WI Alexander Hamilton Dies at the Battle of Yorktown?

Anaxagoras

Banned
What would be the impact on American history if Alexander Hamilton had been killed while storming the British redoubt at Yorktown in October of 1781?
 

Skallagrim

Banned
I shall now use my 1776th post on this site to speculate upon this question of American history. :cool:

Long story short: without Hamilton, expect both main political factions to be more moderate and friendly with each other (in fact, the formation of real "parties" may well be postponed a generation) and they will both ignore their more radical (and regionalist) fringe elements to a far greater degree. The USA probably opts for neutrality in any European wars, doing its best to avoid getting in fights with either the British or the French.

Long story a bit less short: Alexander Hamilton made enemies. He made them on the opposing side, he made them on his own side... if enemies were Pokemon, he'd be the guy trying to catch them all, so to speak. He was also quite radical in his Federalism (actually, he called it Nationalism and intended Centralism). Without him, the (proto-)Federalists will be a lot more moderate, with Adams and (increasingly) Madison as the leading lights. The New England Federalists will be a bit of a radical fringe, but they won't dominate the faction the way Hamilton did in the early days. Without Hamilton and Jefferson being spectacularly at odds, Jefferson stays friends with Adams, who leads the (proto-)Federalists. Madison stays in Adams's camp, but since he's a Virginia gentleman like Jefferson, those two will get along, too. Less to fight about. Adams and Madison will want the central government to be more powerful than Jefferson wants it, but they'll be far more open to increased checks than Hamilton was. (Hamilton, for instance, didn't even want the Bill of Rights to exist.) You may expect the alt-Constitution to have a few more checks on government power.

There will still be a National Bank, but its charter will reign its power in considerably, Jefferson and Madison were both (at the time) big on secure currency, so expect something demanding a fully gold-backed dollar. Also, there may be no (or limited) assumption of existing state debts by the federal government. The early US politicians will actually all get along, for the most part, continuing the unity of Washington's cabinet (saved since Jefferson doesn't resign). Early governments will all by party-less "coalitions of the great minds". Expect the "Federalist" side to avoid the excesses of OTL Jeffersonianism (such as basically dismantling the navy) and the "Jeffersonian" side to stress checks on government power (no alien and sedition acts for sure, and I suspect the power of the Supreme Court will be explicitly hemmed in: there would be no Marbury v. Madison, and I think Jefferson would successfully push for some kind of rule that explicitly forbids any "legislating from the bench".)

Foreign policy-wise, Jefferson is sympathetic to France and Adams is sympathetic to Britain. Washington explicitly urged "friendship with all, alliance with none" -- and I think that will actually be the reasonable compromise. No involvement on either side. No Quasi-War, no War of 1812.

Slowly, the various factions will coalesce into distinct parties, although they willlikely not be divided along the same exact lines as in OTL. In any case, the early USA will be more moderate, with more politics of compromise. Everything will be a bit more like Jefferson wanted it (since Hamilton's influence is gone), but at the same time, the lack of conflict between the factions will make Jeffersonian tendencies less radical.

One might say you'd end up with the kind of politics Washington had in mind when he started out. This "Era of Unity" may well be regarded a America's youthful golden age, in later times.
 
Thomas Paine gets together we Henri de Saint-Simon. They travel to France and meet Thomas Jefferson, the three of them create an economic policy for the United States which benefits both yeoman and "industrialist". The trio convince the states to adopt agrarian justice, and to adopt an alternate central banking scheme in lieu of the usurious bank being peddled by Robert Morris. The Articles of Confederation are amended to allow for it and for the emission of bills of credit. To support the bank, the many states are convinced to yield up their Revolutionary War debt as well as their lands west of the Proclamation Line. Part of this trend sees the passage of legislation which prohibits the spread of slavery into the western territories. Perhaps, in this timeline, John Laurens might even live to help with the cause of abolition in the Deep South.

Some years later John Jay, James Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Patrick Henry, and Thomas Paine meet at Monticello to amicably devise a reform of the Articles of Confederation at the urging of Benjamin Franklin. This constitution is presented to the Congress in a component form and is easily ratified piecemeal by amendment, eventually creating a more efficient central government, but one that protects the rights of the states and individuals (especially the right of private arms ownership, and the duty of militias). The honorable George Washington serves as the first President of the new Executive Branch. Though tariffs and excises are passed by the Congress, they are limited in comparison to OTL, and with no over ambitious Alexander Hamilton internal stresses and divisions are not as great.

