Southern-Less USA 2.0: A Nation Torn Apart

Hello,
I had previously abandoned TL-1828: A Southern-Less USA because I felt like it was just a proto-CSA TL, and I was mostly interested in what a CSA victory would look like at the time as my primary topic of interest on here. However, now that I've moved past that and found that the colonial period is my primary niche, I am going to do a redux of it but with a much more unique concept imo. Not only would the Southern colonies break off (which is actually not uncommon of a topic to explore around here) but the US would break up into three or (more likely) four countries, consisting of New England, the Middle Colonies, the Chesapeake Bay Region, and the Deep South. The first chapter will be posted soon.
 
That was actually one of the first TL’s I read when I joined this site. A very interesting and fun TL, and it being discontinued made me consider doing my own telling of the POD someday.
I honestly discontinued it because I thought it was too much of a CSA-TL (which inspired me to join this site in the first place) but several decades earlier and it's not uncommon for either the southern colonies to leave the USA early on or each state becomes its own country. And I was planning a Redux of my CSA Timeline at the time so there was too much overlap. Honestly, the concept of what we know as "the Northern states" I don't think existed yet because there was New England and the Middle Colonies in addition to the Southern colonies and they were all different from each other. With Confederate Victories no longer in my niche of interest (instead of focusing on the colonial and early American period), I figured that if I were to revive this, it would be best to not let just the South go but let the other regions go so that it's less cliche and less North vs South. I'm probably going to split the South into two countries as well. I credit @sampleswift for indirectly reviving my interest in this. Hopefully, this is much more successful.
 
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Gabingston

Kicked
Can you manage writing three timelines at once? I've only been working on the one for the past three years, so it must be challenging writing three of them simultaneously.
 
Can you manage writing three timelines at once? I've only been working on the one for the past three years, so it must be challenging writing three of them simultaneously.
At the end of the day I won’t abandon any of these three TL. Maybe a short term hiatus if I feel like one is more challenging than the others but that’s about it.
 
Hmm, I think that two groups of colonies will stay together, because of danger of reconquest by Britain.
For now I’m still in the planning stages for this TL so I will be generally updating my other two TLs first. Anyway, I do see your point here about the dangers of British reconquest.
 
Thanks for the shout-out and mention
I honestly discontinued it because I thought it was too much of a CSA-TL (which inspired me to join this site in the first place) but several decades earlier and it's not uncommon for either the southern colonies to leave the USA early on or each state becomes its own country. And I was planning a Redux of my CSA Timeline at the time so there was too much overlap. Honestly, the concept of what we know as "the Northern states" I don't think existed yet because there was New England and the Middle Colonies in addition to the Southern colonies and they were all different from each other. With Confederate Victories no longer in my niche of interest (instead of focusing on the colonial and early American period), I figured that if I were to revive this, it would be best to not let just the South go but let the other regions go so that it's less cliche and less North vs South. I'm probably going to split the South into two countries as well. I credit @sampleswift for indirectly reviving my interest in this. Hopefully, this is much more successful.
Thanks for the mention. I will probably add to my think tank today or tomorrow. I'm interested in this idea too.
 
Thanks for the shout-out and mention

Thanks for the mention. I will probably add to my think tank today or tomorrow. I'm interested in this idea too.
Your welcome. I’m still kind of sorry for giving up on the original version of this but then I saw yours and it was so good I thought I didn’t think I’d do nearly as well with it. Hopefully this feels more original.
 
Prologue: A Fragile Nation
Prologue: A Fragile Nation

596px-Shays_forces_flee_Continental_troops,_Springfield.jpg

The Treaty of Paris was signed in September 1783 by the Americans and British, officially bringing the American Revolutionary War to an end. Based on a previously negotiated preliminary treaty from the previous year, the agreement recognized the independence of the Thirteen Colonies from Britain and granted them all the territory between the Appalachian Mountains and Mississippi River that was to the South of the Great Lakes. The 1783 Treaty was one of several treaties signed at Paris in 1783 establishing peace between not only Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies but the anti-British coalition of France, Spain, and the Netherlands. The U.S. Confederation Congress ratified the treaty on January 14, 1784, but it still left several border regions in dispute, and certain provisions within the treaty could not be readily enforced. British global power continued to increase thanks to its economic growth fled by the early industrial evolution in spite of their loss. This meant that if the former colonies did not say together, then the British could put them back under their economic sphere of influence. At the same time, the victory in the American Revolution came at a major expense for the French. France accrued an enormous financial cost from fighting alongside the Americans, over a billion livres, and raised their debt to over three billion livres. Attempts to solve this would later trigger a Revolution that would forever change the fate of France.

