The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 24: Can this American king be crowned king?

When the eunuch explained Zhu Jianxuan's identity to Adams, the Ming Emperor Zhu Zhonglin was explaining Adams' situation to Zhu Jianxuan.

Of course, the interpreter was tactful enough not to translate the words of the Emperor and His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu.

Zhu Jianxuan was also surprised when he heard about his father the Emperor's plan, which was to arrange for him to become the king of the United States.

Regarding becoming the king of the United States, Zhu Jianxuan couldn't say that he really didn't want to do it at all, but it was really just a little bit.

After independence, the United States became the first purely capitalist country in the world.

Bourgeois revolutions in other countries usually involve the bourgeoisie challenging their own country's traditional aristocracy.

Because traditional aristocratic power was deeply rooted, most bourgeois revolutions could not be absolutely thorough.

It is easy to leave behind a large number of feudal remnants, and even the restoration of feudal forces may occur.

In the end, it usually ends with the bourgeoisie gaining sufficient status and making compromises with the traditional feudal aristocracy.

There will be an intermediate state of mutual penetration and fusion between the feudal aristocracy and the bourgeoisie, and there will also be aristocrats who transform into the bourgeoisie and participate in the revolution.

Therefore, the traditional aristocracy can continue to exist and exert influence.

But the American Revolutionary War was different.

The war was waged by the inhabitants of the colonies against the ruling class of the metropolitan country, which had already completed an incomplete bourgeois revolution.

The family backgrounds of most of the colonial residents had nothing to do with the aristocracy, otherwise their ancestors would not have gone to America to make a living.

Traditional British aristocrats rarely took the initiative to immigrate to the colonies.

Even the few who went to live in the colonies usually did not participate in actions against Britain and were basically "loyalists."

After the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, these loyalists were basically liquidated.

They either died directly, fled to Canada, or returned to mainland Britain.

After the war, the United States no longer had a general aristocratic group and became a purely capitalist country.

At the same time as it gained independence, the United States completed the most thorough bourgeois revolution.

Under such circumstances, if one wants to be the king of the United States, one can only be a pure capitalist king, and one cannot have any feudal traditions.

At the same time, the newly independent United States is still an absolute local sovereign state, which is the other extreme of absolute centralization.

As soon as the Revolutionary War ended in 1783, they disbanded the Continental Army.

It then took four years to finalize the Constitution in 1787.

Two years later, in 1789, Washington became the first president of the United States.

In the years between the end of the war and Washington's inauguration, the United States basically had no national government.

Even if Washington became president, the U.S. federal government was a makeshift team.

The United States Federal Army had a staff of only 780 people, a total of two regiments of regular troops and eighty warehouse guards.

The navy had only one 74-ton three-masted sailing ship, which Washington paid for himself.

Not only are the states unwilling to pay the federal government to build its army, they don't even want to support the federal government itself.

The power structure in the United States is bottom-up. The power that states can exercise is authorized by counties, and the power of the federal government is authorized by states.

The federation can only use authorized powers and cannot use unauthorized powers.

When the United States just gained independence, it could not be considered a federation, let alone a confederation.

At that time, it was an organization like an industry association.

On this political basis, the feudal system can even be considered centralization.

Under the feudal system, vassals must at least be loyal to the monarch, and power is transferred from top to bottom. This is exactly the opposite in the United States.

If you are a king in such a country, you don't have to care about constitutional monarchy. Just go with the "offline" monarchy system.

But even in this context, Americans did consider finding a king.

Before the United States officially gained independence, most people had no mature ideas about what kind of country they wanted to build in the future.

In other words, there is no clear purpose and guiding ideology.

They don't even have high hopes for independence itself.

Their success was largely accidental.

After the United States successfully gained independence, they continued to discuss for several years before slowly putting together a "grassroots team."

In the process of building this makeshift team, they discussed the issue of establishing a kingdom or even an empire.

After all, most countries in this era were still monarchies.

It is normal for a country to have a monarch, and it is abnormal not to have a monarch.

