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Sons of Liberty

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Vadrigos said:
Someone asks the kings of Europe how they got to this state where the Americas are now united against them under a socialist alliance:

"To make any kind of sense of it all, one would have to go back all the to that night 200 years ago…that night when the Paine started."
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"Who could have guessed that colonialism would eventually make people who hated us"
Literally all of Europe
 
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1782-1790 Timeline
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    • 1782-1790 Timeline
    Written by @Damobesh & Myself

    1782
    • The Pitt Acts continue to redistribute land to local loyalist slavers and encourage them to cultivate cash crops like cotton, tobacco, and sugar. Exacerbating local food shortages.
    • The smallpox epidemic, dubbed "the Georgia Blight" spreads all the way to Providence, Rhode Island, killing hundreds as it goes.
    • A division of British Grenadiers disappear while marching from Boston to construct a new fort in Kittery. The forces are declared either killed in action or defectors.
    • William Howe, as Military Viceroy and at the behest of his advisors, formally severs ties with the Iroquois Confederacy and almost every other Native American nation due to "suspected conspiracy with rebel factions."
    1783
    • Unrest begins brewing in otherwise loyalist colonies in the Canadian region, with increased food confiscation being redistributed to mitigate the Georgia blight, leaving limited rationing for local settlements.
    • Reports of remaining Green Mountaineers raiding British-occupied villages begin to circulate, with rumor of John Adam's survival hingent.
    • Riots occur in New York City, which are brutally put down by British forces.
    1784
    • Eliza Schuyler Hamilton organizes espionage across British-occupied New York City.
    • General Howe is shot on the steps of the office of the military viceroyalty in Philadelphia, while he survives the attempted assassin is not captured and Howe is injured enough that he is forced to resign from his position, with Vice Admiral James Gambier chosen by Parliament to be his replacement.
    • The first sign of danger for the British: several forts along the Ohio river suddenly begin going silent, no attempts at reestablishing communications being successful.
    1785
    • The Ohio River Valley begins falling to rebel forces, as Thomas Paine's continental army, as well as Thayendanegea's forces, begin capturing British fortifications limited in manpower.
    • French-speaking Canadians begin rioting against the empire, boiling into full-scale armed revolt upon their sons being massacred by British forces.
    • Reports of skirmishes against towns in Nova Scotia committed by Acadan & Mi'kmaq militiamen, thought to have been in hiding, have circulated into American rebel circles.
    1786
    • Creole revolts against the British have gained traction across southern Louisiana.
    • Seminole and slave revolts spark across Florida, with rumor spreading of John Laurens involvement with supplying the rebels with ammunition.
    • Boston erupts in the first of the "Plague Riots" against the British administration.
    1787
    • Riots begin to spring up in New York City and Philadelphia in response to the Boston riots, expressing solidarity with their fellow Bostonians.
    • Documentation was obtained by British officials in key suspect's households amidst the Philadelphian riots, revealing elaborate underground networks smuggling funds across the various uprisings throughout the past decade, yet little did they know it would be too late for them to stop the onslaught of the North.
    1788
    • Thomas Paine's army makes a breakthrough across the north, joining forces with affiliated rebel groups and nearly wiping out a majority of British outposts.
    • The Mason-Dixon line becomes entrenched, with most rebellions in the south subdued by British forces, with the South remaining loyalist.
    1789
    • Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton leads a final assault against British-occupied New York City, with its governor and Arron Burr amongst its casualties, effectively ending the war in the North as its last major offensive.
    • Brutal fighting continues on the border between the southern and northern colonies. With casualties mounting and the potential for slave revolts growing, the British high command in the colonies and in Parliament begin seriously considering cutting their losses.
    1790
    • The Treaty of Paris is signed, with The United States of America officially recognized as an independent nation, all British territory north of the Mason-Dixon line ceded to the new republic, and the Dominion of America formally established in the southern states remaining in British control.
     
