In the luxurious box, the merciless mockery of the first president of the United States continued. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

"To the uninformed, Washington's failure to attempt to become the emperor of the United States is motivated by his personal noble character and his quest for democracy, when in reality, he just doesn't have the ability to do so." After a pause, Qin Lang added: "It is impossible for him to become an emperor. ”

How could Washington become emperor? With no record to boast of, he had no standing or prestige in the Continental Army and the militia, and could not have received an enthusiastic response from the army with a single shout, as Napoleon had - and the control of the American Parliament over the army far exceeded that of the French Parliament.

Of course, if Washington was wealthy enough to pay at least most of the soldiers of the U.S. Army, he could also get the army to support him and give him the capital to become emperor - but the problem was that he was only a manor and could not afford to pay even a battalion of soldiers even if he ran out of pockets.

So, willingly or not, unless General Washington wants himself to be hanged by Congress and then sliced into pieces and thrown into the Atlantic Ocean to feed the sharks, he can only bequeath the title of "Emperor of the United States" to the future His Majesty Norton I, and become the first President of the United States of America with peace of mind.

Then spent eight depressingly years in this position.

"It was a less pleasant time," Qin Lang mocked, "in the early days of American independence, the country was a loose confederation, and members of Congress were arguing over whether they should be federal or confederate, and the president was more of a symbolic role than a leader with real power." ”

"That sounds like an exaggeration."

"That's right."

But facts are facts. When Britain was forced to recognize the independence of the United States of America, which was originally a loose alliance of North American colonies against their overlords, the question of how to define the nature of "America" became a new one.

Some states want to turn the Confederation into a tighter federation because doing so would bring them more benefits; Other states want to maintain the status quo because they fear that their interests will be harmed if they form a federation. Of course, there were those who wanted the alliance to disband, but this voice was very weak and was ignored most of the time.

Although all the controversy eventually subsided in the face of strong military pressure from Britain and the United States evolved from a loose confederation to a tighter federation, the debate remained fierce at least for the first few years, during Washington's presidency.

Who else cares or cares about the nominal supreme leader of the alliance at such a time? The separatists and confederates did not want to have an obedient president, and the same was true of the federalists who wanted to see a United States in which the thirteen states were tightly united, but they did not want the federal government to intervene in the internal affairs of their own states.

Not daring to do so, the lawmakers also tried every means to weaken the power of the president and the federal government, so that the US government could not even collect taxes from its own people, and maintained this situation for decades until Abraham. Lincoln's presidency came to an end[note 2].

So what else can Washington do? Because of the separation of powers, neither the legislature nor the judiciary needs his concern; Because the country was still a loose confederation, no territory was administered by him except for the federal territories, but the only federal territories at the time, which is now the Washington-Columbia Special Administrative Region, were still undeveloped wasteland.

Then, he led a very small government, most of which did not exist, the few that were more or less in place, and the army and navy were completely non-existent. Finally, he did not need to receive foreign envoys and heads of state, nor did he need to make foreign visits, because the United States did not have diplomatic relations with any country, and no head of state would visit a country across the ocean at that time.

So there is very little for Washington to do.

In fact, his most important work was probably dealing with members of Congress, pacifying Revolutionary War veterans who demanded pensions, and discussing his biographies with European writers who had come to the United States. As the first president of the United States, even if Washington wanted to do something, he had no chance.

"The power of the president and the federal government is gradually increasing, and it will get stronger, but as a starting point, Washington ...... Although it cannot be said that his power is equal to zero, it is not much better. Qin Lang shrugged.

Otherwise, he would not have been the first president of the United States -- Thomas Murphy, who also led the Thirteen-State Colonies to independence. Jefferson, Benjamin. Franklin, Alexander. Hamilton...... These people have far more influence than Washington, and if the presidency were really that hot, they would never give it to someone else.

