The independence of the United States was merely plucking a bright pearl from the British king's crown, but its cotton textile industry was stripping the British king of his most decent royal robe.
Because of the war of Independence, a large quantity of high-quality, cheap American Southern cotton had not been available to Britain's burgeoning cotton textile industry for a long time.
Even with the widespread adoption of new technologies and machines like the spinning jenny, which rapidly mechanized and industrialized the cotton textile sector, it still couldn't rival the wool textile industry.
If, after the war, a large influx of cheap American cotton fabric were to arrive, it would further hinder the development of the British cotton textile industry.
Without the cotton textile industry, which had small profits but high demand, Britain could not maintain its economic dominance for long by relying solely on wool textiles.
The First Industrial Revolution primarily occurred in the textile industry, and in the 18th and 19th centuries, apart from raw materials, industrial products were mainly textiles and iron goods.
Britain's specialty was various types of textiles.
After touring the entire factory, Charles symbolically had the distinguished guests cut the ribbon, then started a steam engine, officially commencing work in a textile workshop.
Everyone then left the textile factory, chatting and laughing.
Charles had already arranged for the carriages to be brought outside the factory, and everyone took a carriage on the way back.
However, Charles was enthusiastically pulled by Franklin to sit in the same carriage.
Along the way, even though they had left the factory, Charles could tell that Franklin was very happy today.
The flush on his face had not faded, and he was full of smiles when speaking to Charles:
"I really didn't expect it, Charles, that in just two years, you would be able to open such a large factory.
I truly don't know how you managed to create those enormous machines!"
"You flatter me.
These are just ordinary industries, they don't make much money," Charles said modestly.
With several banks in hand, the most profitable business was, of course, banking.
These textile factories, though vast in scale and promising long-term profits, truly constituted a small proportion of Charles' total income.
However, cotton fabric is also a necessity, whether in times of peace or war.
Being able to provide a large quantity of cotton fabric is a significant political bargaining chip.
Otherwise, he would have truly prepared to let Patrick and his team manage it, just like the first cotton mill in Pittsburgh.
This time, the Philadelphia cotton mill, he primarily intended for export, to influence various countries as a necessity.
"Haha! That just means you're getting richer and richer now.
Such a large factory, surely it brings in tens of thousands of dollars a year, right?"
"Of course," Charles nodded with a smile.
A net profit of one dollar per bolt of cloth was the minimum, and in reality, it should be more.
"I heard you also have a large steel factory that not only manufactures weapons but also steam engines and other goods, plus those few banks that help you win customs duties.
Your annual income should exceed tens of thousands of pounds, right?" Franklin continued to ask.
Charles just smiled and said nothing.
Such information, concerning his exact economic income, naturally could not be casually disclosed.
However, he mentally estimated that in the last three years of the war of Independence, the profits from the banks seizing Continental Congress collateral alone exceeded two hundred thousand pounds.
So Franklin's estimate was far too low; at least one zero should be added to the end.
Franklin, not expecting Charles to answer, continued speaking to himself:
"In fact, with your immense financial power, you provided numerous loans and gratuitous aid for the Continental Congress and the Continental army's fight.
Without this aid, your profits would undoubtedly be higher.
But without the weapons you provided, the cloth you provided, the medicine you provided, I believe the Continental army absolutely could not have persevered to the final victory.
These achievements are seen by everyone, and I believe that after this war is won, no matter who leads this country, they will not forget your contributions to it."
"You flatter me.
That was merely my duty as a citizen living in the United States.
If the British had won, my industry would have been the first to suffer," Charles said seriously.
"Haha! That's true, to say nothing of anything else, the very existence of your textile industry now will certainly cause the British a great deal of trouble.
Since Florence began its decline in the 15th century, the center of the textile industry has gradually shifted to Britain.
It not only brought enormous profits to Britain but also created countless job opportunities.
Your industry is not only very beneficial domestically but also internationally.
However, you must be careful; the British's commercial tactics are absolutely no worse than their military tactics.
Your cotton textile industry has already come into conflict with them and will inevitably have disputes with them.
At that time, you must be extremely cautious.
I think at least I will stand on your side."
"I hadn't thought of that," Charles frowned slightly.
Being forced to single-handedly confront the powerful British textile industry so quickly was indeed beyond his expectation.
Fortunately, taking advantage of the isolation brought by the war, Charles had, in two and a half years, established a relatively sound industrial chain.
He had already secured multi-year contracts for cotton from several Southern states during his Southern tour.
The brand recognition of Pittsburgh's machine-woven cloth had also been established within the United States.
As long as he ensured the supply of Southern cotton, defeating British cotton fabric in the American market would not be a problem.
As for competition in the European market, that would have to be seen.
Charles was not familiar with the current state of Britain's textile industry, only vaguely understanding from history books that "sheep eating men" fostered Britain's powerful textile industry.
If their textile industry was already very strong, Charles would be utterly unable to compete with Britain for the textile market in Europe.
However, seeing the strong demand for cloth from the Ambassadors of the other few countries, British textiles should not yet have reached the point of dominating the entire European market.
At least these few countries should not wish for Britain to occupy their domestic textile markets.
Charles immediately made a decision in his mind.
He would have someone specifically assess Britain's textile industry.
