If Washington refused to be president, who would have been the likely alternative?
Hmm. That would be a very interesting scenario. And it would drastically effect the way history would run.Unless he made the decision at the very last minute (unlikely) there might not even be a presidency as we know it.
In 1787, the Virginia Plan spoke only of an "executive" w/o specifying whether this would be one man or several, while the New Jersey Plan referred to "an executive of ___ members", with the number to be filled in later. The Committee of the Whole went for a one man executive, but this, in all likelihood, stemmed in large part from the knowledge that Washington was "available" to fill the post, and that he wouldn't care to be just one member of a committee. Take him away, and you're left with a whole platoon of able men, but none who stands head and shoulders above the rest as did Washington That, on the face of it, seems like a recipe for a collective presidency, perhaps of five or seven men, with terms staggered so that one comes up for replacement each year.
Unless he made the decision at the very last minute (unlikely) there might not even be a presidency as we know it.
In 1787, the Virginia Plan spoke only of an "executive" w/o specifying whether this would be one man or several, while the New Jersey Plan referred to "an executive of ___ members", with the number to be filled in later. The Committee of the Whole went for a one man executive, but this, in all likelihood, stemmed in large part from the knowledge that Washington was "available" to fill the post, and that he wouldn't care to be just one member of a committee. Take him away, and you're left with a whole platoon of able men, but none who stands head and shoulders above the rest as did Washington. That, on the face of it, seems like a recipe for a collective presidency, perhaps of five or seven men, with terms staggered so that one comes up for replacement each year.
Kind of like the two consul system of Rome, although there are a lot of different things about the American one
Oh man, it would be great if Jefferson started off as the first President of a government he didn't really want. How do we get him back from France? I bet the Congress becomes more similar to Parliament in that case.