WI: Georgia doesn't sign the DoI

Georgia was the most loyal of the thirteen colonies, and was the iffiest about signing the Declaration of Independence. Though militarily unimportant (it was at the time mostly swampland and was created as a buffer colony to protect the Carolinas from Spanish Florida), would the psychological impact of the Declaration be lessened without unanimous consent? If the Continentals still win, does Georgia remain in the British Empire or is it occupied by the US?

Snowstalker said:

Georgia was the most loyal of the thirteen colonies, and was the iffiest about signing the Declaration of Independence. Though militarily unimportant (it was at the time mostly swampland and was created as a buffer colony to protect the Carolinas from Spanish Florida), would the psychological impact of the Declaration be lessened without unanimous consent? If the Continentals still win, does Georgia remain in the British Empire or is it occupied by the US?

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Georgia was considered to be hardly a colony at the time, and the colonies were happy to brand themselves as the 12 United Colonies until Georgia joined, so I'd say not much of a difference. I'd imagine with a US victory imminent, the Americans would be pushing hard to grab it so as not to have one lone British colony hanging out to the south of them. If they held undeveloped Georgia and only Georgia, it would probably be one the first things the British would be willing to give up in peace negotiations, as hanging on to it without a having a more populous colony would be pretty tenuous. Now, if the British could avoid having to cede Florida to Spain they'd probably fight to keep it.

Georgia not joining the American Revolution would probably have about as much impact on the war itself as the Floridas not joining the Revolution. Like Sucrose said, it was a peripheral colony, and we'd learn about the Twelve Colonies in history books instead of the Thirteen.

Where things get interesting is after the Revolution. Britain would be in a much stronger position to hang onto the Floridas with Georgia still on their side. Georgia, the Floridas, and the Bahamas together could form the core of perhaps a second British dominion in North America, meaning a second destination for British loyalists (especially those from the southern colonies); Canada is likely to be more French and more slowly settled than IOTL. In addition, America is now flanked to its north and south by British territory, which will have repercussions in the next war between them.

In addition, there's the issue of the Five Civilized Tribes. They all lived in territory that will likely be claimed by the British at the *Treaty of Paris. This butterflies away the Trail of Tears, given the better relations that the British had with the Indians and the fact that Andrew Jackson won't be running the show down there. Would they fare a bit better than IOTL? Maybe get their own territory or buffer state in OTL's northern Mississippi and Alabama?

Lastly, what happens to abolitionism in Britain, and how do Georgia, et al. react to it?

EDIT: This thread reminded me of Glen's Dominion of Southern America TL.

Kevin R. said:

Georgia not joining the American Revolution would probably have about as much impact on the war itself as the Floridas not joining the Revolution. Like Sucrose said, it was a peripheral colony, and we'd learn about the Twelve Colonies in history books instead of the Thirteen.

Where things get interesting is after the Revolution. Britain would be in a much stronger position to hang onto the Floridas with Georgia still on their side. Georgia, the Floridas, and the Bahamas together could form the core of perhaps a second British dominion in North America, meaning a second destination for British loyalists (especially those from the southern colonies); Canada is likely to be more French and more slowly settled than IOTL. In addition, America is now flanked to its north and south by British territory, which will have repercussions in the next war between them.

In addition, there's the issue of the Five Civilized Tribes. They all lived in territory that will likely be claimed by the British at the *Treaty of Paris. This butterflies away the Trail of Tears, given the better relations that the British had with the Indians and the fact that Andrew Jackson won't be running the show down there. Would they fare a bit better than IOTL? Maybe get their own territory or buffer state in OTL's northern Mississippi and Alabama?

Lastly, what happens to abolitionism in Britain, and how do Georgia, et al. react to it?

EDIT: This thread reminded me of Glen's Dominion of Southern America TL.

Click to expand...

These two things together could have...very interesting repercussions. Britain's Caribbean possessions reacted very badly to abolitionism, but they didn't have the population numbers to do anything about it....