Ok, well this is my first attempt at creating a timeline based on America. I'm starting it off back in 1787. Feel free to post and comment, hopefully I don't screw it up to bad.
Birth of A New Nation
It’s been four years since the end of American Revolution, and Americans learned that creating a Republic wouldn’t be as easy as they had thought. In that period under the Articles of Confederation, there had one rebellion in Massachusetts led by disgruntled farmers which spread into a wider conflict some referred to as Shays Rebellion , a debt that still needed to be paid to Great Britain, and they had no way to raise an army or create taxes. Something needed to change.
In July of 1787, 39 delegates from the thirteen states convened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to create a more stable and for all intensive purposes one that will resolve the problems that the Articles of Confederation had created. Notable delegates were Alexander Hamilton from New York, James Madison, Richard Henry Lee, George Mason and George Washington from Virginia, John Adams, John Hancock, and Rufus King from Massachusetts to name a few. These men convened in what was known then as Constitutional Convention, there these men argued what would be the best way to create a stronger central government. Larger states like Virginia and Massachusetts wanted for a representation for each state based off of the population of said state giving them an edge. While some states like Rhode Island and Delaware argued for a base representation. It wasn’t until Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth from Connecticut merged the two plans into one, and both sides agreed to it. What his plan did was create was a governmental system based off both ideas.
But that was only one argument, there was still the issue of what would be considered in the governments abilities. Would they be able to lay taxes? Would they be able to create a standing army? Who would be considered an American? Who would have basic rights, if so what would they be? Shay’s rebellion, which had only been put to rest a couple of months now, had brought upon the idea of each citizen being able to own guns so that incase of war or unrest they can be called up and place in militia's. There were two sides to this argument, one led by so called Federalists, who composed of Alexander Hamilton and his followers, while there was also the Anti-federalist, who were composed of George Mason and his followers. Federalists called for a larger, more powerful government, while the latter wanted a smaller less power one. In the end things calmed down, and they settled for a moderate government where every citizen had a set group of rights in the new Government. They were later known as the bill of rights. One key right would allow for all people living in America at this time, would be considered an American Citizen.
One key topic that was carefully avoided was that of Slavery. People from the North didn’t use slaves to the same extent that it was in the South, slavery did exist in the north but The South used them as a tool and treated them as property. These actions disgusted some of the northerners like John Adams, and they tried to get it as part of the Articles of Confederation, but the slave holding states to the south refused to join and vote to accept the Articles if they were there so they had to take it out.
Things settled down and the first presidential election was held, and George Washington won in a landslide, the next closest person John Adams, the Federalist from Massachusetts, became his vice president. Washington now had the decision of who to chose for his advisors to his presidency. He selected Alexander Hamilton to Secretary of Treasury, Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Henry Lee as the Secretary of war. The choice of Lee of Secretary of War was quite the surprise to many people that he would choose two people who had tried to run against him as two of his closest aides.
In any case times were better in Washington's first term in office because of Shay’s rebellion in the year prior, Washington had ordered Lee to create a standing army of 7,500 men that are to be trained and ready for war or rebellion. Jefferson favoring the French in all foreign matters had spent time in France working on policies that would promote trade between the two nations. While Hamilton had his hands full dealing with the debt that every state had massed throughout the war. The debt was high, but in Hamilton’s words “ together, we the people of the United States of America shall make this debt just a minor inconvenience.”
He set forth to rally support for his idea which he dubbed the Union Commercial Plan. His plan was to merge the states debt into one, large nationwide debt, this way it would be able to be paid off quicker rather than have every state finish its reparations at different times. After this his plan called for the creation of a standardized government treasury, one that would hold the country’s money and deal with loans and speculating land. The plan was sound, but many were skeptical of the creation of the National Treasury, but his plan would pay off in the long run.
Till then however, the House of Representatives, under the suggestion of Hamilton, had implemented an excise tax on Whiskey and other distilled spirits. This caused an uproar among some of the citizens in the backwoods who had created and sold whiskey as a trade. This tax, which quickly became known as the “whiskey tax”, had turned into an armed protest by these backwoods citizens who had taken to harassing tax collectors and burning effigies of Washington dressed like King George. Washington would not have any of this, and ordered Lee’s newly trained army to meet him in Philadelphia, where he himself would lead the troops that would suppress this Whiskey Rebellion. When they arrived in western Pennsylvania he was greeted by the rebels, who upon sight of Washington had laid down their arms and peacefully walked back to their homes. Not one shot was needed to be fired by the newly formed American army, the mere sight of Washington on his white horse was enough to put down the rebellion in its infancy.
After the rebellion things were calm until the United States would receive their first tragedy the death of Vice President John Adams. Adams went along with ambassador John Jay to talk and create a somewhat better relationship with their former British rulers. There he would contract Typhoid Fever and pass away in Great Britain. Due to this being close to the end of Washington’s term he would not appoint a new Vice President. A service was held in Boston, where President Washington and similar people went to and paid their respects.
With Adams passing away, the next election continued to be a landslide with Washington winning again. This time, Washington selected Alexander Hamilton as his new Vice President, Lee and Jefferson retained their positions, and appointed Oliver Wolcott Jr. to replace Hamilton as Secretary of Treasury.
