Derek Pullem
Donor
Alaska was a territory until the 1950s; the OPer suggested full political integration before 1900 between (presumably) either the provinces and colonies that made up BNA and the UK prior to 1867 or the provinces of the Dominion of Canada and the UK after 1867.
Little different situation.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but the reason the British encouraged Canadian confederation is that London did not want BNA to continue to exist in the fairly ramshackle political state that it was in; it is pretty clear that confederation with the UK or into the UK was never an option, either.
There's something about the dog not barking n the night time
Best,
So you concede that distance was not an insurmountable barrier to integration between Canada and the UK then in the 1850's/1860's.
The political will to establish a transcontinental state was not there as you point out in the 1850's and 1860's based on the laissez faire liberalism of the UK at that time. And by the time that an Imperial Federation concept had become established in the 1880's after the economic downturn of the 1870's the moment had passed.
Conversely in the USA the "manifest destiny" mantra actively encouraged federation and expansion across vast distances.
Flip the opinions of the political elite and you could have a very different outcome.