"According to your explanation," Elizabeth said in a tone that was by no means merely sarcastic, "I can understand why the early presidents of the United States had no salaries or allowances. ”

"Indeed." Qin Lang nodded, and then added: "And Washington must also be responsible for all expenses of the presidential palace and the staff of the presidential palace. ”

"Well, I can also understand why the early presidents of the United States were staunch slaves, at least black slaves did not need to be paid, and other expenses were less than ordinary workers."

Qin Lang was stunned for a moment. Of course, he had no idea that Elizabeth would draw such a conclusion from his arguments—although Washington and Jefferson, among others, were indeed staunch slave-holders—but in fact she came to more conclusions than he thought.

"Even so, I still believe that Washington is a leader of noble character." "No ordinary person would work for eight years in a position where they have no power, no status, no income, and they have to pay their staff out of their own pockets," she said. ”

Qin Lang was stunned for a moment: Elizabeth actually used his arguments to refute the point he had put forward at the beginning...... Of course she's a chemist and certainly has more logical thinking skills than the average woman, so it's not worth making a fuss about.

So he smiled. "It's true, it's impossible for ordinary people to accept such a position." But he added: "But I don't think it was entirely his intention. You've probably heard of the saying that someone once suggested that Washington be re-elected president for a second term. ”

"Do you think Washington just has to be president of the United States?" She emphasised the "had to", which was ridiculous, at least in the common sense.

However, Qin Lang is not an "ordinary person", and his understanding is naturally a little different from others. "I'm afraid so. We all know who is the real master of this country. ”

The true owner of the country...... The giants of Wall Street, the five hundred families that rule the United States...... Elizabeth was silent, but the fact is clear, in the United States, the president is just a migrant worker standing in the foreground, and the real master is hidden behind the scenes, operating in the shadows, and will always be so.

"It must be admitted that the position of the behind-the-scenes ruler is indeed enviable." Qin Lang finally said and sighed softly. "Even I do."

Elizabeth raised her head slightly and looked into his eyes, as if she wanted to see something from there, but Qin Lang maintained a nonchalant expression, so she didn't see anything. After a while, maybe a few minutes, she gave up the effort and pulled a notebook out of her bag.

"The topic just now is boring and dull, I suggest we continue to discuss chemistry, what do you think, Qin?"

"Of course, Elizabeth." Qin Lang also felt that he should change the topic, there was a limit to everything, and continued to mock George. General Washington not only did not have any need, but also went too far. Regardless, he is still a well-known historical figure, who has made some contributions and is respected by many people, the only problem is that there are times when his status is overly high.

It's like Dr. Sun, who is experiencing exile in the United States and collecting donations from overseas Chinese in the United States, but it seems that he is about to leave for England......

He shook his head, banished all anachronistic associations from his mind, and began to discuss with Elizabeth what would surprise most chemists of the era: highly toxic organic compounds, "pesticides" that could kill people in a short time.

In fact, Qin Lang and Elizabeth used to discuss polymer organic polymers, but when they arrived in Detroit, he felt that highly toxic organic compounds were what he needed, so he changed the content to the current one. And this change was quite appropriate - but probably not - and after the development of mustard gas, Elizabeth became too interested in its congenital.

The new discussion made her very happy.

So the discussion started very lively, and both of them were able to come up with enough insights and come up with some conclusions that were getting her more and more excited. But soon, Qin Lang began to become absent-minded again, turning most of his thinking to other aspects, the one of his many plans related to highly toxic organic compounds, and the one that had already matured.

mustard gas plant; After a long enough delay, now, he finally decided to build a factory in Area 51, located in the Nevada desert, to produce chemical weapons. "The time is ripe." He said to himself. Immediately, an imperceptible sneer erupted from the corner of Elizabeth's mouth.

The Philippines, it will become a good testing ground for weapons.

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Note: Joshua. Abraham. Norton, Emperor of the United States and regent of Mexico, was originally a businessman, but later went bankrupt, issued an edict in San Francisco on September 17, 1859, proclaiming himself emperor of the United States, and died in 1880;

Note 2: Until now, there are still some American citizens who firmly believe that it is the right of citizens not to pay taxes, so they have launched a variety of anti-tax activities (to be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )