Editor says, what if Washington had bungled the Whiskey Rebellion? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the August 2011 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.

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Editor says, In this post we explore the ideas in L. Neil Smith's excellent novel Probability Broach and we also take the further liberty of assuming that Hamilton was not disgraced by his extra-marital affairs.

Stan Brin commented on 2011-07-29 20:51:40 ~ Whiskey Rebellion was really very limited in scope and intent -- In the days before canals and railroads, it was far cheaper to ship grain to market if it was first converted to whiskey. This means that the whiskey rebellion was essentially limited to areas outside the river and coastal trading network, a small minority of the population at the time. It is also doubtful that the Whiskey Rebels were capable of uniting across state lines. It was always a limited rebellion with limited goals.

Eric Oppen commented on 2011-07-30 00:01:11 ~ El Neil's a dear friend of mine, but he's no historian.

Jeff Provine commented on 2011-08-01 18:23:44 ~ Guerrilla warfare in backwoods America would be the weakening point all of Europe was waiting for. Somebody would make a bid for conquest soon.

Jackie Rose commented on 2012-07-29 19:32:33 ~ Goodness, Editor, if Thomas Jefferson was not kept out of office by his affair with a slave girl, Hamilton's affairs would not do it.

Matthew Dattilo commented on 2012-07-29 21:03:53 ~ Jackie, Jefferson's affair was a closely held secret. Hamilton was less discrete.

Eric Lipps commented on 2012-07-29 22:44:47 ~ Washington would have been most unlikely to have pushed for a third term. By my understanding, he was unhappy as president and perfectly willing to go home to Virginia after two terms. Moreover, had he chosen to stay, he'd have died in office (he died in 1799). I might counter with he would not have been on his farm to get that chill if he was stillserving as President Possible -- but again, Washington was not eager for a third term in any case. Even if the Whiskey Rebellion were still going on by 1796, he'd likely have been willing to hand over responsibility for dealing with it to a successor -- perhaps Vice-President John Adams, who as president revealed a ruthless streak of his own.

Jackie Rose commented on 2012-07-30 01:54:52 ~ Matthew, Jefferson's affair was what you call an open secret. His enemies made up a song, which was supposed to be sung by a black man: "Cujo the white wife will have...and Massa Jefferson will have the black."