"Where've You Gone, General Washington?" - Participatory Election Series

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

3. Alexander Hamilton (Federalist-New York) March 4th, 1801-April 12th, 1802
Vacant: April 12th, 1802-March 4th, 1805

Oh yeah remember when the VP was literally murdered? Now we can't have Thomas Marshall talk about how someone shooting him would be the first time anyone ever tried to shoot the Vice President.

[PPT Spiral]

3. Alexander Hamilton (Federalist-New York) March 4th, 1801-April 12th, 1802
Vacant: April 12th, 1802-March 4th, 1805

Oh yeah remember when the VP was literally murdered? Now we can't have Thomas Marshall talk about how someone shooting him would be the first time anyone ever tried to shoot the Vice President.

But I thought Cathcon said that Hamilton resigned in frustration.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

3. Alexander Hamilton (Federalist-New York) March 4th, 1801-April 12th, 1802
Vacant: April 12th, 1802-March 4th, 1805

Oh yeah remember when the VP was literally murdered? Now we can't have Thomas Marshall talk about how someone shooting him would be the first time anyone ever tried to shoot the Vice President.

But I thought Cathcon said that Hamilton resigned in frustration.

Did he? I'll go back and check.

Edit: You're 100% right, my mistake.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Bump

[Rooney]

This series has been amazing to follow. I applaud Cathcon, Alfred Jones and Dallasfan65 for putting together a truly remarkable and enthralling look into an alternate America.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Thank you, we try our best (especially Cathy).

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

This series has been amazing to follow. I applaud Cathcon, Alfred Jones and Dallasfan65 for putting together a truly remarkable and enthralling look into an alternate America.

*cough* Alfred and I are co-running it right now *cough*

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

This series has been amazing to follow. I applaud Cathcon, Alfred Jones and Dallasfan65 for putting together a truly remarkable and enthralling look into an alternate America.

*cough* Alfred and I are co-running it right now *cough*

*cough* Malcolm is doing all the work *cough*

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

The 1900 Conventions

Although President Donnelly was easily one of the most polarizing Presidents in American history, he was something akin to a folk hero within his own party and his renomination was never seriously in doubt.  The real question was who he would pick as his running-mate after the tragic death of Vice-President Henry George.  While Senators William Allen and Thomas E. Watson (of Nebraska and Georgia, respectively) sought to demonstrate their strength by challenging President Donnelly for the nomination the strategy backfired.  Senator Allen made a far weaker showing than expected while Senator Watson received the support of enough Southern delegates that his candidacy became an embarrassment to the President (and thus angered much of the party establishment).  As a result, neither of the two frontrunners received the People's Alliance's Vice-Presidential nomination.  Instead, the second spot on the ticket went to Congressman Wharton Barker on Pennsylvania.  Congressman Barker was paradoxically both an eastern intellectual and a rising-star within his party.

If the People's Alliance had a bit of an awkward convention, what with Watson getting a majority of the Southern delegates and all that, then the 1900 Union Convention could only be described as FUBAR.  One of the four candidates, former Michigan Governor Hazen Pingree, dropped out immediately after failing to receive even a single vote from his own state's delegation.  Michigan's delegates, along with a solid plurality of those at the convention, cast their lot with Theodore Roosevelt.  While Roosevelt was known first and foremost as the charismatic and reformist Governor of New York, he was also seemingly the personification of the rugged individualism of the West.  However, even in subsequent rounds of balloting, he could not secure the majority he needed to defeat the leader of the party's conservative wing, Ohio Governor William McKinley.  

The reason for this was that former Vice-President Henry Adams, despite having become essentially a washed-up has-been with delusions of grandeur, had an iron grip upon the entire Pennsylvania delegation (due to the support of Senator Matthew Quay) and the various New England delegations.  The convention remained deadlocked until McKinley's campaign manager, Mark Hanna, offered Adams the Vice-Presidential nomination if he gave his support to Governor McKinley.  This gave McKinley a 6 and 1/2 vote majority and prompted Roosevelt and many of his supporters to walk out of the convention.  Roosevelt immediately began reaching out to progressive Unionists and laying the groundwork for a new political party, but was dismissed as "some half-mad cowboy" by Governor McKinley and the rest of the party's ascendent conservative wing.

The 1900 US Presidential Election

Although President Donnelly easily won renomination, it was always clear that he would face a brutal fight for re-election.  Loved by the left and reviled by the right, the Donnelly administration's crusade to free the working man from the chains of poverty had made him a hero to farmers and laborers, but it also led men such as John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, and Henry Clay Frick to utilize all the resources at their disposal to defeat the man who was either "the People's President" or "the anti-Christ" depending upon whom one asked.  Indeed, President Donnelly's economic policies, particularly the nationalization of all railroads, had made him an extremely polarizing figure.  The story was the same on foreign policy.  While even the Spainish-American War's isolationist opponents had to concede that the war had been a success, many Americans were still outraged by the President's broken campaign promise to discover Atlantis during his first term.  Initially, most observers expected the McKinley/Adams ticket to win a narrow victory.  

However, President Donnelly quickly began chipping away at Governor McKinley's edge by taking his case directly to the voters.  In sharp contrast to Governor McKinley, the President was always regarded as an exceptionally captivating speaker and even won over some Unionist elected officials to his cause in the Midwest.  One of these men, popular Unionist Senator Charles Towne of Minnesota went so far as to switch parties and actively campaign for the President in his state a month before the election.  Largely due to Senator Towne's efforts, or "Traitor Towne" as he would later be known to many Unionists, President Donnelly carried Minnesota (and with it the election) by a razor-thin margin of 1,403 votes.  However, President Donnelly's tireless campaigning took its toll and many historians believe it was ultimately the cause of his unexpected death less than a year after the election.  



