On October 14th, 2013, the New York Public Library uncovered a single copy of a book in their archives that was utterly unaccounted for. It was not placed into the library system, no other copy could be found, the publishing house seemed to be imaginary and there was no record of the supposed author's birth. Though his face was featured on the dust-jacket, none could identify it. Most assume it's a work of elaborate satire, but in recent years a cult following has grown around the mystery of the Bottler Book. Some say the author's outlandish claims are not so outlandish after all, but it's a free country, and we leave it to you to decide for yourself.
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A Strange America by Joshua Bottler
I am not the first historian to wonder, “What would the Kingdom of America look like if Washington had survived the Battle of Yorktown?” I am, however, the first to know. Allow me to introduce myself: I’m Joshua Bottler, and I’m a tourist. As far as I know, I am the only tourist after my fashion, and in fact, I’m not from around here. Your world is fascinating, but it’s not my own. Let me tell you the history I grew up learning – the true story of the land I was born in.
It didn’t take me too long to put my finger on what you folks call the “point of divergence.” To my foreign sensibilities, it all seemed pretty far-fetched. A republic spreading from one coast to the other? Texans and Mormons living within the same country as Americans? James Garfield, one of history’s greatest presidents, assassinated by a madman? It does stretch the realms of credibility, but if I’ve learned anything from my travels, it’s that nearly anything is possible. Once I found out about that fateful piece of metal missing from your timeline, it all seemed to come together.
In both of our worlds, the combined American and French forces defeated the British in the last decisive battle of the Revolutionary War – 1781’s Battle of Yorktown in 1781 – and in both worlds, the number of American casualties from the assault was under 100. But it cannot truly be said that all men are equal, though the Declaration of Independence we share says as much. On October 14th of 1781, in my reality’s Assault on Yorktown, General George Washington of the Continental Army was struck by a stray bullet, severing his femoral artery and slaying him in short order. In your reality, George Washington is known as the first President, the founding father of American Republicanism. In mine, he is known as the Martyr of the Revolution, winning the war, but losing his life.
This painting looks a little different where I come from.
Cornwallis surrendered to Alexander Hamilton on October 17th, but Washington’s death left the fledgling nation with a crisis of confidence. Hamilton filled the lion’s share of the power vacuum but the loss of the country’s preeminent leader only exascerbated existing concerns of financial instability, the inability to pay their citizens for their services in the war, and the need for a central government. Some trace the inspiration for an American monarchy to Lewis Nicola’s famous 1782 letter to Hamilton, but Hamilton spoke favorably about the institution of an elective executor with a lifetime appointment dependent on good behavior prior to receiving Nicola’s letter. What it might have done was solidify the idea of monarchy as the solution to America’s problems, but in a form that the world had never seen.
The idea of a king was a hard pill to swallow, and it faced significant opposition in the Continental Congress, most notably from Thomas Jefferson, whose vocal opposition to Hamilton’s proposal kept them eternally at odds. Though Jefferson still retained a great deal of prestige, Hamilton was known as a war hero for leading the troops after Washington’s demise and was widely regarded as his successor. The political battle was a fierce one, but as the first years after the Revolution went by the failings of the provisional Articles of Confederation became more apparent and much of Hamilton’s opposition came into the fold. Jefferson’s vocal disagreements with Hamilton earned him his eternal ire, and though he continued to be a respected figure and an influential writer, Hamilton’s prominence stunted Jefferson’s aspirations to lead.
Hamilton was only able to institute a monarchy with public support and political allies, and to do that he was forced to compromise significantly with republican thinkers on his vision of the monarchy. Above all else, the Continental Congress feared a civil war, which would murder the country in its infancy. By the time the Constitution was ratified and Alexander I coronated, he was not made King of America but King of the
Americans. King Alexander I was head of state but not head of government, and executive power was invested in the President of the Congress, an office with a 5-year term elected by popular vote and through the Electoral College. The King was meant to embody the spirit of the country, to act as arbiter between political parties and influence politics rather than dominate it. By and large, the President had more direct power than the King. In addition to the responsibilities of being Commander-in-Chief and presiding officer over the Senate, the President had the authority to suggest legislation to the Congress, to convene one or both Houses in the case of national emergency, to veto a bill, to approve a treaty with 2/3rds majority in the Senate, and to intervene between a deadlocked House and Senate. Most of the King’s authority was in “soft power.” Both King Alexander I and President John Adams spoke to the nation at the first State of the Union, but it was Alexander who received ambassadors and public ministers and selected the Royal Cabinet and the Supreme Court (with advice and consent from the President and the Senate).
The crown was somewhere between elective and hereditary. Alexander Hamilton himself was voted King along the same lines as the President, but thereafter his heir would be elected from the Hamiltonian “royal family.” The need to consider an heir created a new Cabinet of Succession that would meet every 5 years (or at the end of a monarch’s term if necessary). This Cabinet would be composed of the current monarch (if available), the President of the Congress, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Speaker of the House, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary of War. Per Hamilton’s original conception of the office, the King’s continued rule would be dependent on good behavior, and he could be impeached through the same measures that the President faced. The American monarch was conceived as a servant of the people, a figure the American people could rally behind to form a national identity, and though Hamilton stretched the boundaries of neutrality during his rule, he cemented the reputation of a benevolent monarch in America, and adopted few of the ostentatious trappings of European monarchy. Instead, Hamilton forged a new monarchy for a new country in a new era.