Uploaded June 2021 | Updated September 2026, 10 hours ago
In this video, we look at a brief history of American monarchism, and a plot to place a prince from Germany on an American throne, called “The Prussian Scheme”.
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The English translation of the letter from Prince Henry to Prussia to the Baron von Steuben:
Mr. Von Steuben, General in the service of the United States of America, in Hanover, 5 miles from New York.
Sir,
Your letter from the second of November has been received. I have received it with a feeling of complete gratitude mixed with surprise. Your good intentions are well worthy of my esteem, they seem to me the effect of a zeal that I would like to know, while my surprise comes from the news which I learned from the letter of one of your friends.
I admit I would not be able to believe that one could resolve to change the principles of government that have been established in the United States of America, but if the entire nation were to find itself in agreement to establish others, and would choose for its model the constitution of England, according to my own judgment, I must admit, that amongst all constitutions, it is the one which seems to me the most perfect.
One has the advantage that if, as with all human establishments, something was found to be defective, one may correct it and make such good laws so that the balance may be better established between the sovereign and the subjects, with neither the one nor the other being able to ever encroach upon the rights granted respectively to each.
It is not possible for me to send you a figure, you understand it would run the risk that letters do of ending up in the hands of those who would seize it first. I am going to France in the Autumn, perhaps there I may find one of your friends.
The French are to this hour the true allies of the United States of America. It seems to me that nothing great will be solidly done for you unless you make this ally contribute to it.
It suffices, sir, to make you understand that it is by this channel that I may receive the future letters which you may want to address to me.
By assuring you that I ardently desire to give you proof of the esteem with which I am, sir, your very dear friend.
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Find us here too!
Patreon: Patreon.com/Fireoflearning
Lucinox – Our Science Channel: youtube.com/channel/UCM2dfLR3BR0CHuePEDtxAZw
Instagram: @Fire_of_Learning
Music performed by Kevin Macleod Available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
Download available at incompetech.com
Intrepid
Majestic hills
Lightless Dawn
Atlantean Twilight
These songs provided by the YouTube audio library
Yankee doodle
Summer symphony ball
Sources:
[1] Krauel, Richard. “Prince Henry of Prussia and the Regency of the United States, 1786.” The American Historical Review, vol. 17, no. 1, 1911, pp. 44–51. JSTOR, doi.org/10.2307/1832837.
[2] “To George Washington from Lewis Nicola, 22 May 1782,” Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-08500. [This is an Early Access document from The Papers of George Washington.
[3] “From George Washington to Lewis Nicola, 22 May 1782,” Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-08501.
Picture sources :
By Golbez - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45681551
By Dennis Jarvis from Halifax, Canada - France-000427 - Gardens of Versailles, CC BY-SA 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34813570
By Yuropoulos - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=87054965
In this video, we look at a brief history of American monarchism, and a plot to place a prince from Germany on an American throne, called “The Prussian Scheme”.
-----
The English translation of the letter from Prince Henry to Prussia to the Baron von Steuben:
Mr. Von Steuben, General in the service of the United States of America, in Hanover, 5 miles from New York.
Sir,
Your letter from the second of November has been received. I have received it with a feeling of complete gratitude mixed with surprise. Your good intentions are well worthy of my esteem, they seem to me the effect of a zeal that I would like to know, while my surprise comes from the news which I learned from the letter of one of your friends.
I admit I would not be able to believe that one could resolve to change the principles of government that have been established in the United States of America, but if the entire nation were to find itself in agreement to establish others, and would choose for its model the constitution of England, according to my own judgment, I must admit, that amongst all constitutions, it is the one which seems to me the most perfect.
One has the advantage that if, as with all human establishments, something was found to be defective, one may correct it and make such good laws so that the balance may be better established between the sovereign and the subjects, with neither the one nor the other being able to ever encroach upon the rights granted respectively to each.
It is not possible for me to send you a figure, you understand it would run the risk that letters do of ending up in the hands of those who would seize it first. I am going to France in the Autumn, perhaps there I may find one of your friends.
The French are to this hour the true allies of the United States of America. It seems to me that nothing great will be solidly done for you unless you make this ally contribute to it.
It suffices, sir, to make you understand that it is by this channel that I may receive the future letters which you may want to address to me.
By assuring you that I ardently desire to give you proof of the esteem with which I am, sir, your very dear friend.
------
Find us here too!
Patreon: Patreon.com/Fireoflearning
Lucinox – Our Science Channel: youtube.com/channel/UCM2dfLR3BR0CHuePEDtxAZw
Instagram: @Fire_of_Learning
Music performed by Kevin Macleod Available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
Download available at incompetech.com
Intrepid
Majestic hills
Lightless Dawn
Atlantean Twilight
These songs provided by the YouTube audio library
Yankee doodle
Summer symphony ball
Sources:
[1] Krauel, Richard. “Prince Henry of Prussia and the Regency of the United States, 1786.” The American Historical Review, vol. 17, no. 1, 1911, pp. 44–51. JSTOR, doi.org/10.2307/1832837.
[2] “To George Washington from Lewis Nicola, 22 May 1782,” Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-08500. [This is an Early Access document from The Papers of George Washington.
[3] “From George Washington to Lewis Nicola, 22 May 1782,” Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-08501.
Picture sources :
By Golbez - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45681551
By Dennis Jarvis from Halifax, Canada - France-000427 - Gardens of Versailles, CC BY-SA 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34813570
By Yuropoulos - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=87054965