President Ignatius Donnelly (PA-IN)/Congressman Wharton Barker (PA-PA) - 223 electoral votes, 51.4% of the popular vote

Governor William McKinley (U-OH)/former Vice-President Henry Adams (U-MA) - 214 electoral votes, 48.6% of the electoral vote


Special thanks to DallasFan

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

I just realized the PA-PA thing, and I think the People's Alliance should elect more Pennsylvanians - Gifford Pinchot? Joe Guffey?

[Rooney]

This series has been amazing to follow. I applaud Cathcon, Alfred Jones and Dallasfan65 for putting together a truly remarkable and enthralling look into an alternate America.

*cough* Alfred and I are co-running it right now *cough*

How foolish of me! You are also an awesome person for putting together this series. A thousand apologies for forgetting you.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

This series has been amazing to follow. I applaud Cathcon, Alfred Jones and Dallasfan65 for putting together a truly remarkable and enthralling look into an alternate America.

*cough* Alfred and I are co-running it right now *cough*

How foolish of me! You are also an awesome person for putting together this series. A thousand apologies for forgetting you.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Maps and summaries coming soon

The 1904 Conventions



The 1904 US Presidential Election



Congressman Eugene V. Debs (PA-IN)/Senate Majority Leader William Jennings Bryan (PA-NE) - 232 electoral votes, 45.2% of the popular vote
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge (U-MA)/Senator Julius C. Burrows (U-MI) - 227 electoral votes, 42.9% of the popular vote
New York Governor Theodore Roosevelt (BM-NY)/Senator Albert Beveridge (BM-IN) - 4 electoral votes, 11.9% of the popular vote

Special thanks to Dallasfan for his assistance with this and quite possibly all future maps!

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

bump btw

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Bump and minor edit: Ignatius Donnelly died on New Year's Day, eighteen days earlier than we had all thought. Sorry about that.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Bump.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Also, can we have alternate universe Doris Kearns Goodwin write The Bully Pulpit about Joseph Cannon and Henry Cabot Lodge?

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Bump and does anyone have maps or has Dallas died in a car accident or something?

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

List of presidents by age at inauguration (youngest to oldest):

1. Marion Butler: 37 years, 7 months, 30 days
2. Charles Francis Adams: 41 years, 6 months, 14 days
3. John Quincy Adams (1st term): 42 years, 8 months, 23 days
4. John Jay: 43 years, 2 months, 20 days
5. Grover Cleveland: 47 years, 11 months, 14 days
6. DeWitt Clinton: 48 years, 2 days
7. Eugene V. Debs, 49 years, 3 months, 27 days
8. Thomas Jefferson: 49 years, 10 months, 19 days
9. Oscar Underwood: 50 years, 9 months, 26 days
10. Wharton Barker: 54 years, 10 months, 3 days
11. James Monroe: 54 years, 10 months, 4 days
12. John Parker Hale: 54 years, 11 months, 1 day
13. John Quincy Adams (2nd and 3rd terms): 55 years, 7 months, 21 days
14. Henry Clay: 55 years, 10 months, 20 days
15. Abraham Lincoln: 56 years, 20 days
16. Martin Van Buren: 58 years, 2 months, 27 days
17. Zebulon Vance: 58 years, 9 months, 19 days
18. Samuel J. Tilden: 59 years, 26 days
19. Ignatius L. Donnelly: 60 years, 4 months, 1 day
20. Thomas Brackett Reed: 61 years, 10 months, 27 days
21. George Clinton: 65 years, 7 months, 6 days
22. David Crockett: 66 years, 6 months, 5 days
23. Joseph G. Cannon (1st term): 66 years, 7 months
24. John Quincy Adams (4th term): 67 years, 7 months, 21 days
25. Cassius M. Clay: 70 years, 4 months, 13 days
26. Elihu Root: 72 years, 17 days
27. Joseph G. Cannon (2nd term): 72 years, 9 months, 25 days

Interestingly, we have already surpassed the IRL records for youngest president ever, youngest president elected, and oldest president.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Bamp. Someone should really get map-making...

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

My bad, I had been sending the drafts to Dallasfan, but I foregot after some very busy weeks at work.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Outside of my boy JQ, who do you think the electoral populace regards as their greatest presidents? I imagine Jefferson, the Clintons, Crockett, Lincoln, and Donnelly would be included, perhaps with honorable mentions for Van Buren and Tilden.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

That seems about right - maybe trade in Underwood for DeWitt Clinton though, and I'd imagine Donnelly's only popular because he's worshiped as the second coming of Christ by the left.

Worst presidents would probably be Butler, Hale, perhaps Baby Adams and Monroe.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

That seems about right - maybe trade in Underwood for DeWitt Clinton though, and I'd imagine Donnelly's only popular because he's worshiped as the second coming of Christ by the left.

Worst presidents would probably be Butler, Hale, perhaps Baby Adams and Monroe.

It seems like Cannon has it coming to him, and Clay might be a controversial one, since the breakup of the country started under him.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

That seems about right - maybe trade in Underwood for DeWitt Clinton though, and I'd imagine Donnelly's only popular because he's worshiped as the second coming of Christ by the left.

Worst presidents would probably be Butler, Hale, perhaps Baby Adams and Monroe.

It seems like Cannon has it coming to him, and Clay might be a controversial one, since the breakup of the country started under him.

Cannon's not very popular, except among the right wing, but he's way better than the arc I had planned out for him - that was a full-on 10-year-minimum dystopia. Clay's a middle-of-the-road fellow: not really blamed for the war, but not really good at Presidenting.