American Parliament

[Хahar 🤔]

The modern American governmental system is based on the British system of government, but with a few major differences. This TL postulates a system even closer to that of the mother country, with the following differences from the real American government:

• The renaming of the legislative lower house the House of Commons, and the legislature the Parliament.
• No fixed election dates for the lower house.
• No set terms for the upper house, members being appointed and dismissed by state legislatures.
• No Vice President; in the case of a vacancy in the Presidency, an Electoral College is reconvened.
• No ban on cabinet officials serving in the legislature.

These changes will have butterfly effects, effectively changing the whole system into a Westminster system. Obviously, the premise is not far removed from Lief's timeline, but the timeline hopefully will be.
1st Parliament: 1789-1791
2nd Parliament: 1791-1795
3rd Parliament: 1795-1800
4th Parliament: 1800-1803
5th Parliament: 1803-1808
6th Parliament: 1808-1809
7th Parliament: 1809-1816

[Хahar 🤔]

1st Parliament: 1789-1791

When the Electoral College convened for the first time in 1789, Lieutenant General George Washington was its unanimous choice for President. His military credentials were impeccabble, but it remained to be seen what sort of a civilian government he would form.

Upon his arrival in New York to assume the office of President, Washington appointed John Adams to lead his Cabinet, which consisted of eminent men of all political persuasions. The course of the Adams Ministry was relatively uneventful, until the proposition of a Bank of the United States by Treasury Secretary Hamilton. The measure met with the opposition of Thomas Jefferson and his agrarian faction, which included most Southerners. The bill passed the Senate without much trouble, but was narrowly defeated in the House of Commons. In response to the defeat, Hamilton resigned, followed soon after by Adams.

President Washington accepted Hamilton's resignation, but rejected Adams'. As planned, Adams then requested a dissolution of Parliament, which Washington granted. The election of 1791 would be first and foremost a referendum on the Bank of the United States.

[Хahar 🤔]

This should be a good TL, hopefully one that is continued to the present day. I look forth to the 1791 Election. Shame you never completed a similar American Parliament TL based on the Australian system. At least this TL will counterbalance that TL's demise

No, I'll get back to that one eventually.

[Хahar 🤔]

2nd Parliament: 1791-1795

The election of 1791 was fought on a single issue: the proposed Bank of the United States. The House of Commons' intransigence had caused President Washington to dissolve Parliament rather than remove John Adams from the cabinet. During the campaign, the Pro-Bank faction came to be known as the Federalists, and the Anti-Bank faction the Republicans. The Federalists were virtually wiped out in the South, but a strong showing in the Middle States and a sweep of New England carried it to victory.



Federalist: 56
Republican: 49

When President Washington proclaimed his new cabinet, Republican Thomas Jefferson was notably absent. His championing of small farmers made it impossible for him to remain a part of Adams's second ministry, which would go down in history by its derisive nickname, the "Bankers' Cabinet". Although the origin of the term is unclear, it spread like wildfire through the Republican press and became a symbol of resentment against the government at Philadelphia.

With the party system now firmly entrenched, none protested when President Washington chose not to run for reelection in 1792. The campaign to succeed him was fought between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. It was a repeat of the 1791 campaign, and fought along the same lines.

State	Adams	Jefferson	Total
MA	16	0	16
NH	6	0	6
VT	3	0	3
RI	4	0	4
CT	9	0	9
NY	12	0	12
NJ	7	0	7
DE	3	0	3
PA	7	8	15
MD	3	5	8
VA	1	20	21
KY	0	4	4
NC	0	12	12
SC	0	8	8
GA	0	4	4
Total	67	65	132

The result was extremely close, but Jefferson accepted it as the will of the nation, and Adams in turn was gracious in defeat, publicly offering the Republican leader a cabinet position, which was turned down. To lead his new cabinet, President Adams appointed Alexander Hamilton, who had been seen as the leader of the Federalists ever since the Bank debate. The Hamilton government would be tranquil until the summer of 1795.

A whisky tax proposed by Hamilton soon after the 1791 elections had been the cause of discontent in the frontier ever since, and tensions came to a head four years later, with a large force of farmers rising in opposition to the tax and the federal government. President Adams appealed to Lieutenant General Washington to put down the rebellion, and Washington immediately consented.

