The Federal Republic of America: sibling to a stillborn USA

So this is a TL that I originally got the idea to make when I was making a map with failed American revolution; this isn’t going to be a TL about a standared British North America though. Far from it in fact.

The POD for this failed American revolution is that the conspiracy to replace Washington with Gates succeeded and then in 1780 after his humiliating defeat and retreat at Camden he is in turn replaced with a general with a good reputation…Benedict Arnold.

I will be posting the first installment of this TL tomorrow(or today). But as a bit of a teaser here are a few things this TL will contain.

- Commander in Chief Benedict Arnold

- A failed American Revolution

- British Cotton is King

- A more British India

- A later Haitian rebellion

- A unified Germany… without Prussia.

-Dominion of New England and Canada

- Andrew Jackson President-protector for life
 
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Interesting - and I'll probably be as curious about how you handle the rest of the world as how you handle America. I'll follow this.
 
OCC: This first mini-update details the failure of the revolution.

The Failed Revolution of 1775:
A stillborn United States

The story of the shaping of the Federal Republic of America does not begin with its declaration of independence, rather it goes back further al the way back to the Failed revolution of 1775.​

In this first attempt to gain independence the United States of America (sometimes known as the nation that never was) fought a nearly six year long war for independence. The provisional United States was made up of a confederation of the thirteen American colonies and the proclaimed Vermont Republic. The colonial conflict traced its origins to the lack of political representation in the colonies and excessive taxation. In 1776 the United States proclaimed its independence from Britain and its King.​

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The American colonists were first led by the inspiring Virginian George Washington. The as the first of three Commander-in-Chiefs of the Continental army he was perhaps the most inspiring and most accomplished. Washington led the colonies until 1778; after loosing two crucial battles, having allowed the British to capture Philadelphia and with the continental army starving at valley forge not even the recent victory at the battle of Saratoga which brought the French into the war could prevent Washington from being replaced.​


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The military and congressional conspirators who successfully deposed Washington put forth that Horatio Gates be made Commander-In-Chief of the continental army. Gates, sometimes called “Granny” by his own troops was not the inspiring figure that Washington was, but he managed to keep the colonies fighting for nearly a year and a half before his pathetic defeat and retreat from/at Camden. By then the “Hangman’s year” of 1777 had long since passed, the colonist if they failed would gain little if any of the things they desired, and were likely to be treated like the subjugated Irish. The war needed to be won lest the Americans become persecuted by Britain. Unfortunately for the colonials the defeat that sealed there fate came at Camden in 1780. The cowardice Gates displayed by retreating on the fastest horse he could find led to the congress deposing him as Commander-In-Chief. The with the dollar nearly worthless the Congress looked towards a man with a reputation as a fighter… the hero of Saratoga, Benedict Arnold.​

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By this time the disgruntled Arnold was deep in correspondence with the British about how to best betray the American cause. Arnold would go down in history as the last Commander-in-Chief of the Continental army. Under his leadership several horrific defeats would result in France and Spain rescinding their recognition of the United States and bow out of the war and lead the United States to be defeated by the end of the year.​
 
Stop me if I'm wrong, but didn't Benedict Arnold turn traitor basically because he was so pissed off at how shittily the rest of Continental Army was treating him? Passing him over for promotion and taking the credit for his victories, unjustly charging him with corruption out of spite, and other such arseholery. Not because he was against American independence per se.

If he's in such good standing as to be put in charge of the whole rebellion as Commander-in-Chief, he wouldn't have turned traitor in the first place: his dealmaking with the British would be butterflied away. Or, if his promotion to Commander-in-Chief comes as a surprise to him (and he's already in secret negotiations with the British), then surely he'd back out of his agreement with the British immediately -- after all, why turn traitor now when he's suddenly been given a position that affords him the respect and prestige he feels he deserves?
 
