DBWI: British Columbia doesn't get annexed in 1866

I read somewhere while studying exams that before the annexation of the British Columbia (now just the territoriy of Columbia) in 1866, much of the Canadian population did not support the American annexation of British Columbia, until the Referendum of 1866 occured, which silenced the Canadian population. I also know that the annexation of the British Columbia caused tensions between the U.S. and the U.K. because of their loss of lumber, copper, coal, natural gas, oil, zinc, gold, silver, nickel, and iron would eventually escalate into the Anglo-American Conflict. What if there wasn't an annexation?

OOC: I am new here, so please excuse my mistakes if I make any, and plese let me know so I may correct them.
 
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Pah, if such territory hadn't been stolen out from Imperial possession, sufficed to say our little cross-Atlantic spat would likely be far less violent, the tiffs in Nordalbion (Even if you Yankees insist on giving the name those rebellious Quebecois chose) would probably be isolated to the oil disputes. I'm surprised Victoria the Great didn't stand up for the region more, god knows Vicky II would (God Save Her). It gives the Empire another pacific coast, which might speed up our dominance in the Pacific; with Australasia, The Sandwich Islands and Formosa we'd almost certainly have established our regional dominance a good twenty years earlier.

It'll also decrease Slave/Free State Tensions and probably butterfly the whole Second North American War.
 
Pah, if such territory hadn't been stolen out from Imperial possession, sufficed to say our little cross-Atlantic spat would likely be far less violent, the tiffs in Nordalbion (Even if you Yankees insist on giving the name those rebellious Quebecois chose) would probably be isolated to the oil disputes. I'm surprised Victoria the Great didn't stand up for the region more, god knows Vicky II would (God Save Her). It gives the Empire another pacific coast, which might speed up our dominance in the Pacific; with Australasia, The Sandwich Islands and Formosa we'd almost certainly have established our regional dominance a good twenty years earlier.

It'll also decrease Slave/Free State Tensions and probably butterfly the whole Second North American War.

Which would have been best for all concerned really. No Second North American War means that the Empire isn't exhausted after its victory and the rise of Absolutist Russia can be strangled in the cradle as opposed to the devastating war that followed.
 
The butterflies would probably run deeper than just that. For the US not to steal Columbia, you would have to curb the principle of Manifest Destiny - possibly remove it altogether - which would create a very different dynamic, especially in the South west, which will have a larger Native American population, creating a large shift in US politics.
 
The butterflies would probably run deeper than just that. For the US not to steal Columbia, you would have to curb the principle of Manifest Destiny - possibly remove it altogether - which would create a very different dynamic, especially in the South west, which will have a larger Native American population, creating a large shift in US politics.

I agree. With a higher Native American population, you could probably see better treatment of Native Americans, rather than the following of the Civilizing Plan, which put all Native Americans through the six-point plan established by George Washington and Henry Knox in OTL. Who knows, maybe even earlier Native American representation in U.S. Government, rather than the Native Revolts of 1868?

OOC: Am I doing well?
 
OOC: ex-Canadian BC? ??? with US annexation in 1866? Say what? BC didn't join Canada until 1871, so how the heck can it be 'ex-Canadian' 5 years before?
 
Pah, if such territory hadn't been stolen out from Imperial possession, sufficed to say our little cross-Atlantic spat would likely be far less violent, the tiffs in Nordalbion (Even if you Yankees insist on giving the name those rebellious Quebecois chose) would probably be isolated to the oil disputes. I'm surprised Victoria the Great didn't stand up for the region more, god knows Vicky II would (God Save Her). It gives the Empire another pacific coast, which might speed up our dominance in the Pacific; with Australasia, The Sandwich Islands and Formosa we'd almost certainly have established our regional dominance a good twenty years earlier.

It'll also decrease Slave/Free State Tensions and probably butterfly the whole Second North American War.

Stole? We were merely appeasing the American population within Columbia, and it also gave us an easier way to reach the Alaskan frontier. Besides, since the War of 1812, we couldn't be sure the Empire wouldn't blatantly attack us in the end.
 
Well here's the question - how could there NOT be an annexation of Columbia by the USA? The USA had just purchased Alaska from Russia, and needed a land link to it. Canada at the time was not only non-existent, but had no way of enforcing British claims to the region, while the US already had settlers on the ground and two trans-continental railroads to get more there.

There's a reason why the Brits eventually just demanded payment for it, and then out of spite/insurance, beefed up their presence in the Pacific - because the Americans taking it was pretty much inevitable at this point.
 
Stole? We were merely appeasing the American population within Columbia, and it also gave us an easier way to reach the Alaskan frontier. Besides, since the War of 1812, we couldn't be sure the Empire wouldn't blatantly attack us in the end.


Phwoar, rubbish. Remember in 1812, 1866 and in 1903 it was American aggression that triggered the war between our great states! It took the looming Russian Bear to put us on the same side for once. Anyway, you sent the American settlers there do you could annex the territory, not the other way around.
 
Phwoar, rubbish. Remember in 1812, 1866 and in 1903 it was American aggression that triggered the war between our great states! It took the looming Russian Bear to put us on the same side for once. Anyway, you sent the American settlers there do you could annex the territory, not the other way around.

Please. If the Empire and the French Kingdom hadn't had their petty wars, we wouldn't have beeen involved in the war of 1812. And 1866 was only because your radical Imperialists blew up the Trans-American Continental Railroad.

Anyways, I think the U.S. probably wouldn't have become a world supernation without the annexation of Columbia, as the Phillipine Revolt would've been lost by us because of less Pacific access.

OOC: Sorry, I don't follow, what happened between the U.K. and U.S. in 1903?
 
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