Make American English non-rhotic

With a POD after 1800, and preferably much later, create a situation where the prestigious and mainstream form of American English is non-rhotic, while rhotic varieties are stigmatized and marginalized, as in Britain.
 
Have the South dominate?

Many Southern accents tend to be non-rhotic; maybe have a society where Virginia/Carolina plantation owners are the elite that people imitate.
 
Somehow make the New York accent be considered prestigious. In many countries, the accent of the largest city is considered glamorous and people elsewhere imitate it, but this has never been true of the NY accent for whatever reason.
 
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Have the South dominate?

Many Southern accents tend to be non-rhotic; maybe have a society where Virginia/Carolina plantation owners are the elite that people imiitate.

The south did dominate the USA politically for the bulk of the period between the Revolution and Civil War, but for one reason or another that didn't translate into the northern upper class wanting to imitate southern accents. I think regional pride (in all sections of the country) was too strong to have people from one region imitate those from another.
 
Well, if there anyway for the New England dialect to not get watered down as they moved into the Old Northwest? If we had Indiana, Ohio and Michigan speaking a dialect derived more from NE and less from, I imagine, Pennsylvania, maybe we could see Non-Rhotic becoming the norm?
 
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