An independent Ohio Territory?

Teleology

Banned
What are some ways that Ohio Territory (the Old Northwest / the modern Midwest) could of become an independent nation, with a POD after the end of the American Revolution?

Cinematically thinking, if I didn't have to bring plausibility into it and had a butterfly net I'd have Washington die sometime before his men can offer him a crown in 1783 and have them go with their other plan, to retreat from the pre-Constitutional chaos of the US and go form their own nation in Ohio Territory. Keeping other historical events mostly the same, like many books do in order to make a point, they'd be joined by Shay's rebels, the Whiskey rebels (led into exile by a defecting Albert Gallatin), and Aaron Burr's coalition of planters and adventurers (why bother take Louisiana or invade Texas when they can get in on the the ground floor of a country in the making closer to home?). Maybe Gallatin would negotiate an extremely implausible peace with the Indian Confederation and the Prophet movement would be edited out of history by carefully released butterflies (thus the Amerindians of Ohio Territory would never reject manufactured items and way of life).

All of that would be great in a book, comicbook, movie, whatever and is my idea of a fun (and thus "good") Tl.

But I've gathered since I joined that tastes on these boards run a bit contrary to my "if it's fun, it works, plausibility be damned" approach.

So what are some plausible ways that Ohio Territory could become an independent nation?

Perhaps equally implausible, I do like the idea of Jefferson using the territory as the guinea pig for his dream of an agrarian utopian America, only for it to get out of his hands (or out of the hands of those who succeed him, whichever it may be).

I guess more realistically it might deal with some British plot to introduce a buffer state between the US and the less settled parts of Canada (thus to keep illegal US settlers out?) after the British negotiate away their forts on the Ohio river. Or maybe that's still thinking too far-fetched?
 
I rather suspect that post ~1750 (or even earlier), the only way to get an Ohio Territory/Old Northwest/whatever as an independent nation is if it is native, and that's pretty darn low in possibility, IMO. If the British win then it's British, if the US wins, it's US, if the French win, it's French.

Only if the Indians win can it realistically stay not part of the major European powers' colonies.

I used to think that a Vallandigham led copperhead revolt/secession in the Old Northwest was possible during the Civil War, but he seems to have actually not had nearly enough support...
 
The British did have plans to turn part of the Old North west into an Indian protectorate. However in the end this still makes it British and its gives Canadians/British North Americans an excuse to have an Indian removal of their own.
But it might make it easier to achieve independence afterwards than having any Indian territory controlled by the US.
I guess the biggest problem to this nation is that it probably not have a large enough population or infrastructure to keep the US away thus the status of protectorate would be quite appealing.
You can achieve this be having changes in the war of 1812. Make it longer, have it sooner, which ever that results in a decisive British victory. Look at Canada-Wank for an example.
 
What about balkanizing the US? Rather easy to do early on. Now, perhaps, an independence-minded nation can found as the eastern nations fight among themselves, assuming it can form a stable gov't and population quick enough to avoid being carved up by the Virginia, NY, and Pennsylvania nations.
 
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