As tensions with Britain grow over the Ohio Territory, tribal relations, impressment, and the United States' aberrant financial institution, the Congress creates the Legion and the Navy earlier than OTL. The stronger navy aids John Jay when he goes to negotiate a treaty with Britain, and returns triumphant - eventually succeeding George Washington as President. This strong navy shows itself worthy in the Quasiwar with France and the Barbary Pirates War. The Legion proves itself well in action against the tribal confederacy, and even outs a Spanish spy ring. With a serious breach in relations that completely jeopardized Pinckney's Treaty, President Jay threatened war against Spain and sent John Adams to negotiate. With the United States having economically developed quite smoothly, avoiding the excesses of land speculation even, and Spain still economically languishing from the effects of the American and French Revolutions Adams was able obtain East Florida, West Florida, and the Louisiana territory up to the Colorado River in Tejas. With the extra specie in hand, Spain declines to attack Portugal in the War of the Second Coalition. Revolutionary France finally came to terms with the US over the Quasiwar in the interlude. The end of Jay's presidency was celebrated over the admission of several new transappalachian states. I don't know what affects this would have on the War of the Third Coalition.

With cheaper western land than OTL, the US's east coast had experienced a labor supply contraction, resulting in increased wages. The better relations with Britain and the attractive job market increased immigration to coastal communities. Though this immigration came mainly Britain, some also came from Germany, Ireland, and France. The terror which had occurred in the French and Irish Revolutions caused the uniparty Congress to pass restrictions on naturalization, and somewhat contentiously on immigrant behavior. Thomas Jefferson followed John Jay for one term, and is remembered for presiding over a continued era of economic growth, organizing a series of extensive surveys and scientific expeditions of the continent, and continuing Washington's policy of assimilation of Native tribes. The strong showing of the United States Navy prevented Jefferson's earlier interest in naval reduction, it also discounted serious consideration of an Embargo. Jefferson was succeeded by James Monroe in 1812 who served for three terms. Monroe's first term saw the death of George Washington, the growth of ethnic prejudices in coastal communities, an Native war in the northwest, and two Native wars in the southeast.

The increase (several dozen thousands per year) in Catholic Irish immigration to Boston and New York created resentment the Americans who lived there and had been enjoying higher wages, and this created the first political divide in the country between working class populism and the establishment. At the end of Monroe's third term this sentiment merged with anti-masonry, and democratic sentiment to become the Industrialist Party. In the northwest another Native tribal confederacy formed to fight against American settlers and culture. In the south things developed differently. Because the Cherokee had fought against the Americans during the Revolution they had been compelled to abandon portions of their land and move west of the Mississippi River. Those that remained however had adopted many American practices and had actually made their lands quite profitable. The expansion of slavery had been outlawed by the Congress years ago, no thought was given to the Native tribes that existed in that territory, and some Native tribes made profitable use of African slaves. The Eastern Cherokee developed peacefully enough, somewhat isolated in the hill country, but this practice caused enmity from American settlers expanding westward into the Mississippi Territory who had difficulty competing against slave labor. The Seminole however had taken in runaway slaves from Georgia, and created animosity from slaveholders there. These situations created two strains of philosophical thoughts in the south: many of the wealthy wanted to reopen unorganized territory to the expansion of slavery to take advantage of the cotton lands the Native tribes were developing, but many of the less wealthy wanted to the government to enforce the prohibition of slavery against the Indians. Though both strains of southern thought were filled with expansionist zeal, and thought highly of military valor, the differences in economic models proved insurmountable and increasingly rancorous. The Industrialists in the north saw this as an opportunity and spread their populism to the south. The populists in the old southern states then began to direct some of their historical resentment at the aristocracy against their continued use of slavery.

In the realm of foreign affairs the Monroe Administration codified a nonintervention policy in the Old World, and a primacy in the concerns of the New World. President Monroe also pursued the creation of a Colonization Society to fund the resettlement of freemen outside of the United States. Two destinations were pursued in conjunction with abolitionists in Britain: Sierra Leone & Liberia in Africa, and the Miskito Coast in Central America. American settlers were being asked to come into Spanish Tejas to help defend the Tejano settlements against Native tribe raids; however the Tejanos' discontent with the Spanish administration quickly spread to the American settlers. The Monroe Administration secured the Russian claim, and then negotiated the joint administration of the Oregon Country with Britain.

After Monroe's retirement the Industrialist Party elected William Henry Harrison in 1824. And I'll end it there.
 
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