Provisional Timeline: Part Two
The Dominion of America (House of Hanover)
1777 Governor-General Franklin, Prime Minister Lee, and a host of other members of Parliament attended the official coronation of King George IV as King of America – in London. The fifteen year-old king is accompanied by his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, who becomes the Regent of America, as well.
The Continental Parliament holds its first entire session as an official, royally-licensed legislative council. During the first session of Parliament, several important bills and measures are passed: 1) the Royal Continental Army is founded to assume the duty of protecting the American provinces, 2) Philadelphia is chosen as the temporary capital of the Dominion until such time as there is enough money to build a new capital (a new capital, though, is not constructed until the Dominion’s independence), 3) the American Prime Minister, unlike his British counterpart, is assigned a term of eight years in office, and 4) a flag is chosen for the Dominion (shown
here).
1780 King George IV reaches eighteen years of age. No longer a minor, the Duke of Gloucester steps down after eleven years as the Regent. During the eleven years, the Duke’s influence prevented a war which would have damaged both Britain and America, while retaining royal control over the American colonies and keeping that region relatively happy. The Continental Parliament gives the Duke a hundred square mile parcel of land in Pennsylvania, although William Henry never left England for his prospective American home.
1784 The eight year term of Prime Minister Richard Henry Lee officially comes to an end. The election of the new Prime Minister happens relatively smoothly. While Lee had faced relatively little opposition in his election as the first Prime Minister, for the first time, political parties compete in the process. The Whig candidate, Thomas Jefferson, is soundly defeated by the Tory candidate, Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania, despite the fact that Jefferson had the half-hearted backing of Lee, a fellow Virginian.
1786 General George Washington resigns as the Commander of the Royal Continental Army. Washington was the first (and last) Commander of the American military to not be fully under the authority of the Parliament and, thus, the Prime Minister. For the previous nine years, Washington had pretty much run all things military within the Dominion of America, including supervision of the removal of a majority of British soldiers from American soil.
Upon Washington’s resignation, Prime Minister Muhlenberg uses his influence with Governor-General Franklin to get both George Washington and Richard Henry Lee knighted. The two are knighted by Governor-General Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia, the first citizens of the Dominion of America to receive such an honor. Prime Minister Muhlenberg then appoints General Charles Lee (no relation to the former Prime Minister), the new Commander of the Royal Continental Army.
1788 Governor-General Benjamin Franklin dies in Philadelphia at the age of eighty-two. Prime Minister Muhlenberg, former Prime Minister Lee, and the retired General Washington attend the funeral ceremony. King George IV appoints George Washington the new Governor-General of the Dominion of America, as he has proved himself to be both a capable leader and a faithful servant of the Crown.
1789 The Continental Parliament signs the Government Act of 1789, creating an official term-length for the Governor-General. After Franklin’s twelve years in office, it is decided that the Governor-General is best-off to serve a set time. The term-length eventually agreed upon by both the Continental Parliament and the king is six years, half the length of time that Franklin served. Washington’s term began in 1788, and thus ends in 1794.
Meanwhile, in France, resentment of royal absolutism, a semi-feudal system, a growing national debt caused by a grossly inequitable tax system, and a scarcity of food in the immediately preceding years blows up into a popular revolution against King Louis XVI. For eleven years, France would wallow in self-destruction and absolute terror, until a coup-d’état put Napoleon Bonaparte on the thrown in 1800.
1792 The eight year Ministry of Frederick Muhlenberg comes to an end. Muhlenberg will later be noted as the first Prime Minister to exercise any level of authority without the express consent of either the king or the Governor-General. The election for the new Prime Minister sees Thomas Jefferson, a Whig, come out on top. Jefferson is the second Virginian and first official member of the Whig Party to hold the position. His term will be marked by an encouragement of all things agriculture and an opposition to most things industrial.
1794 Washington’s last duty as Governor-General is the organization of the funeral of Richard Henry Lee, the first Prime Minister of the Dominion of America. The sixty-two year old is buried near his family home in Virginia. Although, obviously, unable to attend the funeral service, both King George IV and his Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger, attend a memorial service held later that year in Philadelphia.
The event marks the first time which a British monarch has set foot on American soil. Following the memorial service, the King takes the opportunity to appoint the new Governor-General and attend his inauguration. The position is, unsurprisingly, given to a conservative, John Dickinson, a lawyer from Pennsylvania and one of the leading proponents of the original Galloway Plan of Union presented at the first Continental Congress. In honor of the king’s first visit to the Dominion, Quebec is granted provincial status within the Continental Parliament.
1795 The Dominion of America declines to join the War of the First Coalition against revolutionary France. When George IV asked Governor-General Dickinson to send soldiers of the Royal Continental Army to join the fighting, Dickinson defers to Prime Minister Jefferson, Commander-in-Chief of the Army. However, Jefferson, himself a former republican, refuses to mobilize in order to crush republicanism in France.
Despite the fact that Jefferson overstepped his bounds as Prime Minister, Governor-General Dickinson manages to sugarcoat Jefferson’s refusal by telling the Crown that, even two decades after its creation, the Dominion still harbors some traces of republicanism itself. Entering into an alliance to crush France would only enflame the republicans within the Dominion. George IV agrees, albeit hesitantly, to honor the wishes of the American Government.
1799 Former Governor-General George Washington dies. Like Lee’s and Franklin’s, Washington’s funeral is an extravagant event. Unlike the others, however, no members of the British Parliament nor members of the royal family attend either the funeral or the memorial service. Because of the ongoing war with France, it is considered too dangerous to risk the lives of the political leaders of Britain for a memorial service.
1800 In France, Napoleon Bonaparte participates in a coup d’état against the republican government. Within the year he moves from head of the Consulate, to Consul-for-life, to Emperor, at which point a new Third Coalition is formed against France. Although they do not begin just yet, Napoleons wars of conquest in both Europe and North America are just about to begin.
Jefferson’s Ministry comes to a bitter end. Faced with incredible opposition from Alexander Hamilton’s Tory Party, who see the continuation of the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon as a threat to American interests, Jefferson has tainted his party for years to come. He is replaced by Alexander Hamilton, who immediately contacts the British government about joining in the Third Coalition. In doing so, he completely bypasses the newly appointed Governor-General, John Adams.
BTW, I'm just sorta having fun messing around in TTL. I know that many of the events would probably have been butterflied out...
