Welcome to the Kingdom of America
Welcome to the Kingdom of America, a nation of awesome history and strong prowess. Currently ruled over by the great House of Lexington, America is seen as a self proclaimed bastion of freedoms, liberties, and intellectual integrity.
Purpose
This estasblishes a brief look at the history, structure, and culture of the Kingdom of the United States.
Historical Details
Background
As the author, self inserting myself into this article (fun!), I have gotten similar questions over and over again. So, this is my attempt to answer as many of them as I can, using what could be a short brochure for the alternate United States.
Welcome to the Kingdom of America
Brief History
The history of the Kingdom of America has its traces in what was the early United States. Originally governed by the Articles of Confederation, the United States proved to be a weak system that eventually led to a second American Revolution called Shays's Rebellion in 1786. During such, disenfranchised veterans who had their lands confiscated by their respective states threatened to overthrow the government. Following this, the Founding Fathers once again met in Philadelphia to discuss a government style. It was here that Nathaniel Gorham and Alexander Hamilton proposed establishing a monarchy, which would be led by Prince Henry of Prussia. Prince Henry accepted the offer, and having been accepted by a congressional vote, took the Royal Oath in 1790.
House of Lexington
The House of Lexington has been the ruling house of the United States since July 4th, 1818, forgoing the previous name of Hohenzollern. This was following the Royal Decree by King Augustus II in order to bridge the Royal Family's European lineage with significant American historical context. Since then, the American Royal Family has bore the same name as the site of the first shots of the American War for Independence.
Government Style
The United States is governed by a federal system with two heads of the executive branch of government, those being the monarch and the chancellor. While the monarch is hereditary, the chancellor is directly elected from the American populace. The powers of each have been interpreted differently between monarchs and governments, but the mutuality between the two has remained.
Subdivisionally, the nation is divided up into States, of which there are 49. Each one is governed by a governor, sends two Senators and proportional Assemblymen to Congress, and holds the right to have up to three Earls and one Duke. Each state is also represented on the flag with a star. The kingdom also holds two additional territories, the Principality of Sequoyah and the Viceroyalty of the Philippinesas well as the African colonies of Liberia and Freedonia.
Culture
Though the people are formally known as United States Citizens, they often prefer the denonym American. The bald eagle is the national animal, which a two headed version lovingly nicknamed "Janus" adorns the royal crest of the nation. The national drink is blackberry ale, traditionally drank in large quantities during the yearly Independence Day celebrations.
Points of Interest
America is home to one of the Seven Wonders of the New World, the Freedom Monument in the state of Freeman. America also controls one of the Seven Industrial Marvels, the Nicaragua Canal situation in the southern portion of the Second Mexican Empire. Visdit the various Royal Hunting Lodge scattered throughout the states of the Kingdom, made famous by the distantly governing King Henry II. Within the capital city of Columbia, consider visting the Columbia Palace, where the king resides, or even the Red Palace of the popular Crown Prince, where the Field Sword of the Crown Prince and the Royal Crown of America are held.
This is a very good article, but it doesn't really FEEL like a hitchhiker's guide - but more of a introduction article to the history of America. Maybe you could shift this to some of the locations in this new America or even Washington D.C.? Not saying its bad - by all means - I love Alt history and I love American Alt History especially with the changes being so far back. This is a fantastic look into the world but it doesn't feel like I learned more than what America is like in this era but nothing about key features or geography or really anything outside of government. Thats just my opinion though. Excellent Article! Wonderfully written, I can't wait to see more.
Thanks for the feedback! I took it to heart and actually added a Points of Interests section, but as most of those who know me closer, I'm currently working on how different cities and works have changed in this timeline, as I've previously struggled with it. Funny enough, I just usually write about the conflicts and government, but not really about much else. That's something I am certainly working on fixing.
Keep up the good work! I am rooting on you! This sounds like a really good project!
Thank you very much! Let me know if the changes on this article work. Also, if you have any general questions of ideas, see my discussion boards!