Washington's force, composed of militia from Pennsylvania and Virginia, quickly and peacefully put down the rebellion, though the causes for disconent were not settled. Flush with victory, President Adams dissolved the House of Commons and set elections for 1795.

[Хahar 🤔]

Excellent update as one would expect from a man of your calibre. Looking forth to the next one. I do have one question though Xahar about the TL. Can we expect maps in the near future for election results? Pretty please

Sure. I'll whip up a map for Election '91 tomorrow.

And thanks for the kind words.

[Хahar 🤔]

Map. Happy now?

[Хahar 🤔]

Bump!

[Хahar 🤔]

Bump!

I like it a lot! How long can Parliament's terms last (like the UK max. of 5 years)?

Also, what powers does the Upper House have exclusively? And vice versa? And is the Head of the Cabinent reffered to as Prime Minister? Or the Sec. of State, etc? And what's the name of the Upper House?

Thanks.

Parliament's functions are largely drawn from British procedure; according to the Septennial Act 1715, the maximum term of Parliament is seven years. The two houses are roughly equivalent, but only the Commons can propose monetary bills. The head of the Cabinet is theoretically the President, and leading figures argue against the existence of a Prime Minister. However, Alexander Hamilton holds the unofficial position equivalent to the predecessor of the British Prime Ministership. The Upper House is known as the Senate.

Hope I answered your questions fine.

[Хahar 🤔]

3rd Parliament: 1795-1800

In 1795, after the success of the federal forces under George Washington in the Whiskey Rebellion, Washington's Federalists made major gains, especially in Pennsylvania and Virginia, the two states most directly affected.



Federalist: 62 (+6)
Republican: 44 (-5)

The United States had been aligned with France ever since the American Revolution, and the First Republic expected continued American benevolent neutrality in its European war. However, British naval superiority and military presence in the Northwest made this impossible, and President Adams accordingly presented the Treaty of London to the Senate, normalizing Anglo-American relations.

The Jay Treaty, as it was known, was ridiculed by Republicans, who perceived in it an abandonment of France. Nevertheless, the heavily Federalist Senate approved the treaty quickly. The French government promptly broke off diplomatic relations with the United States, a move which would have lasting consequences.

In 1796, as expected, President Adams ran for reelection, opposed again by the de facto leader of the opposition, Thomas Jefferson.

State	Adams	Jefferson	Total
MA	16	0	16
NH	6	0	6
VT	4	0	4
RI	4	0	4
CT	9	0	9
NY	12	0	12
NJ	7	0	7
DE	3	0	3
PA	11	4	15
MD	8	2	10
VA	6	15	21
KY	0	4	4
KY	0	3	3
NC	1	11	12
SC	0	8	8
GA	0	4	4
Total	97	51	148

Adams' decisive win gave him new political capital, and he was largely unopposed in his goals thereafter. Alexander Hamilton, meanwhile, was firmly in charge of the cabinet, leaving Adams increasingly in a figurehead role. In this, he was opposed by his fellow New Yorker, Aaron Burr, who was increasingly seen as the leader of the Republicans, with Jefferson's withdrawal from the national spotlight.

In 1796, France began seizing American vessels headed for Britain, which now enjoyed American most favored nation status. When Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry went to France to reopen diplomatic relations, bribes were demanded for them to see Talleyrand in what became known as the XYZ Affair. Naval hostilities commenced, with the threat of war in Louisiana.

George Washington was now too old to command the army in the field, and in consequence he prevailed upon John Adams to promote Alexander Hamilton to the rank of Major General, with the understanding that he would be made effective commander in case of war on land. Adams resented this, but he could not easily ignore Washington's advice without public backlash.

In late 1799, the Directory fell in France. First Consul Napoléon Bonaparte, the new dictator, had no use for America and ended the state of belligerence. The lack of war did nothing to diminish Hamilton's prestige, which emerged greater than ever. More and more, Adams was pushed to the sideline.

In May of 1800, several members of the Cabinet resigned, including Hamilton himself. The reasons were disputed: some claimed that the members loyal to Hamilton over Adams had been purged, while others claimed that it was the pro-English elements who were forced out.

