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Hi! New guy here.

I'm working on a timeline, but I'm having trouble nailing down a specific POD. Here's my vision: the early 1800s see OTL USA divided between the United States under president Alexander Hamilton on the Atlantic coast and the Republic of Louisiana under president Aaron Burr. The Confederate States of America also appears early under Madison, but I know how that happens (although not exactly when yet).

For this to happen, there are three things that I need to happen:
  • 1791: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton come to a compromise on the assumption of state debts in exchange for the location of the Capitol early in the year, so Hamilton ends up going on a summer trip with his family rather than staying home. This prevents his affair with Maria Reynolds and the ensuing scandal that later ruined his political career.
  • 1804: Hamilton doesn't die in a duel with Burr. I'd like the duel to still happen and just have Hamilton wounded rather than die.
  • 1806: The Burr Conspiracy succeeds, resulting in an independent Republic of Louisiana with Burr at its head.
I feel like #1 could reasonably butterfly into #2, but not #3. I'd like things to largely stay the same as OTL up to 1806, aside from Hamilton's continued presence in the political sphere, but I feel like the actual POD in order to bring about both of these will probably need to be in the 1780s somewhere. Thomas Jefferson is probably the key, since he was involved in both the compromise and the failure of the Burr Conspiracy. I've toyed with the idea of him being at the Constitutional Convention rather than in Paris, but I'm not sure how that would affect other things, including the French Revolution/Napoleon, or how that would happen.

Ideas?
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