Our Fair Country: The Commonwealth of New England
- Thread starter CosmicAsh
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Yeah, I watch the New Zealand parliament and Winston normally makes up for the other six.
Today's debate really went off the rails. The left of the Labour Party made themselves heard, and they drowned out the opposition's attempts to re-orient the debate back to Question Time. It also cut short the rest of Parliamentary proceedings for the day. It's certainly going to be shared on social media a bunch.
His father and both more famous uncles John and Robert were all Conservatives. The shift to Labour by the Kennedy family has only been very recent, as Labour has pulled towards the centre and the Conservatives have tilted slightly to the right. The Tories, however, remain much more to the left of the U.S. Nationals and the Australian Nationals. They are comparable to the Australian Liberals, or the British Conservatives.
Nazi Space Spy
Banned
So, in the same vain as my recent "X-in-Canada" question, what is my favorite kook Lyndon LaRouche up to/has done? He'd be a New Englander in this ATL after all.
Interesting to have him and his brother Ted Jr. on opposite sides of the aisle.
A question regarding the US state of New York: what became of the Erie Canal? In OTL, the canal was built through the Mohawk Valley, a strategically important gap in the Appalachian range. Much of New York City's early growth was built on the Erie Canal, and most of upstate New York's major cities -- Albany, Troy, Schenectady, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo -- prospered because of their position on the Erie Canal. NYC wasn't that badly affected when the St. Lawrence Seaway rendered the Erie Canal obsolete, the city having already become a free-standing center of trade, but many towns and cities upstate suffered major economic damage.
Here, though, access to the Mohawk Valley from New York's Hudson Valley is at least partially obstructed by New England territory. Looking at the town map side-by-side with Google Maps' terrain map of the area, the Capital District (the Albany-Schenectady-Troy metropolitan area) is almost wholly a part of the New England state of Adirondack. This seemingly small scrap of land makes all the difference, as without it, the state of New York can't build the canal without digging through the Catskills for the final stretch connecting it to the Hudson River. This would drive the cost of the canal skyward, and given that the canal was already an enormous (and enormously expensive) feat of engineering at the time, such that the United States government refused to fund it and left it all to the state of New York, this makes a difficult situation even worse. Opponents of New York Governor and canal supporter DeWitt Clinton lambasted the canal, calling it "Clinton's Folly" and saying that it would bankrupt the state; running it through any part of the Catskills may just do that, and the increased price tag may cause him to decide that it's just not worth it.
Between that and the fact that the US-New England border runs through the East River, I imagine that TTL's New York City is likely much smaller than in OTL. It's undoubtedly still a metropolis, but closer in size to OTL's Philadelphia or Atlanta than Sao Paulo or Mumbai, with the New Jersey side of the Hudson likely being seen as just as important as the New York side (for one thing, we know that TTL's Trump Tower is in Jersey City). Philadelphia may still rival it as the epicenter of the East Coast, especially after the rise of the Pennsylvania Railroad, what with the rival New York Central railroad being (again) dependent on lines through the Mohawk Valley that are blocked by New England. In fact, I could see Philly not only rivaling, but easily eclipsing TTL's New York in terms of its prominence. Of course, in the absence of the Erie Canal, the Mississippi could become the US' primary route to the interior, meaning that we could see New Orleans become the epicenter of American trade and finance, too.
Here, though, access to the Mohawk Valley from New York's Hudson Valley is at least partially obstructed by New England territory. Looking at the town map side-by-side with Google Maps' terrain map of the area, the Capital District (the Albany-Schenectady-Troy metropolitan area) is almost wholly a part of the New England state of Adirondack. This seemingly small scrap of land makes all the difference, as without it, the state of New York can't build the canal without digging through the Catskills for the final stretch connecting it to the Hudson River. This would drive the cost of the canal skyward, and given that the canal was already an enormous (and enormously expensive) feat of engineering at the time, such that the United States government refused to fund it and left it all to the state of New York, this makes a difficult situation even worse. Opponents of New York Governor and canal supporter DeWitt Clinton lambasted the canal, calling it "Clinton's Folly" and saying that it would bankrupt the state; running it through any part of the Catskills may just do that, and the increased price tag may cause him to decide that it's just not worth it.
Between that and the fact that the US-New England border runs through the East River, I imagine that TTL's New York City is likely much smaller than in OTL. It's undoubtedly still a metropolis, but closer in size to OTL's Philadelphia or Atlanta than Sao Paulo or Mumbai, with the New Jersey side of the Hudson likely being seen as just as important as the New York side (for one thing, we know that TTL's Trump Tower is in Jersey City). Philadelphia may still rival it as the epicenter of the East Coast, especially after the rise of the Pennsylvania Railroad, what with the rival New York Central railroad being (again) dependent on lines through the Mohawk Valley that are blocked by New England. In fact, I could see Philly not only rivaling, but easily eclipsing TTL's New York in terms of its prominence. Of course, in the absence of the Erie Canal, the Mississippi could become the US' primary route to the interior, meaning that we could see New Orleans become the epicenter of American trade and finance, too.
How often has an opposition leader been thrown out of the House of Commons?
How many times has Bernie Sanders been thrown out of the House of Commons?
How many times has Bernie Sanders been thrown out of the House of Commons?
I doubt it, I asked him whether the post-war consensus continues and he replied basically it is largely still in place.
Did Anthony Comstock of Comstock laws fame ever achieve prominence in New England?
