A Long and Flowing Whig 3.0
Introduction
In 2010 I released what I see as my first successful timeline,
A Long and Flowing Whig. I eventually ran out of steam for that project and so I moved on to others. I eventually revisited it in 2011 under the title, "
A Long and Flowing Whig: Addendum". I recently looked back at those timelines and saw potential for other paths and ideas I wanted to try, but I wanted to do them better, especially much better than the original incarnation. My hopes for this timeline are to have an update for it at least every fortnight, if not weekly. So here it goes. The third time is the charm.
Chapter I
Richard Lawrence was born in England in 1800. He moved to Virginia in his early adulthood, by this time he was already considered mentally insane. Once in the United States he got a job as a painter. These paints would emit fumes that modern health standards would not allow to be near a person, let alone paint a dwelling in. It is suspected that these fumes disoriented Richard Lawrence even more, adding to his mental incapacity. By the 1830s he was unemployed and under the delusion that he was King Richard III of England.
At this point his behavior changed dramatically. He originally dressed conservatively, but he began to dress more flamboyant and grew a mustache. He believed that the US government owed him a large sum of money, but President Andrew Jackson was preventing him from receiving it. He believed that when he finally did receive the money he could take up his rightful place as King of England. He also blamed Andrew Jackson for the death of his father, who had died in England 9 years prior.
He made the decision to shoot President Jackson. He purchased two pistols and began following the President. On January 30th, 1835 President Jackson was attending the funeral for congressman Warren R. Davis in South Carolina. As Jackson left the funeral, Lawrence stepped out from behind a pillar he had been hiding behind and fired two shots at the President. The first shot was aimed at Jackson’s back, but it misfired. Jackson turned around after he heard the failed shot, and when he did Lawrence fired his second shot, hitting him in the left breast. Lawrence would be tackled to the ground and Jackson was rushed to a hospital, but it was too late. He would die of a punctured lung.
Lawrence would be brought to trial on April 11, 1835, where the prosecuting attorney happened to be Francis Scott Key. After an hour of deliberation the jury found him guilty. There were arguments put forth for letting him off on accounts of insanity, but it would not pass. He would be executed in May of that year. This case would serve as precedent for over a hundred years in the American legal system to justify the use of capital punishment on criminals who are mentally ill.
Before the trial there was a much bigger issue at hand, who would succeed the President. Until this point, no President had ever died in office, let alone be assassinated. There were legal disputes in the Constitution that had not been addressed because it was seen as unnecessary. The conflict was whether or not the Vice President became president or simply assumed the duties of the President until an election could be held.
The succession of 1792 did not apply because it covered an event if both the President and Vice President were incapacitated. But the succession act of 1792 was being called, but the position of President Pro-Tempro was unoccupied at this point.
As soon as he heard, Vice President Martin van Buren rushed to Washington D.C. to assume the responsibilities of the President. When he got there Jackson’s Secretary of State John Forsyth was attempting to acquire the presidency for himself. Van Buren would confront Forsyth and the rest of the cabinet on February 9th. After an angry debate Van Buren fires Forsyth, preventing the Secretary from subverting him. The cabinet decided to support Vice President Van Buren.
The next struggle would be against Chief Justice John Marshall. Van Buren wanted the Chief Justice to Officiate the Oath of Office to him in order to ensure its legitimacy. However John Marshall refused. This began a struggle between Van Buren and the Court. He could have gotten another Judge to officiate it, but Van Buren felt that he needed the legitimacy after the death of a President as popular as Andrew Jackson.
He was also concerned about Congress. Would they accept him as President? Because the president's death happened so early in the year the congress had not yet changed hands in power. The Speaker of the House, John Bell, had recently change party affiliation to Whig, and the Senate was controlled by the Whigs. He decided to wait until Congress changed hands in March before forcing the issue. Until then he continued as Vice-President Acting President. On March 4th came and control of congress went to the Democrats, and with their support he called on Justice Henry Baldwin to officiate the oath. Chief Justice John Marshall personally felt that the Vice President did not succeed to the office of President, but unless a court case involving the succession of Van Buren to the Presidency came about, there would be nothing he could do about it.
After the death of Andrew Jackson, the Liberty Bell was rung in Philadelphia. It rang so loud that the bell cracked. The Liberty Bell with a crack in it would eventually be depicted on the seal and flag of the state of Jackson. After the funeral of President Jackson, and the successful succession of Martin Van Buren to the Presidency, members of congress became concerned about the safety of the President. In the Spring of 1835 the Executive Security Act was passed by congress. This act created a special security unit who’s sole job was to protect the President. At first this unit consisted of only 6 men who would be within eyesight and earshot of the president at all times. Over the years this force would be expanded upon until there were thousands of these agents, most of whom would never talk to or shake the presidents hand. The security force would receive its own cabinet representative in the early 20th century.