For God, Crown, and Country: The History of the Commonwealth of America.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Chapter XVIII: The Galloway Ministry.

Joseph Galloway was widely respected across the Commonwealth for his work holding off outright armed conflict during the American Rebellion of 1775, and had been an influential force during the drafting of the constitution. As Franklin’s leader in the House, he effectively rose to the level of deputy to Franklin and had a broad portfolio that often overreached into the efforts of the other Ministers in his cabinet. This earned him the animosity of both Adams and Hamilton, each of whom led their own faction within the broader Tory caucus. When Franklin died in 1791, this division which had simmered in the backdrop for months became apparent to all. Within the Commons, both Hamilton and Adams laid claims that they could best carry on the legacy of Franklin, though neither could command a majority within the Tory caucus much less the broader House.

Surely enough, all eyes turned towards Galloway, who could form a government in the name of the King simply by holding the Tory caucus together. The Governor-General, William Howe (a career military officer who recently replaced the Duke of York and Albany to fill the position) asked Galloway to form the second government of the Commonwealth as a result, and after assuring both Adams and Hamilton of their roles in the cabinet, proceeded to purge Madison and Monroe from the cabinet. To replace them, Virginia Tory Edmund Randolph was named Minister of Justice and William Franklin, the son of the late Prime Minister and his successor as MP for the constituency of Philadelphia following a by-election, filled the role of Postmaster General.

The first order of business was to ask the Governor-General for a dissolution of parliament, which was immediately granted. Thus the second American federal election was underway, with the Tories and Whigs duking it out in the press, where pointed and often personal attacks were employed as the two sides accused the other of seeking chaos. The result of the election was a strengthened Tory majority (largely due to expansion of the House following the 1790 census), and the downfall of Albert Gallatin as the unofficial leader of the Whigs. Though revered as an elder statesmen, his German heritage (Gallatin was born in Europe) brought with it nativist attacks which he simply refused to engage during the campaign, leading to the rise of other voices such as Madison, Jefferson, Payne, and Henry overshadowing him among the Whigs.

Next, Galloway sought to strengthen the Commonwealth’s position by pushing through the Navy Act of 1791, which established the Royal American Navy and the accompanying Royal American Marines. Two Ships of the Line – the ACS King George and the ACS Franklin – were commissioned following the formal establishment of the navy, in order to ensure that the defense of the Commonwealth remained in the control of Philadelphia and not London. With tensions between the British and French simmering, Galloway argued successfully to both the parliament and the public that the threat posed by Paris could have a significant impact on both the Commonwealth's trade routes as well as it's fragile autonomy.

Events in the Americas had not gone unnoticed in Paris; the end of the Seven Years War had left the country deeply in debt, and King Louis XVI took little notice of this as he continued to expends millions of Francs per year on luxuries and grandiose construction projects. The massive and arguably unnecessary expansion and modernization of the French military only weakened the country's fragile financial situation, as the King feared his colonial holdings in North America could revolt much like the British colonies nearly did. Ironically, however, the only rebellion brewing was at home.

The crisis began in earnest when the King dismissed a popular bureaucrat named Jacques Necker, who maintained great support among the middle and merchant classes which comprised the Third Estate of the French government. Necker was able to secure nearly 75 million Francs in credit from French bankers and financiers, though the King was uninterested in reigning in his lavish lifestyle or granting more influence to the Third Estate, which had traditionally been the weakest unit of the Estates General. To alleviate the crisis, a series of unpopular taxes were levied. However, the highly regressive nature of these taxes only further alienated the peasantry, who bore the bulk of the impact. Though Necker tried to broker a compromise, the opposition of the First and Second Estate made any resolution impossible.

The King resolved to break the impasse by shutting down the Third Estate; he did so by ordering soldiers to their meeting hall (the three Estates met separately and were rarely called together) in order to physically lock out the delegates; as a result, the members of the Third Estate marched to a nearby Tennis Court, where they took the "Tennis Court Oath" declaring themselves the National Assembly. The King was forced within a matter of days to recognize the National Assembly's legitimacy due to the political situation's nature rapidly spiraling out of control, but that did not stop him from deploying more soldiers to the outskirts of Paris or from dismissing the popular Jacques Necker from office.

This sparked a panic in Paris; with Necker's dismissal and the rumored troop movements, the citizens of the French capital took action. Armed with muskets, pitchforks, shovels, swords, knives, cleavers, and whatever other implements of destruction they could muster, the crowds swelled in size as they marched on the Bastille. The ancient fortress and prison had long served as a symbol of the Ancien Regime's hold on power. Though the soldiers guarding the garrison initially resisted the assault, the realization that they would eventually be massacred led to them surrendering the fortress and releasing all of the prisoners within. The fall of the Bastille marked the defining turning point of the French Revolution.

The fall of the Bastile was the turning point of the French Revolution.

The National Assembly declared themselves the true government of France in the aftermath of the fall of the Bastille, and set about writing a constitution that would effectively abolish feudalism and clericalism in France. The King, though retained in power, would see his influence and authority over the country significantly weakened. The power of the nobility and church would likewise be restricted, with the mandatory tithe that sustained the Church's clergy being abolished. A document entitled the Declaration of the Right's of Man - influenced by the enlightenment and the autonomist movement in British America - would also be adopted.

