WI: United States without a President?

[ArKhan]

What if instead of the Presidential system of OTL, the United States instead had a "parliamentary" system, with a "Prime minister" elected by Congress instead of a President? How would this change the course of American, and world history?

 

[Dirk_Pitt]

You could make it so that instead of the US Constitution being created in 1787, you merely have the Constitutional Convention amend the Articles. This was the offical purpose of the Convention after all. This is incredibly difficult though because in order to amend the Articles requires a unaminous vote in favor and Rhode Island wouldn't play ball. There was an attempt on the Confederation Congress to create a tax. Rhode Island said, "Ahh, hell nah!".

Why the Articles? The articles is incredibly similar to what you're asking. While there was a "President" of sorts it was more like a Prime Minister than what we would consider a President.

To do it you'd have to "take care of" Rhode Island.

 

[zoomar]

It would drastically change US and world history. But it is quite implausible, given the dynamics that led to the US Constitution. It was essential to the founders that power be separated among different branches of government. Some sort of "presidency" as a separate executive branch was pretty much inevitable to limit the power of congress, although alternatives to a single individual as president were discussed. Also, a nation needs a head of state, and I can think of no nation where the a "prime minister" chosen from the ranks of parliament is also head of state. In the 18th century, this was the reigning monarch - today it is frequently an elected figurehead "president". I suppose the US could have adopted a figurehead president, with an official chosen by both houses of Congress.

 

[Sicarius]

I think step one is killing Washington. Everyone knew he was going to be the first President, and the system was set up with that in mind. Without Washington, the Presidency could have - I think almost certainly would have - been set up as a much weaker office. There was also a current of thought at the time that the Presidency might be a lifelong office. Let's combine those and additionally fulfill a longtime AH.com wish, putting Ben Franklin in as the first President. Franklin was quite old at this time, but that's not a problem. Quite the opposite in fact: Everyone trusts Franklin not to go all Caesar on them. So you already have a weak presidency, and its first few years will be filled by an old man with neither much of a desire nor ability to accrue a lot of power. From there, have things muddle along a few years until someone in the House sees the potential of the Speaker's role - Madison and/or Clay, for instance. There's something for you, then: A weak presidency seen as a sinecure for national heroes and prominent men past their sell-by date, and a commanding speaker in charge of a more powerful than OTL House.