom, but also money to even begin bargaining in the first place. Adams, thinking the same way as the public, was insulted, and refused to kowtow to the Directory.
Maurice de Talleyrand
However, not agreeing to play Talleyrand's game incensed the Directory even further. On July 4, 1798, off the coast of Florida, the USS Trenton was sunk and the USS Charleston was captured by 12 French Republican Navy warships. The French had killed much of the crews, and among the dead was US Ambassador to France and devout Federalist, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.
Ambassador C. C. Pinckney
The American public cried out for war, but Adams hesitated. If he declared war, it would likely entail an Anglo-American Alliance, something which made him and many other people uncomfortable, to say the least. Hamilton was not sure what to do, for once, and simply sent the Directory an order to hand over the hostages and the Pinckney Affair would be forgiven.
France refused.
Finally, he and the Congress opened discussions with the British Empire for a possible alliance to punish France. King George III, growing more insane every day, suddenly broke the deal, much to the disdain of his ambassadors. They said if he was sane, he would have agreed, but his insanity did not void his orders. Britain was not going to ally itself to the USA, that was now clear to New York. Adams fumbled day after day as public outcry grew against his bungling of the RST and Pinckney Affairs and his own encroaching on their rights, like his imprisoning of Worthington the newspaperman and several other similar incidents.
Hamilton had a new strategy. If America would be preoccupied fighting off the French, the people would be less inclined to quarrel over "petty politics." Adams retorted by saying the US Army and Navy was almost nonexistent. Hamilton replied simply: "Then make them exist." Adams retorted again, saying that there were no young officers to lead them after they "are made to exist." Hamilton answered that old Revolutionary War officers could be called out of retirement, and that France's star general, Napoleone di Buonaparte, was entrenched in Egypt, surrounded by Lord Nelson's British fleet. Hamilton went on, thinking as he spoke, telling Adams that it was now a perfect time to seize Louisiana from the Spanish, who were allied to France by the Treaty of San Ildefonso. Adams couldn't believe what he was hearing... at first. Then, he brought the elderly Washington out of retirement and told him to prepare to invade Louisiana and told Admiral John Paul Jones to ready the "fleet" to combat the French Republican Navy.
Washington and Jones couldn't believe what they were hearing either.
Admiral John Paul Jones
"Grand Marshal of the Armies by Congress Assembled Mustered" -awkward title given to George Washington, show here as he inspects the troops in Georgia
And so, on January 1, 1799, the US government rang in the New Year by declaring war on the Republic of France and the Kingdom of Spain. The Madness had begun.
Thomas Jefferson and his Anti-Federalists said the war was completely and utterly stupid-reprehensibly so-and that Adams had been brainwashed by Hamilton into thinking the tiny USA was a military giant akin to Ancient Rome. As for Hamilton himself, they said he was simply an egotistical incompetent who had lost his mind. Some arrests were made of Jeffersonians for "seditious speech and slander against the President of the United States in Congress Assembled." More outrage followed. Adams just locked himself up in the Presidential Mansion with his advisers and stayed there, far from the public eye. Hamilton continued directing affairs, becoming the real power in the government.
On March 5, the US Army crossed the border into Louisiana, the men eager to fight under the Great Washington, and most expected quick victories. They weren't disappointed when-at what the Americans called the Battle of Alligator Ridge-a "Spanish" force was absolutely dismantled by Washington's "genius." In reality, it had been only a small detachment of scouts, most not even Spanish but Creoles and Indians. Washington marched his men into the mouth of Hell itself at the Battle of Boggy Swamp (March 20), followed by the Battle of Port Richelieu (March 28) (the Battle of Port Richelieu also entailed a minor naval debacle). If the US generals had had any sense, they would have either attempted a landing near New Orleans, which if conquered would have meant the end of Spanish rule, or they could have attacked the sparsely-populated north, which would have eventually resulted in American rule everywhere but New Orleans (which would enable an easy capture of the city at a later date). Instead, as Jefferson put it, it was an unmitigated military disaster, and Washington said they just needed to "show some gumption. If we do that, Louisiana is ours." 2000 American soldiers had been killed. 4000 Louisiana troops had died, mostly militia, and made the formerly friendly, anti-Spanish Francophone population hate the Americans.
The Battle of Boggy Swamp
The final nail in the Louisiana Invasion coffin came in December, 1799, when Washington was shot and killed by an Indian scout. An ironic death, considering Indian scouts in the French and Indian War had shot his commander and deliberately spared him at Braddock's Defeat. The nation wept bitterly as their hero's casket was marched home and buried at his plantation, Mount Vernon. The Invasion was over, and massacres of several towns by fuming US soldiers exiting the Spanish colony left the Louisianans bitter and wanting revenge.