Well Gates was the one who claimed credit that probably should have gone to Arnold after Saratoga so having Gates become Commander-in-Chief is only going to exacerbate Arnold's bitterness. If the appointment as CinC comes when Arnold is already in negotiation with the British then he is in trouble. The British are hardly going to let him withdraw from negotiations in order to go off to command the US army nor are they going to allow him to come in from the cold. They are probably going to say "Well General Arnold we would like you to accept the appointment and then do this and this. Remember that we have copies of all of our correspondence and our reach is long. Play along and you will be rewarded"
 
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Stop me if I'm wrong, but didn't Benedict Arnold turn traitor basically because he was so pissed off at how shittily the rest of Continental Army was treating him? Passing him over for promotion and taking the credit for his victories, unjustly charging him with corruption out of spite, and other such arseholery. Not because he was against American independence per se.

If he's in such good standing as to be put in charge of the whole rebellion as Commander-in-Chief, he wouldn't have turned traitor in the first place: his dealmaking with the British would be butterflied away. Or, if his promotion to Commander-in-Chief comes as a surprise to him (and he's already in secret negotiations with the British), then surely he'd back out of his agreement with the British immediately -- after all, why turn traitor now when he's suddenly been given a position that affords him the respect and prestige he feels he deserves?

Horatio Gates being the egotistical man that he was claimed credit for Saratoga and as Commander-In Chief he continued his arseholery against Arnold. With Gates as Commander-in-Chief Arnolds treachery occurred just as it had in OTL, in fact Arnold was more vindictive then ever. By the time he was made Commander-In-Chief he had already been conspiring with the British for some time and if he back out of the deal then the British would reveal what he had done to the Americans and he likely would have been killed by them. Arnold was in to deep by the time the Congress started to appreciate him, and he had to act as a puppet on British strings. Basically what Wet Coast said.

I hope that acts as a reasonable explanation for the events that took place.
 
In terms of your Germany without Prussia, I've already done a thread asking about the feasibility of such a thing, and everyone agreed it's ASB because no one but Prussia had the power to unite these kingdoms, and some German kingdoms were entirely surrounded by Prussian territory.
 
OCC: apologies but this update will be fairly Amero-centric.

Chapter 2: In between Revolutions
 
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Don’t forget to cry at your own Burial: 1780-1798
 
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With the Americans having lost the war the victorious British were free to dictate the peace. It was a given that the signers of the Declaration of Independence hung by the neck. Most Generals in the continental army that had not already been captured were tried for crimes against the crown. George Washington the first Commander-in-Chief of the Continental army was shot by firing squad for treason. John Hancock, the first president of the false government of the continental congress, and Samuel Adams, regarded as an inciter of mob violence and propaganda master of the illegal government, were subject to a cruel and rarely used punishment.
 
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The two men were Hanged, drawn and quartered-(strangled by hanging but released while he was still alive, eviscerated and his bowels burnt before him, beheaded, then cut into four parts). The head of Adams, regarded with distain in the House of Lords as a master of propaganda responsible for many acts of disloyalty during the revolution, was preserved (dipped in tar) and like many before it was placed on a pike atop London Bridge. Horatio Gates, the second Commander-in-Chief, committed suicide before he was apprehended by the British, choosing to set his home a flame with the same whisky he was using as drink. Benedict Arnold was assassinated by an America veteran of the war once his treachery was discovered. Amongst the few well known revolutionaries to escape the British was General Nathanael Greene. Greene, the commander of the south, escaped deep into the Appalachian Mountains, dying ten year after the revolution in 1790.

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While the most prominent revolutionaries died for their freedom most of the colonists had to live with the revolutions failure. For the decade and a half after the failed revolution British troops would be a familiar site throughout the thirteen rebellious colonies. Many revolutionary Americans were sentenced to long stints in prison, under horrid conditions. Homes of people suspected of having taken part in the revolution were burnt to the ground. Even in the southern colonies which had not been as radical as the New England colonies the British (and vengeful Loyalists) punished the Americans with a degree of harshness that left the southerners hating the both their loyalist neighbors and the British. Plantation owners who donated money to the revolution found their slaves being taken and freed and their crops being burnt to the ground. In the Appalachian Mountains, mountain men and Guerrilla Fighters who had acted as irregulars under the service of the United States were hunted as murderous ruffians. Though this did not do anything to help the colonist’s love of the British it did prevent any further rebellions for the time being. As the years past though the British loosened their vice grip on the colonies and in the November 1789 the ban on expansion past the Appalachian Mountains was lifted. Conditions in the New England and southern colonies continued to get better, but the memory of what the British had done continued to live on. New colonists from Britain began to move into the Canadas, and the New England colonies. Eventually the New England colonies retook their place as the trade and goods Mecca of the British Empire.
 