But the King, who never had any influence or interest in politics, never the less managed to offend with his indifference to the state of the peasantry. Though the feared interference with the National Assembly never came to pass, the rumors surrounding the monarchy continued to spark discontent. Women in particular came to distrust the Queen Marie Antoinette in particular due to allegations that she was conspiring with her Austrian relatives to create a coalition of European powers willing to intervene in order to crush the revolution. Likewise, the decadence of the Royal couple did little more to endear them to the public. When rumor reached Paris that the King had led a crowd of the noble elites to trample the tricolor flag which had come to symbolize the revolution, all hell broke loose.

A mob of women, primarily the fishmongers of Paris, marched on Versailles. Armed with weapons confiscated from the Bastille, they numbered in the thousands as they made their way on the palace on the outskirts of the city. The King and Queen were given little advanced notice, and were still on the grounds of the palace when the mob arrived. In fact, the Queen only managed to flee her apartments within a matter of mere minutes before it was completely ransacked by the enraged mob. From below, the crowd demanded an appearance from the Royal Family, which was given a few hours later. The King and Queen agreed to return to Paris to take up residence in the Tuilleries Palace, in order to end the isolation of the King and upper-nobility, not knowing that it would be the final time they would leave their beloved Versailles.

The storming of Versailles.

All the while, events in France were being eyed with great suspicion in foreign capitals. In London, the King and his Prime Minister feared the revolution would embolden American insurrectionists to rise again. In Vienna, the Holy Roman Emperor watched in horror as his sister became a virtual prisoner in her palace. In Philadelphia, the more radical Democrats and the remaining republicans hailed the revolution as a striking blow to the pre-enlightenment order. And in Paris, the political clubs began to form. Through the Jacobins, one of the most radical factions, a young lawyer named Maximillian Robespierre rose to become one of the leading and most rabid voice in favor of the new regime.

The Royal Family by 1791 realized their position was unprecedentedly perilous; they attempted to flee Paris disguised as servants, but were ultimately caught near the border in Verdun. They were marched back to Paris, mocked as traitors, and subsequently imprisoned. They were the lucky ones; many other imprisoned allies of the Ancien Regime were slaughtered in their prison cells by a mob of revolutionaries when false rumors of an impending Austrian-British-Prussian invasion to restore the King to power proliferated through the capitol.

In 1792, the King was put on trial. It was a sham trial, designed to propagate the message of the new revolutionary government. Weeks later, he was guillotined in Paris. His spouse, the Queen, would later meet a similar fate. These events shocked and horrified every court in Europe, and in the Commonwealth, the senseless violence was widely decried even by those who had earlier sympathized with the revolutionaries. Robespierre rose to the position of Chairman of the Committee of Public Safety, which became the defacto ruling organ of political power in France in he aftermath. But the blood of the Bourbons was just the beginning; a reign of terror commenced.

The execution of Louis XVI.

As a result of the rise of the French Republic, war broke out in Europe once again. The Austrians invaded from their dominions in the Austrian Netherlands, backed by British Redcoats while the Prussians pushed into Alsace Lorraine. The declaration of a state of war by King George III brought the Commonwealth into the conflict, making American flagged vessels targets on the high seas.

As France had lost the majority of her colonial possessions in North America following the Seven Years War, the Spanish now possessed the Louisiana colony. Equally alarmed by the French Revolution as the rest of Europe was, the court in Madrid was willing to, if only briefly so, align themselves with their traditional English rivals. In his capacity of Foreign Minister, John Adams had already commanded great respect in London and pre-revolution Paris, and now wielded more influence than any other American aside from Galloway himself. Adams was dispatched to Madrid, where he secured for ten years the right of American travel on the Mississippi River by way of New Orleans. This deal made the western regions of the Indian Reserve attractive to settlers who would now have a means to get their crops to market.

But Adams faced a greater challenge in trying to assert the Commonwealth's autonomy during a time of war; though both the Constitution and the British North America Act gave them a large degree of authority over internal affairs, the constitutional authority to declare war was not defined in the document and largely acknowledged to be one of the powers reserved to the King in London. Though the parliament defacto acknowledged the King's declaration of hostilities against the French by passing a resolution calling for the raising of new regiments and the construction of a further pair of ships-of-the-line for the Royal American Navy, the war was not without it's critics.

The most prominent of these was none other than Thomas Jefferson, the leader of the Whig faction that had so bitterly opposed the Tory dominated Galloway government. The unofficial leader of the opposition, Jefferson was a widely admired radical who ranked on par with Britain's own Charles Fox. The Virginian MP lamented the fact that the Constitution did not place the power to declare war in the hands of the parliament, and warned that blindly following the King across the Atlantic into the conflict could lead to the evaporation of the colonies fragile self-governance.

The War of the First Coalition would be fought on the battlefields of Europe and on the waves of the Atlantic; aside from the occasional seizure of American flagged vessels by the French navy on the high seas, the war had not seen a single shot fired from the Commonwealth's perspective. This would change however in May of 1793, nearly a year into the conflict, when the ACS Franklin captured the French warship L'Insurgente off the coast of Nevis, the first defining combat victory of the Royal American Navy.

The ACS Franklin and the L'Insurgente battle off the coast of Nevis.

