alternatehistory.com

First TL, so don't hold back. I can't improve without Criticism. I first wanted to do this after realizing that in Eurofed's USAO TL, the Louisiana Purchase happened when a Federalist was President, and that meant Napoleon would have driven a harder bargain than with Jefferson. Since the Purchase basically funded the Napoleonic Wars, a higher price would allow Napoleon to be more successful, and that has all kinds of effects on history.

This is a collaborative TL with Eurofed, and has the same initial PoD as his United States of the Americas and Oceania, which is Guy Carleton not taking quite good enough care of his stove...

#1

Excerpted from *AH.com, thread title of "Canada doesn't join the ARW?"

Benedict Arnold said:
Now don't cry ASB on me, hear me out first.

OTL, the Quebec Act did two things that pissed off the colonies. It gave everything north of the Ohio River and west of the Appalachians to the Hudson Bay Company, and extended the Irish Penal Acts to Canada.

But I was digging through the achieves of Parliament and discovered that the first reading of the Quebec Act was completely different from the one that eventually passed. It gave a fair portion of what became the North West Territory to Canada, and actually loosened the restrictions on Catholicism in the colonies.

What happened to change the bill so much? News reached London that Guy Carleton's house had burnt down during a Canadien protest about religious discrimination.

So, what if the conciliatory version of the Quebec Act had passed and kept Canada neutral instead of swinging them firmly into the Patriot camp?

Roman Eagle said:
The US could very well lose the war. There were several points where the Continental Army barely eked out a victory, such as at the Battle of Breed's Hill, and where the Continentals barely managed to escape decisive defeat, like the first Battle of New York. The addition of an additional front to keep an eye on could drain away enough men from New England to be decisive in the initial battles of the war.

If the US succeeds, it will likely be much longer than OTL, maybe extending into the 1780s. If the war lasts long that long, the US will likely end up heavily indebted to France and Spain, and unable to break from them as OTL. The US will probably end up more unitary and centralized, a) they will be more homogeneous without Canada, and b) they will have to be more organized to survive sharing a continent with their former masters.

TTL's US will definitely be weaker OTL, since they will effectively be confined to the East Coast. I just can't see that Britain would hand over the Ohio basin postwar since they only handed it over OTL because it was completely cut off from British control. TTL's US will probably end up a French satellite.

vult said:
Hmm, Canada is an interesting choice. I always thought the southernmost British colonies like Georgia or South Carolina were more likely to stay loyalist.

In any case, could this mean less British settlers in South Africa with more land nearby in North America?

Basil said:
Roman Eagle said:
TTL's US will definitely be weaker OTL, since they will effectively be confined to the East Coast. I just can't see that Britain would hand over the Ohio basin postwar since they only handed it over OTL because it was completely cut off from British control. TTL's US will probably end up a French satellite.

Even if somehow the the Americans could have pushed the British out of the Ohio basin, I can't imagine the British holding on to just Canada for long. The land they'd be left with would be poor and hard to sustain, at least not for a long time. If they don't just pull out entirely (except for Newfoundland), I can easily see the Canadiens either getting their own independance soon with American aid, or just swamped with American immigrants and squatters until they're so assimilated the British have no power left. In a few generations, any land held by the British in North America would be firmly under the USA's grasp.

Helmet of Mambrino said:
Huh, if Canada is loyalist maybe Arnold would die trying to conquer Quebec instead of in it's liberation?

Confederate Troll said:
If the USA is so weakened, there's also the question of how it effects Europe. Emperor Napoleon I would not have been able to do nearly as well without a strong US. The Unification Wars were bankrolled by the Louisiana Purchase.

There's also the possibility he never meets Ben Franklin, they only met by chance after all, and without his interest in the American Political Experiment he might try to make a French Empire instead of reviving Rome. Rome has had enough problems from France being first among equals, it might just fall apart if Napoleon I had presented himself as French instead of a Corsican.

--

1774: A minor protest about the Protestant Oath that government officers have to take occurs in Quebec, Guy Carleton manages to resolve it peacefully. However, while he is negotiating, his house burns down. By the time news reaches London that it was a problem with his stove, the newspapers had already whipped the population and Parliament into a frenzy against "Popist terror", which further worsens the British mood against agitation in the American colonies at large.

The Quebec Act that was being discussed loses all of its concessions, becoming in most respects an extension of the Irish-aimed Penal Laws to the Colonies. Additionally, the territory that would have been annexed to Quebec, instead went to the Hudson Bay Company.

The news of the legal restrictions being heaped on them whips the Canadien population into a massive outrage, much as the other Intolerable Acts do in the other 13 colonies. Carleton, seeing all his efforts to keep his colony quiet ruined by the British government's rashness, sends delegates to the First Continental Congress.

The annexation of everything between the Ohio River, Mississippi River, and Appalachian Mountains to the Hudson Bay Company greatly angers all of the North American colonies, generating Patriot sympathy in Nova Scotia as well.

1775: Quebec and Nova Scotia join the thirteen colonies in the American Revolution. The Continental Army liberates most of Canada by spring of 1776. A lucky offensive lead by Jonathan Eddy secures most of Nova Scotia for the Patriots as well, although Halifax remains a British stronghold.

1776: The 15 colonies sign the Declaration of Independence. New York and Quebec City are captured by the British but the Americans stubbornly fight on. Joseph Brant has a prophetic dream which causes him to unexpectedly switch to a pro-Patriot stance, leading the Iroquois Confederacy to join the ARW on the side of the Patriots. This event shall mold US culture towards an assimilationist acceptance of "civilized" Indians in American society. Brant's Dream gradually becomes a rather popular component of US political mythology (as well as the inspiration for the US Great Seal), as it apparently foretold Patriot victory in the ARW and America's rise to continental hegemony.

Brant’s Dream:
"Many nights ago, as I returned from London, God gave me a sign in a dream. I was walking by the seaside in the dawn, and a great Lion rose from the waves in the east, and a fierce Bald Eagle coalesced from the north and south, and they fought long and hard, and the earth trembled with their battle. And the Eagle stood, bloodied but victorious, and its cry of triumph pierced the sky, and the wounded Lion fled into the sea. And the Eagle took flight, and grew immense, and its wings spread from horizon to horizon. It seemed as if it carried fifteen arrows in its left talon, and an olive branch with fifteen leaves in its right talon. And I knew that the arrows meant destruction, and the branch prosperity. Suddenly, the Eagle locked eyes with me and spoke, 'It is upon you, Thayendanegea, which talon I grasp your people with. Remember when I fight the Lion.' Then I awoke, and over breakfast the Captain of the ship boasted that 'the British Lion will easily defeat the Colonial Eagle'

Often in the past I have advocated closer ties with Britain as a defense against the colonists. This must now stop, or our people will face sure destruction."

1777: The Americans win great victories liberating Quebec City and besieging New York. Benedict Arnold dies a heroic death during the battle of Quebec City and becomes a patriotic icon for Canadiens and Americans. France joins the American Revolutionary War.

1778: Spain joins the ARW as well. The Americans and the French beat back British assaults on Georgia and Florida is captured by the French and the Spanish.

1779: New York is finally captured by the Continental Army, Howe flees to Halifax. The peace party seizes control of the British Parliament. Due to the contribution of Canadiens and French to the liberation struggle, Hamilton later in life becomes an uncommitted pragmatist about American relationships with France and Britain.

1780: Benjamin Franklin goes to Paris to secure a peace treaty with the British. Negotiations begin with Britain. During the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, Britain conquers Capetown.

1781: Britain agrees to a peace treaty with France, Spain, and the Americans. It recognizes the 15 colonies as free and sovereign States (Canada, Georgia, Nova Scotia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island) and cedes them the territory between Florida, the Mississippi river, and the Allegheny mountains. Florida is ceded to Spain. The treaty guarantees ownership of Rupert’s Land to the Hudson Bay Company for 99 years, the United States may buy it at a later date. The HBC cannot cede the area to the British Crown or any other foreign state without the assent of the United States. All British forts will be turned over to the Americans as of 1788. United States fishermen are granted fishing rights off the coast of Labrador territory and British fishermen across the Great Lakes. The United States shall allow access from Rupert’s Land to the Great Lakes for Britain's fur trapping and fishing. British may still use the Mississippi river for trading with Spanish Louisiana and Great Britain and the United States are each to be given perpetual access to the Mississippi River. Prisoners of War on both sides are to be released and lawfully-contracted debts are recognized to be paid to creditors on either side. The Congress of the Confederation will 'earnestly recommend' to state legislatures to provide for the restitution of all estates, rights, and properties, which have been confiscated belonging to Loyalists to prevent future confiscations of property of Loyalists still within their boundaries. The latter provision shall never be acted upon, and the Loyalists begin an exodus from the United States. The Loyalists shall eventually settle in newly conquered South Africa mostly, and to a lesser degree Australia, Patagonia (after the British conquest), and Ireland.
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