AHC - American settlement colony

I was wondering if there were any overseas territories the USA could have annexed and settled in the golden age of 19th century imperialism.

(Aside from the one we actually had in Hawaii, that is. And Liberia, if you think that qualifies.)
 
I was wondering if there were any overseas territories the USA could have annexed and settled in the golden age of 19th century imperialism.

(Aside from the one we actually had in Hawaii, that is. And Liberia, if you think that qualifies.)

I would say that American West of OTL somewhat qualifies, except it is not overseas. Well, I think that an easy way to do that is preventing the US annexing so much of it.
The only other way for such a thing to be done is a kind of Uber-Liberia. For example, in the aftermath of ACW, in some way the feeling that the two races cannot coexist in the same nation/land becomes official policy, and there is a huge commitment to ship the freed former slaves to someplace in Africa (let's say Congo, or Liberia herself). Then it is decided that the place is worth enough to keep if properly settled (by Blacks), and ammitted in the US with some formula: the whole ideological discourse would prevent it becoming a State in a full sense I guess, but it can be effectively a part of the US to some extent. I suppose that any such area could eventually gain independence, and possibly attract even more American (and probably Caribbean as well) Blacks in the sixties and after, if the place proves to be prosperous and stable enough. It has also a lot of potential to become a springboard for Panafricanism.

EDIT: There's also some chance that the war in the Philippines becomes genocidal and the area is subsequently settled à la New Zealand. But I hardly see the US of the time going this far there.
 
For example, in the aftermath of ACW, in some way the feeling that the two races cannot coexist in the same nation/land becomes official policy, and there is a huge commitment to ship the freed former slaves to someplace in Africa (let's say Congo, or Liberia herself).

At some point pre-ACW, Abraham Lincoln says that he believe the two races are not equal and the best thing the US could do was re-patriate blacks to Africa, so it is not that far off to be considered as US policy. Perhaps a post-ACW US where Lincoln is not assassinated and pushes this polisy?
 
The U.S could purchase the Galapagos Islands from Ecuador as they ended on doing during the early 1900s. It barely had a population, most of them being European colonists attracted by the Ecuadorian government. The Americans could had easily took the island and bought it.
 
For example, in the aftermath of ACW, in some way the feeling that the two races cannot coexist in the same nation/land becomes official policy, and there is a huge commitment to ship the freed former slaves to someplace in Africa (let's say Congo, or Liberia herself).

At some point pre-ACW, Abraham Lincoln says that he believe the two races are not equal and the best thing the US could do was re-patriate blacks to Africa, so it is not that far off to be considered as US policy. Perhaps a post-ACW US where Lincoln is not assassinated and pushes this polisy?

Yeah, there was much talk about that. The point is, it was really realy expensive. The US may get bankrupt in order to do such a thing on a very large scale, I suppose. However, I think that racism in the country was widespread enough at the time to make the whole thing possible.
Another possiblity is that in subsequent years, racism gets so nasty that American Blacks start organizing themselves to go to Africa, in a way similar to what European Jews did in Palestine. Well, things needed to go REALLY nasty before Zionism became so dominant among the Jews, so I suppose something short of Nazi United States is necessary for an equivalent. And probably it would not qualify for the OP any more than Israel can be described as a German settler colony.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
As has been said, the US focused all of its colonization energies on the West. Hell, the "frontier" only disappeared in 1890.

That being said, the US could have gobbled up some Caribbean isles. Cuba's been hungered for since John Adams was in office.

William Walker's conquest of Nicaragua is something we should also examine. A handful of fairly prominent Southerners had invested in Walker's exploits and even planned to move down to Nicaragua (P. G. T. Beauregard and Pierre Soul
é prominent among them). In fact, should Walker's twisted experiment survive, I would not be surprised to see some sort of slavocrat exodus to Nicaragua as the Civil War winds down.

In 1869 there was an effort to annex the Dominican Republic.

The United States has also had a very long history with China, and though they were against the conquest and mutilation of China by the Europeans and Japanese, I could see the Americans managing to scrape out their own concession (I'm sure they'd find a politer word) in China. Perhaps Zhoushan?
 
The United States has also had a very long history with China, and though they were against the conquest and mutilation of China by the Europeans and Japanese, I could see the Americans managing to scrape out their own concession (I'm sure they'd find a politer word) in China. Perhaps Zhoushan?
Historically, the Americans tried to make a play for Guangzhouwan, but the French just laughed and pointed to the Open Door. Zhoushan's not a bad potential prize either.
 
The U.S. was interested in Fiji for a time. If Cuba is gained shortly after the Ostend Manifesto, then it would count. Although other parts of the Americas perhaps should not be considered.
 
In a map I once made I had the USA acquiring the Walvis Bay area in response to losing out in the Mexican-American War (turned their expansionism elsewhere). In the modern day it was an integral part of the US and featured a massive tourist industry (a bit like an African coastal Las Vegas).
 
Top