 
As the wounds healed in the north the culture of the south, influenced both by the negative opinion of much of the empire’s view on slavery and the harsh treatment they received following the war, continue
d to diverge from not just Britain, but the northern colonies as well. The dying institution of slavery which much of the British Empire looked upon with distaste and that was even loosing practicality in the south would suddenly be revived from its downward spiral by a man by the name of Eli Whitney. In 1793 Whitney would invent a device that would make cotton, a crop that at the time was not considered a viable cash crop, a major source of income for the southern colonies and would make the dying and often looked down upon institution of slavery a critical part of the southern colonies society. The cotton gin would raise the importance of the Southern Colonies in the empire. The production and sale of cotton and cotton cloths, blankets, Tobacco and other cash crop items ect. and the taxes from their sale would help fund the fledgling war in Europe against the French republic.

 
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As the War of the First Coalition raged in Europe between the monarchies and Revolutionary France, revolutionary ideas began to regain prominence in the American colonies, especially as the British raised taxes on everyday item and crops to unreasonable amounts to help fund the war in Europe and the British made concessions to the appease the civilized tribes in order to prevent a war. In 1796 a number of smaller secret revolutionary (pro-republican organizations were once again outlawed in 1793 after a brief stint of legality) organizations were pulled together by the three veterans of the Revolution. Henry Lee III who had served as a cavalry officer during the first revolution, C. C. Pinckney, and a charismatic young country lawyer by the name of Andrew Jackson worked alongside one another to
 
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bring together slave owners, fishermen, merchants, and labors under the ideal of a free America. Just as it seemed that things were ripe for a second American revolution the War of the First Coalition came to an abrupt end in 1797. With Britain only preoccupied by a slow going naval war with France few of the leaders of the provisional and secret government of the as of yet none existent Confederation of American States believed that a revolution could succeed, especially with the northern colonies heavily reliant on trade with Britain. By the year’s end the organization that the three veterants had worked so hard to bring together seemed to be falling apart at the seams. Just as it seemed that the last hopes for free America were fading away an attempted revolution in another part of the British Empire and a renewed war in Europe pulled the CAS back from brink of destroying itself through internal arguments.
 

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The Irish rebellion of 1798, which was inspired by the failed American revolution of 1775, turned the green island red with blood. The British were forced into pulling troops from across the empire including British North America. General Cornwallis moved against the Irish revolutionaries with a frightening ferocity in an attempt to prevent further bloodshed.
 
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The situation in Ireland was not all that the British had to worry about. In Burma and India Warren Hastings[1] who had been building a comprehensive relationship with the Indians as Governor-General of Burma soon found British India and its allies under attack from French allies in India. Hastings who had a reputation for being ruthless yet loved by the Indians was engaged in a war with a French trained Indian coalition led by none other than the Tiger of India, Tipu Sultan. The Empire was forced to divert forces to India to protect its gains from the Tiger and his coalition.
 
For revolutionaries it was as though God had given them a divine sign that it was time to proclaim independence. British authorities detecting unrest in the colonies once again, attempted to seize militia armories. And so in the year of our lord seventeen ninety-eight, on the third of July the first battle of the revolution would be fought as British regulars attempted to capture the
 
 
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[1] After the failure of the American revolution and the death Edmund Burke, caused by a stress induced heart attack, there was not enough support in the parliament to get rid of Hastings who was held in the kings favor. So Hastings was never impeached and remained in charge of India, continuing his policy of administrating Indian administrators, and fighting back against British intolerance and nationalism. Because of this it is not uncommon at this time to see Englishmen smoke hookahs, drink arrack, attend nautches, wear Indian garb, and even dye their fingers with henna.
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OCC: what do you think?
 
