A Republic, Not An Empire

I know this has been done before (at least I think it has) but here's my WI: Cromwell succeeds-even if he doesn't live to see it-of creating a permanent Republican England. So, does this butterfly away the Act of Union, and with it the British Empire? Or does a "Colonial Commonwealth" replace it? And how does a Republic of England affect the American Revolution (assuming it happens at all?) Not to mention Ireland, etc.
 
Cromwell's "western design" was aggressively colonialist, and you see in that whole era an uptick in England's overseas efforts--Jamaica, some scattered efforts to settle mainland Central America, and most importantly start of the Anglo-Dutch Wars. Others are probably better qualified than I to speak to the relationship of Cromwell's government to Scotland and the issues there. But some of the economic and social factors propelling the countries together at the end of the seventeenth century (Scotland wanting to partake in England's development of the colonies, for instance) wouldn't necessarily change because the two realms haven't been ruled in a personal union.

Whether we have the American Revolution is an interesting question. On one hand, a Parliament-led England is more likely to be isolated and on the defensive from the rest of Europe, and hence more likely to have higher military expenditures, and hence more likely to try to bleed the colonies through taxation. But at the same time England might be more fluid with respect to issues like self-government and legislative representation.


I know this has been done before (at least I think it has) but here's my WI: Cromwell succeeds-even if he doesn't live to see it-of creating a permanent Republican England. So, does this butterfly away the Act of Union, and with it the British Empire? Or does a "Colonial Commonwealth" replace it? And how does a Republic of England affect the American Revolution (assuming it happens at all?) Not to mention Ireland, etc.
 
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