AH Challenge: An American Monarchy

<snip>
Since an American monarchy is such a popular topic, let's consider some of the likely candidates for a crown:
1. First and foremost, George Washington. I would be very interested in seeing a POD which changes Washington's basic personality which was so adverse to the very idea.
2. John Hancock. The richest, and perhaps the vainest man in the colonies. No support outside of Massachussets.
3. Benedict Arnold. A non-traitor Arnold might be considered the greatest American general outside of Washington but he was prickly and hard to get along with ( and that was with his friends). Hard to see him getting military, let alone poular support, for a crown.
More to come as I think about them.

It depends on the POD and how events unfold. One can't just say, "If the US emerged as a kingdom rather then a republic the XY would become king" in the abstract. FYI, there is currently a thread in this forum concerning who besides Washington (who dies in the ARW) might be offered the American crown after the revolution is won.
 
Certainly by the 1770s, if there has been no POD by then, the colonists fell into basically 3 camps: 1. the revolutionaries who wanted the freedom and liberty that only democratic/republican self rule could bring. 2. the loyalists who wanted to remain a part of Great Britain and basically thought the idea of indepednence was ludicrous. 3. Everybody else who had no real opinion on the matter. At such a point in time, it would have been only by ASBs for an American monarchy to come out of a victorious revolution.

However, as has also been said, if you have a POD of 1720, the mindset of colonistsand people back in England in the 1770s could be vastly different than in OTL, such that independence followed by an American monarchy could occur.
 
Top