Meanwhile, Admiral Jones had proven himself a genius... at avoiding sending the pitiful US Navy to the bottom of the drink. A series of naval retreats and then stopping long enough to fire broadsides had harassed the French and saved American ships.
Hamilton was not happy though. He demanded Jones pick an easy target and attack. The Battle of Port Richelieu had just occurred, and the public needed something to cheer about. Protesting, Jones refused to go on a suicide binge. Hamilton had him removed and replaced with the pitiful Admiral Nathanael Butterworth. Butterworth followed orders... and attacked a French fleet south-west of the English Channel and lost half his ships. The US Navy drifted back to New York harbor beaten and bloodied, and it was announced that it wouldn't be a seaworthy fleet in a year. Adams and Hamilton were horrified.
Butterworth's flagship the USS Woodhouse fires on the French Unicorn off the coast of Brest
France refused.
Finally, he and the Congress opened discussions with the British Empire for a possible alliance to punish France. King George III, growing more insane every day, suddenly broke the deal, much to the disdain of his ambassadors. They said if he was sane, he would have agreed, but his insanity did not void his orders. Britain was not going to ally itself to the USA, that was now clear to New York. Adams fumbled day after day as public outcry grew against his bungling of the RST and Pinckney Affairs and his own encroaching on their rights, like his imprisoning of Worthington the newspaperman and several other similar incidents.
Hamilton had a new strategy. If America would be preoccupied fighting off the French, the people would be less inclined to quarrel over "petty politics." Adams retorted by saying the US Army and Navy was almost nonexistent. Hamilton replied simply: "Then make them exist." Adams retorted again, saying that there were no young officers to lead them after they "are made to exist." Hamilton answered that old Revolutionary War officers could be called out of retirement, and that France's star general, Napoleone di Buonaparte, was entrenched in Egypt, surrounded by Lord Nelson's British fleet. Hamilton went on, thinking as he spoke, telling Adams that it was now a perfect time to seize Louisiana from the Spanish, who were allied to France by the Treaty of San Ildefonso. Adams couldn't believe what he was hearing... at first. Then, he brought the elderly Washington out of retirement and told him to prepare to invade Louisiana and told Admiral John Paul Jones to ready the "fleet" to combat the French Republican Navy.
Washington and Jones couldn't believe what they were hearing either.
Admiral John Paul Jones
"Grand Marshal of the Armies by Congress Assembled Mustered" -awkward title given to George Washington, show here as he inspects the troops in Georgia
Thomas Jefferson and his Anti-Federalists said the war was completely and utterly stupid-reprehensibly so-and that Adams had been brainwashed by Hamilton into thinking the tiny USA was a military giant akin to Ancient Rome. As for Hamilton himself, they said he was simply an egotistical incompetent who had lost his mind. Some arrests were made of Jeffersonians for "seditious speech and slander against the President of the United States in Congress Assembled." More outrage followed. Adams just locked himself up in the Presidential Mansion with his advisers and stayed there, far from the public eye. Hamilton continued directing affairs, becoming the real power in the government.
On March 5, the US Army crossed the border into Louisiana, the men eager to fight under the Great Washington, and most expected quick victories. They weren't disappointed when-at what the Americans called the Battle of Alligator Ridge-a "Spanish" force was absolutely dismantled by Washington's "genius." In reality, it had been only a small detachment of scouts, most not even Spanish but Creoles and Indians. Washington marched his men into the mouth of Hell itself at the Battle of Boggy Swamp (March 20), followed by the Battle of Port Richelieu (March 28) (the Battle of Port Richelieu also entailed a minor naval debacle). If the US generals had had any sense, they would have either attempted a landing near New Orleans, which if conquered would have meant the end of Spanish rule, or they could have attacked the sparsely-populated north, which would have eventually resulted in American rule everywhere but New Orleans (which would enable an easy capture of the city at a later date). Instead, as Jefferson put it, it was an unmitigated military disaster, and Washington said they just needed to "show some gumption. If we do that, Louisiana is ours." 2000 American soldiers had been killed. 4000 Louisiana troops had died, mostly militia, and made the formerly friendly, anti-Spanish Francophone population hate the Americans.
The Battle of Boggy Swamp
The final nail in the Louisiana Invasion coffin came in December, 1799, when Washington was shot and killed by an Indian scout. An ironic death, considering Indian scouts in the French and Indian War had shot his commander and deliberately spared him at Braddock's Defeat. The nation wept bitterly as their hero's casket was marched home and buried at his plantation, Mount Vernon. The Invasion was over, and massacres of several towns by fuming US soldiers exiting the Spanish colony left the Louisianans bitter and wanting revenge.
