AHC: The British Empire sells Rupert's Land to the US

It wasn't a part of Rupert's Land when the British gave it away and it wasn't the HBC who ceded it.

Straight from the wiki article.

The Selkirk Concession was a land grant issued by the Hudson's Bay Company to Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, in 1811. The Selkirk Concession, also known as Selkirk's Grant, included the portions of Rupert's Land, or the watershed of Hudson Bay, bounded on the north by the line of 52° N latitude roughly from the Assiniboine River east to Lake Winnipegosis, then by the line of 52° 30′ N latitude from Lake Winnipegosis to Lake Winnipeg, and then by the Winnipeg River, Lake of the Woods and Rainy River; on the west roughly by the current boundary between Saskatchewan and Manitoba; and on the south by the (mostly very slight) rise of land marking the extent of the watershed. This covered portions of present-day southern Manitoba, northern Minnesota and eastern North Dakota, in addition to small parts of eastern Saskatchewan, northwestern Ontario and northeastern South Dakota.[1][2]
 
When the UK bought Rupert's Land and gave it to Canada it STILL wasn't purchasing THE LAND, only the sovereign authority the HBC had.

From Wiki:

"The Rupert's Land Act 1868
[1] (31 & 32 Vict. c.105) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (as it then was), authorizing the transfer of Rupert's Land from the control of the Hudson's Bay Company to the Dominion of Canada. This is the largest land purchase in Canada's history. The transfer occurred in 1869 and was consummated in 1870 by the payment of a consideration of £300,000 (£27 million in 2010)[2] to the Hudson's Bay Company, as mandated by the Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory Order of 1870. Under this agreement, the Bay Company also retained rights to 20% of the arable land in the territory. In short, this was an act giving Rupert's Land to Canada."

Rupert's Land was not an independent nation. It was part of the British Empire. Britain gave HBC full ownership of the land and authority to administer it, but it did not give it independent status.

Of course Britain had responsibilities toward Rupert's Land. It was part of the Empire - a possession of Britain the same way my land is a possession of the US. I don't have quite the same amount of leeway to administer my land as HBC did, but the concept is the same. It's doubtful Britain would sell the possession, but they could if they wanted to, unless there was a clause in the charter.
 
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