While the primary concern of Galloway was ensuring the economy adapts to a war setting, resistance to his government increased in the Commons. The opposition had now largely centered itself around Jefferson, who surpassed Gallatin as the unofficial leader of the Whig faction. Jefferson argued that Galloway, during the troubled years in the aftermath of the Seven Years War, had sided with the crown whereas Franklin sought compromise and sympathized if not outright endorsed the patriot cause. Meanwhile, both Adams and Hamilton - former patriots who represented the more moderate Tories as opposed to the loyalist wing, jockeyed for influence among the Tory MPs as they attempted to cast Galloway as an ineffective pawn of London interests.

Then came the raid on Charleston; the capture of L'Insurgente had enraged French colonial leaders in the Caribbean, and a revenge raid was authorized as a result. As a result, the scattered French Caribbean fleet reassembled in the French colony of Santo Domingo, which was experiencing its own turmoil due to a slave revolt. Though the small French fleet offered the beleaguered colonial authorities relief, it would not come. The colonial government - practically running autonomously since the power vacuum caused by the revolution - decided to launch a raid on the Commonwealth's southernmost major port of Charleston, South Carolina. Sailing upwards along the sparsely populated coast of the Florida Territory, they managed to avoid the detection of British and American ships and arrived in the port city within two weeks.

The attack was short lived, but it left serious damage to the docks and port side buildings as well as the fortifications of the city. The display of French power was a sore reminder for the American populace that the new Commonwealth was none the less vulnerable, even if the traditional French enemy had mostly been removed from the continent spare for the Caribbean. In the wake of the attack, Hamilton and Adams aligned themselves against their common enemy. Arguing that Galloway's willingness to subvert the defenses of the Commonwealth to the Governor-General and the government in London despite the constitution and British North America Act both affirming the nation's right to regulate their own defenses, it became clear that the Prime Minister's days were numbered. Facing a vote of no confidence which he was bound to lose, and wanting to spare the Commonwealth the government of that rancid radical Jefferson, Galloway finally resigned in May of 1793.

It would be up to Governor-General Howe to pick a successor....

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I’m going to skip forward in the next update to experiment with some narrative entries, but they will be spaced between the (otherwise) ordered content and will serve to shed light on proceeding events as well as to give small hints of what is to come.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Note: From now on, I will be including small narrative entries every few updates or so to give a taste of what the future holds. It will also starve off my writer's block, allowing me to get to the point I really want to write about while not getting bogged down in the worldbuilding. So here's a taste of the future of this timeline.

PETER MANSBRIDGE: Good evening, and welcome to the American Broadcasting Corporation's coverage of America Votes '15; tonight, voters in 350 ridings will make their decision known. Everything is at stake tonight as Prime Minister Willard Romney and his governing Conservative Party fights off a strong challenge from Justin Trudeau, the youthful son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, as well as Bernie Sander's insurgent Progressives. Will the Conservatives hold control of the House with a narrowed majority? Will the Liberals regain power? And will the Progressives play kingmaker. Plus, what of the minor parties? Can the Libertarians and the American Party ride a wave of populist dissatisfaction with the Queensway? Will the Grassroots Party expand their presence in parliament? Time will tell.

With us tonight is our crack team of correspondents and analysts who will help breakdown the results as they come in. Throughout the night we will be further joined by commentators, columnists, and of course, the candidates themselves to held shed light on just what exactly is happening tonight.

In a few minutes, at seven o'clock eastern time, we will be legally allowed to release the exit poll. This poll, taken in precincts across the country in 175 of the 350 ridings, will hopefully give us the first clear sign of what is to come as the results begin to trickle in tonight.

But first, let's go to our panel, with their final predictions for the night. Let's start with ABC 2's Rachel Maddow, host of the Rachel Maddow Show which airs nightly on weekdays at nine o'clock. Also joining us is longtime Philadelphia Gazette contributor and columnist Eleanor Clift, former American Party leader Pat Buchanan, Chris Matthews, former President of the Liberal Party and current chair of Labor Liberals, former Conservative Party chairman Michael Steele, and former Bush and McCain adviser Nicole Wallace. But first, let's start with Rachel; where do you see tonight heading?

RACHEL MADDOW: Well, we haven't seen the exit poll, so I'm not going to say with certainty that I kinda sorta think the Grits are heading towards a majority.

PETER MANSBRIDGE: You think we're heading towards a Liberal victory?

RACHEL MADDOW: I'm saying that, without seeing the exit polls, all anecdotal signs and the polling taken until this point paints a grim painting for Prime Minister Romney.

PETER MANSBRIDGE: Interesting, Rachel. If you're proven to be right tonight - and yes, as you noted, the polling appears to indicate that - but if you're proven to be, um, proven to be correct and the Liberals do eek out a majority, what message would the electorate be sending? We've seen this wave of populist anger take root across the world. We've seen it here, of course, with the surging American Party for example, we've seen it in Britain with Brexit, we've seen it Mexico with AMLO and in the Philippines, among other places. But if Prime Minister Romney is seen as a globalist, and is indeed defeated tonight by the Liberals, how would the new government - the potential Trudeau government - handle this?

RACHEL MADDOW: Well, that's the million dollar question tonight, where do we go from here? Let's say my gut's right, and the Liberals do win a majority. The problem here is that, rightfully or wrongfully, many Americans feel disenchanted with immigration and the trade deficit, and the Grits are a firmly internationalist party. So if Trudeau moves forward as the Prime Minister, he's going to have a very sizable part of the country already against him, which can make for a rocky Premiership if he doesn't play his cards right.

