You think that's bad? Look at the state of Indian Stream in New Hampshire, it's not even a county! It's a town and the adjacent area with a population of less than a thousand. Also, it never really proclaimed to be a new state, far more ridiculously they declared an independent republic as both the US and UK claimed the territory and both countries were taxing them.
How can some of these states be real?
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South Florida, coastal California, Jefferson, Chicagoland, New York and Boston. I think though that a state of New York should take half of northern New Jersey and the other half should be taken by a state centered around Philadelphia and Baltimore.
The hardest ones to accept are all the weird enclave areas. Two areas of Vermont and one of Virginia being entirely surrounded by New Hampshire and North Carolina makes zero sense.
Also, some states with lesser populations like Maine being divvied up into North Massachusetts and whatever the hell else seems like a crazy idea, though I suppose Maine itself being split into two sides is hardly ASB, with Maine and North Mass being the end result.
I look at areas that are culturally similar being good candidates for amalgamation. Take Pennsylvania, for example - it’s described as two cities that hate each other separated by the Amish. It would make more sense to take the Philadelphia area, combine it with south Jersey and Delaware, and have ourselves a state. It gets trickier in Ohio, where dying manufacturing towns are all over and intermixed with farms and small towns, with a couple of large cities in for good measure.
Also, why the shit would Long Island be its own state? Is it all the iced tea?
Jefferson (or one similar to it) is the most realistic, as it was actually going to be put up for a referendum... But then WW2 happen, the idea got delayed and then shelved.
Splitting California into multiple states isn't impossibleeither , but it'll require a different type of admission compared to OTL for a split to be made early. Best choice would be for an Earlier Cali, and the stronger Slave States demand the southern part become a slave state.
Cuba, of course, was sought after for decades as a state, so it's hardly unrealistic (though many will complain about cliche).
Baja California was sought after after the Mexican-American War. It only wasn't pursued as Nathaniel Trist, the negotiator, unilaterally gave it up as he felt the US was being too imperialistic. Get a different negotiator, and the US has Baja at least, though I imagine the northern border likely includes San Diego...
Sonora is definitely possible. As is Chihuahua (though perhaps not "that" Chihuahua). However, looking closely, if you combine Sonora/Baja Arizona/Chihuahua, you roughly get the proposed Gadsden purchase alternate that Senator Forsyth proposed in 1857.
Superior could have happened, had it remained a territory and Michigan got the Toledo Strip. Though, it's possible it could have just folded into Wisconsin instead.
Southern Illinois/Little Egypt/Polypotamia is definitely a curious what-if, but it would have required alternate free/slave state dynamics to occur.
West Florida, I'm actually cagey about - The whole point of Alabama/Mississippi's OTL borders was to provide sea access to those states. So I don't foresee it, unless west flordia remains out of the US for a large period of time, or it creates a Vermont/Texas style republic that lasts for a few decades, at which point there is a large enough sense of commonality that West Floridians don't want to be split up.
You can divide up the Midwestern states in many ways, but I don't think you can make them much smaller than they were OTL without more immigration to the US, as they would have low population.
As it is, the Northern Marianas alone (or Samoa alone) would be too small to be a state, I feel. I think that the best way to have them be states is for All of Micronesia to become one state, and both American and West Samoa united to become a state as well. Then the population threshold could be closer...
I'm surprised Plymouth isn't shown; it was a separate colony from Mass. longer than Rhode Island and Providence I believe. Either way, another small New England state akin to Plymouth is certainly possible.
Also surprised North Colorado and West Maryland aren't shown, as those are two recent separatist movements in the US...
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Missing alternate states not pictured:
Inevitable Canadian Annexation, Greenland, the Marquesas Islands (first Pacific Islands US had claims to), Kamchatka/Chukotka, Pretty much every Central American country + Yucatan, Inevitable Great Britain Annexation, the Canal Zone, the Three Filipino States (Luzon/Visayas/Midanao), Pretty much every Caribbean island, sometimes multiple times over. Inevitable Australian Annexation, South Kyushu, Okinawa, Taiwan, Guyana (I hear there's actually a fairly decent sized movement here for this...), Albania, Denmark, and Israel
Feel free to add to the list.
