In the alternate history I am working on, the Mexican cession includes Baja California. Originally I had planned on splitting California into California [upper Alta] and Colorado [Lower Alta and Baja]. But after researching a bit on exactly why Baja California is split in our timeline, I began to doubt that this alternate Colorado would want the lower section of Baja California.
What if in this alternate history, the California's are divided into two states [California and Colorado] and a Territory [Cortéz]? How might this alternate division affect American Politics? Would the Cortéz Territory eventually become its own state or would it eventually be merged with Colorado?
I ask this mainly because the division of California into two divisions in the case of a larger cession is a overly done stereotype.