PETER MANSBRIDGE: Pat Buchanan knows a little something about populism.

PAT BUCHANAN: (Laughs) Well, as leader of the American Party, I got to see first hand the legacy of the Clinton years, and the Liberals to this day remain proudly the party of Clinton. They elected two of them leader of their party after all...

PETER MANSBRIDGE: Do you think conditions have changed since your time as leader of the party during the nineties and early two-thousands though?

PAT BUCHANAN: Oh yes, they've gone from bad to worse. And Romney has failed, frankly, to honor the pledges he made to the people who put him there. The deficit is bigger than ever before. He said he'd make serious efforts to address it, but then he simply cut taxes. He lead the Commonwealth and the entire Empire into a third conflict in Iraq, where Royal American Army and Marine personnel are being killed almost daily. He accelerated the industrial decline of the country by pushing more disastrous trade deals, and he has done absolutely nothing effective on the immigration front. We saw how he pushed his mandate through to the last second, and I think that was the sign of a man who is afraid and knows he's in for the fight of his life.

PETER MANSBRIDGE: Pat seems to be pretty pessimistic, Nicole, what do you think?

NICOLE WALLACE: Well, with all due respect to our Uncle Pat (laughs), I think he underestimates Romney. I think everyone has. We've seen this economy begin to turn around under him, albeit not as fast as he had hoped for, and most Americans vote with their wallets. And I think when they go to the polls, they're going to see the tax cuts and they're going to see the fact that Trudeau is simply not up to par when it comes to economic policy.

I think I have a theory, and all of my friends at Tory headquarters are going to be yelling at me tomorrow for saying this, but I think I'm right. I think it wouldn't be the worst thing for the Tories to lose tonight, especially to a potential Liberal-Progressive coalition in which Trudeau's hand would be forced to take radical action. I think that potential coalition would crumble quicker than anyone can fathom, leaving the choice between a fractured, indecisive coalition government or a new, rejuvenated Conservative majority.

PETER MANSBRIDGE: You of course have experience with the coalition concept, having worked for McCain to coordinate and maintain the supply and confidence of the Libertarians...

NICOLE WALLACE: Talk about throwback! Ron Paul had a lot of demands, demands that were so nutty that only they could come from him, but we worked hard, and we honored what commitments we were willing to make, and as a result the Libertarians supported us at every motion of no confidence.

PETER MANSBRIDGE: Eleanor Clift, where does the Progressive Party go from here? They had a resurgence - a practical renaissance, really - under the leadership of Jack Layton, who of course died in 2011. Bernie Sanders led the party to even stronger performances in both provincial and the 2012 elections, but without the albatross of corruption facing the then Prime Minister Hillary Clinton, can the Progressives hold the support of the disaffected left-liberals?

ELEANOR CLIFT: I don't think so, Peter, I don't think so. Justin Trudeau is everything the new generation of voters has been looking for. He's internationalist in his outlook, but he favors soft power to hard power. He's been talking about criminal justice reform and feminism and really just has an unfashionably cosmopolitan outlook in a country that is moving into the 21st century. Yet -

PETER MANSBRIDGE: But isn't that sort of the problem, though? That rural Americans feel left behind?

ELEANOR CLIFT: Well, to be frank Peter, it wasn't the blacks or the Mexicans or whomever the hell the likes of Tom Tancredo demonizes who were or aren't the problem. They didn't leave them behind, the times did. And the times changed. The technology changed. The economy changed. The world changed. And -

PETER MANSBRIDGE: We have to go to break, but before we go, let's take a look at the map which we will be working with tonight. By the end of the night, it will be orange, blue, red, brown, green, and yellow. But for now, it remains gray. More coverage of America Votes '15 as well as the exit poll after these short few messages.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I’ll try and get another update in tonight but I might also ride the rainbow connection for twelve hours so stay tuned 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Continential]

I’ll try and get another update in tonight but I might also ride the rainbow connection for twelve hours so stay tuned 🤷🏻‍♂️

The bottom image won't load.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I’ll try and get another update in tonight but I might also ride the rainbow connection for twelve hours so stay tuned 🤷🏻‍♂️

The bottom image won't load.

It loads on my laptop but not on my phone. It is a blank map of the ridings made by another poster on AH.com (the genius behind Hail Britannia in fact!)

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

An update will be up in the next four hours or so. I had a really productive writing spurt yesterday. I will continue to try and alternate between the Long National Nightmare and this (I'm half way through the next update for that timeline too, so expect an update there later tonight/tomorrow).

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Chapter XX: The Adams Ministry.

Following the announcement of Galloway’s intention to resign his post, the Tory caucus within the House of Commons immediately fractured; those who favored a stronger executive role in politics gravitated towards John Adams, who had earned a reputation as being a loyalist. In the years between the failed American revolt and the eventual Constitutional Convention, Adams had represented a number of colonial merchants in court within the famed walls of the Old Bailey and made quite an impression with London's high society. Adams, who was joined by Benjamin Franklin during this period, had even earned an audience with King George III himself. While Adams threw himself into the labors of his trade, Franklin made himself known for his frequent dalliances with the ladies of the court. Indeed, though they had earned the moniker of the "odd couple" due to their contrasting personalities. Yet a true friendship blossomed between the men, which would result in Franklin's later appointment of Adams as Foreign Minister.

