Glen
Moderator
This timeline starts in the thread, Southern America Act of 1774.
The decline of the British presence in North America has been attributed to several factors, including the vehemence of Southern opposition to the abolition in the Empire, the entry of the United States into the conflict, and lastly the abominable timing of the Workingman Crisis in Great Britain (over the lack of inclusion of the working class in expansion of the franchise, which soon became intertwined with the anti-war movement against the fight in North America). Had any one of these elements been missing, it is far more likely that at least Canada, and possible all of North America would have remained under British sovereignty. However, as it was, the British Empire was fortunate to hold on to the Maritimes, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Rupert's Land. By the end of the conflict, it was no longer palatable to either side to continue the policy of joint administration, and the 49th parallel was continued past the Continental Divide to the Columbia River, which it then followed to the Sea. While many in the United States pushed for more of the Northern Pacific Coast, the British were in no mood for further concessions and this preserved the vital land route from the Hudson Bay for the fur industry.
Lower Canada gained full independence as the Republic of Quebec.
Upper Canada, whose rebellion largely succeeded due to American intervention, was unsurprisingly annexed to the United States of America after a short lived existence as the Republic of Canada (and whose name is still preserved in the US state of Canada).
The Six British Colonies of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, West Florida, East Florida, and Bahamas became the founding states of the Federation of Southern America.
In the meantime, in Mexico the Texians won a decisive victory against the forces of the Central Government and were granted their independence. Immediately a debate began as to whether to remain independent, join the United States of America, or the newborn Federation of Southern America. The last group was a minority, however, and the balance of the argument was between the Independence and United States parties, with those favoring the Federation of Southern America eventually throwing their support behind independence in return for support of legalizing slavery.
And thus was the Republic of Texas formed.
The 1830s saw rebellions break in all of the neighbors of the United States of America. In the British Colonies, the spark was the Slavery Abolition Act of 1834. While the British had been moving incrementally towards restrictions of slavery for decades, the act was still jarring for the Southern Colonies of British North America. The linchpin of their whole economy was based on slavery in the form of the cotton trade. While the colonies had pled with Parliament to exempt them from the act and preserve their 'peculiar institution', they failed. Thus did rebellion spark anew in North America.
The heart of the rebellion was South Carolina, the only province of the Southern Colonies that had been forced to remain in the British Empire. However, the cry for revolution spread far and wide, and soon all the Southern Colonies were in armed revolt.
While slavery was a non-issue in Upper and Lower Canada, there were many grievances against the mishandling of colonial rule by the British government, and with the South rising, a militant minority was inspired to take up arms as well, first in Lower Canada but quickly spreading to Upper Canada.
Coincidentally, only a year later in 1835, a series of rebellions broke out in the United States of Mexico, especially in Texas. Texas had a disproportionate amount of English speaking settlers from the United States and the British Southern Colonies, and when several other states of Mexico rose up in protest to the Federalization of Mexico being forced from the government in Mexico City, they too joined the fray.
The decline of the British presence in North America has been attributed to several factors, including the vehemence of Southern opposition to the abolition in the Empire, the entry of the United States into the conflict, and lastly the abominable timing of the Workingman Crisis in Great Britain (over the lack of inclusion of the working class in expansion of the franchise, which soon became intertwined with the anti-war movement against the fight in North America). Had any one of these elements been missing, it is far more likely that at least Canada, and possible all of North America would have remained under British sovereignty. However, as it was, the British Empire was fortunate to hold on to the Maritimes, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Rupert's Land. By the end of the conflict, it was no longer palatable to either side to continue the policy of joint administration, and the 49th parallel was continued past the Continental Divide to the Columbia River, which it then followed to the Sea. While many in the United States pushed for more of the Northern Pacific Coast, the British were in no mood for further concessions and this preserved the vital land route from the Hudson Bay for the fur industry.
Lower Canada gained full independence as the Republic of Quebec.
Upper Canada, whose rebellion largely succeeded due to American intervention, was unsurprisingly annexed to the United States of America after a short lived existence as the Republic of Canada (and whose name is still preserved in the US state of Canada).
The Six British Colonies of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, West Florida, East Florida, and Bahamas became the founding states of the Federation of Southern America.
In the meantime, in Mexico the Texians won a decisive victory against the forces of the Central Government and were granted their independence. Immediately a debate began as to whether to remain independent, join the United States of America, or the newborn Federation of Southern America. The last group was a minority, however, and the balance of the argument was between the Independence and United States parties, with those favoring the Federation of Southern America eventually throwing their support behind independence in return for support of legalizing slavery.
And thus was the Republic of Texas formed.
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