Meanwhile, Admiral Jones had proven himself a genius... at avoiding sending the pitiful US Navy to the bottom of the drink. A series of naval retreats and then stopping long enough to fire broadsides had harassed the French and saved American ships.
Hamilton was not happy though. He demanded Jones pick an easy target and attack. The Battle of Port Richelieu had just occurred, and the public needed something to cheer about. Protesting, Jones refused to go on a suicide binge. Hamilton had him removed and replaced with the pitiful Admiral Nathanael Butterworth. Butterworth followed orders... and attacked a French fleet south-west of the English Channel and lost half his ships. The US Navy drifted back to New York harbor beaten and bloodied, and it was announced that it wouldn't be a seaworthy fleet in a year. Adams and Hamilton were horrified.
Butterworth's flagship the USS Woodhouse fires on the French Unicorn off the coast of Brest
The American public was furious with the Adams Administration and open calls for impeachment became commonplace in everyday life. Thomas Jefferson's support reached new heights, and James Madison began referring to Hamilton as "Alexander the Ungreat." Napoleone di Buonaparte had, on October 9, returned to France and shortly after set himself up as dictator of the country, and he was not pleased with the nascent Americans being a pain in Marianne's rear.
The election of 1801 was fast approaching, and the Federalists were going to lose in an unimaginable landslide. But they would win thanks to voting fraud, said Hamilton, just like the first time. This time, though, the citizens were suspicious. If Adams won, they'd know he'd cheated. Adams sank into a deep depression, and just before the campaigning season announced to friends he was dropping out to make room for Hamilton and Rufus King to run. Hamilton panicked, and barely convinced him to stay on board, as Hamilton was so unpopular that if he won by any percentage, the people would know it was fraud.
The Madness was about to destroy the country...
The election of 1801 was fast approaching, and the Federalists were going to lose in an unimaginable landslide. But they would win thanks to voting fraud, said Hamilton, just like the first time. This time, though, the citizens were suspicious. If Adams won, they'd know he'd cheated. Adams sank into a deep depression, and just before the campaigning season announced to friends he was dropping out to make room for Hamilton and Rufus King to run. Hamilton panicked, and barely convinced him to stay on board, as Hamilton was so unpopular that if he won by any percentage, the people would know it was fraud.
The Madness was about to destroy the country...
-New York mob battle-cry following the fraudulent election of 1801
Willard Crawford leads his militia against the Presidential Mansion
The year of 1801 was a brutal one for the USA. The economy was in the metaphorical toilet, the homeless and jobless numbers exploded, and the French conflict was an undeniable defeat for the country. French and Spanish soldiers were regularly making incursions upon American soil, not on the intent of conquering, for the two European countries had more than enough restless territory on their hands, but to force Adams to agree to a peace. The French were willing to be lenient on the US, as there was no real damage done to them or theirs. The Spanish, still seething over the Louisiana attack, wanted more of a punishment.
The punishment came in the form of economic payments to the Spanish Crown, agreed to at the Second Treaty of Paris, which pushed the US economy further into the blackness of the fiscal abyss. Adams and Hamilton's government was falling apart at the seams, and the civil unrest was already kicking into gear.
The first example of secessionist tendencies came from South Carolina, followed by North Carolina, Georgia, and Vermont. Vermont was made a state in an effort to calm it down, which worked to some degree, but the Southerners kept talking about drawing themselves out of the Imperfect Union, because, they said, every state had the right to do as such. The main leader of the South and North Carolina secessionist movement was Andrew Jackson, a young soldier in the Raleigh Militia. A through-and-through states' right movement supporter, he claimed to have enough clout to pull the two Carolinas out of the USA and form the "Grand Republic of the Carolinas. A possible union with Georgia was also tossed about, making the idea of a "Confederation of the South" popular. Later, Virginia was rumored to be a supporter of pulling out, but it denied it would ever join the "Carolinian rapscallions" in any union. It became a known fact that if Virginia left, it would form its own republic and tear the country apart right down the middle.
Adams felt sick as he saw mobs gather every day in New York City, right outside the Presidential Mansion, and burn him in effigy. Guards blocked all access to his home, but there had been several radicals who had tried to rush the walls. They were met with rifle butts to the face and prison wagons. The tension was so thick it could have been cut with a bayonet.
