How Far Could The U.S. have Grown

DISCLAIMER: I only made this because I felt the title would be more appealing.

How far could the U.S. Have grown beyond its national borders? Could some overseas places be U.S. States?
 
Can we just have a sticky thread listing all of the previous threads about the US expanding? These get posted even more often than Confederacy/Nazi/Napoleon threads.
 
Can we just have a sticky thread listing all of the previous threads about the US expanding? These get posted even more often than Confederacy/Nazi/Napoleon threads.

One of the problems with the management of this website is that threads older than ~10 months, regardless of validity or uniqueness, will be locked if brought back up and the people who post in them temporarily banned.

This is psychotic. If a discussion is good and wants to continue, it should continue. There are fair number of good threads regarding potential US expansion, but I dare not even link to them for fear that someone posts in them and they get locked entirely. It’s ludicrous.

Let’s recap some of what the OTL US could have taken. We’ve covered Mexico recently, both OTL and ATL. OTL, the US was supposed to have taken what are now the border states, but Trist defied the government and signed for less.

Columbia, in the Pacific northwest, could have been American to 54º40’, and quite probably all the way up on the western side of the continental divide after the Alaska Purchase. Would the British have fought over it? Or could the US have offered to buy out the British claim to the land?

OTL, the US bought north Borneo from the British in the early 1840s, but sold it back a few months later as we had little to no Pacific presence at this time. Had it been sold after the Mexican-American War (or had we simply kept it), land in northern Borneo could very well have become a state.

Cuba, of course, could have remained American after the Spanish-American War, had it not been for the perfidious Platt Amendment.

Some people will say the Philippines could have become a state or states following said war, only to be countered by people claiming the mistreatment of Filipinos, racism, and other arguments of varying validity. I think with a light domestic campaign of acceptance said arguments could be undone, but I’m on the fence.

What else... Ah, at various times during their histories, El Salvador, Santo Domingo, and Haiti asked for US annexation. These could have passed with only a few Senate votes changing.

Finally, at the time of the Alaska Purchase, a lease was debated to Kamchatka and Chukotka from roughly 160º eastward. If we assume said lease is accepted, the US gains control over that land. With the changing political climate over there, long before the lease was due to expire, I can’t imagine us giving it up. Particularly once we find the resources that lie under it.

US Kamchatka is one of my favorite ideas.
 
after WWII we could have kept gains from Japan. should have kept canal zone. barring a hurricane the rest of Samoa could have became American
an idea I have liked since seeing it is Wilsonian Armenia while a mandate meant for independence could like NMI chose to stay with America. offer to buy Greenland after WWII. Anything occupied during the banana wars could have ended up annexed. Also a crazy idea is after WWII could to allow each occupying power to simply keep their zone. (likely a disaster)
 
What answer are you looking for? You keep making threads along the same theme, so I'm interested what answer would satisfy.

Do you want the US to have a world spanning empire?

What benefits to the US do you think more land would bring?

Do you not think the US was actually fairly lucky otl and gained a massive amount of territory?

Don't mean this to sound hostile btw, I was just wondering what precisely it was in aid of.
 
after WWII we could have kept gains from Japan.

Ah, yes, I forgot about that. Much of the Pacific could have been the US.

should have kept canal zone.

Memory coming back. Blood boiling. :mad:

an idea I have liked since seeing it is Wilsonian Armenia while a mandate meant for independence could like NMI chose to stay with America.

Now this I’ve never heard! I seriously doubt they’d join the US, though.

offer to buy Greenland after WWII.

I’m to understand that nationalism was at a high in Denmark at the time and that they wouldn’t have accepted.

Also a crazy idea is after WWII could to allow each occupying power to simply keep their zone. (likely a disaster)

I would say only in a disaster. :D
 
What answer are you looking for? You keep making threads along the same theme, so I'm interested what answer would satisfy.

Do you want the US to have a world spanning empire?

What benefits to the US do you think more land would bring?

Do you not think the US was actually fairly lucky otl and gained a massive amount of territory?

Don't mean this to sound hostile btw, I was just wondering what precisely it was in aid of.

I wanted to see how far the U.S. was capable of growing realistically.
 

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There was a thread a bit back, and I can't recall what the title was, but it discussed had the US pushed more on Britain during the peace negotiations for American independence, and the argument was that the British would have ceded more territory had the Americans pushed for it. I can't recall the exact details.
 
One of the problems with the management of this website is that threads older than ~10 months, regardless of validity or uniqueness, will be locked if brought back up and the people who post in them temporarily banned.

i have drunk posted in threads from years ago and the mods never said anything to me, of course I usually realize I grave-dug and apologize;

but a lot of the forum's rules seem to be for search ranking, if a year old thread is full of certain keywords it is best to keep it that way and make a new one.

But this comes from my webdesign background, and Ian could have his rules for completely different reasons; or simply for lulz
 
Canada joins the American Revolution since they're more oppressed. The U.S. can take the British Caribbean and last North American territories in the War of 1812 .U.S. takes more than half of Mexico around the northern part. And eventually, the rest of the Central and Caribbean regions. Soon, the U.S. takes lots of Pacific Islands and North Borneo.

That's my theory of how the U.S. could grow.
 
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