Balkanized US vs Ameriwank technology

Would a United States covering at least the OTL United States have faster or slower technological progress than one where it's territory is divided among 8 or 9 small nations?
For the large US, I could see a large trading area helping ideas spread, and a hegemonic superpower having the resources for research and development. For the Disunited States, I could see competition and multiple paths of research and development. Which effect would predominate?
 
For a POD, how about a scenario where the American revolution spreads to Canada. While this makes the war shorter, it also cuts down on the sense of shared sacrifice and national unity. The articles of confederation continues for a time, but no constitutional agreement is reached for a variety of reasons and the servicing of war debt becomes a major concern. Rather than continue to try and invariably fail with a unifying constitution, various regional blocks begin to coalesce into independent states.
 
The biggest difference would be once the research of nuclear weapons becomes possible. I find it hard to believe that many small states could muster the resources of the OTL Manhattan Project.
 
Well, let's ask how much Europe benefited from having Ruhr coal cut off from French and Belgian steel.

And I get the Great War did wonders for European capital development, right?
 
It's the classic push-pull contrast between the competition afforded by a more balkanized region versus the ability of a larger polity to pool resources together.

I think that a balkanized USA would lead to more progress in theoretical fields, yet less in more practical and industrial fields.
 
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