"You know, Pittsburgh currently has no official government body apart from me, the tax officer.
I think when we hold the citizens' meeting tomorrow, we can establish an unofficial council and elect a mayor."
"Elect a mayor, huh!" Charles looked at Patrick with a playful expression.
This guy's ambition isn't small either; he actually wants to be mayor, which is the future mayor of the Steel City.
The prospects of this position are clearly very great, especially after he already has a plan to develop Pittsburgh.
However, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are too far apart, and he cannot hold both positions.
Right now, the identity of a Pittsburgh representative is more suitable for him.
As for Antoine, they can only be soldiers, and the identities of his other subordinates are not appropriate.
Rather than occupying a position he can't use and alienating Patrick, an official, it's better to exchange it now.
"Haha! Mayor Patrick, don't you think that if a town doesn't have its own militia, the town's safety will be unprotected?" Charles said with a smile, extending his hand.
Patrick paused for a moment, then understood Charles' meaning, and also smiled as he extended his hand, clasping it, and whispered:
"Deal!"
Charles' proposal for this meeting wasn't because he strongly supported democracy or the American democratic system.
In reality, this proposal was merely to facilitate his trip to Philadelphia.
However, because democratic procedures were adopted, and democracy is not controlled by people, to prevent democratic procedures from harming his interests, he consciously adopted some means to limit democracy.
This secret cooperation with Patrick was one such method.
Charles' understanding of democracy was no less than anyone else's during this period.
He knew that there was a difference between democracy and a republic, and also a difference between democracy and liberalism.
The english word 'democracy' mainly relates to the expansion of universal suffrage, elected government, and the minority submitting to the majority, while a republic originates from the Roman Republic, mainly referring to the balance of power among the upper class.
Liberalism is closer to republicanism, concerned with how to use the balance of power to protect minorities, limit government power, and ensure that people's natural rights are not infringed.
From a certain perspective, liberalism and republicanism are distrustful of democracy, fearing that it will lead to the majority oppressing the minority.
From this theory, when democracy is not yet mature, it is perfectly acceptable for capable people to guide the populace towards correct ideas, and it aligns with republican procedures.
Therefore, Charles had no unease in his heart about his methods of secretly manipulating democracy; he even felt that if this history were to be exposed in the future, it would not be considered wrong.
The next day at noon, all the Pittsburgh citizens who had arrived gathered in the only tavern in the fort to hold a general meeting.
Although there are now over two hundred people in the fort, those who genuinely have the right to vote are property owners, typically heads of households, the men in charge.
So, in the end, there were only over a hundred people seated inside.
The others were mostly women and children, and from this, it can also be seen that not many slaves were actually used in the North.
"Sirs! Lawful citizens of Pittsburgh! Please be quiet!" The meeting was presided over by the tax officer and notary, Patrick.
"The purpose of gathering everyone here today has already been stated once in the notice: to elect a representative to go to Philadelphia to attend the council, to attend the Continental Congress!
Now, we invite the proposer, sir Godfrey, to reread his proposal to everyone."
There was no anticipated applause, but everyone was still polite enough to quiet down.
Charles naturally stood up, took out the proposal he had drafted based on his speech that night, and read it aloud.
However, after reading the initial content and stirring up everyone's passion, he added a sentence:
"Sirs, for the purpose of a formal election, I propose that the citizens' meeting we are holding today be considered an unofficial Pittsburgh Council."
"Good!" Patrick quickly responded.
"Young sir Godfrey is the most learned person in Pittsburgh, and I propose electing Young sir Godfrey as Speaker."
"I agree!" Antoine immediately interjected.
The people below, deceived by the duo's act, immediately responded in unison, following the crowd.
After a show of hands, nearly a hundred people agreed to let Charles serve as Speaker.
Charles immediately accepted this jokingly offered appointment with a smile, and sat down in the central high-backed chair.
He knocked on the wooden wine cup three times, "Clap, clap, clap," and announced:
"Sirs! The first meeting of the Pittsburgh Council is now officially open.
Although the main purpose of today's meeting is to elect a representative to attend the council in Philadelphia, if any of you have proposals, you can also quickly write them into formal documents and submit them to me, and I will submit them to the council for a vote."
