AHC: US Population-wank

For a while I've been thinking about how we judge nations and the importance of a nation's physical size over all other characteristics. With that in mind I wanted to lay out a different kind of challenge, how many people could we get into the United States with a POD in 1783. Alt-merica can end up being any size but bonus points if its the same size as today and extra bonus points if its actually smaller.
 
Alt-merica can end up being any size but bonus points if its the same size as today

So OTL gets bonus points?

Anyway, it mainly comes down to immigration policy, especially in the 20th century. How restrictive or loose you make that will determine how large the population is.
 
Different immigration patterns/quotas in the nineteenth century?

Without adding more territory I think that's probably the best option. No immigration quotas from Asia in the 19th c and looser immigration post WWII would likely add many millions. Political and economic problems in Western and Central Europe would help as well since it would push more "acceptable" immigrants to the US. 350-400 million is probably a reasonable number with easier immigration.

Also better medicine and an earlier understanding of sanitation would decrease deaths, especially infant mortality, significantly. Maybe another 50 million people?
 
One other end of the spectrum is a US that clings to slavery and so it imports tons and tons of slaves while also going through an industrialized breeding program for them. It's not pretty but it could lead to a population boom.
 
Have governments more willing to step on the rights of the natives. Those treaties worth less than the paper they're written on? They're worth nothing now, literally zero. And get the British interested in sending settlers as early as possible. This will open up the Trans-Appalachian lands and other lands. It just needs to be done after the demographic foothold is already well-established.

Maybe have the British be colonising the East Coast before 1600 successfully. More people coming over everywhere--an early America wank basically. Have Cromwell be crushed so none of the Puritans or such return to England and they just decide to live with America. Maybe also some early understanding of tropical disease keeps colonists away from the West Indies--some way to keep colonists going to the future US instead of the West Indies would be great. Perhaps more slavery to keep labour demands there down? Finding the gold in Georgia, especially early, would be a huge boost to colonisation efforts.

On the other side of the US, more Spaniards in Texas and New Mexico, but not enough that they prove resistant to filibuster/conquest efforts from the US. I guess the key would be to be able to more reliably defeat the Indian raids that cost the people their sustenance and generally their lives too. I was thinking Spain being able to strike a more successful balance between the Comanche and Apache might work, instead of leaving the Comanche dominant over Texas and New Mexico. It would give them better native allies to assist in the whole "reliably defeat Indian raids" part I mentioned. California could get populated early too--more Spaniards there might not be able to prevent it from falling to a future US, and besides, this is a US wank, isn't it? This might let Spain expand more into the Southwest. And if they can find any of the gold/silver in the Southwest, that's definitely helpful. Granted, it gives the US a much bigger challenge in seizing the place, but considering some people in the US wanted a hell of a lot of Mexico than we got OTL, I'd assume things might work out regardless.

The above points of immigration of course would also apply. This could combine to create a nation of at least 400 million by 2016. Latinos (especially those of Nuevomexicano descent) would be far larger of the population proportionally, as would Asians, especially Chinese. Blacks as well, if we have a bit more slave trade (maybe the trans-Atlantic slave trade goes on longer and a bit more "slave power" in the US would mean more slaves and thus more blacks). As well as if Britain moves on banning immigration from Africa and the Caribbean as soon as they can and thus migrants from there go to the US instead.
 
What about bloodier 1848 counterrevolutions resulting in a larger mass exodus of Central Europeans to the U.S.?
 
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