I consider myself pretty well-read, and so was shocked the other day when I came across an online discussion about the Newburgh Conspiracy, which I have no recollection of reading or learning about previously.
Maybe it is because, frankly, I’ve always found the history of the Revolutionary War a bit boring. Anyway, the Newburgh Conspiracy was a plot hatched in 1783 by officers in the Continental Army to oust Congress in a coup and set up a military dictatorship.
The wheelings and dealings behind the scene were complex, but essentially the soldiers weren’t getting paid by the Congress — though the government still wanted the army in the field since the British still had troops in New York.
Maintaining a standing army but refusing to pay the soldiers is always an extremely bad idea.
Various factions in the Congress worsened this situation by manipulating events behind the scenes. There were minority factions in the Congress who wanted to fan the flames of rebellion in the army to make their case that the Articles of Confederation needed to be abandoned in favor of a strong central government — i.e, the birth of big government, tax and spend liberals.
Whether or not this plot could have succeeded will never be known, but only a speech and rousing gesture by George Washington prevented the plot from going forward.
Anyway, now I’m curious if anyone out there knows of any speculative fiction/alternate history stories and/or novels that treat what might have happened had the coup went forward.