"Can we also submit proposals?"
"What do we propose? What's the use of proposing?"
Not many people responded from below, but those few simple sentences made the prominent figures of Pittsburgh, including Charles himself, feel very awkward.
He wished he had conducted a qualification examination first to weed out the uneducated and ignorant residents.
What kind of meeting is this now?
These participants, the protagonists, actually have to ask what they should propose; their cultural and knowledge level can thus be estimated.
Thinking that he was about to be elected by such uncultured farmers, the feeling in his heart was indeed worth savoring.
Charles paused, not answering those questions, and waited until the room below quieted down a bit before continuing:
"Next, we proceed to the first item on the agenda: to discuss the motion I, York, have put forward, regarding sending a representative to the Continental Congress.
sirs, you may debate freely for fifteen minutes, after which we will proceed to a vote."
Just as someone was about to speak, he quickly added, "Those who want to write proposals, write quickly; our council will only be in session for half a day." This drew a burst of laughter from below.
After the laughter, there was a chaotic discussion.
Originally, Charles wanted them to take turns standing up and speaking, debating each other like in the British Parliament.
However, the people below completely ignored Charles' request.
They all spoke at once, like haggling in a market, one talking to another, and the other to someone else, making it impossible to distinguish what they were actually debating.
In any case, there wasn't much content related to the motion.
The loudest voice belonged to Hans, with his red nose; he didn't debate with anyone, but just kept telling those around him: "Everyone must elect past Charles to Philadelphia, otherwise, don't even think about leaving this door!"
Charles looked helplessly at Patrick beside him, unsure what to do, but Patrick had no objection to such a situation and merely gave Charles a reassuring smile.
When the time was almost up, and the "debate" below still showed no sign of stopping, Charles tapped his wine cup again and announced loudly:
"Alright, the debate is over.
Now we vote on the first motion: 'Send a representative to the Continental Congress' and the subsidiary motion 'Appoint York as representative.' Citizens who agree, please raise your hands."
"Whoosh," the meeting finally looked somewhat orderly.
Everyone closed their mouths and raised their hands, then looked around at others' reactions.
To ensure his appointment passed smoothly, Charles deliberately used a trick often employed in modern parliaments: attaching a difficult-to-pass motion to an easy-to-pass one.
That is, he attached the motion to appoint himself as representative to the motion to send a representative.
However, these Pittsburgh farmers had no such awareness; they simply heard Charles ask them to raise their hands and promptly did so.
"Good! One hundred twenty-six to seven!" Charles tapped his wine cup three times, "Clap, clap, clap," and announced with a loud smile: "The motion passes."
He had finally stepped into the ranks of the powerful.
In fact, his vote counting was a bit too fast; by the time he said "Good," the remaining few had also finished observing those around them and raised their hands.
Since the motion passed anyway, Charles didn't dwell on it and continued to announce:
"Next, we discuss the second motion, proposed by sir Patrick, for Pittsburgh to formally establish a town and elect a mayor, with a subsidiary motion to vote on appointing sir Patrick as mayor…"
"Next, we discuss the eighth motion, proposed by the coachman, stipulating that carriages must use four wheels.
Who wrote this? Who wrote this proposal? We won't discuss it.
Next is the ninth motion, proposed by…"
After Charles and the others concluded their scheduled agenda, they began discussing the motions written by the citizens.
However, the content of those motions was basically stomach-achingly funny jokes, and these citizens who had gained citizenship were very enthusiastic about proposing motions.
Almost no one backed down on the matter of proposing, firmly demanding that Charles announce each one.
The Pittsburgh Council met for an entire afternoon, and it wasn't until the "sir" council members' stomachs were grumbling with hunger that they let Charles off the hook, no longer writing chaotic motions for the Speaker, whose voice was almost hoarse, to announce.
"Clip-clop, clip-clop..." hoofbeats echoed on a rough dirt road.
Accompanying the clear sound of hooves, birds were constantly startled on both sides of the road, and several small wild beasts drinking from a nearby stream scattered in all directions after hearing the noise.
"Whoa..." The lead rider gently reined in his horse, slowly bringing his mount to a halt.