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    • A divided continent, I wonder how this will go and what divisions further west look like. In fact, what does the northern border of the USA look like?

    edit: Thanks I got the answer
     
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    Ah, so we have one more neighbor on our southern border when we get to the present. I wonder how that ends up developing, I could see it being a slavocracy that develops into a repressive oligarchy into the present, or end up having a major revolt that establishes a republic similar TTL's United States.
     
    Silent Runner said:
    The American South remaining in the British Empire means that there's a lot more slaveowners to lobby against abolition.
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    The ability of the colonies to lobby for anything in Britain was pretty limited, thus why the American Revolution in the first place. Most of the leadership on the American side didn't immediately want independence, just more voice in government affairs.
     
    Chloe Sullivan said:
    The ability of the colonies to lobby for anything in Britain was pretty limited, thus why the American Revolution in the first place. Most of the leadership on the American side didn't immediately want independence, just more voice in government affairs.
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    It's less their ability to directly influence the British government that would limit abolition, more that It's easier to argue for abolition if the only slaves owned by your empire are on a small island a continent away, rather then the remaining half of the somewhat rebellious colonists that view themselves as having equal rights(especially property rights) and who's economy and political system relies on the institution you are trying to abolish.
    You could recompense them, but that was already expensive in our timeline, when most of the slaveowning colonies had already left, which makes it infinitely more difficult if you still have massive amount of slaves and supposed citizens that gain status by owning them.
     
    I'm curious how westward expansion will play out ITTL.

    So we're going to see a battle for westward expansion between Spanish Mexico, French Louisiana, a Southern slavocracy that secedes from the British Empire, and the United States, this time with less anti-Native bigotry.
     
    The Continental Charter of the United States of America
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    • ​



    The Continental Charter of the
    United States of America    ​



    PREAMBLE​


    WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in Congress Assembled, believing that:

    The ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole cause of public calamities and of the corruption of governments; that a declaration must be necessary, being constantly before all the members of this Nation's social Body, shall remind them continually of these inalienable rights, and their duties tied alongside it;

    And in order to form a more perfect Union, indivisible; to establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, that the grievances of the Citizens, based hereafter upon simple and incontestable principles, shall tend to the maintenance of this Charter and redound to the happiness of all;

    Do ordain and establish this Continental Charter for the United States of America.


    - ARTICLE I -
    CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENCY    ​

    1. The Legislative and Executive Powers of the State shall be separate and distinct from the Judicative; and, that the members of the two first may be restrained from oppression by feeling and participating the burdens of the people, they should, at fixed periods, be reduced to a private station, return into that body from which they were originally taken, and the vacancies be supplied by frequent, certain, and regular elections in which all, or any part of the former members, to be again eligible, or ineligible, as the laws shall direct.

    2. The Legislative Power shall be vested in a single assembly of representatives of the States, known henceforth as the Continental Congress. The voice of this body shall predominate in the promulgation and intervention of law and order of this Union.

    3. The Continental Congress shall be composed of Members, chosen every third Year by the People of the several States, and convened by the President, who, alongside his secretaries, constitute the Executive Power.
      Each State shall, to convenience, be divided to six, eight or ten districts; each district sending a proper number of delegates to Congress, so that each State sends at least Thirty in total.
      Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers.
      The Indian Nations who formally pledge their allegiance to the Union shall have equal representation in Congress, with the same procedure as state representatives and all rights thereof.

    4. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.

    5. The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the House of Assembly thereof; but Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations.
      No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty-five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

    6. Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.
      The Congress may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.
      The Congress shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.
      The Congress shall not, without the Consent of three-fifths of its members, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which it was presently sitting.

    7. The President shall be elected every session by Congress amongst a pool of Candidates, chosen from a set of Delegates from only one of the several States taken from among their number by lot.
      In the next session of Congress, it shall once again elect another President, omitting the State from which the President was taken in the former session, and so proceeding on until all the States of this Union shall have had their proper rotation.
      As Congress can appoint, they shall as well have the sole Power of Impeachment.