Then the campaign season started. Sure enough, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison had reformed their tagteam to take Adams and Hamilton down. "This lying scoundrel is nothing but a hermaphroditic tyrant who wants to murder all who oppose him and desecrate our Freedom," said Jefferson's propaganda.
Even Adams' old friend Thomas Paine, now living in France where his new friend Napoleon Bonaparte had offered him a cabinet position, turned against the President of the United States in Congress Assembled, calling him "Louis XVI of North America." "When Adams' Tuileries Palace crumbles about him, he shall see what the people truly think of his Bourgeoisie ideology."
Thomas Paine
For all of 1800, the USA was a defeated, crushed, bankrupt country with no way to pay off its debts. The Articles did not allow enough means to raise money to pay off the national debt. It continued to get worse and worse. Outright civil violence popped up in Boston and Philadelphia as several Federalist government officials were seized and lynched by dockworkers. Soldiers were sent in to arrest the perpetrators, and instead of cooperating, the civilians in both cities rioted, ending in 52 soldiers and 83 civilians killed or crippled. Indians on the frontier were growing increasingly bold, and they suddenly seemed to start exclusively targeting federal government homes and territory, and suspicions were rising that state governments had payed the natives off.
Finally, 1801 had arrived. Hamilton's men did the same thing they had done four years before. But instead of only having to change some votes, they discovered almost all the votes were for Jefferson and Madison. A woefully pitiful amount of Adams/Hamilton votes were cast, comprising about 1 to 2 percent of the entire population, most of them Federalist officials. The voting fraud goons had a devil of a time creating enough fake ballots to pull off the win. They did manage to "reelect" the current administration, though, and the unrest exploded.
Allegations of fraud circulated immediately, followed by people saying it had to be fraud. In Boston, a Federalist election official, Elah McGuffey, was kidnapped and tortured until he told the truth, admitting Adams had cheated his way to power both times.
On May 18, the Congress of the Carolinas was held in Charleston to seek a vote for secession. Overwhelmingly, the individual counties voted to leave the United States, forming the Confederation of the Carolinas, and the delegates from both states then elected Andrew Jackson as Emergency Chancellor. A democratic election would be held as soon as the new nation stabilized and was satisfied the USA would not try to resist them. The frontier territorial disputes between the two states were solved upon union, forming the State of West Carolina, which also joined the Confederation.
Georgia, now cut off in every way from the USA, also formed its own country, the Republic of Georgia. It was quite large, stretching from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. West Florida, which had been a haven for pro-American Louisianans, rebelled against Spain and, with Georgian assistance, formed the West Florida Republic. It took up Georgia's entire coastline on the Gulf of Mexico, but Georgians were allowed to freely come and go into West Florida, making future Georgian annexation almost impossible to avoid.
Finally, an armed militia assaulted the guards at the New York City Presidential Mansion, burning half of it down and causing massive casualties. Willard Crawford, an officer from the Revolution, announced he would lead all rebels willing to fight the next day. Thousands of men showed up and engaged the government bluecoats in New York City itself. Despite an incredible amount of bloodshed and destruction, the rebels seized control of the capital. Adams and Hamilton were captured attempting to flee further north, possibly to British Canada, and were thrown in the Livingston Sugar House, in Manhattan, which had been used to hold 500 prisoners at a time during the War for Independence. Before long, most of the government was locked up in the building. Revanchist mobs gathered outside every day demanding they be executed.
Things were about to wrap up for the history of the United States, and Adams and Hamilton would betray each other before it was over
The punishment came in the form of economic payments to the Spanish Crown, agreed to at the Second Treaty of Paris, which pushed the US economy further into the blackness of the fiscal abyss. Adams and Hamilton's government was falling apart at the seams, and the civil unrest was already kicking into gear.
The first example of secessionist tendencies came from South Carolina, followed by North Carolina, Georgia, and Vermont. Vermont was made a state in an effort to calm it down, which worked to some degree, but the Southerners kept talking about drawing themselves out of the Imperfect Union, because, they said, every state had the right to do as such. The main leader of the South and North Carolina secessionist movement was Andrew Jackson, a young soldier in the Raleigh Militia. A through-and-through states' right movement supporter, he claimed to have enough clout to pull the two Carolinas out of the USA and form the "Grand Republic of the Carolinas. A possible union with Georgia was also tossed about, making the idea of a "Confederation of the South" popular. Later, Virginia was rumored to be a supporter of pulling out, but it denied it would ever join the "Carolinian rapscallions" in any union. It became a known fact that if Virginia left, it would form its own republic and tear the country apart right down the middle.
