The Great Experiment - Phase I (1789-1792) (Sign-Up Thread)

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With Washington gone, the Constitutional Convention makes a novel compromise

List of Presidents of the Republic:

John Hancock (Independent): 1789 - Present

The General was gone.

Having looked impressive despite his continued silence (and enormous frustration) at the Constitutional Convention, few were concerned when George Washington showed the first signs of illness, attributing it to the heat inside the Convention due to the windows of the meeting hall being nailed shut. The General itself felt more annoyed than anything, growing increasingly dismayed at the bitter infighting among delegates and the problems of adapting the finer points of Madison's proposals for a new system of government. And yet the illness soon grew worse, leaving all delegates - and indeed, the entire young nation - stunned when General George Washington died on July 1st, 1787. Gone was the man the convention had in mind to be the first President of the United States, the only man to whom great executive power could be trusted.

The Convention limped for several weeks in chaos as Madison and Hamilton's proposals were thrown into chaos, and growing disagreements over the office of President threatened to rip the Convention apart. That the delegates held together and forced each other to compromise was only possible due to the exhausting work of Benjamin Franklin and the new President of the Convention John Hancock, both men shaming delegates with the memoy of Washington whenever passions ran too high. In the end, while several of the previous compromises held firm, the idea of a strong executive proved too much for delegates to stomach without Washington present to shape the office. Amidst suggestions that a reduced executive could work to maintain balance, the office of President of the United States was created as a ceremonial rule, power delegated to the legislative.

Slowly but surely, the concept of parliamentary government took strenght as the proper way to lead the nation. While the concerns of small states would be protected with the existence of a Senate appointed by the legislatures, the nation itself would be able to choose directly elected representatives to the National Assembly, the main body of power in the nation. Ceremonially presided with a non-partisan Speaker, the duties of government would fall to a First Secretary appointed by the President and with the confidence of the Assembly, thus adapting and reworking parts of the British system of government without fully imitating an example they did not wish to follow.

With great pain and hard work the Constitutional Convention would finally end its work on November 10th, 1787 as the new United States Constitution was signed by the delegates after a moving tribute to General Washington. Spending the entirety of 1788 on ratification, a small-scale Presidential election to choose the first President resulted in John Hancock narrowly defeating George Clinton and Samuel Adams  to take over the mostly ceremonial office. As the first President of the US prepared for his own inauration, the first election to the National Assembly (and indirectly, the Senate) was called. With the nation developing its first political factions, the citizens of the nation watched with great interest the outcome of such an election.

Just who would become the first First Secretary of the nation?

[Lumine]

Upon careful consideration, I decided to make this curious experiment incorporating the ideas behind my 2012 UK Mock Parliament, several forum interactive timelines and Spamage's Chain of Elections game. The end result is The Great Experiment, an attempt at roleplaying the history of a Parliamentary America starting from 1789 until (if we are truly successful) the present time. For the time being, the game will be confined to the first years of the United States and its mechanics will be simplified to make for an easier experience and see if the game gains strength.

You will be able to play as one of the countless important figures of this period (with giants like Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, Adams and so on), fighting your way to power either as a powerful member of the National Assembly, a regional executive building his own power base, or even a powerful publisher or write should you prefer to dedicate yourself to influencing public opinion from the press and not government. Turns will be yearly (and last anywhere between 5 days to a week), and all elections of the National Assembly (the equivalent to UK General Elections) will have their own special gameplay, starting from simple affairs to increasingly complex simulations as electoral politics gain prominence.

There will be further threads explaining the rules. In the meantime, feel free to start claiming historical characters (I will later allow fictional ones) to play on this thread. George Washington is dead and John Hancock is the figurehead President, so for obvious reasons neither is usable.

I hope this experiment works!

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I'd like James Madison, please.

Yes, sir!

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Is Benjamin Franklin still alive/available?

If not, perhaps Aaron Burr?

Franklin is still alive, but probably doesn't have more than 2-3 years to live. You can choose him and switch to a new character once he dies, but if not, Burr's fine as well. (And welcome!)

I'd like to be James Jackson please.

Noted!

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Can I take Gouverneur Morris?

Sure thing, wekcome!

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John Jay, please.

Welcome!

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John Adams please?

Welcome!

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Sign-ups for the first election will be open until Friday night, and the election (a simple one or two-turns affair) will start on Saturday evening. Players therefore have until Saturday morning to join or form factions, otherwise they'll stand as independents (with few likeminded candidates at their side).

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Thomas Jefferson please

Welcome!

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That premise is too much to resist; I think I'll try as Samuel Adams, if I may.

Alexander Hamilton please.

Welcome both!

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A lot of interest thus far!

I'm speeding things up a bit, moving the close of sign-ups and faction forming to Thursday night (roughly 51 hours from now on). The election turn will start that very night.

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I believe I'll take James Wilkinson

Welcome, General!

YAS! YAS! I AM SO IN!

As for a character, can I take a young James Monroe?

Of course, welcome in!

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Well shoot, I'll through my hat in the ring!

Can I take Nicholas Gilman?

Certainly.

Hell, I may have to start this tomorrow with the current number of players, but the factions do need to be filled.

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James Gunn?

No problem, welcome!

Also, important announcement.

The vast majority of the game will be played in the forum, but since given the nature of the game there may be times in which player interaction requires a faster medium than PM's (which can slow the game a bit), we will have our own Discord Chat to keep the game better organized.

Do bear in mind that as a general policy I don't like what Discord has done to Atlasia, so it will be open only to the players and meant for the game, not for any drama whatsoever. Not_Madigan will be messaging all you with further necessary details.

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We have six factions now, I'm allowing one extra faction to be formed and we close forming new factions until after the election.

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We have seven factions, and 12 out of 13 players have already joined one. First turn will be up tomorrow.

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So how far do you plan to take this game? If we end up getting into a war with Britain at some point, I have a decent map of the US and Canada that might be of use for charting who occupies which seat.

As long as we can, Sanchez. Whether it's ten years or we can do time jumps to reach a more modern era will depend on activity and interest. Please feel free to bring forward materials such as that map!

[Lumine]

THE ELECTION HAS BEGUN.

Campaign thread and Press thread are now open. You have exactly one week from now on to contest the election. Do remember to ideally pick a seat for extra immersion into the game, unless you're running in a state who elects its delegates At-Large.

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The Marquis De Lafayette 

For obvious reasons denied, sorry. Lafayette is, to put it mildly, rather busy in France and won't meddle in American politics.

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I know, I just loved him in history what about Frederick Muhlenburg?

Muhlenberg is fine. You'd have to join a faction or stand as an independent.

(This is the last sign-up allowed, btw, as first turn has begun)

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What's the date of the election?

It takes place across the month of April, considering states would realistically vote on different days (but avoiding a months-long period of voting).

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This was an extremely fast start to an Atlas game.

I'd love to join, but it seems it's too late and I have a strict no-discord policy.

To be fair no formal/official game business are conducted through Discord (as I am enormously distrustful of it after Atlasia), so the game can be played without being a part of it with no downsides. I won't accept more people running for the election itself, but you're more than welcome after the results are in and we move into government phase.

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Gentlemen, good work on the press! But the dates of some publications are in 1787, we're in 1789.

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Gentlemen,

Fantastic work thus far, I must say the amount and quality of posts is enjoyable. I do think I may have been excessively pessimistic when setting up a weekly turn, with this material we could certainly end much earlier and during the week end.

Originally the election was set to end on Wednesday, but I'd like to propose Sunday if the player base wants to move a bit faster.

Thoughts?

[Lumine]

Unless there are objections by tomorrow, we're ending the turn on Sunday!