"There's a small stream here; let's rest for a bit." The soldier on horseback couldn't hide his fatigue, listlessly inviting the other riders, who had already stopped behind him, to rest.
After calling out to the people behind him, he didn't wait for their reply, but was the first to dismount and go to the stream. He bent down, cupped a handful of water, and splashed the icy stream water on his face to stimulate his facial nerves.
"Ah! That feels good!" The soldier groaned loudly, feeling a little more refreshed.
"Phew, I didn't expect long-distance riding to be so tiring. Thankfully, we'll be in Philadelphia tomorrow. If it were a few more days, I'd surely die of exhaustion on this horse's back." The soldier took the bread offered by a black servant behind him and began to rest and eat.
"Hahahaha! Young Mr. Godfrey, riding continuously for several days is completely different from riding for a short time. Even us old soldiers can't endure it for too long."
This group of people was none other than Charles and his companions, traveling from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia.
That day, the original proposal was successfully passed by vote, Charles was elected as the Pittsburgh representative, Patrick was elected as the town mayor, and Antoine became the commander of the Pittsburgh Self-Defense Force.
The subsequent assembly became a farce. The men of Pittsburgh, their democratic enthusiasm ignited, began to propose various motions. Some suggested that men must drink whiskey, but he was merely the owner of a tavern; others wanted to stipulate that women's hair should not be shorter than their shoulders, as he was a traditional male chauvinist; some even proposed that no one should fart during the assembly, because the person sitting next to him had just let out a very foul one.
All sorts of hilarious proposals, too numerous to mention, left Charles, the so-called speaker, overwhelmed, laughing breathlessly, and utterly disoriented. The comedic level of this assembly was definitely no less than some island parliaments in the 21st century. Charles even felt that many ordinary people enjoyed watching assemblies precisely to witness the Ugly of those in power.
In fact, he knew that these ridiculously amusing proposals had indeed appeared in the history of democratic development, mainly before the 19th century. The most common instance was during the Enlightenment of the Renaissance, when some scholars experimented with democracy by inviting a group of farmers, small vendors, and similar people to try holding a parliament.
The result was the same situation as with the people of Pittsburgh, with all sorts of bizarre suggestions: the bakery wanted everyone to buy bread, while the carriage driver wanted everyone to dismantle their own carriages; everyone only considered their own interests and ignored others'.
When democratic and parliamentary systems first emerged, the common understanding of everyone was that democracy was a method to protect one's personal interests, and the parliament was the venue for protecting those interests.
They simply did not understand their rights and obligations. kings, due to private ownership, had to convene parliaments to discuss taxation, and they found that these so-called members, if left to their own devices, would fight among themselves.
The West often places the origin of their parliamentary democracy in the era of kingdom parliaments, but in reality, the so-called parliament and democracy of that time did not possess any modern meaning of democracy.
True parliamentary democracy only began to emerge in the late Enlightenment around the 18th century, with the spread of Rousseau's and others' philosophical works. Only then did those members develop a genuine democratic consciousness, and the parliament began to have a democratic atmosphere, though it was still far from as regular and developed as in modern society.
The American system that was being formed in 1776 was flawed—deeply flawed. Built on compromises between wealthy landowners and merchants, it excluded most of the population from voting. Women couldn't vote. Poor people couldn't vote. Enslaved people had no rights whatsoever. It was democracy for a select few, wrapped in idealistic language about freedom and equality.
But it was a start. And more importantly, it was adaptable. Unlike rigid monarchies or autocracies, the system contained the seeds of its own reformation. Future generations could amend it, expand it, fix it. That was the real innovation, not a perfect system, but one that could evolve.
Charles understood this better than most. He'd seen how systems could change over centuries. And if he played his cards right, maybe he could help guide some of those changes, push them toward something better.
What Charles is thinking now is to participate in the formulation of rules; as for leading the formulation of rules, his strength is currently too weak and his influence too small to consider that yet.
The next day, after hastily arranging for Jonathan to manage affairs at home, he set off for Philadelphia with his black servant Tom, the sharpshooter Phil, the big man Jekill, and the translator Moulton.