Before the United States, even if it was a republic, it was basically an aristocratic oligarchic republic, similar to the Roman Senate model. The Netherlands is also a similar form, with the speaker and members of parliament being aristocrats and hereditary.

Some of the founding fathers of the United States therefore took it for granted that the United States should also have a king or emperor, and at the same time establish an aristocratic system.

They eventually established a civilian republic, excluding the king and the nobility from the system.

It was not because they had the lofty ideal of abandoning feudal dregs, nor was it because they were determined to establish the first civilian republic.

The plan mainly focused on establishing a federal government and a president, which was more in line with the actual situation in the United States at that time.

It's not that you have to do this, but it will save you trouble.

We can simply refer to the existing colonial or state institutions and set up corresponding federal-level institutions.

The methods to do this are already there, we just need to give them some new names.

In order to save as much money as possible, federal agencies are kept as simple as possible; for example, the Army has fewer than 800 people.

Relatively speaking, if the system of king and aristocracy was adopted, it would obviously be much more troublesome.

Because they had nothing originally and had to build it from scratch.

First of all, they don't have a traditional royal family.

Before Napoleon, if a European country needed a king, it usually invited one from a foreign country.

After Mexico gained independence, it borrowed a king from Europe.

But when looking for a king from outside, one usually chooses someone from the same clan.

Mexico is Catholic, so it is easy to select people.

But Americans are British Puritans, and they cannot accept any Catholic nobles.

In theory, the most suitable candidate is a British prince.

But the United States gained independence by successfully rebelling against Britain. Why would it invite a British prince to be king at this time?
The next best option is the Protestant monarchs in the Holy Roman Empire.

There are too many princes in the Holy Roman Empire, with all kinds of beliefs, and they can convert to different religions relatively freely. It is a marriage database for European countries.

In American history, some people have proposed to find a Grand Duke of the Holy Roman Empire to be king.

Then the king needs to be crowned. Who will crown the king of the United States is also a big issue.

It certainly cannot be a bishop of the Vatican, nor a bishop of the Church of England. In theory, one should look for one in the Holy Roman Empire.

However, although both Britain and the northern part of the Holy Roman Empire belong to Protestantism, their internal factions are still different.

The Grand Duke of the Holy Roman Empire can convert to another religion, but how can the Protestant elders of the Holy Roman Empire convert?
Of course, these problems are not unsolvable.

Who should solve the problem? Why should it be solved?

Without internal interest drive, sufficient external pressure, and real objective needs, they do not have to have a king.

No one can stand up and convince everyone else to resolve these procedural troubles.

At that time, Americans were very makeshift in their designs at the federal level.

Basically, it's whatever method is most convenient.

If Ming offers support as an inducement, then use some intimidation as a threat and provide a mature kingdom design plan.

They should not be particularly opposed to finding a Ming prince to be king.

Just consider the United States' tradition of extreme local sovereignty, plus the fact that almost every American civilian carries a gun.

It would be extremely difficult for Zhu Jianxuan to be a king in such a country, a king with actual power.

Instead of competing with American capitalists in a battle of wits and courage, Zhu Jianxuan would rather recruit local Ming people to colonize directly.

So if there is a chance, Zhu Jianxuan is still prepared to take the title of king, but he will not really concentrate on being the king.

I only need power in two areas, the rest doesn't matter in the short term.

First, they can invest, purchase, and develop U.S. land and mineral resources without restrictions, open factories and businesses, and operate any industry.

Second, in the name of the king, any immigrants could be sent without restriction to open up wasteland for themselves and obtain ownership and jurisdiction of these lands.

Then the monarch went offline, did not go to the United States himself, and did not argue with those capitalists.

Stay in Ming Dynasty or Australia to command the development of Australia and the colonization of America.

There are enough people in the Ming Dynasty, and when their steam sailing ships become popular, they can gradually flood the United States with immigrants.

It is estimated that it will only take 20 to 30 years to completely "take over" the United States.

If white Americans protest, there will be another civil war.

Even if this country eventually gets out of control, the United States will be a country dominated by Chinese, not a white country like in the previous life.

(End of this chapter)