The republic is surrounded by the empire on the mainland of America, I wonder if the Golden Circle might be realized in this timeline, also, the colonial powers are currently busy, and it's not like the colonies could fight them off, this may make it seem very easy to take. This would be a very interesting development for the timeline to have, imagine it, a southern conquest of the Caribean, Central America, and the coast of South America, maybe forming an alliance with the Mexican empire to help with both conquest and defense against the empire. This can also bring some other changes with it, like the south becoming much richer, from trade and maybe even tourism, as they will have an increase in products, which could propel them. Then they could use this new form of money to develop ports, towns, and cities to help their economy to grow even further, maybe even becoming equal in riches to the empire or even more than it, and may help with diplomacy with Brittain. That along with the south maybe becoming more warlike and imperialistic, helping to make them more unified and making them more powerful, and even leading to developing a class of warriors, sort of like the knights of the Golden Circle. This along with the riches and possibly the Mexican alliance (and maybe a British one too), could bring the south to a sort of equal terms with the empire, making the war more interesting, as the two sides might be equally ballanced.