They did not ride directly to Philadelphia but instead traveled while traversing mountains and valleys, checking the elevation of the mountains and the direction of the rivers, drawing several topographical maps.
However, what made Charles complain bitterly was that several days of continuous riding had left the flesh on both sides of his thighs red and swollen. Walking after dismounting was very unnatural, not to mention the overall exhaustion. In the beginning, they rested once every half day, but now it had changed to resting four or five times a day.
What was even more frustrating was the uneven development of North America at that time; large towns were crowded, but once you left a major town, it immediately became desolate. From Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, there were very few large villages or towns, and only a handful of settlements. So, for half of the days they traveled, they spent their nights in the barns of rural homes, without even the chance to enjoy a hot bath.
Fortunately, not long after leaving Pittsburgh, the mountain road also served as a horse path. Although winding, it was still wide enough. Even with frequent stops along the way, the fast horses still managed to reach the vicinity of Philadelphia. After resting in a large village yesterday, they had already traveled for nearly half a day today before Charles finally decided to rest.
After eating dry bread by the clear spring, lunch was over. Charles was practicing French with his slave translator Moulton, when suddenly, the sound of hoofbeats and rolling carriage wheels came from afar, faintly mixed with a few gunshots.
Sharpshooter Phil and the big man Jekill immediately took their British army standard flintlock smoothbore rifles from their horses.Tom also picked up two rifles, tossing one to the slave translator Moulton. Charles himself placed his hand on the short pistol at his waist and gazed into the distance.
The source of the commotion soon appeared before the group: it was a cargo wagon laden with large wooden barrels. At this moment, a blonde girl on the driver's seat was frantically whipping the horses pulling the cart.
A man was also climbing on the back of the wagon, slowly loading gunpowder into a rifle, then haphazardly firing shots towards the back of the carriage without aiming. However, the firing speed was unbearable; from the moment the carriage appeared in sight until it drove near Charles and his group, he had only fired one shot.
And the people behind the carriage had already appeared in the sight of Charles and his companions.
"Whoosh..." A bullet flew over Charles and Moulton's heads, startling the tense Charles and Moulton. However, seeing that the gunmen were still fumbling to reload, they immediately relaxed. Reloading bullets at that time was very troublesome.
"Shoot the men, not the horses!" Charles moved his hand from the pistol grip and calmly gave the order.
Because the three riders chasing from behind clearly weren't good people. Not only were their clothes disheveled, but they were also loudly shouting, "Leave the carriage, and we'll spare your lives!" This typical bandit entrance, combined with the shot fired towards their direction just now, meant Charles would be defying all reason if he didn't retaliate.
However, the two militiamen, once they decided to act, struck with deadly force.
"Bang, bang... bang" Three gunshots rang out, and the three men successively fell from their horses.
The big man Jekill took down one with a single shot. Sharpshooter Phil, after taking down one simultaneously with Jekill, then took Tom's rifle and quickly fired a second shot, which actually struck the bandit's head.
Charles, with his good eyesight, clearly saw a spray of blood like water gushing from the back of the man's head. Seeing such a sight for the first time, Charles felt a wave of nausea and quickly averted his gaze to the rescued cargo wagon.
"Whoa..." The girl's cry rang out from the driver's seat.
But the galloping horses had just been fiercely whipped by the girl, and now they dared not stop easily. So, after the five men and the two on horseback exchanged surprised glances, the runaway carriage sped past Charles and his group without stopping, going further and further until it disappeared, leaving only an unpleasant odor.
Charles, who had intended to play the hero saving the damsel, was annoyed that the girl had simply sped off like that. He asked Moulton in French, "Are you sure she didn't give the horses a few more whips just now?"
Moulton immediately chattered a long string of French in response. Charles' poor French forced him to frown and carefully discern the meaning of each word.
It took him a long time to distinguish that what he meant was, "That carriage isn't carrying fine wine, and that woman isn't a beauty."
Fortunately, the three horses of the bandits all ended up in Charles' hands. Even the bandits' firearms, ammunition, and money pouches were not spared. Estimating with the horses included, it would certainly be no problem to get a dozen pounds. They only left them their personal jewelry, then simply dug a pit and buried them.
After a small interlude, the five men mounted their horses and continued their journey.