Development of the United States under other proposed political systems

Thande

Donor
The Armenian Genocide has a nice setup here with the OTL proposals laid out in the form of flowcharts.

Now obviously just saying 'WI one of these is adopted' is a bit hand-wavy, because the OTL system resulted from compromise and it's a bit ASB to say the small states just accept a system that favours the big ones without arguing and so forth. But I'm curious so let's just ignore plausibility at the beginning. Somehow, one of the other proposed systems (pick one) is adopted rather than the OTL American political setup. What ramifications do you think this would have in the long term for issues such as expansionism, free trade, slavery, foreign relations, suffrage reform, etc?
 
I'll go with the Pinckney Plan, as it's the only one I'd never heard of. Like many of the others, it weakens the Executive, since the President doesn't get any veto power, and can't even appoint his own ministers. The one delegate-per-thousand people will get fixed sooner or later, but until then we'll have amusing 2000-delegate meetings. I'm curious as to how the "four regions" will work, and I foresee a much closer connection between the Senate and House.

The Plan seems to subtly inhibit state's rights in ways that could prove helpful: the thirteen states are signing a treaty, therefore secession is a definitive act of breaking a treaty. Population dominates the lower house, and the upper house divides the country into "regions" which must necessarily have multiple states within them. If the OTL North/South divide occurs, I foresee a much more centrist senate, if I'm reading this correctly. The senators of each region, whether in North or South, will be moderated by having to gain acceptance across a broad spectrum of supporters including those from other states. As the country expands, expect there to be much more unrest with respect to populism and socialism in the West, as the other regions will still be able to dictate to that region who represents them in the Senate.

In all, I foresee a government that is more constrained to the center than in OTL.
 
You might find this helpful: http://www.usconstitution.net/plan_pinck.html

The 1 delegate per 1,000 citizens will indeed have to be revised. In fact, I can't see that number even being in the final draft - it leads to nearly 4,000 delegates even back then. Only 16 Senators? They're more a Cabinet than an Upper House, aren't they? But they'll be the ones doing all the work, since the lower House will be too big to function. In fact, it seems to me the President and Cabinet are afterthoughts with little real power, and that Senate is the heart of the government.

The fact that the Departments - Foreign Affairs, Treasury, War, Admiralty - are specified in the Constitution will play havoc when additional departments (Interior, Justice) become genuinely needed.

Interesting that it immediately lays out the idea that Congress has the authority to review state laws, and that only the national government has the right to keep and regulate militias.

Also going to be a problem that, based on the fragments we have, the only defined purpose of the national government was defense. There isn't going to be a Commerce Clause, it seems. Legislative review is a passive power, so this government isn't going to be able to actively do much. Although "for the safety of the nation" is a phrase that can lend itself to almost as much abuse - I bet we see a more militant nation, since the Army is the only tool the central government really has to work with.

As to how a Pinckney America would expand and grow - this Senate isn't ever going to be gagged, I don't think. It will continue to talk about slavery in a fairly rational way (since if you can't do that, I bet you can't get elected to the Senate in this setup). I wonder if it doesn't adopt something like peonage in place of chattel slavery in the early-to-mid-19th century, with real emancipation later? At what point does the *Senate conclude that keeping peons weakens the nation?

No national bank. Hmm, that's probably where regional tensions are going to come from. New York, Pennsylvania and maybe Massachussetts banks are going to dominate early on, and the south and west will stay dependent on them. A State Bank of New York becomes a powerful club to beat the south with...
 

Germaniac

Donor
Im completely against State Rights compared to Federal gov, so ironically i will go with the Virginia plan simply because a federal group have an absolute veto over state legistlature
 
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