Hamilton Gunned Down By Convicts During Constituional Convention

[Malta]

A friend of mine regularly writes historical articles for his job and journals here and there. Apparently for one he is writing now he discovered that Hamilton was almost gunned down by convicts in Philadelphia during the early days of the Constitutional Convention.

What would have been the ramifications?

 

[BlueFlowwer]

No musical for starters.

 

[UCB79]

Of course someone else would have been Washington's Secretary of the Treasury.
Meanwhile we would have no one to write a
Report on Manufacturing, no one to press for
a Bank of the United States(or @ least as well as Hamilton did). We quite likely would
have seen different financial policies adopted
than those that were IOTL. This opens up a
can of worms that is, to say the least, mom-
umental.

 

[Gunner's_Quadrant]

Need someone else to be on the $10 bill.

 

[mrmandias]

It changes the Constitution, especially Article II. The President has less powers, more checks, maybe its a council instead of one man.

It conceivably also affects the ratification debates. Not sure how important the Federalist Papers were.

 

[UCB79]

Need someone else to be on the $10 bill.

Maybe Jefferson instead?

 

[Malta]

I wane to say an extreme possibility is a New York secession crisis.

 

[Divergent54]

Need someone else to be on the $10 bill.

Harriet Tubman or whatever significant person during the American Underground Railroad in this timeline ?

 

[Malta]

Let’s see. My friend says that in Mid-June of 1787, Hamilton and his wife were in their carriage held up by a group of escaped prisoners/highwaymen known as “THe Wheelbarrow Men”. At one point one of the outlaws had aimed a pistol at the Hamiltons who escaped when the driver spurred the horse away from the hold up.

So the pistol misfires, kills Hamilton.

 

[Jape]

It changes the Constitution, especially Article II. The President has less powers, more checks, maybe its a council instead of one man.

It conceivably also affects the ratification debates. Not sure how important the Federalist Papers were.

A Swiss style government structure would be very interesting. A Federal Council with 13 members? Jonesian conspiracy theorists would have a field day. A much more confederal state would have obvious issues. Maybe it leads to a more 'laid back' approach to issues like slavery? However given the size of North America and the vast differences in experiences and motivations that simple geography cause it also opens up room for secession of a far less 'dramatic' kind than we saw IOTL.

 

[Clandango]

No musical for starters.

Are you kidding? This is going to be the source of movies, stageshows, etc for centuries.

Let’s see. My friend says that in Mid-June of 1787, Hamilton and his wife were in their carriage held up by a group of escaped prisoners/highwaymen known as “THe Wheelbarrow Men”. At one point one of the outlaws had aimed a pistol at the Hamiltons who escaped when the driver spurred the horse away from the hold up.

So the pistol misfires, kills Hamilton.

Dang, thought they broke into the Convention or something.

 

[Gunner's_Quadrant]

Hamilton did not have that much influence during the Convention, most thought his views too monarchist. He was much more influential during the Ratification phase when he helped write the Federalist papers along with Madison and Jay. There was a lot of opposition to the draft Constitution for various reasons, without Hamilton there is a good chance the draft Constitution may not have been ratified and the country would continue under the Articles of Confederation.