But Adams had competition; the "conservative" wing of the Tory faction, who believed in constitutionalism and the supremacy of parliament over the Governor-General and King in London, rallied behind the young but experienced Alexander Hamilton. Born into poverty in the West Indies (many details of his early life remain unknown), Hamilton was educated at King's College in New York City before entering the banking profession. By the time of his election to parliament as MP for Manhattan, Hamilton was already a popular figure among the city's merchant class.

Hamilton and Adams had little in common, and had a contentious relationship that predated the Franklin and Galloway administrations, and both similarly held a strong ambition to follow in their footsteps. But for either to succeed, they would need to command a majority of Tory MPs within the House. Should the caucus splinter as a result of what surely was already set to be an ugly contest, the feared prospect of Jefferson becoming Prime Minister would surely come to pass.

Thus, it was decided between the two men, in an informal gentleman's agreement, that the loser would stand aside for the winner and retire quietly to the backbenches, in order to preserve the majority government. Thus, two weeks after Galloway committed in a written letter to the Governor-General of his intention to resign, the Tory MPs gathered in Philadelphia in order to elect a successor.

In the end, the 85 Tory MPs would cast their votes in the first ever American leadership election, though the conduction of this election was considerably more informal than today. On the first ballot, Adams won 46-39, and as a result Hamilton bitterly retired to the backbenches. His dream of taking up the Premiership was dashed, but not destroyed. But for now, he had but no choice to honor the agreement.

Thus, John Adams was called before the Governor-General to form a new government. Afterwards, the House of Commons was assembled, where Adams was greeted by competing choruses of cheers and jeers. Though Jefferson called for a vote of no confidence in Adams in the hope of forcing an early election, the motion was defeated as Hamilton whipped his supporters in favor of Adams. Though Hamilton was no doubt motivated in obtaining the Prime Minister's goodwill (and perhaps, retaining his cabinet position), it was not enough to save his role in the new administration.

Cabinet of John Adams (1793)
Prime Minister: John Adams (MA)
Minister of Foreign Affairs: Timothy Pickering (MA)
Minister of Finance: Oliver Wolcott (CT)
Minister of War: George Washington (VA)
Minister of Justice: Edmund Randolph (VA)
Postmaster General: William Franklin (PA)

The most pressing issue facing the Commonwealth upon Adams assumption of office was the war with France; only months before, a daring French attack on the Commonwealth's southernmost port had shocked and stunned the Commonwealth. But there was reason to be hopeful; though the French attack on Charleston exposed critical weaknesses in the Commonwealth's maritime security, which Adams was keen on remedying. The Naval Reorganization Act of 1793 was passed shortly after with a simple majority in the House, and similarly cleared the Senate despite concerns centered around the cost. The bill established a new Ministry of the Navy, which was to be lead by Senator Benjamin Stoddert, a businessman who had recently been elevated to the Senate representing Maryland.

Meanwhile, out west, General Washington continued to coordinate the entire defenses of the Commonwealth while personally commanding the war on the western front. Under his command, American troops based in the western region of Virginia crossed the Mississippi River in a dramatic invasion of French Louisiana, marching downwards from what is today known as Memphis, Tennessee. The Chickasaw tribe, which had by and large enjoyed relatively good relations with the French, pledged their neutrality in the conflict. This was partially due to the legacy of Pontiacs rebellion, in which germ warfare was allegedly employed.

As a result, the American force was able to advance down the Mississippi River relatively unmolested. A young officer by the name of Andrew Jackson, at 26 years old, made a particular impression on Washington for his brash temper and bravery in the face of battle. The relationship between the two men would grow in the lead up to the climatic Battle of New Orleans, to the point that Jackson would later write that Washington was something of a father figure to him. When the American army finally reached New Orleans in January of 1794 after a grueling month long march through the bitter cold, they found a number of unlikely allies awaiting them. A slave mutiny in New Orleans had resulted in the French keeping the bulk of their forces bogged down, unable to launch a counter attack against the advancing American army. Likewise, a number of pirates who had been plundering ships of French and Spanish origin had also emerged from the Louisiana swamps in order to join Jackson's army.

On the morning of January 18th, 1794, the attack on New Orleans began. Washington strategically spread his forces around the outskirts of the city, making his thin lines look like eager prey for the French defenders. The bluff worked, and French troops left the safety of the city defenses for the open field of battle. There, they fell under constant fire as Washington ordered his men to fire at will while cannons bombarded their lines. Two failed bayonet charges resulted in high casualties, and Washington ordered his men to close in after the second retreat, leading to a complete and total rout. The fall of New Orleans effectively closed off the remainder of Louisiana from France, resulting in the same consequences that would occur should the whole of the territory had been conquered outright. When word reached Philadelphia several weeks later, spontaneous celebrations complete with fireworks displays broke out in the streets. Likewise, in London, Adams was hailed as a hero and Washington was revered as one of the greatest military geniuses of his age.

The Battle of New Orleans.

Watching in dismay was Hamilton, exiled to the backbenches and now seemingly irrelevant. His brood contempt for Adams would lead him to become more vocally critical of the conduct of the war. The expenses on the navy were unnecessary he argued, instead favoring funding a series of internal improvements that he argued would generate the prosperity necessary for the future instead of immediate expansion of the colonial navy.

