The North American Confederation
I belive that this is the best option- George Washington
Rebellion, Reformation and more Rebellion
By 1781 the American Patriots along with French and Spanish help, had dealt a embarrassing defeat for the British Empire. After a 7 year war the Patriots forced the British to recognize the United States of America. It was a heroic victory, the Articles of Confederation were drafted, and America's future looked bright, but not for long. Within seven years the problems with the Article became all too pronounced. Several major problems arose, The separate state currencies were to hard to exchange, taxes were to harsh, and the Government was to weak to stop the numerous disputes between the states. After a Rebellion by unpaid Revolutionary War vets was dispersed a second Constitutional Convention was called in Philadelphia. A severe storm kept some delegates, including Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, home.* The Convention began on May 25th 1787 and it wasn't long before some delegates called the Articles "ineffective and paves the way for our demise.". Multiple plans were presented to the Convention but only two really gained a footing. The Virginia Plan called for two legislative houses, both houses of the legislature would be determined proportionately. The lower house would be elected by the people, and the upper house would be elected by the lower house. The executive would exist solely to ensure that the will of the legislature was carried out and would therefore be selected by the legislature.
The second one was called the Charles Pinckney Plan and there was to be a bicameral legislature made up of a Senate and a House of Delegates. The House would have one member for every one thousand inhabitants. The House would elect Senators who would serve by rotation for four years and represent one of four regions. The Confederate Convention would meet in a joint session to elect a President, and would also appoint members of the cabinet. The Convention, in joint session, would serve as the court of appeal of last resort in disputes between states. Pinckney did also provide for a supreme Federal Judicial Court. Although Washington extremely supported the Virginia plan, Charles Pinckney's plan was passed.
On September 9th of 1787 George Washington announced the reformation of the Federal Government. News spread quickly across the United States and into Europe. The reactions were mixed with some jubilant at the prospect of a Confederation while other mourned the failed central Government. Washington was elected by the 1st Federal Convention as President which Washington accepted. He appointed his Cabinet and only 10 days after the Confederations founding he introduced his first bill, The formation of the Federal Bank of America. After much debate and changes the First Federal Bank of America was founded in New York City the capital of the United Confederation. The First thing the Federal Bank did was to begin printing a national currency that was to be used for interstate transactions. After some initial protests the Confederate Dollar was accepted as a national currency and soon the presses began to roll. The Federal Court began its cases of both territorial disputes and back pay for the army and before long the Legal system in the new Confederacy was all sorted out. As more and more problems were ironed out the country seemed to be doing quite well for itself but then Washington left office on March 4, 1797.
The Confederate Convention were called back to vote on the next president and it seemed that Hamilton would win. Hamilton however was against the Confederation and refused his nomination and instead suggested John Adams, a bit grudgingly, as the next President. The Convention agreed with Hamilton and on March 9th he was elected the second President and almost immediately became controversial. His opponents accused him of being a monarchist and aiming to "Crown himself King." While it was true Adams expressed on and off monarchist views, he never considered using them as legitimate views for the American populace. The South also began shaking because Adams was staunchly anti-slavery. Even though Adams was against slavery he could do nothing about it. The Convention made the laws and all he could do is suggest laws. Even with that they still felt threatened and in October of 1797 the Governor of North Carolina led troops and aimed to march on Philadelphia and depose Adams. He was stopped at the Virginia border by Virginian troops.
Words flew and then there was the crack of a rifle as Virginian Colonel James Maddenfiled fell. He hit his head on a rock and died but the Virginians saw this as North Carolina attacking and returned fire. The battle went on for 30 minutes and left 13 people dead. This sparked the most famous Rebellion in the Confederation, the Carolina Rebellion. With the Virginians retreating the North Carolinians marched forward. The Governor of Virginia appealed to the Federal Court and they ordered the Convention to aid Virginia. The Convention hastily met and agreed that North Carolina was in the wrong. They issued a cease and desist letter to the local government but got no response as they advanced further into Virginia. The Convention then ordered Federal troops to intervene and Adams was forced to accept. The Army moved South at lightening speed to catch the Carolinians before they reached Richmond. The two armies met at Hampton where the first shot was fired by the Confederate Government.
The Siege of Hampton began late April of 1798 with the North Carolinians surrounding Hampton and beginning to shell the city. The Americans sat in Hampton and even began to shell the Carolinians when artillery began to arrive by ship. North Carolina never had much of a navy to speak of and was unable to completely cut the city off from the outside world, allowing supplies to continuously flow into the besieged city along with ammunition and men. After a month and a large counterattack the North Carolinians were pushed back and Hampton was liberated. The Governor was killed during the siege and
a new one was elected, one that ran on a pro-Adams ticket. The New Governor told his men to stand down and sent 1 million to the government as a apology. Adams accepted and allowed the new governor to keep his post in a effort to prevent another uprising, although this in itself was unpopular and may have contributed to what came later.
*Hamilton and Madison were at the Convention and championed the proposition of an entirely new document.