What if no Seward's folly?

NothingNow

Banned
Well, considering it's only ever happened twice..

Louisiana, Alaska, and pretty much all of the Southwest came about through purchase, in four phases, while the USVI also counts,

I think Florida's actually the shakiest annexation the US ever pulled (Hawaii at least had a decent pretext,) since it was pretty much Jackson snatching the place from underneath Spain while dealing with the Seminoles.
 
Louisiana, Alaska, and pretty much all of the Southwest came about through purchase, in four phases, while the USVI also counts,

He said the Mainland, so the Virgin Islands would'nt count.

However, while the Southwest was purchased, it was not done so peacefully, but essentially after an unjustified war and by essentially holding a gun to Mexicos head.
 
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He said the Mainland, so the Virgin Islands would'nt count.

However, while the Southwest was purchased, it was not done so peacefully, but essentially after an unjustified war and by essentially holding a bullet to Mexicos head.

I was thinking that if the Russians manage to hold onto the territory until the gold rush, it'd result in something very similar to the Mexican-American War up on the tundra.

An influx of American and Canadian prospectors become dominant and try to set up their own "Alaska Republic" after clashing with the Russians - who will also be bringing in their own settlers to mine the gold. The immigrants seek annexation to America or Canada, but because the territory is so valuable and a part of a world power, it won't go as smoothly as OTL's coup in Hawaii and instead will result in war.

Edit: Thought a little bit more about this, and whether it pans out this way will depend on when gold is discovered in the region. If the PoD is an earlier gold rush - say, during the Civil War - that makes Russia decide to keep the territory, then the war and the open spaces left on the Great Plains will likely reduce the number of American settlers and it might become a Russian-Canadian conflict. If the PoD is America simply deciding the territory isn't worth it, then the gold rush might take place after the Civil War and resemble the situation seen above. If it takes place at the turn of the century as in OTL, then the Japanese could become involved if it degenerates into a wider war for Russian possessions in the Far East.

All of this would have produce large-scale butterflies that would affect the course of a WWI-analogue.
 
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Don't have Seward at the State Department in the late 1860s - it wasn't quite as ridiculed as is remembered but it certainly wasn't a popular buy.

I imagine it would remain Russian for some time, if the Americans don't want it, St. Petersburg will be less than keen to give it to Britain and/or Canada. Maybe they would eventually, if relations warm. If Anglo-American relations are good they might agree to split the territory between them.
 
Either the Canadians end up with Alaska, or the place becomes a Jewish state after the 1880's progroms lead to massive relocation of Russian Jews to the underdeveloped, tenuously held North American colony.

Hmmm, wasn't there a novel with this premise?

Anyway, a simple way to avoid the purchase is to have Alaska ceded to Britain after the Crimean war.

Regards

R
 
Hmmm, wasn't there a novel with this premise?

Anyway, a simple way to avoid the purchase is to have Alaska ceded to Britain after the Crimean war.

Regards

R

I don't think so. The Yiddish Policeman's Union has a significantly different premise.
 
He said the Mainland, so the Virgin Islands would'nt count.

However, while the Southwest was purchased, it was not done so peacefully, but essentially after an unjustified war and by essentially holding a bullet to Mexicos head.

I would contend that the merits of that war are debatable, but it's also not the only time the U.S. has purchased land as a result of a war it won. As a result of the 1898 war, yes, well after any POD denying Alaska to the Union, the Philippines were purchased.
 
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