Meanwhile, America was facing several issues of its own. During the American Revolution, the Thirteen Colonies replaced their royal colonial governments with republican ones, generally divided into legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Most state constitutions endorsed the legislative branch as the most powerful of the three as it was viewed as the most representative of the people. While power traditionally belonged to the executive and judicial branches, state governors here lacked significant authority, and state courts and judges were controlled by the legislative branch. On an interstate level, the thirteen states created a permanent alliance, the United States, which was to be governed by the Articles of Confederation, which operated more like an international treaty than a constitution. The Second Continental Congress adopted them in 1777 before they were later ratified nationwide. The nation was governed by the Congress of the Confederation, a unicameral legislature with representatives (one per state) elected via state legislatures. It could not levy tariffs or taxes, and it could not force states to pay delinquent funds. A supermajority (nine of the thirteen states) was required to pass major legislation like borrowing money, declaring war, and making treaties, with every state having effective veto power. Perhaps most stunningly of all, there was no executive nor judicial branches in the Confederation.

It soon became obvious the Confederation government was inadequate for resolving the numerous problems confronting the United States. Since states generally began to look out for their own interests rather than those of the alliance as a whole after the war, states started to refuse to provide funding for Congress. Hence, the government could not pay the interest on foreign debt, soldiers stationed in the Northwest Territory, or defend American navigation rights on the Mississippi River against European powers. In the early-mid 1780s, Rhode Island and New York vetoed an amendment that would have allowed Congress to levy taxes on imports in order to pay off the federal debt. Because the Confederation Congress also lack the power to regulate foreign and interstate commerce. Britain, France, and Spain imposed restrictions on American ships and goods as the US was could not legally retaliate against them. Simultaneously, when bigger states like Massachusetts and Pennsylvania placed reciprocal duties on British goods, their smaller neighbors established free ports to gain an economic advantage over them. Some states even began applying duties on other states. In 1784, Congress proposed an amendment to give it the power to regulate and conduct foreign trade but did not receive unanimous approval from state delegates. If the national government had limited economic power compared to the states, then what hope did the Confederational government have in general?

During the 1780s, state legislatures responded to calls for economic and debt relief by high proposing and collecting new taxes. The problem was that many people were unable to pay taxes and debts due to a struggling economic period brought on by the post-war panic. This was exacerbated by a scarcity of gold and silver coins that were previously quite common under British rule. The Massachusetts state government was notorious for failing to provide economic relief, particularly for hard-hit rural farmers. As a result, farmers led by Daniel Shays in the central and western parts of the state resorted to attempting to close down state courthouses near the city of Springfield before attempting to capture the military arsenal at the Springfield Armory. The rebellion lasted for six months from August 1786 to February 1787, and because of this, some Americans desired a national army that could put down similar insurrections. All of this worried the Founding Fathers that the United States was in danger of collapsing and splitting up. In September 1786, delegates from five states (Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia) met in Annapolis, Maryland at the Annapolis Convention to invite the other states to Philadelphia in 1787 to revise the Articles of Confederation at a bigger convention. Not every state that was invited would send delegates to Philadelphia though, influencing the outcome of the Convention.
 
I have a suggestion. That the nation in the Middle Colonies be a remnant/successor of the pre-collapse American government called something like “the Union of Columbia”. I’d have the capital be in a place like Princeton or Trenton instead of either Philadelphia or New York as a compromise.
 
I have a suggestion. That the nation in the Middle Colonies be a remnant/successor of the pre-collapse American government called something like “the Union of Columbia”. I’d have the capital be in a place like Princeton or Trenton instead of either Philadelphia or New York as a compromise.
I'll keep that in mind as I go along. On a separate note, looking back, I find it pretty stupid that it would just be the Deep South that secedes. Unlike OTL Civil War, here basically everyone has a grievance. That's another reason why I'm doing a redux, that and so it's not the "usual suspects seceding" plot.
 
Thing is, New England colonies/states would not just consist of only 6 OTL New England states. At that time, there were loads of New England settlers in Upstate New York and many other Midwest regions like Northern Ohio, Northwest Pennsylvania, Michihan. New England would push for the possession over these places.
 
Is the north gonna be called Columbia
One of them probably will get that name.

Another thing to consider is that Virginia (the largest colony) could very well end up going it alone, or trying to absorb some of its neighbors (particularly Maryland and Delaware).
 
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