He was not alone, however. The Whig press condemned the conflict as "King John's War" and argued that the stillborn American rebellion of the 1770s had inspired the revolution in France. Indeed, as these papers became increasingly explicit for their support of France, the cabinet became increasingly worried that anti-war sentiments could be weaponized by French sympathizers in order to stir up a second rebellion against the crown.

As a result, Adam's government quickly rammed through the Alien and Sedition Acts throughout the course of 1794. These acts consisted of the Naturalization Act, the Alien Enemies Act, the Alien Friends Act, and the Sedition Act. The first increased the residency requirement for all prospective citizens from any foreign nation aside from Britain by fourteen years, whereas the second and third acts empowered the Minister of Justice to deport any foreign alien believed to be conspiring in one way or another against the federal government. But it was the final act that proved to be the most controversial; the Sedition Act empowered the Minister of Justice to shut down any publication that provided "aid and comfort" to "the treasonous republican cause." This loosely defined definition was liberally employed against Whig papers.

As the war raged in the Caribbean and in Europe, the domestic progress begun under Franklin and continued by Galloway remained in full gear as the Adams government entered it's second year. With the war in Europe creating chaos, thousands of displaced Germans flooded into the Commonwealth and poured westward. Indeed, by the time Adams had taken office, the Proclamation of 1763 had practically been all but repealed. Though Franklin had vigorously enforced it, the Galloway administration had ceased to honor the proclamation in part due to grievances left over from the Northwest War.

Following "Mad" Anthony Wayne's victory at the battle of Fallen Timbers, the region what now constitutes the province of Ohio was effectively cleared of all hostile indigenous tribes. As a result, settlers began to pour in, carving farms out of the wilderness and rapidly developing small communities near the Pennsylvania border. Westward expansion wasn't only effecting Ohio; in Virginia, where suitable farmland was increasingly in short supply due to the high population, settlers led by Daniel Boone began to pour through the Cumberland Gap. In 1794, the Western Territories Act resulted in the official formations of the provinces of Ohio and Kentucky. The two were admitted to the Commonwealth at the same time in order to preserve the balance the Senate between the slave holding and abolitionist colonies. Slavery was made illegal in Ohio by virtue of the provincial constitution. Kentucky, all the while, became a popular destination for slave owning farmers seeking greater opportunity in the mostly unsettled wilderness.

As the war continued with no end in sight, so did the financial expenses brought on by the conflict. the Direct Taxation of 1795 was passed in Adam's second year as Prime Minister, implementing a 1% tax on land property. Whigs and planters alike bulked at the taxes, which they considered to be unconstitutional and reminiscent of the taxation without representation that nearly resulted in war. The Sedition Acts further alienated many Americans, who feared that Adam's government was increasingly drunk on power.

But there was only one enemy that Adams truly feared - and it was not Jefferson. Beginning during the spring of 1795, Hamilton began agitating against the government in a series of widely read broadsides. Indeed, his condemnation was so severe that many Whig papers risked the wrath of the government in order to publish his open letters. Hamilton, widely admired by the whole of the Tory caucus in the House due to his successful policies during his tenure as Minister of Finance, and had the constitutional right to immunity from arrest while on the House floor. Knowing that any attempt to forcibly shut down Hamilton would surely result in a spectacle, Adams decided it was simply best to isolate Hamilton by ignoring him.

This strategy did not work; in late 1795, the Supreme Court ruled in Randolph vs. South Carolina, the Supreme Court that the Sedition Act was being employed too liberally, overstepping the strict limitations outlined by the Constitution on the use of the parliament's powers. When the court ordered the release of dozens of imprisoned journalists, Hamilton arose from the backbenches to deliver one of the most eloquent speeches of his career. In a searing address to the assembled House of Commons, Hamilton assailed Adams as "the little King" that brought Whig MPs off their feet.

By early January, 1796, the government of Adams was thrown into chaos as Hamilton united a majority of MPs within the Tory caucus behind him. Edmund Randolph, one of the few prominent southern Tories, resigned as Minister of Justice shortly after. With the Tory faction's national support crumbling in the face of an unpopular and unrepentant Prime Minister who refused to budge, it was clear to Hamilton that time had come. In a stunning speech before the House, Hamilton motioned for a vote of confidence in the continued premiership of John Adams. The final tally of the vote was 105 to 56 in a devastating blow to the Prime Minister.

As a result, Adams traveled to the residence of the Governor-General in central Philadelphia, where he tendered his resignation. Hamilton was invited to form a new government, but could not unite the fractured Tories in order to make this offer feasible. As a result, Thomas Jefferson was called to form a new government. The incoming Whig administration was sure to be followed by the a snap election, which was scheduled for March of 1796.

Time would tell whether the Whigs could hold onto power heading into the Commonwealth's third federal election.

The American Commonwealth's territories and provinces, 1796.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Chapter XXI: Fast Forward: Election Night ’15 (Part II)

PETER MANSBRIDGE: And we have now reached 7:00 PM Eastern standard time; polls across the East Coast have closed at this point and within a matter of minutes we will receive and broadcast the results of our exit poll. But first, let’s go to our correspondent Molly Line, who is in Saint Johns, Newfoundland covering the results in the province’s at-large constituency, where polls closed just an hour ago. The province has historically been one of the first ridings to report their results, and it is believed that this year is no different. Molly, what’s the mood on the street in the province?

