Getting more colonies to join the American Revolutionary War

Disclaimer: this is Wikipedia, and some of the content isn't even cited.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_to_the_inhabitants_of_Canada

On October 21, 1774, the First Continental Congress, meeting to craft a united response to the Intolerable Acts, resolved to address letters to the populations of Quebec, St. John's Island, Nova Scotia, Georgia, East Florida and West Florida, all being colonies that were not represented by delegates in the Congress.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteen_Colonies#Other_British_colonies

At the time of the war Britain had seven other colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America: Newfoundland, Rupert's Land (the area around the Hudson Bay), Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, East Florida, West Florida, and the Province of Quebec. There were other colonies in the Americas as well, largely in the British West Indies. These colonies remained loyal to the crown.[16]

Based on the content in the second link, I'd summarize it thusly:

  • Newfoundland was absolutely loyal to the Crown.
  • Rupert's Land goes unmentioned but it probably had like a dozen British people there surrounded by villages of First Nations and Metis anyway.
  • Nova Scotia had a good amount of New Englanders and the article claims 'The royal government in Halifax reluctantly allowed the Yankees of Nova Scotia a kind of "neutrality."' which I've never read before elsewhere. In any case Nova Scotia most definitely could have joined the Revolution, given that there were rebellions there during the time. It's Halifax that's the problem.
  • Quebec was aloof towards the ARW and the Protestant Anglos. In the war itself it supported whoever was winning. Personally I think that the apathy + logistics issues would make 'Canada' joining the ARW a rather implausible event.

    The West Indies the elected assemblies of Jamaica, Grenada, and Barbados formally declared their sympathies for the American cause. The possibilities for overt action were sharply limited by the overwhelming power of Royal Navy in the islands. During the war there was some opportunistic trading with American ships.
  • This is really cool and I never knew that. I guess it's another case where they would have joined but too many redcoats in the area. Someone should tackle this idea.

    In Bermuda and the Bahamas local leaders were angry at the food shortages caused by British blockade of American ports. There was increasing sympathy for the American cause, including smuggling, and both colonies were considered "passive allies" of the United States throughout the war. When an American naval squadron arrived in the Bahamas to seize gunpowder, the colony gave no resistance at all.[19]
  • Another cool bit of colonial-era Caribbean history. Someone should bring up this idea as well.

    East Florida and West Florida were new royal territories, transferred to Britain during the French and Indian War. The few British colonists there needed protection from attacks by Indians and Spanish privateers. After 1775, East Florida became a major base for the British war effort in the South, especially in the invasions of Georgia and South Carolina..[20]
  • It seems like the Floridas were too sparsely settled and surrounded by hostiles to have been willing to join the ARW.
  • The article doesn't mention PEI (St. John's Island at the time), but Fioli's research says that they were mostly Loyalist at the time, so they're out of consideration.

So, unless anyone wants to dispute my 2-minute research, I'm going to conclude that Nova Scotia and the Caribbean holdings were the ones most likely to join the American Revolution, but were prevented from doing so because of British military presence. If that can be remedied, we would be seeing more colonies willingly joining (as opposed to the Continental Army invading Quebec or Florida).

Any comments?
 
So, unless anyone wants to dispute my 2-minute research, I'm going to conclude that Nova Scotia and the Caribbean holdings were the ones most likely to join the American Revolution, but were prevented from doing so because of British military presence. If that can be remedied, we would be seeing more colonies willingly joining (as opposed to the Continental Army invading Quebec or Florida).

I've been under the impression that if any of the Caribbean holdings could have been turned, it would have been the Bahamas. The willingness to allow the Patriots to get in and out with no resistence being a prime example. Of course, how populated were the islands at the time? Their primary source for foodstuffs and supplies were the American colonies, so wouldn't they pull a Quebec and ultimately side with whoever is winning, should the situation begin to dip more direly?
 
My ancestors thought about it, and refused. They knew things - the antipapist and anti-french feelings of the Americans, well...
 
I'll pull the usual links out on the Bahamas, Bermuda, Nova Scotia, and East Florida joining:

Bahamas:
http://books.google.com/books?id=UG...t&resnum=7&ct=result#v=onepage&q=1778&f=false
http://books.google.com/books?id=Iu...&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://books.google.com/books?id=ud...#v=onepage&q=Bahamas American culture&f=false

Basically, the Bahamians were pretty cool to the Americans. And as an offshoot of South Carolina, proximity to mainland America, and sympathy in general, the Bahamians could've joined if not for sheer distance, the sea, and too many British ships in the area.

Bahamas have always had close ties to America due to being very close to it, and separated from the rest of the British West Indies by Cuba and Hispaniola.

Bermuda:
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZI...nepage&q=Had the Continental Congress&f=false (read from pages 48-52)
http://www.redcoat.me.uk/bermuda.htm (notes the two near-captures in 1777 and 1779. I would say 1777 is the more interesting case, as getting rid of HMS Nautilus when the colonists are still quite sympathetic could see the USS Randolph sticking around to claim the isle)
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bmuwgw/ships7.htm (notes USS Randolph was at Bermuda in June)

Again, Bermuda was like the Bahamas - offshoot of a mainland colony (VA), cultural and blood ties to America, and quite a lot of sympathy. It was nearly captured twice, in 1777 and 1779, and France gaurenteed Bermuda to the Americans if captured.

