So, I've been toying with the idea of an America that is essentially born divided in the aftermath of the Revolution. Washington dies, maybe of pneumonia or something soon after the Treaty of Paris. Shay's Rebellion is larger though somewhat less organized and manages to take Springfield Armory before being defeated in the tense Battle for Boston. The first Constitutional Convention (organized largely by Alexander Hamilton) is a disaster. Hamilton and Jefferson's virulent disagreements polarize the debate. Jefferson is outraged by Hamilton trying to "stack the deck" by inviting delegates selectively and trying to covertly scrap the Articles of Confederation. Even if they're both agreed that they need a new document, Jefferson has no trust for a figure like Washington to overcome his distrust for Hamilton. In the end Jefferson leaves with many of the Southern delegates. He organizes a new Constitutional Convention, but only invites delegates from the Southern states. Hamilton organizes a new Constitutional Convention with only Northern delegates, and the result is a more heavily Federalized North and a more decentralized South. The North is largely Anglophile/Francophobe (in the wake of the Revolution) and the South is largely Francophile/Anglophobe.
I want the first flashpoint to be not a Quasi-War with France, but a full-scale war between The North/Britain and The South/France. After Napoleon sells the Louisiana Territory to the Jeffersonian South, begins preying on Northern trade ships, and then invades Haiti with Southern support, the Hamiltonian North declares a war on France and the Jeffersonian South only technically distinct from the Coalition Wars. In the end, Haiti achieves its independence without paying reparations to France, the Hamiltonian North seizes the land around the Chesapeake, and maybe France pays the North some small reparations for the lost ships. In this war or perhaps in a future war, the South cedes St. Louis and divides the Louisiana Territory between North and South using the Missouri River as a border. Things ends with the North feeling much closer with its neighbors-in-arms the Canadians, and probably changes the way Canada unites in general. I'm thinking Canada might also be split up but allied when it seeks independence.
These details aren't set in stone, but they're definitely clearer than the future. I want the North to use Haiti as a destination for freedmen instead of Liberia. How does this Haiti fare? Can it succeed free from the shackles of the French debt? Will the influx of American blacks destabilize the country or bring it greater wealth, manpower, and brainpower? What might the Caribbean look like deeper in the future? I don't think the North will want to expand beyond the boundary of the Missouri River. It may be interested in protectorates, but it wants to be the Britain of the New World and control things with cash. I don't want the South to be utterly screwed, but I'm not sure how to avoid it. It will probably swallow Texas, but I don't know what happens further West. Britain probably grabs Oregon with little contest. Maybe an independent California, or California as a Northern protectorate? Maybe California stays with Mexico? I don't know.
Any thoughts on this burgeoning world?
I want the first flashpoint to be not a Quasi-War with France, but a full-scale war between The North/Britain and The South/France. After Napoleon sells the Louisiana Territory to the Jeffersonian South, begins preying on Northern trade ships, and then invades Haiti with Southern support, the Hamiltonian North declares a war on France and the Jeffersonian South only technically distinct from the Coalition Wars. In the end, Haiti achieves its independence without paying reparations to France, the Hamiltonian North seizes the land around the Chesapeake, and maybe France pays the North some small reparations for the lost ships. In this war or perhaps in a future war, the South cedes St. Louis and divides the Louisiana Territory between North and South using the Missouri River as a border. Things ends with the North feeling much closer with its neighbors-in-arms the Canadians, and probably changes the way Canada unites in general. I'm thinking Canada might also be split up but allied when it seeks independence.
These details aren't set in stone, but they're definitely clearer than the future. I want the North to use Haiti as a destination for freedmen instead of Liberia. How does this Haiti fare? Can it succeed free from the shackles of the French debt? Will the influx of American blacks destabilize the country or bring it greater wealth, manpower, and brainpower? What might the Caribbean look like deeper in the future? I don't think the North will want to expand beyond the boundary of the Missouri River. It may be interested in protectorates, but it wants to be the Britain of the New World and control things with cash. I don't want the South to be utterly screwed, but I'm not sure how to avoid it. It will probably swallow Texas, but I don't know what happens further West. Britain probably grabs Oregon with little contest. Maybe an independent California, or California as a Northern protectorate? Maybe California stays with Mexico? I don't know.
Any thoughts on this burgeoning world?
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