| April 13 |  |
Editor says, what if Thomas Jefferson had drafted a letter to King George III that sought to reconcile the colonies with Great Britain? muses Zach Timmons. Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).
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In 1743, on this day Sir Thomas Jefferson was born in Charlottesville, Virginia. Jefferson was serving in the Virginia House of Burgesses when, in 1775, he was called upon by the Second Continental Congress to draft a letter to King George III that sought to reconcile the colonies with their mother country.
Sir Thomas JeffersonThe petition stated that the colonies did not wish to revolt, but simply sought the right to fair taxation and trading rights. The petition reached London in mid-August, and, combined with the news of the battles of Lexington and Concord, convinced the King that the Americans were determined to achieve equal rights, by any means necessary. The King quickly appointed a joint British-American commission to solve the problem of American sovereignty, and in September of 1776 the commission signed an agreement which was soon ratified by the King and Parliament. The main points of the agreement were that:
1. Americans would be taxed at the same rate as British citizens, but that the collected taxes would only be used in America.
2. The Thirteen Colonies were allowed to seat representatives in Parliament, three from each colony, and that the representatives would have full voting rights on all issues pertaining to the Colonies. Also, the Continental Congress would be recognized and expanded as the official representative body of the Colonies.
3. The Thirteen Colonies would be formed into a new dominion, the Confederation of New Britain, and that a Viceroy (always an American) would be appointed to serve much as a Prime Minister.
The agreement took effect on January 1st, 1778, and although denounced by a number of hard-liners (notably Samuel Adams in Boston), the vast majority of Americans supported the agreement, officially known as the Colonial Representation Act. Sir Benjamin Franklin served as the first Viceroy, unfortunately for only three years until his death in December 1790. Sir Thomas Jefferson served as the third Viceroy, from 1807 until 1819. Upon his retirement, he focused on furthering higher education in Virginia, establishing the University of Virginia in 1825. He died on July 4, 1826, a few hours ahead of John Adams, the Royal Governor of Massachusetts.
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Zach Timmons
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~ More probable than war.
~ Seating Colonial members of Parliament would have been a tad problematic, what with there being several months' travel time between UK and North America. Also, would Canada and the British sugar islands have been included in this deal? ISTR that at the time, the sugar islands (Jamaica et al.) were considered quite a bit more valuable than the 13 mainland colonies.
Also---at this time huge parts of _Britain itself_ weren't represented in Parliament, while there were "rotten boroughs" that had only a few voters but sent MPs to Westminster. If the Colonists got this deal, there'd be an outcry for Parliamentary reform, and that would have put the cat among the pigeons for fair. Far better to recognize the Continental Congress as the representatives of the colonies, without colonial MPs in Westminster.
~ By 1801 London parliament took in the Irish so it is not impossible. Neither is a deal after Lexington and Concord. In OTL it took into 1777 for the British to offer terms and by then it was a year too late. Mostly a matter of social prejudice. the ruling class simply did not like 'colonials'.
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scott
~ Uh...no. :)
~ Consider that George III and his cronies were single minded Caveliers who did not even bother to learnwhat they were doing in regards to colonial affairs, and rejected all these things, all letters of reconciliation would fail like those before. Colonial representation in parliament had been recomended by Benjamin Franklin after the Seven Years War and rejected in no uncertain terms because British politicains knew the Colonial birthrate and population groth would eventually shift the power base to the Americans. They also did not like giving up the colonial patronage they had for their friends. As for a dominion status, when Americans proposed that with the Albany Congress, that got tossed by British officials.
Comment from Margo Barotta on Facebook: thomas jefferson draft a letter for king georges III asking that the american dosnt want to revolt only they want to be equal with the britains in taxes and to be representing in parlement ,the king agree on that ,but after that the brritains didnt treate the people of colonies like the britains ,this is why ,the revolution begun by the first action 'the tea party'
Comment from Tom Hickie on Facebook: Very hypothetical. I can't see how that would have ever happened. It is an interesting question however. My question is did Jefferson realize George III was insane? The founding fathers must have known. If so, why negotiate with this king at all? Any such letter would simply have been a device to buy time, and consolidate the states. As we know it was a struggle to get New York to ratify the new constitution.
Comment from Facebook: Very hypothetical. I can't see how that would have ever happened. It is an interesting question however.
My question is did Jefferson realize George III was insane? The founding fathers must have known. If so, why negotiate with this king at all?
Any such letter would simply have been a device to buy time, and consolidate the states. As we know it was a struggle to get New York to ratify the new constitution.
~ The threshold to get over would definitely be George III's superiority complex. If so, though, the Parliamentary reform would be a good thing overall, reshuffling representation as we'd see in reforms over the nineteenth century anyway. Potential follow-up is the population growth and North America having the political upper hand come WWII time.
© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
