Edward I of the United States

Coronation
 Predecessor
 Spouse
 House
 Mother
 Burial

**Edward I** (George Edward Albert William; 9 April 1809 – 15 April 1865) was King of the United States of America from 19 July 1843 until his assassination in 1865. Edward led the nation through the First American War, the country's greatest moral, cultural, constitutional, and political crisis. He succeeded in abolishing slavery, bolstering the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. economy.

Edward was the son of Crown Prince Louis, and grandson of Augustus II. After the death of his father in 1822, he was raised under close supervision by his mother and her comptroller. He inherited the throne aged 35 after his grandfather died. Though a constitutional monarch, privately, Edward attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments; publicly, he became a national icon who was identified with personal morality.

Edward had to navigate a contentious array of factions with friends and opponents from both the Democratic and Republican parties. His allies demanded harsh treatment of the Southern Confederates. He sought to heal the war-torn North through war relief acts. On April 14, 1865, he was attending a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., with his wife Maria when he was fatally shot by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth. Edward is remembered as a martyr and hero of the United States and is consistently ranked as one of the greatest monarchs in American history.

## Early life

Born George Edward Albert William at the Palace of St. Stephen in New York on April 9, 1809. The eldest child of Prince Louis and Lady Marie Adelaide de la Grange, his family always referred to him as Edward. As a child, Edward was raised in Liberty Manor and Biltmore Castle, the summer and seaside residences of his grandfather Augustus I, instead of in the then ruthless and scandalous court held at the White Palace in D.C.

## Heir

Edward’s father died when he was just 13, with his grandfather, King Augustus II standing before Congress and making each member recognise the 13 year old Edward as heir to the throne.

On June 4, 1828, Prince Edward married Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna Romanov. The Russian princess was faced with a lot of controversy coming from the Russian empire to the young American kingdom. However, she fulfilled the wishes of the people and the nation on March 28, 1829 when she gave birth to the future king, Prince Henry (b. 1830) and a daughter, the princesses Sophie. The family lived in Biltmore Castle and the newly built Hamilton Palace, away from the capital. However, in 1840, Biltmore Castle was attacked by revolutionaries from American territories in the Caribbean. Under his mother's insistence, Edward took his family to Central Palace in D.C.

## Peacetime Reign

In the late hours of July 19, 1843, King Augustus II died after battling cancer. The funeral procession was met with mixed reactions, with some glad that the "Tyrant" was finally dead but others saddened by the King’s death. Those same crowds gathered again on to see Edward and Maria become the new King and Queen of the U.S. The couple held their coronation in Washington Cathedral on March 15, 1844.

During the 1840s to late 1850s, King Edward struggled with the abolition of slavery while trying to keep with Mexico and the western territories.

## First American War

Major Robert Anderson, commander of the Union's Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, sent a request for provisions to Washington, and Edward's order to meet that request was seen by the secessionists as an act of war. On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces fired on Union troops at Fort Sumter and began the fight.

Edward I talked to new President Abraham Lincoln during inauguration week and was "sadly disappointed" at his failure to realize that "the country was sleeping on a volcano" and that the South was preparing for war. Edward concluded that, "His repeated efforts to avoid collision in the months between inauguration and the firing on Ft. Sumner showed he adhered to his vow not to be the first to shed fraternal blood. But he also vowed not to surrender the forts. The only resolution of these contradictory positions was for the confederates to fire the first shot; they did just that."

On April 15, Edward and Lincoln called on the states to send a total of 75,000 volunteer troops to recapture forts, protect Washington, and "preserve the Union", which, in his view, remained intact despite the seceding states. This call forced states to choose sides. Virginia seceded and was rewarded with the designation of Richmond as the Confederate capital, despite its exposure to Union lines. North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas followed over the following two months. Secession sentiment was strong in Missouri and Maryland, but did not prevail; Kentucky remained neutral. The Fort Sumter attack rallied Americans north of the Mason-Dixon line to defend the nation.

## Assassination

John Wilkes Booth was a well-known actor and a Confederate spy from Maryland; though he never joined the Confederate army, he had contacts with the Confederate secret service. After attending an April 11, 1865 speech in which Edward I promoted voting rights for blacks, Booth hatched a plot to assassinate the King. When Booth learned of the Edward's intent to attend a play with Prince Henry, he planned to assassinate Edward and Henry at Ford's Theatre. Edward and his wife attended the play Our American Cousin on the evening of April 14. At the last minute, Edward decided to keep Henry home as it was late.

At 10:15 pm, Booth entered the back of the King's theater box, crept up from behind, and fired at the back of Edward's head, mortally wounding him. Edward's guest Major Henry Rathbone momentarily grappled with Booth, but Booth stabbed him and escaped. After being attended by Doctor Charles Leale and two other doctors, Edward was taken across the street to Petersen House. After remaining in a coma for eight hours, Edward I died at 7:22 am on April 15. Stanton saluted and said, "Now he belongs to the ages." Edward's body was placed in a flag-wrapped coffin, which was loaded into a hearse and escorted to the White House by Union soldiers. Prince Henry became Henry II with immediate effect.

Two weeks later, Booth was tracked to a farm in Virginia, and refusing to surrender, he was mortally shot by Sergeant Boston Corbett and died on April 26. Secretary of War Stanton had issued orders that Booth be taken alive, so Corbett was initially arrested for court martial. After a brief interview, Stanton declared him a patriot and dismissed the charge.

The First American War ended in 1869.