Adams felt sick as he saw mobs gather every day in New York City, right outside the Presidential Mansion, and burn him in effigy. Guards blocked all access to his home, but there had been several radicals who had tried to rush the walls. They were met with rifle butts to the face and prison wagons. The tension was so thick it could have been cut with a bayonet.
Then the campaign season started. Sure enough, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison had reformed their tagteam to take Adams and Hamilton down. "This lying scoundrel is nothing but a hermaphroditic tyrant who wants to murder all who oppose him and desecrate our Freedom," said Jefferson's propaganda.
Even Adams' old friend Thomas Paine, now living in France where his new friend Napoleon Bonaparte had offered him a cabinet position, turned against the President of the United States in Congress Assembled, calling him "Louis XVI of North America." "When Adams' Tuileries Palace crumbles about him, he shall see what the people truly think of his Bourgeoisie ideology."
Thomas Paine
Finally, 1801 had arrived. Hamilton's men did the same thing they had done four years before. But instead of only having to change some votes, they discovered almost all the votes were for Jefferson and Madison. A woefully pitiful amount of Adams/Hamilton votes were cast, comprising about 1 to 2 percent of the entire population, most of them Federalist officials. The voting fraud goons had a devil of a time creating enough fake ballots to pull off the win. They did manage to "reelect" the current administration, though, and the unrest exploded.
Allegations of fraud circulated immediately, followed by people saying it had to be fraud. In Boston, a Federalist election official, Elah McGuffey, was kidnapped and tortured until he told the truth, admitting Adams had cheated his way to power both times.
On May 18, the Congress of the Carolinas was held in Charleston to seek a vote for secession. Overwhelmingly, the individual counties voted to leave the United States, forming the Confederation of the Carolinas, and the delegates from both states then elected Andrew Jackson as Emergency Chancellor. A democratic election would be held as soon as the new nation stabilized and was satisfied the USA would not try to resist them. The frontier territorial disputes between the two states were solved upon union, forming the State of West Carolina, which also joined the Confederation.
Confederation of the Carolinas
Georgia, now cut off in every way from the USA, also formed its own country, the Republic of Georgia. It was quite large, stretching from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. West Florida, which had been a haven for pro-American Louisianans, rebelled against Spain and, with Georgian assistance, formed the West Florida Republic. It took up Georgia's entire coastline on the Gulf of Mexico, but Georgians were allowed to freely come and go into West Florida, making future Georgian annexation almost impossible to avoid.
Finally, an armed militia assaulted the guards at the New York City Presidential Mansion, burning half of it down and causing massive casualties. Willard Crawford, an officer from the Revolution, announced he would lead all rebels willing to fight the next day. Thousands of men showed up and engaged the government bluecoats in New York City itself. Despite an incredible amount of bloodshed and destruction, the rebels seized control of the capital. Adams and Hamilton were captured attempting to flee further north, possibly to British Canada, and were thrown in the Livingston Sugar House, in Manhattan, which had been used to hold 500 prisoners at a time during the War for Independence. Before long, most of the government was locked up in the building. Revanchist mobs gathered outside every day demanding they be executed.
Things were about to wrap up for the history of the United States, and Adams and Hamilton would betray each other before it was over
"Hang Hamilton!"
-John Adams, July 4, 1801, New York City Treason Trials
Execution of Alexander Hamilton
-John Adams, July 4, 1801, New York City Treason Trials
Execution of Alexander Hamilton
The new "government" of New York City decided they would hold off on a trial until the the country's messes could be sorted out. Hamilton, Adams, Tom Pinckney, Rufus King, and many others rotted in the Livingston Sugar House for several months, eating gut-wrenching gruel and moldy bread and drinking moldy water. However, when Rufus King was let out of the prison for a few minutes to get some air following a breathing attack, a mob rushed the guards, seriously injuring one, and ripped King limb from limb. The gruesome scene was quickly ended by another platoon of guards, but King was well and truly dead.
Virginia seceded almost as soon as the news came of the overthrow. Several extremists had declared their county independent in 1800, and the "1800" on the seal of the Virginia Republic was used only so Virginia could say "we did it first." Uprisings in the Northwest Territory were just barely put down. Virginia helped itself to some of the land, and the "US government" didn't seem too upset about it.
Lynchings reached epidemic proportions. Federalists were seen as traitors to be killed immediately, even if most were innocent and were not aware of the ballot-stuffing plot. Hundreds fled to Canada, to seek refuge in Quebec City, joining many Royalist Americans who had fled there 20 to 30 years earlier.
Finally, the trial was agreed to be held on July 4th. The Federalists in the sugar house knew nothing good was going to come of it.