Birth of A New Nation
It’s been four years since the end of American Revolution, and Americans learned that creating a Republic wouldn’t be as easy as they had thought. In that period under the Articles of Confederation, there had one rebellion in Massachusetts led by disgruntled farmers which spread into a wider conflict some referred to as Shays Rebellion , a debt that still needed to be paid to Great Britain, and they had no way to raise an army or create taxes. Something needed to change.
In July of 1787, 39 delegates from the thirteen states convened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to create a more stable and for all intensive purposes one that will resolve the problems that the Articles of Confederation had created. Notable delegates were Alexander Hamilton from New York, James Madison, Richard Henry Lee, George Mason and George Washington from Virginia, John Adams, John Hancock, and Rufus King from Massachusetts to name a few. These men convened in what was known then as Constitutional Convention, there these men argued what would be the best way to create a stronger central government. Larger states like Virginia and Massachusetts wanted for a representation for each state based off of the population of said state giving them an edge. While some states like Rhode Island and Delaware argued for a base representation. It wasn’t until Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth from Connecticut merged the two plans into one, and both sides agreed to it. What his plan did was create was a governmental system based off both ideas.
But that was only one argument, there was still the issue of what would be considered in the governments abilities. Would they be able to lay taxes? Would they be able to create a standing army? Who would be considered an American? Who would have basic rights, if so what would they be? Shay’s rebellion, which had only been put to rest a couple of months now, had brought upon the idea of each citizen being able to own guns so that incase of war or unrest they can be called up and place in militia's. There were two sides to this argument, one led by so called Federalists, who composed of Alexander Hamilton and his followers, while there was also the Anti-federalist, who were composed of George Mason and his followers. Federalists called for a larger, more powerful government, while the latter wanted a smaller less power one. In the end things calmed down, and they settled for a moderate government where every citizen had a set group of rights in the new Government. They were later known as the bill of rights. One key right would allow for all people living in America at this time, would be considered an American Citizen.
One key topic that was carefully avoided was that of Slavery. People from the North didn’t use slaves to the same extent that it was in the South, slavery did exist in the north but The South used them as a tool and treated them as property. These actions disgusted some of the northerners like John Adams, and they tried to get it as part of the Articles of Confederation, but the slave holding states to the south refused to join and vote to accept the Articles if they were there so they had to take it out.
Things settled down and the first presidential election was held, and George Washington won in a landslide, the next closest person John Adams, the Federalist from Massachusetts, became his vice president. Washington now had the decision of who to chose for his advisors to his presidency. He selected Alexander Hamilton to Secretary of Treasury, Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Henry Lee as the Secretary of war. The choice of Lee of Secretary of War was quite the surprise to many people that he would choose two people who had tried to run against him as two of his closest aides.
In any case times were better in Washington's first term in office because of Shay’s rebellion in the year prior, Washington had ordered Lee to create a standing army of 7,500 men that are to be trained and ready for war or rebellion. Jefferson favoring the French in all foreign matters had spent time in France working on policies that would promote trade between the two nations. While Hamilton had his hands full dealing with the debt that every state had massed throughout the war. The debt was high, but in Hamilton’s words “ together, we the people of the United States of America shall make this debt just a minor inconvenience.”
He set forth to rally support for his idea which he dubbed the Union Commercial Plan. His plan was to merge the states debt into one, large nationwide debt, this way it would be able to be paid off quicker rather than have every state finish its reparations at different times. After this his plan called for the creation of a standardized government treasury, one that would hold the country’s money and deal with loans and speculating land. The plan was sound, but many were skeptical of the creation of the National Treasury, but his plan would pay off in the long run.
Till then however, the House of Representatives, under the suggestion of Hamilton, had implemented an excise tax on Whiskey and other distilled spirits. This caused an uproar among some of the citizens in the backwoods who had created and sold whiskey as a trade. This tax, which quickly became known as the “whiskey tax”, had turned into an armed protest by these backwoods citizens who had taken to harassing tax collectors and burning effigies of Washington dressed like King George. Washington would not have any of this, and ordered Lee’s newly trained army to meet him in Philadelphia, where he himself would lead the troops that would suppress this Whiskey Rebellion. When they arrived in western Pennsylvania he was greeted by the rebels, who upon sight of Washington had laid down their arms and peacefully walked back to their homes. Not one shot was needed to be fired by the newly formed American army, the mere sight of Washington on his white horse was enough to put down the rebellion in its infancy.
After the rebellion things were calm until the United States would receive their first tragedy the death of Vice President John Adams. Adams went along with ambassador John Jay to talk and create a somewhat better relationship with their former British rulers. There he would contract Typhoid Fever and pass away in Great Britain. Due to this being close to the end of Washington’s term he would not appoint a new Vice President. A service was held in Boston, where President Washington and similar people went to and paid their respects.
With Adams passing away, the next election continued to be a landslide with Washington winning again. This time, Washington selected Alexander Hamilton as his new Vice President, Lee and Jefferson retained their positions, and appointed Oliver Wolcott Jr. to replace Hamilton as Secretary of Treasury.
Last edited: