Infrastructure

If there's no ARW and the colonies stay part of the UK, do infrastructure projects like the Erie Canal still get built? There won't be as much America-specific coordination of policy and there won't be any revenues from tariffs, making the America System http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_System_(economic_plan) tough to pull off.

It looks like the other major source of income for the US shortly after the ARW was the sale of public land in Ohio, so at a minimum the Proclamation Line will have to go.
 
Yes, the British were pretty good at building infrastructure - they nearly completed the Capetown to Cairo Railway irl, only the cost of WW1 butterflied away its completion and South Africa also had a pretty well developed railway network during British rule.


Additionally up till the early 20's the British had considerable business interests in America. If there's no American revolution the colonies are developed in a similar fashion but with a more British style, and there would be a even greater British business interest thus the American Transcontinental railroads would probably be built in a method that is similar to the Canadian Pacific Railway with considerable government assistance and land grants.


I would also argue that the states would have more of a resource-oriented economic system wouldn't undergo as much of a industrial boom as they did in the 1870's-1880's, and the south would be more developed then it was after the civil war. However we also half to keep in mind that being under British rule there would be no slavery in America either which would by itself have a considerable economic impact.
 
The Erie Canal, in particular, might not be built. If a single economic entity includes both NYC and the Great Lakes, it's better to build an earlier St. Lawrence Seaway system. Instead of small barges moving wheat from Rochester, say, you have small ocean going ships. Far more economical.

This means NYC never gets to be the size it did iOTL, and Philadelphia probably remains the largest city in North America.
 
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