http://tspwiki.com/index.php?title=1795
Here are some one liners...
A Marriage of Inconvenience and Blaming the Victim -- The future King George the 4th as run up a heck of a bill. His father won't pay it off unless the Prince marries Caroline of Brunswick. I talk about the economic conditions that forced this move and how the Dole creates more problems for the poor than it solves.
A Treaty Between Friends: America, Spain and Great Britain -- A trade agreement and definition of borders is established first with Great Britain and then with Spain. Critical for the expansion of the United States.
In Other News -- Jim Beam, Seditious meetings and the Father of Canning.
A Marriage of Inconvenience and Blaming the Victim
The Prince of Wales, the future King, has a BIG gambling problem. Parliament provides him a generous allowance, but he has squandered that and more. His debt now stands at 650,000 pounds sterling (or about 88 million dollars in today's money). His father, King George the 3rd, refuses to help unless the Prince marries and produces an heir. He is already married to a commoner, but the King did not approve the marriage in advance so it doesn't count. A suitable bride is arranged, his 1st cousin, Caroline of Brunswick, a woman he has never met. On paper she looks good. She is the daughter of a German king, and no one says that she is ugly, but she has issues. She is utterly lacking in tact, patience, good manners and she smells. Other than that, she is shallow and flirtatious, which, in 1795, translates to "slutty". The couple meet a few days before they are married. He embraces her, then pleads illness and walks out, calling for his brandy. He spends his honeymoon passed out in front of the fireplace or carousing with the drunken louts he calls friends. The unhappy couple will produce 1 child, a girl, and then separate. The rumors of Caroline's many lovers will become an embarrassment to the Prince and an even greater embarrassment when he becomes King. Eventually, she will be paid to go away. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
Caroline's personal issues before the marriage were not a secret, but the Prince went ahead with the marriage anyway. That suggests his economic problems were worse than anyone suspected. The British economy was in trouble. People were starving. (To Caroline's credit, she adopted several poor orphans.) England introduced the Dole to supplement the income of poor farmers. The result of the Dole was to suppress agricultural innovation. When the government gave the farmer money, he stopped looking for efficient ways to farm. A guaranteed livable wage smothered initiative and kept people in poverty. In the 1960s, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (Democrat) commissioned a study on the Dole. Group 1 was given information on existing job training and education programs. Group 2 was given the same information and money to push their income over the poverty line. The results were devastating for those advocating the Dole. In general, if poor people took the Dole, they remained just above the poverty line and did no better. If poor people were informed but given no money, they usually worked their way out of poverty and kept on improving because frankly, poverty sucks and they didn't want to go through that again. Naturally, the Senator was criticized for the study, and that was how the phrase, "blaming the victim" entered the national lexicon. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
Caroline's personal issues before the marriage were not a secret, but the Prince went ahead with the marriage anyway. That suggests his economic problems were worse than anyone suspected. The British economy was in trouble. People were starving. (To Caroline's credit, she adopted several poor orphans.) England introduced the Dole to supplement the income of poor farmers. The result of the Dole was to suppress agricultural innovation. When the government gave the farmer money, he stopped looking for efficient ways to farm. A guaranteed livable wage smothered initiative and kept people in poverty. In the 1960s, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (Democrat) commissioned a study on the Dole. Group 1 was given information on existing job training and education programs. Group 2 was given the same information and money to push their income over the poverty line. The results were devastating for those advocating the Dole. In general, if poor people took the Dole, they remained just above the poverty line and did no better. If poor people were informed but given no money, they usually worked their way out of poverty and kept on improving because frankly, poverty sucks and they didn't want to go through that again. Naturally, the Senator was criticized for the study, and that was how the phrase, "blaming the victim" entered the national lexicon. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
A Treaty Between Friends: America, Spain and Great Britain
Two separate treaties this year are monumentally important to the economic well-being and expansion of the United States. The Treaty of Friendship with Spain is signed this year. It defines the borders of Spanish West Florida, and it establishes a trade relationship between Spain and the United States. Cargo will be allowed to travel along the Mississippi through New Orleans without paying huge fees. This sudden friendship is prompted by the Jay Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation. It was negotiated with the British by John Jay who ignored his official instructions and thus exceeded his authority to negotiate the treaty in the first place. Nevertheless, when he returns with a signed document, all that stuff about legality is swept aside because, frankly, it is a good deal. Alexander Hamilton and George Washington want it. It defines the border of Canada, shuts down British forts in the Northwest Territory... this time for real... and establishes trade limits with the British colonies. The legal limit was zero before now. Higher than zero is better, and Captain Nelson won't be forced to sink American shipping. It's a win-win. War is averted... for now. [12] [8] [13] [14]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
Something else was going on. Spain controlled the Mississippi River. President George Washington realized that the United States expansion would eventually reach the Mississippi, so the most honest and straight forward thing to do would have been to negotiate a treaty to move Spain out and let America expand, but Washington didn't want to do that. He figured that Spain was weakening. In the following decades they couldn't possibly hold on to their territories in North America. They weren't sending any colonists to West Florida. They were only maintaining garrisons which were a drain on Spain's economy... not an asset. Washington also knew that American colonists would push west regardless of any treaties the United States might negotiate. Those territories would be overrun, but not right away. Washington was content to let Spain hold those territories until Americans were ready to occupy them. By then Spain would be more inclined to release them. FYI, in those days West Florida was defined as the region called the Florida pan handle and extending all the way to the Mississippi River. That would include the bottom half of the State of Mississippi and Alabama. Yes. Mobile, Alabama was once part of Florida. [15]
Something else was going on. Spain controlled the Mississippi River. President George Washington realized that the United States expansion would eventually reach the Mississippi, so the most honest and straight forward thing to do would have been to negotiate a treaty to move Spain out and let America expand, but Washington didn't want to do that. He figured that Spain was weakening. In the following decades they couldn't possibly hold on to their territories in North America. They weren't sending any colonists to West Florida. They were only maintaining garrisons which were a drain on Spain's economy... not an asset. Washington also knew that American colonists would push west regardless of any treaties the United States might negotiate. Those territories would be overrun, but not right away. Washington was content to let Spain hold those territories until Americans were ready to occupy them. By then Spain would be more inclined to release them. FYI, in those days West Florida was defined as the region called the Florida pan handle and extending all the way to the Mississippi River. That would include the bottom half of the State of Mississippi and Alabama. Yes. Mobile, Alabama was once part of Florida. [15]
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