AHC: North American Confederation with eleven states...

...of approximately equal population. One of them, of course, is Canada. Here are the other ten:
Cz6NnM7UkAAWeaH.jpg


Call it Robert Sobell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Want_of_a_Nail_(novel) on acid...

I know you'll say this belongs in ASB, but a friend with whom I was discussing this map (which I found at https://twitter.com/onlmaps/status/810240689980092416) remarked that you could get something resembling these boundaries in an ATL. You've got New England, Pennsylvania, a (mostly larger) Virginia (remember she once included Kentucky and claimed territory north of the Ohio), an expanded South Carolina-Georgia which acquires Florida, a Louisiana conquered or bought from France, a Texas-AZ-NM conquered or bought from Spain/Mexico, a couple of Great Lakes states-dominions.. And there's a huge but originally almost empty western territory ultimately divided into two states with the population growth on the West Coast...
 
The problem with these ideas of regional confederations is that it ignores the immense state loyalties and that there were no regional loyalties, even among New Englanders. Rhode Island came awfully close to just not ratifying the US Constitution for instance. And this talk of Kentucky? Virginia already gave it up under the US Articles of Confederation before the US Constitution was ratified (Confederation Congress could have added it as a state but didn't because a few states had ratified the Constitution and the old Congress didn't know if it had the right being in limbo before the 9th state ratified the Constitution.)

NY will see NH, CT, MA oppose it's occupation of VT. CT will oppose MA threatening of RI (RI taxing and having a tariff on MA goods and people passing through under the Articles of Confederation was one of two main reasons for the US Constitution; the other being the Maryland/VA border). NY and MA rivalry over CT will ensure their survival only as a buffer. Same with NY and PA over NJ; MD and PA over Delaware; PA and VA over MD; VA and SC over NC. Only weak GA and NH are at risk, NH being surrounded by MA and GA the weakest of all states and threatened by Spain, wealthier and stronger SC will almost HAVE to come in.
 
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