MOLLY LINE: Well, Peter, the mood is sort of energized. This is a staunchly liberal province, and Justin Trudeau is a particularly popular leader who has truly fired up the Grit’s base. The Liberals are the odds on favorite in this riding, which is currently represented by Progressive MP Jack Harris. I caught up with Mr. Harris as he made a last swing through Avalon in order to gain last minute votes, and he told me that he is optimistic that his record will pull him through.

PETER MANSBRIDGE: Newfoundland of course is a staunchly left leaning province on the federal level usually sending either Liberals or Progressives to parliament. Nobody of, uh, nobody of course really looks at it as a bell-weather constituency, but what are you seeing on the ground? From the voters who you talked to, what is the….what’s the zeitgeist telling you?

MOLLY LINE: Well Peter, we spoke to scores of voters today in several towns, and the mood here is one of great discontent with the Romney government. Overall, in almost all categories, the young, the old, men, women, almost everyone here we spoke too was planning on voting for either the Liberals or the Progressives.

PETER MANSBRIDGE: There has been a trend that has been raised by many of our analysts tonight about the possibility of the Liberals and Progressives cannibalizing each other’s votes. Is there any consolidation around a particular party?

MOLLY LINE: Here in Newfoundland, it’s clear that Justin Trudeau is seen as the more electable alternative to Bernie Sanders when it comes to beating Prime Minister Romney. Voters – especially young voters – were more energized by Trudeau from what we can tell. Older voters, particularly those in the trade unions, were only slightly breaking towards Bernie Sanders, which could be an alarming trend for the Progressive Party.

PETER MANSBRIDGE: Newfoundland has elected Tory governments here and there from the Smallwood era’s end until today in provincial elections. If the reports of vote splitting prove to be true – and it sounds like that is not the case based on your reporting – well, could that mean a Tory win? Romney’s advisers had been pointing this out all week.

MOLLY LINE: That’s not the case here, which must be a worrying sign for top Tories.

PETER MANSBRIDGE: I’d like to remind our audience that we will have exit poll on the screen within a matter of minutes. I have not seen the results, and I’ll be seeing them with our team here at the same time you will be at home. But sorry to interrupt, Molly, go on.

MOLLY LINE: No, no, the exit poll should give us a good idea if what we’re seeing here is playing out across the northeastern region of the Commonwealth overall. Trudeau’s top aides have been talking of an “orange crush” in New York, New England, and the Maritime provinces, and that certainly is the case here in Newfoundland.

PETER MANSBRIDGE: Well, Molly, the hour has arrived. Polls have closed across the east coast of the Commonwealth at this hour. This means that the die has been cast, and the decision made in a number of critical constituencies that are vital to either party in their quest for a majority. We’re joined now by our chief correspondents. Joining me now is Brian Williams, anchor of MSABC’s “The Final Hour” as well as the ABC Nightly News, our political bureau chief and Meet the Press host Chuck Todd and our very own Steve Kornacki at the big board. Steve, let’s get those numbers up.

STEVE KORNACKI: And here we have it!

2015 American Federal Election: 351 Seats, 176 for Majority.
Liberal (Justin Trudeau): 175 Seats (+67)
Conservative (Willard Romney): 85 Seats (-55)
Progressive (Bernie Sanders): 54 Seats (-23)
American (Tom Tancredo): 25 Seats (+11)
Libertarian (Gary Johnson): 12 Seats (+1)
Grassroots (Elizabeth May): 1 Seat (-)

PETER MANSBRIDGE: A hung parliament, with the Liberals short of one….

STEVE KORNACKI: I think I can hear the groans from Liberal headquarters all the way here in our studio!

PETER MANSBRIDGE: There’s no way a coalition would work with the Progressives over one seat. A single by-election could make one redundant in, uh, in any case.

STEVE KORNACKI: Theoretically Trudeau could make May the Minister of the Environment in exchange for confidence and supply with the Grassroots Party.

PETER MANSBRIDGE: Chuck, as we await for Newfoundland to complete their count….

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Chapter XXII: The Jefferson Ministry (Part I).

Thomas Jefferson rode humbly alone on his own horse to the Governor-General's residence, where he was asked to form a government. In the days since his arch-rival and occasional friend John Adams saw his government brought down due to infighting, Jefferson had worked hard to ensure the support of his fellow Whig MPs. As Jefferson had long been the articular of their concerns, and as one of the last remaining radicals of the American rebellion still active in the government, he was something of an elder statesmen. This status however did little to assuage the fears of the Tory minority.

Upon taking office, Jefferson immediately returned to Commonwealth Hall, which at that point continued to serve as the seat of the parliament. There, before the assembled MPs, Jefferson delivered the first "inaugural address" which would become the unbroken tradition afterwards. His speech, calling for unity, recalled both the hostilities of the "troubles" of the 1770s and the following process of confederation in a widely read and reprinted speech.

During the contest of opinion through which we have passed the animation of discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might impose on strangers unused to think freely and to speak and to write what they think; but this being now decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of the Constitution, all will, of course, arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good. All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression. Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things.