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Well, the concept of Andrew Jackson leading the second generation of rebels is VERY intruiging.

But seriously, Washigton being hanged, drawn, quartered and disembowled? The British are far too civilized for that sort of thing.
 
But seriously, Washigton being hanged, drawn, quartered and disembowled? The British are far too civilized for that sort of thing.

It was still on the books as a punisment for high treason at the time, and Washington was one of the most important figure in staging the longest lasting rebellion in British history up to that point, but the revolution was only a few decades from the practices banning so maybe your right.
 
Forgive me for picking nits, as I am enjoying the story, but A.J., being born in 1767, was too young to have been in the Continenatal Army in the 1770's, and too young, even though extremely charismatic and intellegent, to be the one to bring together slave owners, fishermen, merchants, and labors under the ideal of a free America, in the 1790's. You've set the Southern stage nicely for Jackson to be extremely, much more so then in OTL, bitter and hate-filled toward the British, but don't rush his rise to the top too fast please. Thomas Jefferson, C. C. Pinckney or even somehow Aaron Burr (unlss they've been killed or imprisoned) could play a key role here as a bridge character. Also, I agree that Washington would not have been hanged, drawn & quartered. I imagine that he would have been shot by a firing squad.
 
Forgive me for picking nits, as I am enjoying the story, but A.J., being born in 1767, was too young to have been in the Continenatal Army in the 1770's, and too young, even though extremely charismatic and intellegent, to be the one to bring together slave owners, fishermen, merchants, and labors under the ideal of a free America, in the 1790's. You've set the Southern stage nicely for Jackson to be extremely, much more so then in OTL, bitter and hate-filled toward the British, but don't rush his rise to the top too fast please. Thomas Jefferson, C. C. Pinckney or even somehow Aaron Burr (unlss they've been killed or imprisoned) could play a key role here as a bridge character. Also, I agree that Washington would not have been hanged, drawn & quartered. I imagine that he would have been shot by a firing squad.

He may have been to young to serve in the continental army but he fought and was captured at the Battle of Hanging Rock which took place on the sixth of august a full ten days before Gates's humiliating defeat. So technically he would be a veteren of the revolution. After looking it over you second point does make sense but Jefferson is dead, Burr lives in New York which is now closer to OTL Canada than it is to the CAS; Pinckney is alive and probably would be in the right location to act as an early uniting force.


The next update will be up soon.

It will deal predominatly with Hastings India and the different relationship that is begining to form between India and Britain ITTL.
 
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I'm wondering if you considered that the Cotton Gin might have trouble coming about, without the US patent office or Federalist Mercantilist policies promoting its development.
 
I like it so far.

But seriously, Washigton being hanged, drawn, quartered and disembowled? The British are far too civilized for that sort of thing.

the Practice wasn't banned until 1814, and in 1803 the leader of a Failed Rebellion suffered the Same fate as TTL's Washington.

not exactly the "Far too Civilized" Englishmen, eh?

Forgive me for picking nits, as I am enjoying the story, but A.J., being born in 1767, was too young to have been in the Continenatal Army in the 1770's.

Historically, He Did join a Regiment as a Courier. so technically he did serve in the American Revolution.
 
I'm wondering if you considered that the Cotton Gin might have trouble coming about, without the US patent office or Federalist Mercantilist policies promoting its development.

Actually I did take that into account. While Whitney is accredited with inventing the cotton gin, litigation drove him and his partner to bankruptcy after it became common practice in the south to "construct your own gin". The invention still occurred as it did OTL but it destroyed Whitney financially and actually became more widespread earlier because of it.

With a bankrupt Whitney imagine the impact him not inventing (flawed an pretty much not interchangeable) interchangeable parts...
 
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