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I was browsing the forums as I usually do and came across this thread which I found very interesting. I've been wanting to do an TL for a while now and this really caught my attention. Essentially it is trying to keep the "Wild West" in the classical sense as long as possible.

To me, this seems like a really cool idea for me to work on when I'm bored in class.

A few considerations:

1.
Simple; less European immigration in the mid-, and late-, 19th century. The West remains wild because there's not enough people to populate it.

Simplified, America was seen as the land of opportunity. This TL needs it to be established that America is socially in disarray and does not present the same opportunities as elsewhere would. An interesting splinter would be another country being seen as the "land of opportunity". Brazil perhaps? Canada? South Africa?

2. In order for a socially dis-repaired America, we need the Civil War to drag a bit and for Reconstruction to fail more than it did.

3.
No barbed wire and delayed railroads and telegraphs, for starters.

We are also looking to see if we can slow down the creation of railroads. The Transcontinental Railroad was finished in 1869, so delaying that as long as possible would be necessary.

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Here's my idea so far. Obviously, keeping ASB to a minimum.

In 1865, with the Confederacy on the brink of destruction, Jefferson Davis advises his armies to begin fighting a guerrilla war against the Union. General Robert E. Lee of course disapproves of this greatly and writes a letter to the president attempting to dissuade him.

The POD is that either Lee never writes this letter, or it never reaches Davis and the Confederacy begins fighting a guerrilla war.

This extends the American Civil War, though the guerrilla war proves more to be an annoyance than actually effective. Lincoln is assassinated by a Confederate backed Booth in 1865, and Johnson takes the seat of U.S. President. Wanting to a swift end to the war, he allows General Sheridan to run down suspected guerrillas, plundering and tearing up infrastructure along the way and General Sherman to march from the Carolinas straight to Richmond, utilizing his scorched earth policy.

Robert E. Lee attempts to convince his men to surrender and that it was now "time for reunion and rebuilding". He was granted amnesty in return for surrendering and did so with a few thousand men in late 1865.

By 1866, Sherman had captured Richmond, proclaimed a national hero and the Confederacy surrendered.

The rest is just a rough outline:

Andrew Johnson attempts reconstruction and fails miserably. There is no Northern sympathy for the South due to guerrillas having regularly attacked civilian buildings during the war.

Amnesty (other than to Lee and his detachment) is given, but former rebels are not granted voting privileges.

Johnson is not re-elected, and in 1969 the popular William T. Sherman is elected president. He puts forward harsh reconstruction policies, stifling the Southern economy causing widespread unrest.

Many southerners move west, while many northerners move south.

Native attacks on homesteaders become quite frequent.

The south is made up mostly of former slaves and American Army detachments serving as a police force.

America seems less attractive as a place for immigration.


That's all I have so far. What do you guys think?
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