PC: US Confederation Fails; German Immigrants to Pennsylvania post-1848

Rush Tarquin

Gone Fishin'
Okay, so I had a thought about the constitutional convention failing and the articles of confederation falling apart. Pennsylvania is its own country. Fast forward to post-1848, and German emigrants might head for a New World country which already has a large German population. Given their politics, I could imagine them changing Pennsylvania's politics and even creating the sort of German-American socialist tradition which we saw hints of IOTL coming from Milwaukee, only actually able to be very successful, even if it's only in being a big fish in a much smaller pond.

But I know I'm missing some important butterflies, so please point them out to me.
 
Well, we can start with "How likely is it that there would be the Spring of Nations if the US failed?" and move on to "How likely is it that German liberals fleeing Germany post-1848 would choose to move to Pennsylvania, of all countries?"
 
The TL that I am currently writing is about a continued AoC leading to the breakup of the US. I originally planned to have Pennsylvania as an independent nation, but it just didn't seem feasible. I thought that Pennsylvania, being at the heart of the nation and being the center of US politics as of then, it would want to keep with some of the states around it to keep some kind of United, albeit rather few, States of America.
That aside, it would be really cool to see a TL something close to a bilingual English/German speaking North American nation. :D
 

Rush Tarquin

Gone Fishin'
The more ephemeral aspects of the butterfly effect aside, what were some of the direct consequences of the existence of the US for 1848?
 
The more ephemeral aspects of the butterfly effect aside, what were some of the direct consequences of the existence of the US for 1848?

Well, it was the world's first ever liberal revolution, often credited with inspiring in part the French Revolution, which spread liberalism to Continental Europe in a big way, as well as creating the "modern" map of Germany but disassembling the HRE and consolidating German states. It also paved the way for the pre-eminence of Prussia as they were granted lots of holdings in exchange for steadfastly opposing Napoleon.
 

Rush Tarquin

Gone Fishin'
Well, it was the world's first ever liberal revolution, often credited with inspiring in part the French Revolution, which spread liberalism to Continental Europe in a big way, as well as creating the "modern" map of Germany but disassembling the HRE and consolidating German states. It also paved the way for the pre-eminence of Prussia as they were granted lots of holdings in exchange for steadfastly opposing Napoleon.

France will have still blown its wad helping the Americans and the statelets which would form in the US' place would still have liberal constitutions.
 
France will have still blown its wad helping the Americans and the statelets which would form in the US' place would still have liberal constitutions.

Especially when you consider that if the US breaks up shortly after the revolution, it won't necessarily be seen as a failure. We would perceive it as a failure because we know the potential of the US. But in that world, might the US be remembered as just a short war-time alliance? Theres nothing there that won't inspire a revolution in France. And I think its a little patronising of Americans to think that just because they had a revolution, if it went a little haywire it wouldn't lead to revolutions elsewhere. The seeds for the revolution in France were already laid, and republican Enlightenment ideas were already flying around Europe at this time.
 
An aoc us might be less successfully expansionist and would likely be poorer, which means less international trade, which means the potato blight might get to the us later, and therefore europe later still. Which might mean its not in place in the cold wet years in the '40s.

Which means the bad grain harvests dont affect food prices so much, which means theres less unrest. A lot of the unrest had to do with soaring food prices.


Hows that for a link?
 
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