AHC Less American States

You guys are thinking about this the wrong way. Give Arkansas the borders it had as a terrtory. Doing so effectively extinguishes Oklahoman statehood.

If we then can avoid the civil war, then there may not be a reason to split New Mexico Territory. Likewise, keep the Dakotas united. This is in addition to the Virginias staying together.

If territory borders are satisfactory, then things could be played with to prevent the formation of Colorado and Wyoming too. Though, this is admitted easier without the Mormon issues that existed in our timeline.

AR+OK
NM+AZ
SD+ND
VA+WV

Colorado:
UT+Western Colorado
KS+Eastern Colorado
NE+Northern Colorado

Wyoming:
UT+Southwestern Wyoming
ID+Western Wyoming
MT+Northern Wyoming
NE+Southern Wyoming
 
Wasn't the main reason Nevada was admitted so soon was so that Lincoln would have another Republican state to back his programs? Without the Civil War, Nevada would remain a territory. Since California had enough people to be a state, it seems more likely to me that, Nevada would somehow be attached to something other than California.

The Dakotas were divided as the population centers grew east to west along the Missouri River in SD and the rail lines in ND. Both states had huge growth rates that stopped between 1920 and 1930. To keep them united you'd need some sort of rail system built to keep the populations going north and south as well as east and west.

I agree without the need to possibly create more slave states, Arkansas can just come into the union with whatever part of, present day Oklahoma, was attached to it as a territory.
 
Well, if you can prevent the original 13 colonies from giving up their land claims, then large states would become the norm. I think this could be done relatively easily with the southern states (Georgia keeping the northern parts of Mississippi and Alabama, North Carolina keeping Tennessee, Virginia keeping Kentuckey) the problem is that the northern states would have dificulty maintaining their claims because many of them were only disconnected claims that were really only on paper (Massachusettes claiming pieces of Michigan and Wisconsin and Connecticut claiming a thin strip of land stretching from northeastern Ohio all the way to the Mississippi to name two examples). They could probably keep them longer than they did in OTL, but they'll likely have to give them up eventually. When they do, they'll be admitted as less states because (a) thanks to the South, bigger states are considered normal and (b) since there are less southern states, there have to be less northern states in order to maintain the free-slave balance. Let's also say that Vermont is given to New York as compensation for giving up its western claim.

So we start with the original 13 states (7 free, 6 slave). Louisiana's admission brings it to 7-7. I'll say Louisiana sticks with the larger state trend by including most of Arkansas. Missouri (including the other part of Arkansas and probably some land further west) is balanced by a state called Ohio which may or may not bear a great resemblence to OTL Ohio (it's the Ohio/Indiana/Illionis one on my map. The rest of the Northwest Territory is admitted with Florida (east+west) as a balance. The Republic of Texas comes in as is with all its claims. This temporarily upsets the balance in favor of the slave states 10-9. The Mexican cession is divided into two territories, California and Deseret. California restores the balance when it demands to be admitted as a free state. Deseret becomes the spark that starts the Civil War. It was subject to popular sovreignty. The south secedes after it narrowly votes to become a free state. After that, the Oregon Territory becomes one state, and the rest of the great plains is one big state (called Dakota). So that's 23 states plus the Indian Territory (which has slightly different borders). If, due to butterfly genocide, we still end up with Alaska and Hawaii, that brings the total to 25. I know a lot of these states are REALLY REALLY big, but I figure that the land is sparsely populated, so they can get away with it. Keep in mind that Maine is still owned by Massachusettes here.

less US states.png
 
Well, if you can prevent the original 13 colonies from giving up their land claims, then large states would become the norm. I think this could be done relatively easily with the southern states (Georgia keeping the northern parts of Mississippi and Alabama, North Carolina keeping Tennessee, Virginia keeping Kentuckey) the problem is that the northern states would have dificulty maintaining their claims because many of them were only disconnected claims that were really only on paper (Massachusettes claiming pieces of Michigan and Wisconsin and Connecticut claiming a thin strip of land stretching from northeastern Ohio all the way to the Mississippi to name two examples). They could probably keep them longer than they did in OTL, but they'll likely have to give them up eventually. When they do, they'll be admitted as less states because (a) thanks to the South, bigger states are considered normal and (b) since there are less southern states, there have to be less northern states in order to maintain the free-slave balance. Let's also say that Vermont is given to New York as compensation for giving up its western claim.

So we start with the original 13 states (7 free, 6 slave). Louisiana's admission brings it to 7-7. I'll say Louisiana sticks with the larger state trend by including most of Arkansas. Missouri (including the other part of Arkansas and probably some land further west) is balanced by a state called Ohio which may or may not bear a great resemblence to OTL Ohio (it's the Ohio/Indiana/Illionis one on my map. The rest of the Northwest Territory is admitted with Florida (east+west) as a balance. The Republic of Texas comes in as is with all its claims. This temporarily upsets the balance in favor of the slave states 10-9. The Mexican cession is divided into two territories, California and Deseret. California restores the balance when it demands to be admitted as a free state. Deseret becomes the spark that starts the Civil War. It was subject to popular sovreignty. The south secedes after it narrowly votes to become a free state. After that, the Oregon Territory becomes one state, and the rest of the great plains is one big state (called Dakota). So that's 23 states plus the Indian Territory (which has slightly different borders). If, due to butterfly genocide, we still end up with Alaska and Hawaii, that brings the total to 25. I know a lot of these states are REALLY REALLY big, but I figure that the land is sparsely populated, so they can get away with it. Keep in mind that Maine is still owned by Massachusettes here.

Your ideas and map mirror mine as well. I think to have really big states you have to set that precedent early and the only way to do this is, as you say, to have the original states keep there western land claims.
 
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