The blue-coated New York constables came and escorted them out of the jail. Professional soldiers formed a wall around them, making sure no radicals tried to kill them all before the trial. However, many of the citizens seemed willing to let the trial go on as planned, just so they could see Alexander the Ungreat and Octavian Adams answer for their deeds.
The trial was largely a joke. John Jay, the quite moderate judge in charge, tried to be fair, but he couldn't hold against the tide of revenge wanted by the Jeffersonians. The Democratic-Republicans sat in the boxes in the upper floor of the courthouse, cursing and blaspheming the Federalists' names.
John Jay
Adams was marched to Jay first, where he was told to explain himself. He stammered and stuttered something about "love of country" and then, pointing at his Vice President, his voice rising to a falsetto Cockney-Bostonian screech, exclaimed, "Hang Hamilton! Not me! This was all his idea, the disgusting snake! He plotted it out at Fraunces Tavern in '96! He was the puppet-master, controlling and manipulating the party like some sort of evil wretch! Hang him, sir! I have only done what I believe or have been threatened or bullied into doing! I love this country! Hang Hamilton the Traitor!"
The cries that arose from the Federalists' area were furious, and they countered that Adams had been complacent and even helped as much as he could in the scheme. Hamilton, by all accounts, just sort of sat there, his face in his hands. The jury immediately voted to kill Hamilton, and he was dragged out, his body like a rag-doll, to the front of the courthouse. A noose was draped from a branch, and Willard Crawford's drummers sounded the death beats. Hamilton looked at the crowd gathered around him. Then, slowly, he spoke: "I wish I had something to say that would redeem me in the eyes of all of you gathered here today. That you would think of me as a Patriot. That I would go down as a hero to all. But I can't. And I'm beyond caring. You people don't deserve me. You all can go straight to Hell, and take this sorry country with you!" As soon as the words were out, Crawford twirled his sword blade downward as the signal, and Hamilton's neck was snapped instantly. He hanged there limply for a few minutes, and was then cut down and thrown in a ditch.
The other Federalist leaders joined him over the next few hours, each hanging on the same branch. Finally, Adams' turn was up again. After speaking for ten minutes (Jay had allowed him twenty), the restless crowd stormed the courthouse and dragged Adams out. He was shrieking and screaming as tar and feathers were dumped on him, as fists hit him, and finally as radical ran up and stabbed him in the stomach with a dagger. Bleeding profusely from the wound, the noose was tightened around his neck, and the 17th and last President of the United States in Congress Assembled was executed. John Jay and the guards and soldiers barely put up a show of resistance to the mob action, as they knew they might get called "Federalist sympathizers." And thus the 4th of July, Independence Day, became "Liberty Day.
Virginia seceded almost as soon as the news came of the overthrow. Several extremists had declared their county independent in 1800, and the "1800" on the seal of the Virginia Republic was used only so Virginia could say "we did it first." Uprisings in the Northwest Territory were just barely put down. Virginia helped itself to some of the land, and the "US government" didn't seem too upset about it.
Lynchings reached epidemic proportions. Federalists were seen as traitors to be killed immediately, even if most were innocent and were not aware of the ballot-stuffing plot. Hundreds fled to Canada, to seek refuge in Quebec City, joining many Royalist Americans who had fled there 20 to 30 years earlier.
Finally, the trial was agreed to be held on July 4th. The Federalists in the sugar house knew nothing good was going to come of it.
The blue-coated New York constables came and escorted them out of the jail. Professional soldiers formed a wall around them, making sure no radicals tried to kill them all before the trial. However, many of the citizens seemed willing to let the trial go on as planned, just so they could see Alexander the Ungreat and Octavian Adams answer for their deeds.
The trial was largely a joke. John Jay, the quite moderate judge in charge, tried to be fair, but he couldn't hold against the tide of revenge wanted by the Jeffersonians. The Democratic-Republicans sat in the boxes in the upper floor of the courthouse, cursing and blaspheming the Federalists' names.
John Jay
The cries that arose from the Federalists' area were furious, and they countered that Adams had been complacent and even helped as much as he could in the scheme. Hamilton, by all accounts, just sort of sat there, his face in his hands. The jury immediately voted to kill Hamilton, and he was dragged out, his body like a rag-doll, to the front of the courthouse. A noose was draped from a branch, and Willard Crawford's drummers sounded the death beats. Hamilton looked at the crowd gathered around him. Then, slowly, he spoke: "I wish I had something to say that would redeem me in the eyes of all of you gathered here today. That you would think of me as a Patriot. That I would go down as a hero to all. But I can't. And I'm beyond caring. You people don't deserve me. You all can go straight to Hell, and take this sorry country with you!" As soon as the words were out, Crawford twirled his sword blade downward as the signal, and Hamilton's neck was snapped instantly. He hanged there limply for a few minutes, and was then cut down and thrown in a ditch.