Nevertheless, Adams had broken free of Hamilton's hold, and in his place, he appointed Hamilton's nemesis, the Republican-turned-Democrat Aaron Burr. Burr brought with him Tammany Hall's Republican Congressmen, and a large portion of the Federalist Party sided with Adams over Hamilton. Still, the government clearly faced a hostile Parliament on both sides, and Parliament was accordingly dissolved.

[Хahar 🤔]

4th Parliament: 1800-1803

At the beginning of 1800, the Federalists had had a profound advantage, having achieved peace with France without military defeat. After Alexander Hamilton's fall, the split in the Federalist Party caused observers to posulate that the Adamsites might take the place of the Republicans. Thomas Jefferson, now again undisputed Republican leader after Aaron Burr's departure, planned to join the government in the event of an Adamsite victory.

The results, therefore, came as a total shock, as the Republicans won a landslide in the South and nearly swept the Middle States. In the Federalist stronghold of New England, most MPs sided with Hamilton, leaving New York City, dominated by Aaron Burr's Tammany Hall, the only reliable pro-Administration area.

The reasons of the Federalist defeat were many. Although vote-splitting was important, the main reasons were simple fatigue after nine years of Federalist rule and mistrust of the Philadelphia government, as profound as ever.



Republican: 78 (+34)
High Federalist: 40
Low Federalist: 24

Adams served out the rest of his term as a lame duck, facing an intractably hostile Commons. He did not run for reelection, and the Adamsites quickly fell apart. Hamilton's nominee for President was Thomas Pinckney of South Carolina, a moderate Federalist acceptable to all sides, but strongly backed by none.

State	Pinckney	Jefferson	Total
MA	16	0	16
NH	6	0	6
VT	4	0	4
RI	4	0	4
CT	9	0	9
NY	0	12	12
NJ	7	0	7
DE	3	0	3
PA	3	12	15
MD	4	6	10
VA	0	21	21
KY	0	4	4
TN	0	3	3
NC	1	11	12
SC	8	0	8
GA	0	4	4
Total	65	73	138

On his third attempt, Thomas Jefferson finally became President. His Cabinet was headed by James Madison, and later joined by Burr, marking his final capitulation.

In 1803, Robert R. Livingston purchased Louisiana from France for $15 million. The deal, though unexpected, was welcomed by the President, who forced the measure through Congress to great acclaim, especially in the South and West. With his domestic popularity soaring, the President hoped for an even larger majority for further projects. In 1803, coinciding with the French handover of New Orleans, he dissolved the House of Commons.

[Хahar 🤔]

Bump, update soon.

[Хahar 🤔]

Obviously, by "soon", I meant, "a little bit more than a month".

[Хahar 🤔]

5th Parliament: 1803-1808

With the highly popular Louisiana Purchase and general prosperity, the Republicans were prohibitive favorites to win in 1803. The Federalists were now a small New England rump around Alexander Hamilton, who had managed to alienate almost everyone in the opposing camp. In writing, John Adams praised the Republican government.



Republican: 110 (+32)
Federalist: 32 (-32)

In the 1804 presidential election, there was no possibility of a Hamiltonian winning. Thus, Hamilton abandoned all pretenses and ran for President himself. Now more unpopular than ever, Hamilton only won the electoral votes of Delaware.

State	Hamilton	Jefferson	Total
MA	0	19	19
NH	0	7	7
VT	0	6	6
RI	0	4	4
CT	0	9	9
NY	0	19	19
NJ	0	8	8
DE	3	0	3
PA	0	20	20
OH	0	3	3
MD	0	11	11
VA	0	24	24
KY	0	8	8
TN	0	5	5
NC	0	14	14
SC	0	10	10
GA	0	6	6
Total	3	173	176

Jefferson was reelected in a huge landslide, receiving the mandate he had for so long strived. As his first act, he turned around and fired Aaron Burr, whose support he no longer needed. In turn, Burr began his political rehabilitation. His firing confirmed the concerns of many that Virginians were running the country. Gradually, a faction of Northerners and Westerners began coalescing around him.

In June of 1807, the HMS Leopard impressed four sailors from the USS Chesapeake off the Virginia coast. In response to the attack, President Jefferson called for an embargo on the United Kingdom, which was agreed to by Parliament when it reconvened in October.

