in History | May 25th, 2026 Leave a Comment
The young George Washington may never have hacked up his father’s cherry tree and refused to lie about it, but his life nevertheless offers plenty of deeds both virtuous and adequately documented. It was no small thing, for instance, to refuse to seek a third term as the first President of the United States of America — much less to exchange that title for “King of the United States of America.” As every enthusiast of American history knows, this set the precedent, only once violated and thereafter written into law, of a two-term limit. But as every enthusiast of alternate American history has wondered, what would have happened had Washington become king? And if the U.S. monarchy had remained intact for the past 227 years, who would rule it today?
In the UsefulCharts video above, Matt Baker explains a series of different succession scenarios. While none is highly plausible in itself, they together give an idea of the lines along which American monarchical history could have played out, at least assuming that every other event played out exactly the same way as it has in our reality.
