WI: The Newburgh conspiracy goes ahead

During the dying days of the Revolutionary War, there was no central government to speak of in the Thirteen Colonies. As a result, the national treasury was bare of money, Congress could not raise taxes and the states couldn't pay what they promised.

As a result, there was no money for the soldiers. A group of soldiers, led by Horatio Gates, were fed up with this predicament and planned to violently march on Philadelphia. Before the conspiracy went ahead, they decided that they wanted George Washington to lead their uprising, with John Armstrong, Gates's aide, even offering him the position of King of the United States in a letter. Instead, George Washington talked them out of it and convinced them to give Congress a chance to resolve the issue.

But what if the Newburgh conspiracy went ahead with Horatio Gates and his men marching on Philadelphia?
 
Congress would hastily "adjourn" to some other location, preferably one where the State militia could be relied upon to defend them. Virginia perhaps?
 
You do realize the British bowed out at this point right? The Contientels after a few weeks would just degenerate into some looter mobs after Congress leaves Philadelphia.,
 
Doubtful. While there would no doubt be looting due to the poverty of the soldiers, I'd argue that Gates would be able to keep the army a mostly organized mass and continue his coup even if Congress fled. The Newburgh Conspiracy's goal, such as it was, seems to have been the overthrow of Congress, not just payment of wages. I'd figure that either a military government is successfully imposed or a civil war develops as the various state militias resist Gates. In other words, bad, bad news for the young republic no matter what.
 
I doubt that any central gov't can be forced upon the states at that juncture. The military gov't will be just as broke as the civilian one, and soldiers aren't going to fight dissenting states without pay and it's doubtful Gates could raise funds/men/supplies without states support. IMO, the notion of a USA military dictatorship is stillborn. Washington is the only one who possibly might have led it, but his name would quickly be tarnished, he'd be branded a traitor, and the states would go their separate ways.

there are many who feel the conspiracy worked quite well, its purpose being to force congress to act on the matter of soldiers pay.

It may have also played a part in the attitude of not keeping a standing army. one of the first acts of the peacetime army (not yet disbanded) was to threaten the gov't.
 
addendum:
what is likely to happen is that the army would march on Philly, find that congress has moved, find no one to fight, and either turn into a pillaging mob, which only kills their cause, but will cause mayhem for a while until it peters out, or they disband and individually loot until they can make their way home.

It might make passing the constitution more difficult, as states might fear a big gov't and prefer to 'balkanize', or it might make it easier if states think that banding together is the way to prevent any group/region from going rogue.
 
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