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During the negotiation of the Dominican Republic's annexation to the US, President Grant was fairly insistent that the Dominican Republic be made a state rather than a territory.

What would be the implications of the US having a mostly black/mulatto spanish-speaking state domestically?

It'd be guaranteed electoral votes for the Republicans, two Republican Senators, and more Republican House Members. Who would be the state's Senators and Congressmen? How could they affect the policy and dialogue of national politics?

Part of the goal of annexing the DR was resettlement of Black Americans in the place (and this OTL happened a little bit in Samana bay). I would think that there'd be a certain amount of anglo-black movement to the state.

There might be more of a fight over linguistic freedom in US politics. Towards the end of the 19th century there were some fights over German and Polish and Norweigan language schools in a number of states. I believe there were issues with the linguistic rights of Cajuns as well.



Also, can we keep the focus of this conversation on domestic politics? I've seen in a number of threads like this that the conversation trends towards international implications.
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