As it turned out, the Embargo hurt America far more than Britain, and the Republicans lost control of state legislatures throughout the nation. With a Senate that was quickly slipping out of the Administration's control, the House of Commons in January of 1808 passed America's first ever motion of no confidence by a vote of 74 to 68. Westerners and Southerners anxious for stronger measures joined stubbornly pro-British Northerers. His majority in Parliament gone, Thomas Jefferson was faced with no option but to dissolve the House.

[Хahar 🤔]

What's that bit of territory west of PA?

That's the Connecticut Western Reserve. It wasn't ceded until 1800.

[Хahar 🤔]

6th Parliament: 1808-1809

During the campaign of 1808, Aaron Burr and other Northern Republicans took pains to distinguish themselves from the unpopular Jefferson Administration. On January 28, a weekly paper in Washington was set up, called the Nationalist. The paper was staunchly Burrite, and as it became the Burrite mouthpiece, so did its faction come to be called the Nationalists.

The Federalists gained seats they had lost in New England in the 1803 landslide, but their position was taken by the Nationalists everywhere else. This hurt the party most in New York, where a thriving organization had once existed. Now, however, all New York forces sided either with Burr or his nemesis, the old George Clinton.



Republican: 56 (-54)
Nationalist: 51
Federalist: 35 (+3)

Although the Republicans retained a slim plurality, the election results were clearly anti-Jefferson. The President's original plan was to keep Madison, knowing the large differences between the Francophile Nationalists and pro-English Federalists, but Burr saw through the plot and informed him that if Madison (and by extension, the Virginia group) was not removed from power, he would simply force a new election.

This was too much for Jefferson to swallow, and he flatly refused. After a near-crisis, it was agreed upon that Madison would stay, but most of the Republicans in the Cabinet would be replaced by Nationalists.

In 1808, Burr and Jefferson were nominated, as expected. Hamilton, sensing a more favorable climate, also ran.

State	Hamilton	Jefferson	Burr	Total
MA	19	0	0	19
NH	4	0	3	7
VT	6	0	0	6
RI	4	0	0	4
CT	9	0	0	9
NY	0	0	19	19
NJ	0	0	8	8
DE	3	0	0	3
PA	0	0	20	20
OH	0	0	3	3
MD	3	3	5	11
VA	0	24	0	24
KY	0	5	3	8
TN	0	5	0	5
NC	0	12	2	14
SC	0	10	0	10
GA	0	6	0	6
Total	48	65	63	176

As no candidate was even close to a majority, the House of Commons was called upon to elect the President. On the first two ballots, too few states were able to give a majority vote to any candidate. Before the third ballot, the House agreed to consider a plurality vote in a state delegation as equivalent to a majority vote. On the third ballot, Burr received 7 votes, Jefferson 6, ad Hamilton 5. Before the fourth ballot, certain Nationalists let slip that they might vote for Hamilton if Burr were not elected. This claim has never been conclusively proven true or false (though it was probably a bluff, given the differences between the Federalists and Nationalists), but the very thought of a President Hamilton was enough for the Republicans to give their votes to Burr, who won on the fourth ballot by the count of 13 to 5.

Burr was sworn in as President on March 4, 1809. Judging that his popularity in the country was sufficient to avoid having to serve as junior partner to the Republicans, he dissolved the House of Commons soon after and called new elections.

[Хahar 🤔]

I'll get on this soon, don't worry.

[Хahar 🤔]

Note: Henceforth, as the Presidency begins to decline in importance, I will no longer give state-by-state electoral vote totals for President.

7th Parliament: 1809-1816

Outwardly, little had changed since 1808. The 1809 elections were fought on the same grounds as the elections the previous year; the issues at hand remained the same. Nonetheless, the Republicans no longer had the machinery of government at their disposal, and prominent local personages began to move en masse to the Nationalists. As a result, the Nationalists won heavily, and Burr's agenda with it.



