DBWI: The United States of America?

So I was reading a page from a history website earlier, and what I found was interesting:

"... ultimately, it was the culmination of resentment towards the English Parliament and King George III over multiple issues, primarily taxation without representation, which led to the secession of the thirteen British colonies and the formation of the Confederate States of America. After years of difficult fighting and with the help of France, the fledgling Confederacy ensured its independence, at least for the first few decades of its life.

"Of course, a nation founded on the idea of the sovereignty of its individual components was bound to split at some point. This occurred just after the Anglo-American War* and the devastating defeat of the Confederacy at the hands of the British forces which resulted in the loss of over half of the Louisiana territory. Outrage over the humiliating defeat caused several of the Northern states to break away into the Federal States of America. The more unified Federal States would go on to achieve industrialization by the late 19th century..."

Anyway, I know it's basic stuff, but reading this made me curious: What if the Confederate States of America were not to remain a Confederacy? What would it take to prevent the Confederate States from splitting?

OOC: Obviously, this Confederacy is not like the one which formed in 1861 OTL. In essence, the concept regarding state's rights is the same, but the issue which resulted in the split had very little to do with slavery; the split was focused around the idea of national unity.

*(OTL War of 1812)
 
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So I was reading a page from a history website earlier, and what I found was interesting:

"... ultimately, it was the culmination of resentment towards the English Parliament and King George III over multiple issues, primarily taxation without representation, which led to the secession of the thirteen British colonies and the formation of the Confederate States of America. After years of difficult fighting and with the help of France, the fledgling Confederacy ensured its independence, at least for the first few decades of its life.

"Of course, a nation founded on the idea of the sovereignty of its individual components was bound to split at some point. This occurred just after the Anglo-American War* and the devastating defeat of the Confederacy at the hands of the British forces which resulted in the loss of over half of the Louisiana territory. Outrage over the humiliating defeat caused several of the Northern states to break away into the Federal States of America. The more unified Federal States would go on to achieve industrialization by the late 19th century..."

Anyway, I know it's basic stuff, but reading this made me curious: What if the Confederate States of America were not to remain a Confederacy? What would it take to prevent the Confederate States from splitting?

OOC: Obviously, this Confederacy is not like the one which formed in 1861 OTL. In essence, the concept regarding state's rights is the same, but the issue which resulted in the split had very little to do with slavery; the split was focused around the idea of national unity.

*(OTL War of 1812)

It would honestly be interesting to see how things might develop if Westward expansion is even nearly as widespread as in our reality-IOTL, the Federal States eventually expanded to the Pacific(including such great cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Warwick), as far north as Columbia and Alaska.....and the Confederacy was able to go beyond Sequoyah and the Rio Grande, and into Sonora, Arizona, and the peninsula of Baja California, not just politically, but culturally as well.

OOC: Warwick is OTL's Portland, Ore., by the way.
 
Yes, I am well aware. Honestly, I was thinking maybe unifying the two early on would actually limit expansion, considering IOTL, it was the competitive drive that led to the resurgence of both countries both militarily and economically.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more I feel like a united American country would not expand much further than the CSA did just before it split. We might see a much smaller country which only exists on the Atlantic coast (or even worse, get reabsorbed into the British empire!:eek:).

Alternatively, the combined might of the North and the South may result in a massive boom which results in faster industrialization and the complete absorption of British North America and Mexican territories. I could certainly see this happening by the late 19th to the early 20th century.

A realistic scenario is probably in the middle of these two, something like this map I found on another AH thread:

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/northamericalarge.jpg

I think it's a pretty decent map, but I would probably give at least part of the so-called Canada to the US as well, considering the North managed to get part of it IOTL.
 
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