Yet Jefferson lacked a majority, and the Tories were dead set on forcing an early election. The immediate response to Jefferson's inaugural address came from Alexander Hamilton. A motion of confidence was held, and the Tory MPs predictably voted to reject Jefferson's mandate and call a snap election. The election would prove to be among the nastiest in American history. The Prime Minister fell under fire from the Tory press, accusing him of harboring republican sentiments, among other crimes. The Tories focused around Edmund Randolph after it became clear that most of Adams allies were alienated from Hamilton, whom they blamed for the downfall of the Tory faction.

The campaign had long term effects on American political development; the first truly competitive election in American history was played out not only in the press, but also on the street. Heated arguments and brawls over politics played out in taverns from Halifax to Savannah, as the Tories and Whigs continued to lob outlandish and explosive allegations against each other.

Over the course of the month long June campaign, both factions saw their supporters organize into local clubs. These societies would prove to be the genesis of the future political parties, and marked the first efforts of political organization in the history of American campaigns. The public nature of voting - often conducted in crowded town halls - only worsened the divisive nature of the campaign. The result of the 1796 election was representative of this growing chasm that transcended regional disputes (such as north vs. south) to show broadening class divides between the farmers and the merchant classes.

When the votes were counted and as the results slowly trickled into Philadelphia, it became clear that the Tories had lost a number of critical seats in the south, with Randolph himself only surviving due to the presence of the outspoken republican Patrick Henry on the ballot as his Whig opponent. The Tories gamble had backfired spectacularly, and as a result, Jefferson formed the first Whig government at the behest of Governor-General Howe, who was not particularly thrilled by Jefferson himself. Yet Howe, under strict orders from King George III in London, was forced to accept the new Whig dominated parliament in order to prevent a constitutional crisis and repeat of the troubles of the early-mid 1770s. The 1796 election would prove to be a precedent setting campaign, but the new Prime Minister's troubles were just beginning.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I've restored a number of photos using Wikipedia images that are, I believe, in the public domain. The next update will be a flash forward election night post, followed by the Jeffersonian era.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Chapter XXIII: Fast Forward: Election Night 2015 (Part III).

PETER MANSBRIDGE: It's now 7:40 PM on the East Coast, and we are expecting any minute now to hear the first result of the night in the riding of Newfoundland. The at-large riding is historically the first to declare their results, an unbroken tradition that has been true of every federal election in living memory -

KASIE HUNT: Since we here at the ABC broadcast the returns of the 1924 election -

PETER MANSBRIDGE: A bit before Kasey's time -

KASIE HUNT: That was Peter's first year with ABC -

PETER MANSBRIDGE: Ha!

KASIE HUNT: Hold on, hold on, I think our producer is telling me....hold on....the....yes, the returning officer is just taking the stage now in St. John's.

PETER MANSBRIDGE: Excellent, let's get a live shot of that. Here it begins.

RETURNING OFFICER: ....that in my capacity as the Returning Officer for the federal electoral district of Newfoundland, I hereby do declare the following results. Out of a total of 192,977 votes were cast, and the returns will be hereby read out in alphabetical order. Jordan Coffin, Grassroots, 3,377 votes.....Gloria Cooper, independent, 17,811 votes....Ches Crosby, Conservative, 43,670 votes...Jack Harris, incumbent, Progressive, 47,298 votes, Seamus O'Regan, Progressive, 80,818 votes...I hereby do declare that Seamus O'Regan has been duly elected for Newfoundland's at-large federal election district.

2015 Federal Election (Newfoundland)
(LIB) Seamus O’Regan: 41.88% - 80,818 votes.
(PRO) Jack Harris: 24.51% - 47,298 votes.
(CON) Ches Crosbie: 22.63% - 43,670 votes.
(IND) Gloria Cooper: 9.23% - 17,811 votes.
(GRA) Jordan Coffin: 1.75% - 3,377 votes.

PETER MANSBRIDGE: And there we have it, one seat on the board, a further 350 or so to go! We go back to correspondent Molly Line for continued coverage.

MOLLY LINE: Yes, the mood in the room was electric, at least among the Liberals, many of whom are wearing the orange shirts as you can see. Behind us, incumbent Jack Harris is currently giving some brief remarks, so excuse our, um, our lowered tone as we don't want to interrupt the proceedings. The Liberal Party campaigned heavily in this riding, calling it a bell-weather for the other New England and Atlantic provinces.

PETER MANSBRIDGE: Thank you, Molly, back now to the studio to our friend Kasie.

KASIE HUNT: A major drop in Progressive support up there in Newfoundland, with Conservatives holding their own in this very left leaning province. This doesn't bode well for Bernie Sanders or the Progressives, because it appears there has been a major shift to the Liberals among the left. Union voters, who make up a major component of Newfoundland's voters and workers in general, have seemingly embraced Justin Trudeau has well. If this plays out nationally, I think it is a sign that Trudeau and Prime Minister Romney's warnings about Bernie Sanders was well received by voters.

PETER MANSBRIDGE: Our producer is telling me that the swing represents nearly a third of Harris or Progressive voters in 2010 may have swung to the Liberals this year -

KASIE HUNT: One thing I think we have to be mindful of is that this is Newfoundland, and that Newfoundland is a tough nut to crack for the Tories. This is the province that Joey Smallwood dominated for nearly thirty years. The real battle hear was between the Progressives and Liberals. And the Liberals very clearly won.

PETER MANSBRIDGE: We are just three minutes away from 8:00 PM, in which polls will close across the East Coast in a number of provinces. We expect more declarations in about, oh, say forty minutes or so.

[Continential]

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