I repeat: Bermuda and the Bahamas have been linked as much if not more to America than the West Indies proper. If anything, they only got closer ties to those places with the Loyalists bringing in their black slaves to make a majority population and bigger, fancier plantations.

Further, Bermuda's reputation as Gib West only came post-Revolution, when the USA suddenly made such a locale strategic.

Nova Scotia:

http://www.myhartt.com/families/fourteen_colonies.htm (notes that the Vulture's re-enforcements from Halifax left it undefended)
http://newscotland1398.ca/hist/nshistory04.html (a big ass link, but notes the specific troop numbers of Eddy's crew [200-ish with 80 attacking Cumberland], the plan of attack, and how that Mailseet almost got the fort opened at Cumberland if not for a sword thrust).
http://www.blupete.com/Hist/NovaScotiaBk2/Part2/Ch12.htm (notes Halifax's relieving troops were about 400)
http://books.google.com/books?id=KK...on jonathan eddy invasion nova scotia&f=false (sympathy noted in Halifax)

Nova Scotia's been explained to death here and elsewhere, but the two places in NS that apparently had troops in the province were Ft. Cumberland and Halifax. There were a lot of Yankee settlers in the colony, they had ties and sympathy to America, but being the main naval base of British America could hamper things bad. If Ft. Cumberland's taken, who knows? You could see all of Sunbury County/*New Brunswick rallying up, and the 400-ish troops left at Halifax would now face a potentially refreshed Eddy Battalion with cannonades from Ft. Cumberland. Probably - likely - still a loss to take on Halifax proper, but it'd electrify a lot of local patriots, even on peninsular NS, to see such an attempt made.

East Florida:
http://dma.myflorida.com/?page_id=415 (notes that two thousand men for the First Florida Expedition were around, but this is most certainly the Southern Department's total amount, not the men massed for the expedition)
http://books.google.com/books?id=aF...epage&q=charles lee east florida 1776&f=false (Lee notes at the beginning of August he has 640 men. He would receive 400 more men and two artillery pieces from South Carolina by the end of the month)
http://books.google.com/books?id=vJ...a expedition august 1776 two thousand&f=false (noting the 400 South Carolinians/field pieces)

If Lee decided to sally forth to St. Augustine, who knows. Seriously. He was burying men daily and obviously had poor planning (it's LEE) but he had artillery, enough Continentals and perhaps backup militia, and the East Florida rangers had only just been formed. More noteworthy was that East Florida hadn't been filled up with Loyalist refugees just yet. An attempted quick strike appealing to Lee's desire for glory over his doubts leads to a nabbing of East Florida and overcome the shitty preparations? Moultrie himself helped defend Sullivan's Island well, so he seems to know his stuff too. It is the ARW, where crazier things happened. Who knows.

West Florida:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Lord_Cornwallis/Willing_Expedition

Newfoundland, PEI:
I'd like to say I had links on ANY Patriot activity in PEI/Newfoundland, but no. Too bad. A TL involving all English-speaking America excepting the British West Indies (well, those furthest from mainland America) would be fun.
 
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The Caribbean was just too different to join. Totally different colonial experience.

Couldn't they join in a Revolution against their colonial overlords, but not join the United States when the fighting has finished? While there is no chance that the Caribbean people are going to feel comfortable in the same nation as the Americans, perhaps a Union of Caribbean States is possible.

You would need to get rid of the Royal Navy or somehow encite mass defection, though.
 
Couldn't they join in a Revolution against their colonial overlords, but not join the United States when the fighting has finished? While there is no chance that the Caribbean people are going to feel comfortable in the same nation as the Americans, perhaps a Union of Caribbean States is possible.

You would need to get rid of the Royal Navy or somehow encite mass defection, though.

I've wondered on that. Britain moved a lot of warships away from America or to minimal manning come the 1778 Treaty of Alliance to defend the West Indies, India, and the Home Islands. The Bahamas in OTL 1778 were held until HMS Gayton managed to come by, while Bermuda had barely any warships defending it even up to 1779. Even PEI got a war loan from Parliament in 1777 to repair its damaged economy from all the American privateering.

If said alliance happens a year earlier, in 1777, could we see at least all these islands falling to the Americans since Britain will move warships away sooner? Especially since in the BA/BS isles' cases these were full-fledged American warships (relatively speaking) and trained sailors occupying the colonies, not mere privateers. And PEI perhaps buckling over with British priorities elsewhere (though having Nova Scotia falling would only further make that happen, I suppose).
 
Perhaps if John Paul Jones' raid on Whitehaven is successful, the British would feel inclined to withdraw large parts of their navy from the Caribbean to defend the home islands. We could combine that with an earlier alliance, to significantly lessen British presence and grant the islands a little more flexibility.
 
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