A Bigger United States

An interesting thought...in the early 19th century Sakhalin was basically uninhabited except for some indigenes, and really did not belong to anyone. American whalers working the north Pacific set up settlements to provide food, water, repairs etc...leading the US to "own" Sakhalin - the Japanese can't do anything, and the Russians really won't care.
 
Is it possible for the United States to be larger than OTL, given a POD after 1900?

Where would the most likely avenues for post-1900 American expansion be? Would this added land (and possibly peoples) be incorporated as extra states, or just territories?

Who would be disadvantaged by American expansion, and what effects would a larger USA have on the wider world? (a different/averted WW1, no WW2, etc.?)

Much obliged for your comments.
The Mexican northwest will still extremely lightly populated. An American intervention during the civil war under the right administration could certainly annex a big chunk of it.
 
Taft wanted the Philippines on the path to statehood. Let Teddy Roosevelt grab all of Panama, than die or otherwise remove himself from the scene; Taft will set things in motion during his second term (regardless of whether or not this is actually a good idea).

1916 is won by someone other than Wilson; someone aggressive, say. Judson Harmon? Oscar Underwood? Someone who, at the end of WWI, demands a share in the spoils of the defunct Ottoman Empire. Lebanon and Syria are the only realistic options, I think, but Lebanon and Syria (it's not as if many other people will fight hard to possess Lebanon and Syria themselves, except perhaps the Lebanese and Syrians).

Liberia can ask to be admitted at some point. Late, I expect, perhaps the 1970s, but still, it might fly, depending on who's involved.

Cuba after a successful Bay of Pigs? Someone thinks the only way to prevent a recurrence is direct control and participation?

How about Angola, if an intervention puts down the Marxists? Although by this point, America probably doesn't want any more territory.

Japan is always tempting, but its population is simply too big - it's a merger, not an annexation.
 
Mexico in 1910

The whole northwest third of the country was so empty it could have been annexed without long term problems.
annexationsfollowinga2n.jpg
 
How about they establish more Commonwealths, to cover the Phillippines, Micronesia, Hawaii, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Pamana, and whatever other places they come across? I believe De Gaulle offered to give up the French Pacific and Carribean for a trillion dollars or few hundred billion, though the Americans thought them worthless and took more money to run than they produced. Roosevelt had apperently decided that the French would need to give up Indochina to the United States, while earlier on he apparently was planning for the Dutch, Italian, Belgian, and French (maybe also Danish)colonies to be governed by British and American occupational forces. Then there is the thought of some Sicilian's attempt to join the United State, as well as the four areas that were mused over as Mandates for the U.S. after WWI. Armenia, Tankykia, Palestine, the Straits.
 
Mentioned once already, I really like the Greenland idea. Seems quite plausible to me actually. Also, its always seemed odd to me that Baja California isn't part of the USA based purely on geography.

Alta and Baja California are based on the split between who was to go prostelizing in which area and set up missions, the dominicans or the Fransicans. Getting more land would also be troublesome, as the North originally did not like the idea of buying-taking all that land from Mexico, as it would have went straight into slave owener's portfolios. At this point it would be more about whether or not the Americans think the people too dark skinned for their tastes. For Greenland... They apparently were mistreated a bit. The Yanks can try claiming the northern part which wasn't originally claimed by the Danes. And then... All of Antartica.
 
In my TL (POD being a quicker Union victory during the Civil War) the U.S. has 58 states by 2011 including several gained from the French Empire after the Great War. Other than OTL 50 states, are


Name: Cuba Date of Statehood: 1901 Capital: Havanna Pop: 14,002,766

Name: Santo Domingo (OTL Dominican Republic) Date of Statehood: November 19, 1912 Pop: 10,561,249

Name: Puerto Rico Date of Statehood: November, 3 1936 Capital: San Juan Pop: 3,924,677

Name: Guadeloupe and Martinique Date of Statehood: November, 11 1949 Capital: Pointe-a Pitre Pop:903,203

Name: Panama Date of Statehood: February, 6 1951 Capital: Panama City Pop:3,505,667

Name: Pacifica (OTL Polynesia) Date of Statehood: January, 18 1979 Capital: Apia Pop: 646,432

Name: Micronesia Date of Statehood: November, 22 1988 Capital: Dededo Pop: 558,495

Name: Guiana Date of Statehood: July, 2 1992 Capital: Lincoln Pop: 496,244
 
Top