    8. The President appointed by the Congress shall be the head of Government. The President shall have the power to assemble his Commission, taken from the Members of Congress, with the exception being an approval of each secretary by the Continental Congress.

    9. The Congress shall establish permanent Committees of Administration, elected from among their number and led by Secretaries, to investigate laws and designs, and oversee affairs pertaining to specific fields of Government.
      The secretaries of each Committee shall work with the President in concert as an Executive Power, and to counsel the President in their field of Administration. Henceforth they may be impeached by Congress in the same manner thus.

    10. Through the exercise of its vote and its Committees, Congress shall have Power to:
      Lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
      To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
      To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes outside this Union;
      To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
      To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures, and provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
      To establish Post Offices and Post Routes, and other forms of Internal Improvements that may encourage the proceedings of Commerce and Industry of the United States;
      To promote the Instruction of the People, and the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by sponsoring Universities, and securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
      To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
      To provide for calling forth the Militia in Service of the United States to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
      To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
      To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;—And
      To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

    11. Not less than three fifths of the Congress must approve any decision or election to be called a majority, such that Congress cannot pass into a law but what is satisfactorily just.

    12. When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.
      Likewise, when a vacancy happens in the Executive Authority, the Legislative Authority thereof shall issue a Writ of Election to fill such vacancy.

    13. A Continental Conference, consisting of a committee of Members of Congress, viz. two for each State, and two for each House of Assembly, and five representatives of the People at large, chosen is to be held within the halls of Assembly of Congress every twenty-five years, to review and amend the present Charter, to ensure that the Powers and supreme Law of these United States shall remain in harmony with the turbulent times the future may hold for it, so long as such changes do not take away the inalienable rights of man and its citizenry, but only to enhance such rights towards the pursuit of one's choosing.


    - ARTICLE II -
    BILL OF RIGHTS    ​

    1. We hold these truths to be sacred, self-evident and undeniable; that all men and women are created equal, free and independent, that from that creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable.
      The aim of every political association is for the common benefit and welfare of the People and the Nation, and the preservation and improvement of these selfsame inviolable rights of Man, foremostly among which are that of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
      Should government become destructive of these ends, it is the People's right to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government, its foundation on such principles, and its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

    2. This Union's Sovereignty derives from the Consent of the Governed. The will of its free and equal citizens alone gives it meaning and Power; it shall not be vested solely in one nor a few.
      The Law is the fullest expression of this will, for it is derived from the decisions of the people, in personal or through their representatives. Nothing that is not forbidden by Law may be hindered, and none may be compelled to do what the Law does not ordain.

    3. The Congress shall make no law to prohibit or exclude any citizen; equal in the eyes of the Law and Providence, distinguished solely in their virtues and talents; from the assumption of any dignity, position, or occupation.
      Likewise, it shall not make any law entitling any man, Citizen or otherwise, to exclusive or separate privileges from the Nation, but in consideration of public services; which, not being descendible, neither ought the offices of magistrate, legislator, or judge be hereditary.

    4. The Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting its free exercise or lack thereof; or abridging nor disquieting the freedom of speech, or of the press, or of the free communication of ideas and opinion; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

    5. The Congress shall make no law promoting the neglect of the wellbeing of this Union's Citizens, promoting the comfort of some to the expense of the whole, or fostering conditions of destitution preventing the People from the fullest exercise and security of their liberties and rights.

    6. The Congress shall not withhold information to the People over its proceedings, its conduct, and its account of administration, save for those that pertain to the defense and continuance of the Union, its Citizens, and their rights and liberties.

    7. No person, Citizen or otherwise, may be accused, arrested or detained except in a case properly determined by Law, conducted thus in a speedy and public trial presided over by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the offense shall have been committed, and where authorities have informed the accused of the nature and cause of his accusation, and in confrontation with the witnesses against him, and the support of witnesses in his favor, and with the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.