If Britain had reached a point of monopolizing the world, then he would leverage the advantage of cheap machine-woven cotton fabric, even if it meant selling below cost, to sell large quantities in Europe through dumping.
The goal was to destroy Britain's cotton textile industry.
Anyway, Britain probably didn't have anti-dumping laws yet and couldn't do anything to him.
Seeing Charles fall silent for a moment, Franklin casually asked:
"Charles, although you say you are still young and don't want to participate in the potential election for national leader after the Constitutional Convention, I still think you should step forward and do more for the country, taking on some positions in the new government.
Are you interested?"
Charles smiled, understanding.
This was Franklin recognizing his strength and wanting to invite him to participate in the future cabinet led by Franklin.
"Benjamin, I will consider this carefully.
However, I believe that the first prerequisite for participating in government is that it must not harm the industries I currently operate.
All my work must be based on the premise of safeguarding the security of my industries."
His words were increasingly like those of a true capitalist.
"No one's private property should be infringed upon," Franklin immediately nodded in agreement.
"Last time, Adams even told me to persuade you to relax your control over tariffs appropriately, since your capital is growing so fast.
I refused him.
No person or country can infringe upon the rights and interests of citizens of the United States, otherwise, it is an enemy of the United States!"
"Thank you for your assurance, Benjamin, I believe you will definitely be a wise leader."
Franklin merely smiled at Charles' strong hint and said nothing more.
Charles fully understood Franklin's goodwill.
His cotton textile factory was basically staffed by property-owning workers; if there were five thousand of them, that would be a significant block of votes during elections.
His efforts to win him over were also very effective; if he joined his cabinet, not only would he gain a talented individual, but also a large source of votes.
However, he had already decided to support Franklin, so there was no problem in this regard.
Whether or not he joined the cabinet was irrelevant.
The carriage quickly arrived in Philadelphia.
Charles and Franklin each went home to arrange the matters they had recently thought of.
A report on Britain's domestic textile industry soon reached Charles' hands.
Knowing that Britain's wool textile industry was still strong, while its cotton textile industry was at an absolute disadvantage due to the lack of American cotton, Charles immediately decided to dump cotton fabric in Europe.
On the second day after this decision was made, General Sullivan, who had gone to inspect the North on behalf of Charles, returned to Philadelphia from Boston with other members and a large number of representatives from industrial and commercial sectors in various Northern states.
He immediately reported to Charles on the troop condolences work.
Most importantly, he also provided Charles with a large list of new members willing to join the consortium interest faction.
The industrial and commercial figures in the North indeed largely identified with Charles' consortium interest faction.
After hearing General Sullivan's explanation, coupled with Charles' consistent promotional efforts, a large number of major merchants and factory owners expressed their willingness to join the consortium interest faction and personally came to Philadelphia to discuss comprehensive political and economic cooperation with Charles.
In such a favorable situation, Charles immediately decided to formally reorganize the consortium interest faction into the Republican Party.
On January 15, 1779, the Republican Party, led by Charles, was founded at earl Rogers's castle.
The political party adopted an introduction-based registration system, but its internal management also took a club format.
Members only needed to adhere to very free rules and regulations to act freely.
The party's ideology adopted an unwritten consensus among members, which left considerable room for the Republican Party to adapt its political ideology to changing times.
As for the party chairman, Charles was elected through a democratic vote with virtually no dissent.
After his election, Charles immediately nominated Franklin as honorary chairman, a proposal that was accepted by Franklin and other party members.
There were even rumors circulating within the party that Franklin would represent the Republican Party in the future contest for the leader of the United States.
Unlike the cold and quiet founding ceremonies of the Democratic-Republican Party and the Federalist Party, Charles not only had a large number of faction members attend but also invited prominent figures from all sides, Ambassadors from various countries to the United States, and even Jefferson and Adams were invited to attend the ceremony.
In his founding speech, Charles even expressed his intention to cooperate closely with their two political parties to jointly advance the United States in the right direction, and so on.
The effect of such public promotion was that on the very first day of the Republican Party's establishment under Charles' leadership, it achieved results far exceeding the combined achievements of the Democratic-Republican Party and the Federalist Party at their respective founding.
Over a thousand members registered, and several thousand more were on the observation list.
In contrast, the Democratic-Republican Party and the Federalist Party combined only had a few hundred members.
More crucially, the organizational structure of the Republican Party was far more rigorous than that of the Democratic-Republican Party and the Federalist Party.
If Charles' Republican Party could barely be considered a political party in the 21st century, then Jefferson's two parties weren't even loose factions.
They were merely clubs of like-minded individuals, not a cohesive political force at all.
Therefore, in the upcoming political struggles, their two parties were destined to lose very badly.
Due to Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party having some overlap with Charles' Republican Party, and with the Republican Party's strong position, it was very disadvantageous for the Democratic-Republican Party.
Therefore, two days later, Jefferson had no choice but to propose renaming the Democratic-Republican Party to the Democratic Party.
Later, the organizational form of Charles' Republican Party and the scale of its member recruitment greatly influenced the Democratic Party and the Federalist Party.
These two parties also began to consider whether to gradually change their party structure from loose club-like forms to tightly managed, strong political parties.