The Federalist

Arthur came to a stop by the boy’s side. The flames were hot here, in the lawn of what remained of the White House. Behind them, drowned by the roar of the flames, the city continued to fall.

“Get up.” Arthur demanded, a sneer growing on his features, disgusted by the pitiful display in front of him.

Alfred kept his head turned and down, like a petulant child, one hand supporting his chest, the other supporting his weight. He didn’t even give Arthur the satisfaction of a “No.”

In the craziness of life, I've barely opened my laptop, let alone my inbox for months, so this ask is.... very old. Apologies, anon, that it's taken so long.

I've said many times before I have several different "versions" of the HWS universe, which vary widely in terms of how "old" nations are, their exact relationships to each other, etc. However, my default version is the one that you can read in Amity and (Un)civil, where Alfred is essentially a young teenager (think 13-14) during the American Revolution.

With that being said, I honestly think the early years Alfred struggled to be taken seriously. Older nations like Arthur and Francis have centuries-old traditions to "initiate" or acclimate their human leaders into the entire concept of their existence. Some groups, like royal families, have not only known about them, but known them personally since they could walk. Alfred lacks any of these established pathways, and to make things worse, he's a kid. So while a lot of his new leaders are willing to accept who and what he is, many are not, and there is no recourse for Alfred to do anything about it. Early on, Alfred struggles to make himself heard by the president or Congress, and has to talk louder and repeat himself many more times than any other nation he knows. This affects the way he relates to his government for many, many years, and even after people start to listen to Alfred, he still feels as though he struggles to make himself seen and heard as he wants.

As far as individual leaders, I think Washington was actually quite willing to accept Alfred's existence, and was fond of him personally, but as a practical reality, Alfred was often in the way. He was too young to fight as a regular soldier (though he was allowed to participate in some guerilla skirmishes where he wouldn't be widely seen), was energetic and rarely stood still, didn't yet have a good grasp of diplomacy or spywork, and see-sawed wildly between pure panic of Arthur coming to cut out his heart, and blinding idealism of his god-ordained victory.

In short, Alfred was a very likeable but utterly exhausting mascot to have underfoot when you're trying to fight a war.

John Adams didn't dislike Alfred, but he didn't engage with him all that much. He found Alfred a little too "common" in his tastes and opinions, and never consulted Alfred on any decisions. However, Alfred ended up spending far more time with Adams than Washington, mainly because Abigail Adams took one look at Alfred and decided to adopt him in all but name, so he often stayed with the President's family for extended periods, though he very rarely spent much time with John himself.

Jefferson is someone Alfred knew for many years before he became president, so he was actually quite thrilled when he came into office. The way I see his relationship with Jefferson is fairly one-sided, in a way. Alfred regarded Jefferson as a very close friend from a very early date, because, frankly, Jefferson was one of the only founding fathers who stopped and listened to him for any appreciable length of time. Jefferson also recognized that despite his "age" Alfred was an incredibly smart person, rising polyglot, and had lived for a very long time. Alfred interpreted his interest as closeness, and confided in Jefferson things he would not confide with others, treating him as a friend and ally.

To be frank, Alfred had never had many friends, so he was not very good at identifying what made a good friend a good friend. It was not until the first decade or two of the 19th century, as Alfred himself was coming of age and passing as a young adult rather than a teenager, when he began to make more actual friends within his government, that Alfred realized his relationship with Jefferson was a little... odd. They drifted apart and moved on with life. After Jefferson's death, when his daughters were dividing up his estate, Alfred received a visit from Martha Randolph (Jefferson's eldest). She was on her way to the White House, she explained, to deliver some items her father had willed to the Office of the President. One of them, she claimed, Alfred ought to see before anyone else.

It was a handwritten book, partially filled with years'—decades'—worth of dated entries, which read like a natural history treatise, all of which contained Jefferson's observations, speculations, and "findings" on a singular subject of scientific study: Alfred. As he read, the progressive realization that much of Jefferson's interactions with Alfred—particularly during his years as president—were at least in part motivated by a need to study Alfred as a thing, an anomaly of science, a phenomenon to be understood, rather than... well, the close friend that Alfred thought he was to Jefferson... it was a shock.

The book made its way to the White House archives, classified and set aside for future presidents to consult and, if they want to, add to. Alfred hasn't read it since the day Martha showed it to him. He still considers Jefferson a friend, but he still feels a twinge of anger when he thinks of it.

Alfred hadn't fully found his stride in dealing with presidents until James Madison's presidency. James was the first president with whome Alfred was, undoubtedly, actually a close friend. After Alfred was able to make it through his awkward, thoughtful, and quiet shell, Madison shared many of his dreams for Alfred's future with Alfred himself, and relied on Alfred's thoughts and feedback, which was a new experience for him. I think Madison did a lot to encourage Alfred's confidence—ironic, with his own struggles for the same—and basically tell him he needs to be assertive with his leaders, because know one knows his people like he himself does. His fondness for James was perhaps only outdone by his fondness for James' wife Dolly, whose strength and extroversion was the perfect compliment to her shy, intellectual husband.