Nationalist: 70 (+19)
Republican: 38 (-18)
Federalist: 34 (-1)

Burr and the Nationalists, though barely lacking a formal majority in the Commons, had a working majority. Burr's next task was to split the Federalists, which he accomplished through a two-pronged measure. First, he pledged that he would adhere to strict neutrality in foreign affairs, and would keep open trade with both England and France unless attacked. This pleased many Anglophile Federalists, who worried about Burr's pro-French tendencies. Second, he made the Virginian ex-Federalist John Marshall the leader of his government. Although the Marshall government was occassionally defeated and on a few occasions denied supply, it was able to govern effectively throughout the parliamentary term. On the foreign policy front, neutrality was maintained between England and France, although the nature of British naval supremacy meant that Franco-American trade was less common and more often conducted through third parties.

The early 1810s were a period of general prosperity, and came to be remembered as a "golden age" of sorts later in the century. In 1812, Jefferson and Hamilton ran for President again, but Burr easily won, this time with an absolute majority. About midway through Burr's second term, calls began to dissolve Parliament and call for elections. Burr refused, arguing that there was no need for new elections in a time of prosperity; the Septennial Act 1715 only required that elections be held every seven years. It was fitting that the rivalry between Burr and Hamilton would end in this most apolitical of times; in December of 1814, Hamilton fell sick, and he died of tuberculosis on January 13, two days after his sixtieth birthday. Parliament was dissolved in early 1816 on the basis of effluxion of time.

[Хahar 🤔]

Presidents:

George Washington (F-VA): 1789-1793
John Adams (F-MA): 1793-1801
Thomas Jefferson (R-VA): 1801-1809
Aaron Burr (N-NY): 1809-

Prime Ministers:

John Adams (F-MA): 1789-1793
Alexander Hamilton (F-NY): 1793-1800
Aaron Burr (F-NY): 1800-1801
James Madison (R-VA): 1801-1809
John Marshall (N-VA): 1809-

Elections:

1791: (no parties)
1793: Federalist 56, Republican 49
1795: Federalist 62, Republican 44
1800: Republican 78, High Federalist 40, Low Federalist 24
1803: Republican 110, Federalist 32
1808: Republican 56, Nationalist 51, Federalist 35
1809: Nationalist 70, Republican 38, Federalist 34

[Хahar 🤔]

Bump. Update sooner or later.

[Хahar 🤔]

At this rate, I should reach the present on January 5, 2020 (and, by then, I'll have a decade more to do).

[Хahar 🤔]

AN UPDATE IS DEMANDED.

Uh oh. If the moderator demands it of me...

[Хahar 🤔]

8th Parliament: 1816-1817

In the middle part of the 1810s, party politics on the federal level had atrophied to nothing. Some candidates at the 1816 elections had official backing, but many did not. Electoral campaigns tended to be fought over local issues; the federal government, of which approval was near-universal, was not the issue. With these circumstances, the result of the election seems inevitable in retrospect, but it came as a shock at the time.



Opposition: 96
Nationalist: 89 (+19)

Burr's party, the Nationalists, failed to win the majority that the had been expected to get. The non-Nationalist candidates were contemporarily known by a variety of names, but they are today known as the Opposition (a misnomer, as many were closer to Burr than to each other). The lack of organization of the Opposition meant that Burr could always find a majority, but he was uncomfortable nonetheless.

In the 1816 elections, Burr was opposed by another Virginian, James Madison. Madison had high hopes, but he was unable to translate support for the Opposition into support for him; he lost massively to the still-powerful Burr. Madison thus came to the realization that the Virginian clique was out, and that Virginia could not win alone again, least of all without a political organization.

Burr dissolved the Commons in early 1817, seeking a more pliable Parliament. Soon after, in the capital, James Madison, William Crawford, and William Lowndes formed the Democratic Party to contest the coming elections.

[Хahar 🤔]

Finally!! I'm really looking forward to the next update.

Just wondering... How did events abroad go (As the Napoleonic Wars are presumably over...)?

Assume that things are the same unless otherwise stated. Butterflies are unlikely; the US wasn't exactly a great power at the time.

Hey... I know you aren't a frequent updater, my friend, but do you think there is any chance of an update this week?

Probably not. Next week is spring break, though, so I may put one out then.

[Хahar 🤔]

Yeah, givne how coincidental the War of 1812 was, it would be nearly impossible not to butterfly it out. This of course leads to major changes, as the War of 1812 made the Democratic Party.