    8. No person, Citizen or otherwise, shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the armed Service of the United States, in times of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of the law; nor shall said property be appropriated for public use, without just compensation.

    9. No person, Citizen or otherwise, may be meted punishment for a crime that is not strictly and evidently necessary; and likewise none may be punished except for a virtue of a Law drawn up and passed before the offense is committed, and legally applied.

    10. No person, Citizen or otherwise, may be presumed guilty until he has been declared so by scrutiny of the Courts or in the self-evident nature of the case. Any undue effectiveness not necessary to secure his person shall not be permitted by any body of government.

    11. No person, Citizen or otherwise, shall be held in bondage of Slavery, by his fellow person, for any reason whatsoever.

    12. To guarantee the rights and liberties of Man and the Citizen, and to the security of a free State, a well-regulated Militia is necessary; composed of the body of the People, either called by Congress or organized by the volition of the Citizenry, this force is therefore established for the benefit of all, and not for the particular use of those to whom it is entrusted.
      In all cases, the military shall be under strict subordination to, and be governed by, the Civil Power. The right of the People to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.


    - ARTICLE III -
    STATE GOVERNMENT    ​

    1. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.

    2. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.

    3. The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and none in this Charter shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.

    4. Each State shall have a House of Assembly, or Provincial Convention, as its legislative Power, with the self-same method of election and appointment as within Congress, likewise in their election of a Governor to preside over them, and Secretaries of the same.
      The People in their Counties shall meet in Assemblies of Counsel of their own, to conduct the same Power amongst themselves, to elect Elders and other officials of equal stature, of which each citizen participant may have a say in the conduct of Laws pertaining to their Township.

    5. No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

    6. No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws be subject to the Revision and Control of the Congress.

    7. No State shall, without Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless truly invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit delay.

    8. The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.
      A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.

    9. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

    10. No State may occupy the land of another State, especially that of an Indian Nation admitted, or yet to be admitted in the Union.
      All treaties of Indian Nations with the United States, which have since been admitted to the Union, shall continue up to their amendment or abolition by negotiation with the Congress.


    - ARTICLE IV -
    THE JUDICATIVE POWER    ​

    1. The Judicative Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behavior, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.

    2. The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;—to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;—to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;—to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;—to Controversies between two or more States;—between a State and Citizens of another State,—between Citizens of different States,—between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.
      In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.
      The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.

    3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
      The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.


    - ARTICLE V -
    ADDITIONAL CLAUSES    ​

    1. The flag of the United States of America shall be made of nine paleways of argent and gules; the Union itself shall be six, eight-pointed white stars in a green field, representing a constellation.
      The seal of the United States of America shall depict the arms of the Union, paleways of nine pieces, argent and gules; a chief, vert; held by a Negro woman on one hand, on her other the Liberty Pole. She will sit on a large land turtle, flanked by twin columns, behind her a green field and a rising sun parting the clouds.

    2. The capital of the United States of America shall be New York City, wherein the island of Manhattan shall host the nation's capital district.

    3. The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.

    *** . ***

    COMPILED and APPROVED by the CONTINENTAL CONFERENCE, with Unanimous Consent of the STATES, present the sixteenth Day of October in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one and of the fifteenth year of the INDEPENDENCE of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA    .

    In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names.

    CONTINENTAL COMMITTEE

    Thomas Paine, Benjamin Rush, John Laurens, Baron de Steuben, Joel Barlow, Jos. Brant Thayendanegea (X), Eliz    eth Hamilton, John Adams, Haym Salomon, John Abeel III Gyantwachia (X), Richard Allen, Abigail Adams, Benjamin Franklin Bache

    And the Representatives of

    MARYLAND. VIRGINIA. CONNECTICUT. IROQUOIS. NEW YORK. ACADIA. MICKMAW. MASSACHUSETTS. VERMONT. NEW HAMPSHIRE. PENNSYLVANIA. NEW JERSEY. CANADA.​
     
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