List of Presidents of the Western Federation (Timeline 1867)

The President of the Western Federation is elected to serve a 4 year term, and may run for no more than 3 consecutive terms (the first president George Woods decreed an election in 1870, therefore only serving a full 3-year term). He chooses a Vice-President If a President dies in office, the Vice-President, then the President of the Senate, then the Secretaries, shall become President.

List of Presidents
1867-70: George Woods 1870-94 Thomas Francis Meagher ('Old Papa Frank')
 * 1867-70 James S. Slingerland
 * 1870-78 Clay Smith
 * 1878-79 Edward A. Stevenson
 * 1879-90 La Fayette Grover
 * 1890-94 Ezra Rickards

Thomas Francis Meagher
T.F. Meagher was perhaps the most versatile head of state ever. Born in Waterford, Ireland, 1823, as a young man he became involved with Irish revolutionaries, which culminated in the Young Irelander Rebellion, during which he gave his famous 'Speech from the Dock'. Meagher and several other revolutionaries where arrested and tried. He was to be hanged, drawn and quartered, but was given a 'ticket-of-leave' to Van Diemen's Land. There he married Katherine Bennett. In 1852 he escaped to America and arriving in New York City, became a journalist, lecturer, and most importantly, a US citizen. He became a Captain in the New York State militia, and served in the Civil War for the Union as part of the Irish Brigade. After the war, he was appointed Acting Governor of Montana Territory, and was outraged when the Western Territory was formed. After all, once a revolutionary, always a revolutionary. He ran for President in the first elections, resoundingly beating the former Vice-President James Slingerland.