The other Federalist leaders joined him over the next few hours, each hanging on the same branch. Finally, Adams' turn was up again. After speaking for ten minutes (Jay had allowed him twenty), the restless crowd stormed the courthouse and dragged Adams out. He was shrieking and screaming as tar and feathers were dumped on him, as fists hit him, and finally as radical ran up and stabbed him in the stomach with a dagger. Bleeding profusely from the wound, the noose was tightened around his neck, and the 17th and last President of the United States in Congress Assembled was executed. John Jay and the guards and soldiers barely put up a show of resistance to the mob action, as they knew they might get called "Federalist sympathizers." And thus the 4th of July, Independence Day, became "Liberty Day.
"We the People, of the Republican Union..."
The United States Shatters
The Chesapeake Republic of Maryland
The Confederation of the Carolinas was, under Andrew Jackson, had set out to make sure it would not be picked on. Jackson was detested in Virginia for having earlier to coerce a union, a prospect which offended Madison and Jefferson enough for them to call him a vulture. In a slap-to-the-face move, the people of the Confederation voted to make a "Noble Heraldic Vulture" the national symbol. The United States Shatters
Flag representing the union of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, with the central star representing their joint government in Philadelphia
The Chesapeake Republic of Maryland
Maryland was swift in seceding and forming its own republic. It was divided in what to call itself, with some wanting it to be named "The Chesapeake Republic." Eventually, the name "Chesapeake Republic of Maryland" became the obvious choice and was adopted. It was much like Virginia in its culture, but due to a more sea-trade-oriented way of life, the large number of Catholics, and the overall nationalistic spirits of many US states, it decided to stay independent of its western neighbor, though they immediately formed a close alliance after the election of Samuel Chase as President. The Maryland militias started doing the same job they had when they were US militias; like many other states, the vast number of volunteers regiments made secession quite easy and caused minimal disturbances. Catholic nations immediately started trading with it. The Vatican States was the first country to recognize Maryland independence, followed by France, Naples, and then the Confederation of the Carolinas.
Samuel Chase, First President of the Chesapeake Republic of Maryland
President Chase and his new government did a good job, considering the circumstances, of making the new country equipped for the future. As long as war was avoided, it would do well. In 1802, a constitution was drawn up that created Legislative, Judicial, and Executive branches that aided in the separation of power and prevented any kind of dictatorship or, at the other end of the spectrum, anarchy. It also made clear it was neither a Catholic country nor a theocracy of any kind, and would welcome all kinds of citizens. Maryland served as a worthy example for the other states now on their own, and Andrew Jackson's Confederation of the Carolinas copied its constitution.
Samuel Chase, First President of the Chesapeake Republic of Maryland
The Republic of Virginia
Great Seal of the Republic of Virginia; for the first several years, the national flag was simply this seal on a white banner.
Great Seal of the Republic of Virginia; for the first several years, the national flag was simply this seal on a white banner.
Virginia was quick to elect Thomas Jefferson and James Madison as President and Vice President respectively. The two men set out to make sure Virginia was as strong as the "Northern Aggressors" in the Republican Union, and thanks to its tremendous economy supported by slave labor was the second largest economy in North America and was in a better debt situation than any of the others. Virginia also became the first of the seceded states to form a professional military. It was immediately used to try to chase out remaining natives from their lands and to monitor the north. The border with Maryland was extremely casual, and Maryland's Chase got along just splendidly with Jefferson. Virginia's military also formed an alliance with Maryland's militias, agreeing to come to each others' aid if need be. Virginia was home to several naval bases, and it rivaled the Republican Union in fleet strength.
Virginia's House of Burgesses was resurrected, which fit in nicely with the aristocratic attitudes of the land-owning gentry, and was essentially a congress. The constitution they adopted in 1803 was largely the work of Jefferson and Madison, and allowed a very large amount of freedom and limited government power. Many citizens claimed it was "what the USA should have been."
Virginia's House of Burgesses was resurrected, which fit in nicely with the aristocratic attitudes of the land-owning gentry, and was essentially a congress. The constitution they adopted in 1803 was largely the work of Jefferson and Madison, and allowed a very large amount of freedom and limited government power. Many citizens claimed it was "what the USA should have been."
