Chapter XXIII: Democracy in America
"Even to observe neutrality you must have a strong government."- Alexander Hamilton
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Excerpted from
"The Fountainhead of Liberty: The Drafting of the United States' Constitution"
by Rick Jarvis, J. Albert and Sons, New York © 1888; pg 30, 60, 67, 80, 130
In these turbulent times of our own, in which our Constitution stands as a rock in a sea of upheaval, it is often difficult for us Americans to fully grasp the difficulties our Founding Fathers had in governing this nation in its infancy. Our independence had been dearly bought and was often close to extinction at the hands of British forces. Despite our modern conceptions, the end of the American Revolutionary Wars with its peculiar predicaments born of the resulting treaties did not ensure the survival of the nascent state. Indeed, it was only through a new series of hard-fought and hard-won struggles that the United States that bestrides this great continent was born.
To the west, we faced angry Indians, even at that early time seeking to unite against the push of American settlers and drive them back across the Appalachian Mountains. To the South were the colonies still controlled by King George and the armies of Great Britain. And further west lay the realms of Spain, the weak and ineffectual monarchy that lacked even then the strength to defend its lands. On all sides stood real and potential enemies of the newborn United States. Internally the situation was no better.
As is commonly held now, the Articles of Confederation were an abominable form of government. The central government lacked any effective control. Day's Rebellion[1] in Massachusetts went on for nearly seven months before the Massachusetts government was able to reassert control. The ringleaders fled to neighboring Vermont where Ethan Allen sheltered them. Throughout the union, economies were crumbling as the war debt crushed the states' economies. Unable to attract enough investment, and with the currency exchange rates between the individual estates crippling trade and investment between states, the economic problem grew ever larger. When, in 1787, Pennsylvania and New York mobilized their militias in preparation for war over disputed land along Lake Erie, it was decided that something must be done. Alexander Hamilton, along with George Washington and Benedict Arnold, called for a new Constitutional Convention to be held in Philadelphia to rectify the situation.
Every state in the union, including Quebec, Nova Scotia, and St. John's Island[2], sent representatives. Two of them Walter Patterson, the representative from St. John's Island, and Denis Viger would play prominent roles in the drafting of the Constitution. At the time, few expected the Convention to be a full re-drafting, but it seems that for both Arnold and Hamilton, the two drivers behind the effort, this was its purpose from the very beginning....
...heated debate over the composition of the legislature continued. Quebec, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York pushed hard for proportional representation. New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Delaware were leading proponents of and equal vote system. Hamilton, seemingly in a move of desperation proposed that states have votes based on how much they paid in taxes towards the central government. This novel idea recieved a great deal of attention, but was not quite popular enough and was finally brought down by the Sherman-Arnold Compromise which called for a two house system, one of which, the House of Representatives, was to be proportional, and the other, the Senate, gave each state two votes...
...as per Viger's proposal, slaves were to be counted as 3/4ths of a person in the census for representation in the House of Representatives. Despite an eloquent speech from Benedict Arnold decrying the Virginians for their hypocrisy, it was decided that in exchange for ending the slave trade and granting Congress the right to abolish slavery after 1820, Virginia would be given a population bonus...
...Despite a great deal of dispute, Alexander Hamilton won out and secured the central government's assumption of the state's debts....
...At the end of the convention, many were unhappy, particularly Quebec. Quebec hoped for more assurances that they would be allowed to keep their system. They were however guaranteed by several other members, such as Hamilton, that should the Constitution be put into effect, that the Amendments that would be the Bill of Rights would be enacted and work preserve all of Quebec's institutions...
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Excerpted from
"The Constitution of the United States"
signed by [the Undersigned]
Congress of the United States begun and held at the City of New-York, on Wednesday the sixth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine.
THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.
RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all, or any of which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution; viz.
ARTICLES in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution.[27]
Amendments
First Amendment – Freedom of religion, speech, press, and peaceable assembly as well as the right to petition the government.
Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Second Amendment – Right to keep and bear arms.
The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; a well armed and well regulated militia being the best security of a free country.
Third Amendment – Protection from quartering of troops.
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Fourth Amendment – Protection from unreasonable search and seizure.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Fifth Amendment – Due process, double jeopardy, self-incrimination, private property.
No person shall be held to answer for any capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Sixth Amendment – Trial by jury and other rights of the accused.
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district where in the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.
Seventh Amendment – Civil trial by jury.
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Eighth Amendment – Prohibition of excessive bail, as well as cruel and unusual punishment.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Ninth Amendment – Protection of rights not specifically enumerated in the Bill of Rights.
The enumeration of rights in the Constitution, granted to the government by the people, shall not be construed to deny or disparage all others retained by the people.
Tenth Amendment – Powers of states and people.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
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Excerpted from
"The First Global War: The French Revolutionary Wars"
Sayid Jarrah, Caenarfon Publishing House, Liverpool ©1993; pg 200, 210
Britain entered the French Revolutionary Wars on November 3rd, 1794, following the Spanish Republic's entry into the war on the side of the French Republic, and the declaration of war by Spain on Portugal for harboring the exiled and problematic Spanish nobility and monarchs. Britain's entry had long been coming. With the situation in France restabilizing after the reign of terror by Robespierre and the rule of the Bloody Mountain, Britain was becoming increasingly worried that France would win the war against the Allies. With Russia on the sidelines, busy with destroying the minor khanates of Caucasia and the weakend Persian state, Britain was the only major power left to intercede and keep Europe from falling under French hegemony.
And with Spain back on its feet, and the declaration of war on Britain's oldest ally, Britain found itself at war with France for the third time in under 50 years....
Britain's entry into the war had far reaching effects. Immediately, France, even with it's allied Spanish navy, was completely outnumbered by the superior Royal Navy. Outnumbered, outgunned, and outmanned, the French began impressing as many neutral sailors as they could, primarily from the burdgeoning United States, still too weak to assert itself against the mature European powers.
Quebec was already howling at President Washington to act in some fashion against the French Republic for its barbarity and anticlercism. However, Washington remained steadfast against picking sides in the European fight. However, as France began impressment during the summer of 1795, Washington found himself forced to act. The United States was not wholly unprepared. From the very beginning, both the Secretary of War, Benedict Arnold, and the Secretary of the Treasury had been pushing for a larger US Navy.[3] Both insisted that the US's interests lay not in the agricultural future envisioned by Jefferson, but in an industrial power harnessing the United States' vast resources which could only be secure for trade through a powerful navy.
Washington was not unsympathetic to their arguments, and had commissioned ships for the purpose of defending US interests, and as war with France became increasingly likely, the need for ships became clearer than ever.
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[1] Luke Day was another leader of OTL's Shay's Rebellion. In ATL, it just gets a different name.
[2] Prince Edward Island's previous name
[3] Without the South, the US is rapidly becoming more commerce centered, and Hamilton and Arnold are both tied to merchants and shipping, so as major players in ATL, they are pushing hard for a larger navy.
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How many differences to OTL's Bill of Rights can you pick out?