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Also, North Carolina obviously best state. We're the only state that only "gains" territory.
Though I STILL have no idea what that Luneburg thing is about.
Splitting California into multiple states isn't impossibleeither , but it'll require a different type of admission compared to OTL for a split to be made early. Best choice would be for an Earlier Cali, and the stronger Slave States demand the southern part become a slave state.
Cuba, of course, was sought after for decades as a state, so it's hardly unrealistic (though many will complain about cliche).
Baja California was sought after after the Mexican-American War. It only wasn't pursued as Nathaniel Trist, the negotiator, unilaterally gave it up as he felt the US was being too imperialistic. Get a different negotiator, and the US has Baja at least, though I imagine the northern border likely includes San Diego...
Sonora is definitely possible. As is Chihuahua (though perhaps not "that" Chihuahua). However, looking closely, if you combine Sonora/Baja Arizona/Chihuahua, you roughly get the proposed Gadsden purchase alternate that Senator Forsyth proposed in 1857.
Superior could have happened, had it remained a territory and Michigan got the Toledo Strip. Though, it's possible it could have just folded into Wisconsin instead.
Southern Illinois/Little Egypt/Polypotamia is definitely a curious what-if, but it would have required alternate free/slave state dynamics to occur.
West Florida, I'm actually cagey about - The whole point of Alabama/Mississippi's OTL borders was to provide sea access to those states. So I don't foresee it, unless west flordia remains out of the US for a large period of time, or it creates a Vermont/Texas style republic that lasts for a few decades, at which point there is a large enough sense of commonality that West Floridians don't want to be split up.
You can divide up the Midwestern states in many ways, but I don't think you can make them much smaller than they were OTL without more immigration to the US, as they would have low population.
As it is, the Northern Marianas alone (or Samoa alone) would be too small to be a state, I feel. I think that the best way to have them be states is for All of Micronesia to become one state, and both American and West Samoa united to become a state as well. Then the population threshold could be closer...
I'm surprised Plymouth isn't shown; it was a separate colony from Mass. longer than Rhode Island and Providence I believe. Either way, another small New England state akin to Plymouth is certainly possible.
Also surprised North Colorado and West Maryland aren't shown, as those are two recent separatist movements in the US...
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Missing alternate states not pictured:
Inevitable Canadian Annexation, Greenland, the Marquesas Islands (first Pacific Islands US had claims to), Kamchatka/Chukotka, Pretty much every Central American country + Yucatan, Inevitable Great Britain Annexation, the Canal Zone, the Three Filipino States (Luzon/Visayas/Midanao), Pretty much every Caribbean island, sometimes multiple times over. Inevitable Australian Annexation, South Kyushu, Okinawa, Taiwan, Guyana (I hear there's actually a fairly decent sized movement here for this...), Albania, Denmark, and Israel
Feel free to add to the list.
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Also, North Carolina obviously best state. We're the only state that only "gains" territory.
Though I STILL have no idea what that Luneburg thing is about.
I'm from Miami so I honestly wouldn't mind South Florida from forming.
The culture, political ideologies, and demographics down here are incredibly different from Northern Florida. Miami-Dade county makes up 9% of the population of the state and the surrounding areas have more in common with the city than with Tallahassee.
I imagine that it would extend a little bit past Lake Okeechobee, though.
The culture, political ideologies, and demographics down here are incredibly different from Northern Florida. Miami-Dade county makes up 9% of the population of the state and the surrounding areas have more in common with the city than with Tallahassee.
I imagine that it would extend a little bit past Lake Okeechobee, though.
Not really. These are based on real-world secession attempts (well, I recognize some of them, and will give the author the benefit of the doubt), but just because they are real attempts, not jokes, it does not comment on the likelihood.
I mean, West Maryland is a real secession proposal that is fairly recent and doesn't have a good chance at all, and only involves 3/4 counties if I remember, but it makes it no less realistic.
Upset that Georgia hadn't succeeded immediately after South Carolina, Dade county announced it was succeeding from Georgia AND the USA. Basically declaring itself an independent country.
That announcement kind of got ignored after Georgia succeeded.