Challenge: Louisianian Revolution

Thermopylae

I have a challenge for y'all. The French settlers of the Louisiana Territory successfully revolt (USA-style) from their mother country, France. Bonus points if the PoD is DURING or AFTER the American Revolution. EXTRA Bonus points if you can succeed in making them a major power.

ONLY RULE: Louisiana must remain independent. No US-Annexation. None. Don't even think about it...
 

Tetsu

Well, during the Revolutionary War, Louisiana was owned by Spain, so does it have to be French-owned?
 

danielb1

Tetsu said:
Well, during the Revolutionary War, Louisiana was owned by Spain, so does it have to be French-owned?
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Maybe the French in Louisiana rebel against Spanish rule...
 

Thermopylae

Either way you slice it, this Louisiana (upon independence) shall be very French in culture, so I really don't see how it matters. Sure, you can go with that angle. Heck, it may even make it easier for Louisianian independence...
 

Thermopylae

Well, since there aren't any other ideas, I'll put some ideas out there to get the conversational juices flowing:

-Higher population must be brought into French Louisiana somehow. Maybe French Royalist refugees during the French Revolution? Higher emphasis placed on Louisiana in French colonial efforts? (This may help to accelerate the French Revolution)
 

stevep

Thermopylae said:
Well, since there aren't any other ideas, I'll put some ideas out there to get the conversational juices flowing:

-Higher population must be brought into French Louisiana somehow. Maybe French Royalist refugees during the French Revolution? Higher emphasis placed on Louisiana in French colonial efforts? (This may help to accelerate the French Revolution)
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You might also get some emigration from Quebec. Still a relatively small number compared to the US population but might help.

If they can hold out until the Bourbons are restored in France and they then get some support/recognition/sympathy they might be able to preserve their position for a while. Possibly, although their independence is recognised, the French government is sympathetic enough to give support. [And/or Napoleonic or revolutionary loyalists are encouraged to emigrate to the region to get them out of the way. Say also that the 1812 clash between Britain and the US lasts longer, increasing tension there and with greater British success. This constrains the US even more which is bad for Louisiana in terms of the potential population pressure. However it could weaken their western development and also concentrate their attention on the northern frontier.

Still think it is a long stretch to keep them independent to the current day but might work.

Steve
 

Wendell

Thermopylae said:
I have a challenge for y'all. The French settlers of the Louisiana Territory successfully revolt (USA-style) from their mother country, France. Bonus points if the PoD is DURING or AFTER the American Revolution. EXTRA Bonus points if you can succeed in making them a major power.

ONLY RULE: Louisiana must remain independent. No US-Annexation. None. Don't even think about it...
Click to expand...
Can we change the borders over time? I once contemplated an ideal like this, and it made both Louisiana and Brazil significant powers.
 

Thermopylae

YEs, the borders can change over time. But brownie points goes to anyone who can keep Louisiana's borders entirely under Louisiana...

Edit: Idea! The Bourbons, post-French Revolution, round up all support they can get and flee to New Orleans. Royalist soldiers and their families come next. The US, although not keen on having the capital of a new monarchy right next to them, recognize that it was Louis XVI that financed their war, so they respect the Bourbons. Although, with this scenario, there is the Spain problem...
 

Nicole

Well I'll lose bonus points here, but here goes...

Napoleon defines the border of Louisiana as the Nueces (the western border of Louisiana was very unclear- some in the US thought that we had even gained all of Texas with the purchase OTL) only sells Upper Louisiana to the US. Jefferson is unhappy about not getting New Orleans, but is happy enough to get agricultural land that can perpetuate his "yeoman farmer" ideal for America. New Orleans is captured by the British, but returned to the Restauration Government. Looser government in the colony makes it an ideal destination for Bonapartists who are attacked by the government, but Charles X tries to change that. In 1830 Louisianan rebels proclaims the Empire of Louisiana under a Bonaparte claimant, who is proclaimed Napoleon I of Louisiana. In 1832 revolution at home forces France to recognize the independence of Louisiana...
 

Thermopylae

I like that idea. I'd like to see a Bourbon state (that's why I like my idea so much) but yours is very good. Now, by losing Upper Louisiana, that sort of ends any possibility of practical westward expansion for Louisiana, doesn't it?
 

Nicole

Thermopylae said:
I like that idea. I'd like to see a Bourbon state (that's why I like my idea so much) but yours is very good. Now, by losing Upper Louisiana, that sort of ends any possibility of practical westward expansion for Louisiana, doesn't it?
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Well my POD was late enough that the United States has too much of a population headstart, and the westward movement idea is already set into the American idea- I think it;d be too hard for them to defend.... with an earlier POD, though...
 

Wendell

Thermopylae said:
I like that idea. I'd like to see a Bourbon state (that's why I like my idea so much) but yours is very good. Now, by losing Upper Louisiana, that sort of ends any possibility of practical westward expansion for Louisiana, doesn't it?
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Notnecessarily. How is one fefining "Upper Louisiana"?
 

Wendell

Imajin said:
Well my POD was late enough that the United States has too much of a population headstart, and the westward movement idea is already set into the American idea- I think it;d be too hard for them to defend.... with an earlier POD, though...
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Well, The could be both a large U.S. and a large Louisiana....
 

Nicole

Wendell said:
Well, The could be both a large U.S. and a large Louisiana....
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Yes, but then the United States has to expand into Canada, which I'd rather keep British...
 

Nicole

Hm, maybe I'm putting too much weight into the whole expansion inevitability- if the United States never got Trans-Appalachia, perhaps Expansion wouldn't be as important an issue, and the frontier idea wouldn't be as large.
 

Blackbeard

Good Idea with the Bourbons fleeing to New Orleans, so I'm going to build off of that. When the Bourbons are restored to power, they move back to France. New Orleans, once a hub for trade because of its capitol status, is just left, with hardly anymore trade. French settlers, left poor by the lack of trade, revolt against the few royalist soldiers left behind. The British support this revolution, seeing it as a front against France. The newly formed Louisiana Republic encourages settlement of nearby French territory (Parts of the Louisiana Purchase, which the US got in OTL, but ITTL, they don't get as much, because it is settled by Louisianians in the South.) The LR encourages foreign immigrants and expands into OTL Arkansas and Mississippi
 

Evil Opus

Aaron Burr once tried to incite a Louisianan revolution. I guess if he goes there circa 1804 then we get a whole bunch of new settlers raising hell, but the US military would probably just bring out the cannons, blue coats, muskets, and frigates and squash the revolution.
 

Wendell

Imajin said:
Hm, maybe I'm putting too much weight into the whole expansion inevitability- if the United States never got Trans-Appalachia, perhaps Expansion wouldn't be as important an issue, and the frontier idea wouldn't be as large.
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That could work too, but it might bring Louisiana into continual conflict with the British Empire. This is not good for the long-term survival of Louisiana.
 
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