Serve Until Death

Serve Until Death
The United States was, as we know it, founded on the principles of representative democracy; the President would be beholden to the will of the people of the United States of America. In our timeline, it was written in the Constitution of the United States of America: "[The President] shall his office during the term of four years."

But what if the Founding Fathers were less confident about the people's ability to choose a President? What if the people repeatedly and persistently selected different Presidents every four year cycle? In this new timeline, the Founding Fathers - most notably George Washington, John Adams, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson - supported the creation of a life-presidency; the President would be selected once during his lifetime, and devote the rest of his life to the service of his country, to ensure continuity in the nation's policy.

In this alternate timeline, Article Two, Section One of the Constitution of the United States of America reads "[The President] shall be be elected by the people of this nation upon the death of his predecessor."

Point of Divergence
The major point of divergence in this timeline comes with the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Towards the end of the Convention, John Adams suggested amending Article Two, Section One of the Constitution to allow the President to serve for life, thereby eliminating any potential disruption to a Presidential agenda. He also suggested increasing the power of the two Houses of Congress, to balance this adjustment.

This amendment was opposed by Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton, who went on to boycott Adams' presidency. However, the amendment was agreed by majority vote, being signed into law following George Washington's election victory in 1788.

Links
List of United States Presidents

List of United States Presidential Elections

Timeline