The Largest Possible United States of America

Could the U.S.A. have gained control of Canada during the war of 1812? Control of Mexico during the Mexican - American war or during the Texas Revolution? What about the Caribbean? How many states could we have in such a scenario?
 
Wow, a friend and I were actually discussing this scenario a few weeks ago. Admittedly ASB it involved Canada joining the Revolution, a full conquest of Mexico in 1848, joining in the Scramble for Africa, annexation of German colonies after WW1, and finally annexation of France, Germany, and the Low Countries after WW2. Admittedly, that's very ASB and ignores the butterfly effect. I plan to eventually make a map for this scenario.

If you are looking for a more plausible scenario that takes the butterfly effect into account, I'm afraid I haven't got a single answer. My personal opinion is that a US that was so expansionist would have to be radically different than OTL, so its hard to say exactly what decisions would be made.
 
IMHO some of the possible additions:
1. part or all of Canada (say Quebec joins the Revolution, cutting off Ontario & west from the UK so that becomes de facto USA eventually.
2. Dominican Republic (almost happened)
3. More of Mexico (not all) after Mexican-American War
4. Cuba (it decides it wants to be part of USA not independent)
5. More Pacific Islands
6. More Caribbean islands

adding a lot more than this would be almost ASB
 
I forgot Quebec almost joined the revolutionaries.
Nova Scotia was closer to joining the revolution than Quebec ever was. Do you really think the Catholics in Quebec wanted to be ruled by autocratic Protestants? They knew they received a pretty good deal from the British Crown and to throw that all away and roll the dice with the rebels? I think not.
 
Possibilities would include parts of Mexico, the Philippines, Cuba, Nicaragua, Panama, Dominican Republic, Haiti, various Caribbean islands, Midway, full state status for Guam and Puerto Rico, additional Pacific islands....
 
Nova Scotia was closer to joining the revolution than Quebec ever was. Do you really think the Catholics in Quebec wanted to be ruled by autocratic Protestants? They knew they received a pretty good deal from the British Crown and to throw that all away and roll the dice with the rebels? I think not.

Yet, Basse-Louisiane did well within the US despite being a vast catholic majority. These sorts of mental road blocks hinder what we can do with alternate history...

Read up on late Archbishop of Louisiane, Antoine Blanc (1835-1860) and his successors to see catholic positions in the US by a francophone state. It was not an issue. Mind you, Louisiane did not have an anglophone Archbishop until as late as 1918. And from 1835-1918, all were from Europe and primarily France or Belgium.
 
If the USA wanted to conquer Canada, it would be best to launch an invasion while Britain is distracted by the Napoleonic Wars.
Launching an invasion during the early phases of Napoleon's wars would reduce the numbers of United Empire Loyalists defending Canada. Also consider that only the first wave of UEL were true royalists. Timing is critical when invading Nova Scotia. The USA would have to wait two or three years until UEL realized that soil was too thin for plantations.
Most of the "late loyalists" (my ancestors) only emigrated to southern Quebec for the free land. Britain feared that late loyalists would resume trade with their relatives in New England, which is why they forbade French-Canadians from settling near the New Hampshire border and surveyed the Eastern Townships radically differently than seigneuries along the St. Lawrence.
Example, when a high school chum was renovating an old house, he found Boston newspapers dating back to 1863!

For a US invasion to succeed, they need to convince Québécois of two possible outcomes: 1 - the motherland has abandoned them.
2 - Religious freedom within the USA is preferable to enforced conversion to the Church of England. This is the best angle to convince Catholic priests, who held the real power in most A
Québécois communities
Not that Québécois peasant opinions mattered a whole lot ... most were just glad they did not get conscripted into interminaable European Wars.

Timing is also important in Upper Canada (present-day Ontario) because that determines the numbers of Loyalists to repel an invasion.
American politicians might be able to convince more natives (e.g. Joseph Brandt) with the truth about their ultimate fate in disease-ridden resevervations "gifted" by the King.

Er .... probably best to not tell natives about the genocide Americans later inflicted on Plains Indians. ... er ..... can we change the subject?
 
Nova Scotia was closer to joining the revolution than Quebec ever was. Do you really think the Catholics in Quebec wanted to be ruled by autocratic Protestants? They knew they received a pretty good deal from the British Crown and to throw that all away and roll the dice with the rebels? I think not.

Autocratic? Huh? I take it none of the Catholics involved in the Revolution were aware that their compatriots were planning on establishing a Protestant tyranny.
 
In my opinion, the following list is the largest that the United States of America could of realistically been had things gone differently, including OTL US territory.

Anyways;

1. Cuba: There was an attempt IOTL to purchase it from Spain during Pierce's Presidency in the 1850s, but it never came to be. This could have happened, or Cuba could have been annexed to the US after an alternate Spanish-American War.
2. Santo Domingo/Dominican Republic: This kinda came close to happening in the early 1870s. It wasn't a hugely popular thing for either party, but had things gone right it could have come to pass.
3. Canada: The USA capturing Canada during the War of 1812 is pretty hard to see happening. What is much more plausible is the USA conquering, occupying and annexing Canada after an alternate war or world war between the US and the British Empire.
4. More of Mexico: e.i. Baja California, Chihuahua, Sonora and the Yucatan. For the US to annex all of Mexico is much more implausible.
5. More Caribbean Islands: The USA could have conquered or purchased all of the British, French and Dutch Caribbean islands after an alternate war of some kind or an alternate world war. The USA could have also conquered or purchased the Colombian islands in the Caribbean.
6. More Pacific Islands: The USA could have conquered or purchased all of the British, French, Spanish and minor Japanese Pacific islands after an alternate war or an alternate world war.
7. British Honduras: The USA could have conquered or purchased it after an alternate war or world war with Britain.
8. The British, French and Dutch Guianas: The USA could have conquered or purchased them after an alternate world war. Also a good place for NASA or its ATL analog might I add.
9. St. Pierre and Miquelon: The USA could have conquered or purchased it after an alternate war or world war with France.
10. Greenland and/or Denmark: The USA could have conquered or purchased it after an alternate war or world war with Denmark.
11. Panama: It could have been annexed by the USA instill of becoming a new republic.
12. Nicaragua or other Central American nations: If William Walker was more successful.
13. Liberia: It could have been an American colony.
14. Some random part of Africa: They could have been a part of alternate Liberia or its own colony.
15. German and/or British New Guinea: The USA could have conquered it after an alternate war or world war with Germany and/or Britain and Australia.
16. Some Russian Siberian Islands: The USA could have conquered or purchased them after an alternate war or world war with Russia.
17. Galapagos Islands: It happened in the timeline A New Balance after Ecuador went to hell in a hand basket, so why not?
 
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