Confederation of the Carolinas
Chancellor Andrew Jackson
The Green Mountain Republic of Vermont
The Green Mountain Republic of Vermont was formed after the Treason Trials. Even though it considered itself quite New English, it had had enough of the central government messing up, so it decided to form its own libertarian paradise up in the mountains, with an army of all volunteers and a fairly elected "Green Mountain People's Congress of Liberty" (no executive position was established, as the people worried it might become a dictatorship). There were minimal taxes, minimal government expenditure, minimal laws, and almost total anarchy. Hill clans took maximum power for themselves and invented "land rights" as a means with which to extort their neighbors. If one large family lived in a valley, and another family decided to homestead there, the first large family could essentially tax the newcomers to live there. If the new family was of equal size to the "owners," family feuds broke out. If the new family was bigger than the "owners," then, in all likelihood, the "owners" would be murdered. The people lived in fear and terror of lawless neighboring clans murdering them, but at least they didn't have to pay taxes!
Making matters worse was Britain's consistent violation of Vermont's borders. Redcoats ventured in on routine "scavenging tours" in Green Mountain territory, and several illegal logging camps were set up by Canadian citizens. Finally, Vermont's militias mustered and drove out the loggers. King George thought briefly about outright invasion and recapture of the colony, but with the Napoleonic Wars unfolding in Europe, abandoned it, leading to the Vermont citizens thinking they had broken the morale of the British Empire and gave them an insane amount of national prestige, something that would persist from that point on.
Making matters worse was Britain's consistent violation of Vermont's borders. Redcoats ventured in on routine "scavenging tours" in Green Mountain territory, and several illegal logging camps were set up by Canadian citizens. Finally, Vermont's militias mustered and drove out the loggers. King George thought briefly about outright invasion and recapture of the colony, but with the Napoleonic Wars unfolding in Europe, abandoned it, leading to the Vermont citizens thinking they had broken the morale of the British Empire and gave them an insane amount of national prestige, something that would persist from that point on.
West Florida Republic
The West Florida Republic was a puppet of Georgia and was much like Vermont in its outlook. It was a libertarian wonderland controlled by local towns and villages that pushed the limits of freedom into "do as thou wilt" territory. Things got so bad in West Florida that they inadvertently gave birth to a North American icon: the Town Marshal. Wyatt Masterson was a marshal who fought off 50 bandits attempting to sack his village on the Gulf Coast. He became a hero, and Georgia, West Florida's puppetmaster, started a huge system of marshals in its own country, which decreased crime by a huge percentage. Aside from the occasional pirate attack, West Florida remained fairly safe as a nation, since Georgia deterred the Spanish from getting any bright ideas. It never elected a central leader, and instead opted for a National Parliament.
Republic of Georgia
The Republic of Georgia, like Virginia, was run by aristocratic, land-owning, slave-owning, Southern gentry, and would have probably joined Virginia in a union if the Confederation of the Carolinas hadn't been in between. They weren't quite as radically republican as Virginia, but they were decent as far as adherents to that philosophy were concerned. The Republican Constitution was based on Maryland's model, but it had to make adjustments to make it work with their agriculture-based society. A standing national army was to be kept at all times to deter Spain or other enemies from trying anything, and those soldiers often patrolled West Florida, too. The Georgian Navy wasn't huge, but it did well enough to protect what it they needed protected.
Militarist Archibald Bulloch was elected Prime Minister. He was not known as a "bad" man or disrespected, but his militarism signaled a new political force in politics: Ultra-Right-Wing Proto-Totalitarianism supported by the citizens themselves. No cheating occurred. No bribery. No blackmail. The South had elected a militarist free and fairly. He believed in freedom, but he also believed in expansion and the destruction of neighbors. He was the one who made West Florida a satellite nation. His territorial politics brought him into conflict with Andrew Jackson as they both squabbled over who had rights to areas in West Carolina along the Mississippi River.
Militarist Archibald Bulloch was elected Prime Minister. He was not known as a "bad" man or disrespected, but his militarism signaled a new political force in politics: Ultra-Right-Wing Proto-Totalitarianism supported by the citizens themselves. No cheating occurred. No bribery. No blackmail. The South had elected a militarist free and fairly. He believed in freedom, but he also believed in expansion and the destruction of neighbors. He was the one who made West Florida a satellite nation. His territorial politics brought him into conflict with Andrew Jackson as they both squabbled over who had rights to areas in West Carolina along the Mississippi River.
Vermont really is in the most ridiculous part of the country, i mean, it is surrounded on three sides by the Northern Republic....it really can't last long..