If not, I would assume that New England was much less against obscenity ITTL.
If not, I would assume that New England was much less against obscenity ITTL.
He's still around. He has his own party he runs in New Hampshire provincial elections. He'll show up soon.
Basically the same thing here, it's just been so long since a spill that people don't remember the chaos.
The Eire Canal exists. It was first proposed in the 1780s, which is still true here. Only in this instance, it was done more seriously, and a couple of studies were done to check and see its feasibility and what route it would take. The project was abandoned after the Province of New Hampshire (which once owned both Vermont and Adirondack) rejected any overtures to help jointly fund a canal through the region.
After Adirondack was formed as its own province in 1794, interest in the canal grew once again, including among British officials who saw it as a way to ensure that they could maintain a hold over the United States. After all, what better way to maintain control over a rival than to control their shipping?
Given that the Articles of Confederation lasted much longer (and the federal government incredibly ineffective) Governors John Jay and George Clinton both worked with the officials in Adirondack and the United Kingdom to plan out a route for the proposed canal, and what route it would take. As a concession to the British, New York agreed to pay for the entire route of the canal, and Albany would become the principle port on the northern part of the Hudson, through which all goods would have to travel and minor duties applied (which would greatly enrich Adirondack, fueling its canal-induced building boom in Albany county).
The Constitution came into effect just around this time when New York was off making its own deals with the United Kingdom, and part of New York agreeing to sign the constitution was to allow the canal to move forward. Merchants in the new state of Ohio (entering under the articles) were eager for a sea route to the Atlantic, and made their entrance conditional on the new Constitution approving the canal. It was under DeWitt Clinton that the canal would be finished, and the first true signs of cooperation between New England and the United States was a success. Of course, given that there was an international boundary to cross, the British could simply sail up the Hudson and to Albany with no problem and on to the Great Lakes, so it was a much more raw deal for New York. The cities of upstate New York never grew as big, while Albany became a sprawling metropolis. New York City never did get as big (it never extended beyond Manhattan, after all). So Los Angeles is the largest city in the United States, but the New York City region is still the financial hub of the country. Philadelphia was a very important port of the era, being the terminus of several railways, so it grew much more than the we know it to have. Basically, the population shift was away from upstate New York (which is still pretty rural and the cities smaller) towards southeastern Pennsylvania. The actual "New York region" here is about ~1-2 million people smaller than we know it to be.
New Orleans was pretty big, but then the Civil War came along and that did not end well for anything below Virginia.
The opposition leader is rarely thrown out. The last leader of either major party to be thrown out was Prime Minister John Kerry attempting to defend his government even as the speaker (Geoff Regan) attempted to get him to resume his seat.
Bernie Sanders has never previously been thrown out of the Chamber. He was an even more irrelevant and minor backbencher from Vermont.
Yes there was, but less severe due to the different structure of the world economy.
While the post-war consensus is still in place, this does not mean there wasn't an economic downturn. The ideology of European parties is such that how we see populism today with a populist insurgency is happening in Europe, only instead of populism it's liberalism. This meaning, the pro-austerity liberal parties of Europe simply did not hold power during the crash. There are signs that this is shifting, most notably in Italy where the Fascist Party is regaining in popularity, and teaming up with insurgent liberal parties to wrest control of government. Upcoming elections elsewhere in Europe will show how big the liberal wave is.
And fyi, I'm a girl so her/she.
Not particularly. The only real difference is that New England still had its puritanical streak, so in effect a more watered down version of the Comstock laws were in place, but it was never in any official capacity. I've referenced it before, New England has never had abortion laws, and contraceptive laws were weak, ineffective, and not really enforced. Religion plays such a minor role in society, even back when New England was unified, simply because it was a union of Catholics and Protestants, so religion had to be put to the side in order for any business to get done. Couple that with (largely) catholic and other religious immigration to New England further reduced any prevalent effects of Protestantism moralism. The only real critics of things like contraception, abortion, and obscene language comes from rural catholic Acadians, who are a very very small part of the population.
Wonderful stuff! Bless the Turtledoves for leading me here. Now that compliments have been paid, let me add to the crushing burden on your shoulders by saying I would love to see a map of the New England National Park system.
Thank you!! I've added to the longer-term list
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List of Provincial Founding Dates
(I'll pretty this up later)
1624: Plymouth granted Royal Charter
1629: Massachusetts Bay granted Royal Charter
1661: Connecticut granted Royal Charter; New Haven merged into Connecticut
1661: Long Island from New Haven
1662: Rhode Island and Providence Plantation granted Royal Charter
1664: New Hampshire granted Royal Charter
1691: Maine from Massachusetts Bay
1715: Nova Scotia from Acadia
1769: Prince Edward Island from Nova Scotia
1784: New Brunswick from Nova Scotia
1794: Adirondack from New Hampshire
1809: Vermont from Adirondack
1624: Plymouth granted Royal Charter
1629: Massachusetts Bay granted Royal Charter
1661: Connecticut granted Royal Charter; New Haven merged into Connecticut
1661: Long Island from New Haven
1662: Rhode Island and Providence Plantation granted Royal Charter
1664: New Hampshire granted Royal Charter
1691: Maine from Massachusetts Bay
1715: Nova Scotia from Acadia
1769: Prince Edward Island from Nova Scotia
1784: New Brunswick from Nova Scotia
1794: Adirondack from New Hampshire
1809: Vermont from Adirondack
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