The expansion of the US was tied in every way to slavery. The south wanted to expand it, so the north needed to expand so they wouldn't be overrun commercially with the system. The war with Mexico was in part because the Republic of Texas had hazy borders with Mexico, so when they joined the union, suddenly we had very messy borders there too, resulting in a war- and of course, the RoT largely existed because of the white settlers that had revolted to keep slavery. Similarly, the South was infamous for wanting to take over Cuba, which was right across from Florida and had a large robust slave plantation economy. The north, however, wasn't in the mood to deal with such a war, or the dying and decrepit Spanish empire. However, there's another Caribbean island of notable size, while also being smaller, and importantly, not controlled by a European state that still had something of a respectable navy: Haiti. Haiti was diplomatically isolated for much of its early history because none of the European powers (including the states) wanted to recognize a free black republic.
So, what if during an expansion-minded southern president, the US invaded- successfully- takes Haiti? Perhaps Britain never impresses US sailors, so James Madison has a better domestic situation, and the southern plantation owners want to snipe up Haiti while its nation is young before it inspires their slaves?
I doubt it would become a state until decades later- even if it's a reasonable place to colonize, it's still fairly far from the core of Appalachia, and it has a very large black population that, for lack of a better phrase, the military would need to suppress. But I'm curious about how long people feel it would take, and how this would effect the borders of other states. Would a part of the OTL upper confederacy be forced into being a free state? Would Maine become its own thing sooner? What would those mean for the civil war? How would haiti evolve after the war?
I suspect that there would be more naval stuff in the south, which might even the playing field a little bit industrially, and make the anaconda plan harder to pull off. After the war, I suspect that Haiti would likely be one of if not the most inequal states in the union, with a wealthy white population dominating the vast majority black population, who would be very disenfranchised, similar to the other parts of the deep south,
So, what if during an expansion-minded southern president, the US invaded- successfully- takes Haiti? Perhaps Britain never impresses US sailors, so James Madison has a better domestic situation, and the southern plantation owners want to snipe up Haiti while its nation is young before it inspires their slaves?
I doubt it would become a state until decades later- even if it's a reasonable place to colonize, it's still fairly far from the core of Appalachia, and it has a very large black population that, for lack of a better phrase, the military would need to suppress. But I'm curious about how long people feel it would take, and how this would effect the borders of other states. Would a part of the OTL upper confederacy be forced into being a free state? Would Maine become its own thing sooner? What would those mean for the civil war? How would haiti evolve after the war?
I suspect that there would be more naval stuff in the south, which might even the playing field a little bit industrially, and make the anaconda plan harder to pull off. After the war, I suspect that Haiti would likely be one of if not the most inequal states in the union, with a wealthy white population dominating the vast majority black population, who would be very disenfranchised, similar to the other parts of the deep south,
