Idaho is in the northern west with a population under 2 million people and a conservative stronghold. But what if Idaho didn’t exist? Is there a way for Washington and Oregon annex the lands situated in the state?
WI: Idaho was never a state?
- Thread starter DragonballFan
- Start date
It is possible, just not as you may think. Although the territory was originally divided just between Washington and Oregon straight down the middle, an absence of another state or two being carved into the region would be unlikely since adding another 2 states twice the size of the rest of them and making them both free states due to them being above the Dixie Line wouldn’t go well because the Union states feared if any state became too powerful it could upset the balance between Slave and Free states and spark Civil War. If Idaho doesn’t exist to shrink the massive territories, some other state would with some different borders. So with the absence of a state such as Idaho, two states could come into existence. One to the north and one to the south looking probably similar to this. As to what they’d be named I’m not sure but I know the name ‘Idaho’ wouldn’t be used.
(Image was found off of Google and edited on procreate)
(This is also my first post, apologies if I didn’t follow a certain format or just spewed complete gibberish, let me know how I did)
(Image was found off of Google and edited on procreate)
(This is also my first post, apologies if I didn’t follow a certain format or just spewed complete gibberish, let me know how I did)
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1.As you mentioned the land could be annexed by Oregon and Washington, while looking for a means for them to do that I stumbled upon this.
2.It looks like upon Oregan being addmited into the union as a state that thier chunk of Idaho was transferred over to Washington in 1859 before it later being split between the Nebraska/idaho tarritorys in 1863 so it might also be possible to remove Idaho by having Washington retain it.
3.Alternatively instead of Idaho getting its own tarritory, have the entirety of it be folded into the Nebraska tarritory which if admited to the union as one state would be enormous (around the size of Texas) but empty. The chances of this happening I think are low but might be possible in a TL where the south needs to be appesed as the north grows in power. (Every state gets 2 senitors so despite its size it would remove a bunch of free state power in the senate)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebraska_Territory
(Just a shot in the dark about how this would happen but prehapse a timeline where the Mason Dixon line holds, the otl reason this spooked the south is becuse as more states where admited the free state vote would only grow so a means of keeping that fear at bay may be admiting most of the upper Mississippi as one state, in addition strict adhearance to the mason dixon line would mean Missouri becomes a free state and southern California may become a slave state)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason–Dixon_line )
3. Alternatively you could go 1 degree of division further and instead of haveing a united Nebraska have a united Dakota Territory
Dakota Territory - Wikipedia
Combining the modern population of these regions together, a alt state of west Dakota would have population of around 3 million based on otl numbers Likewise a alt east Dakota (otl combined north+south Dakotas) would have a combined population of 1.6 million
List of U.S. states and territories by population - Wikipedia
Minnesota Territory - Wikipedia
List of U.S. states and territories by population - Wikipedia
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