The United Provinces of America

This is an excerpt from an American textbook, showing a snapshot of the country circa 2050.

In this world's past, Britain was less conciliatory to its new French subjects in America. A large change came with the death of Guy Carleton in 1763, near the very end of the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War), which deprived Quebec of a competent governor in the years following. Instead of receiving the conciliatory Quebec Acts, harsher laws were put into place to try and keep the non-English and largely Catholic population in line. By 1772, the Ohio Valley and a large portion of the western Great Lakes were set aside for the Hudson Bay Company, which incensed both the 13 colonies and Quebec alike. On top of this, the lower colonies felt Britain had continued to ignore their voices in government and overtaxed them to repay for a war they hadn't started, while the early Canadiens were outraged over the attempted restrictions on their religion and the violent expulsion of the Acadians only a few years before. British North America became a powder keg that would soon explode. 

Not all of the colonies would be as eager to rebel, however. As in our own timeline, East and West Florida remained loyal to the crown, while Georgia held out the longest to remain neutral before the governor was "persuaded" by the arrival of British troops. Britain lacked the foothold in Canada at this time, and so instead focused on their territories in the south and northern Maritimes. It is from these bases of operation that forays into the colonies were made. Boston, New York and a number of other key cities were occupied, while the Carolinas (which had the largest loyalist sentiment remained) were successfully invaded from the south. Pushing into the American hinterland, however, proved to become impossible, especially as Spain and France began to help the rebels. 

The war would continue until 1778, when a settlement was finally made. Prisoners of war were exchanged, debts on both sides settled, and most importantly terms for national recognition made. Britain relinquished all its claims to the old colonies, while America would do the same for all territory south of Virginia (which would eventually become known as Anglia) and to the Maritimes (Newfoundland and Labrador, which remained British). Boundaries were established which gave America control of the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi was settled to remain perpetually open to both American and British ships.

America spent the following decade completing its new constitution and organizing its government. The Federalist faction under Hamilton, Arnold, and others would eventually gain the upper hand, though only after large concessions were made to guarantee key rights in the new provinces. The largest question, however, was over Canada. 

The Canadiens valued their religious freedom and cultural identity outside of their Anglo neighbors. While a significant number distrusted the southern provinces, others saw few other options. While ideas of rejoining France were floated around, it never developed much traction as many Canadiens felt that the motherland had betrayed them to Britain. There was of course independence, but the peace treaty was very specifically between that kingdom and America, not a separate Quebec. Independence could easily mean falling under British dominion again, especially after potentially estranging America by the move. In the long run, immediate independence could have proven to hurt their sovereignty even more. In the end, they agreed to join the rest of the provinces, though only if they had special protections to help preserve their culture and language. The region would be divided into two provinces, Upper Canada and Lower Canada (Hudson province would later on be carved out from Lower Canada; Huron province from Upper Canada).

Throughout the following century Americans would move along the Ohio Valley and push further west. Despite the war, relations with Britain became warmer as both became important trading partners. These relations would be quickly tested in the early decades of the 1800s, however.

Increasing instability in France would erupt into outright civil war and revolution, which would have repercussions across the world. After the French King was deposed, America stopped repaying the debts it had accrued during the revolutionary war, since the government they were in debt to technically no longer existed. The new French regime, of course, disagreed. French attacks on American merchants would eventually lead to open war in 1799. After fighting each other barely two decades before, American and British forces were now working together against a common foe instead. 

A source of tension came from the invasion of Louisiana. While the Americans were largely free to push into the northerly wilderness, Britain was concerned over the plan to sail down the Mississippi and plant an American flag in New Orleans. As far as they were concerned, the treaty agreement to stop American settlement and claims south of Virginia extended as far West as America did, however far that may be. The Americans, on the other hand, felt that it would only extend to the Mississippi itself, leaving the lands south-west of it open game. 

New Orleans was one of, if not the most, important port city on the entire continent, and neither America nor Britain wanted it to fall into the others' hands, since it would potentially threaten their power in the entire region. Eventually Britain would enforce its interpretation of the treaty, while the Americans ensured that none of the territory would become British either. A strip of land along the coast which included New Orleans would become a free state whose independence would be guaranteed by both Britain and America on threat of war. Further along the interior, religious fundamentalists descended from the Acadians who fled there a generation before would form another nation, Zion, which while independent would end up under American influence. The large territory north of the Missouri river would be open for America to annex, as Britain had few interests and little ability to project power there regardless (a small strip of territory south of the Missouri would later on be ceded from Zion to America after the Louisiane War). 

After the conclusion of the war two years later, things settle back down. The American military became increasingly involved with fighting the Indian tribes and confederations on the Great Plains as the UPA built settlements on their ancestral lands, and in return were often raided. Many of the tribes were continuously pushed further west, but it was hardly an easy process for the invading Americans. A solution would eventually be found in Congress to deport and settle the various hostile tribes in a new nation centered on the Arkansas river, Indiana, which would serve as an release valve for tribes to flee to, while also becoming an American protectorate and buffer against México, which had started to become more involved in the region.

American and British interests would converge once again in the mid-19th century, when the then-current nativist Méxican regime under President Francisco attempted to close off outside trade and immigration. Britain was largely concerned with the first, while America upset with the latter.

American merchants and landsteaders had been settling around the Great Salt Lake and California for over three decades at that point; they always moved with the unstated promise of protection from the American government, elements of which saw it as a part of their evident destiny to stretch to the Pacific. The settlers' widespread support for the previous regime, however, made them easy targets for the new Méxican President. As far as México was concerned, they were squatters who had illegally immigrated to their lands, and would have to swear fealty to the new President or face deportation or imprisonment (and some rumored firing line for unruly communities). Many of the American expats saw President Francisco as illegitimate, however, on accusations of a rigged election, and many had their businesses destroyed, farms burned, and families forced to head back east. 

This would ultimately serve as a casus belli for America to declare war in order to "protect the interests of its citizens abroad." What was originally supposed to be a war easily won in less than a few months would become a quagmire, however. The Méxican forces proved better disciplined than the Americans had originally expected, and the UPA forces also suffered from over-extended supply lines running across the Great Plains. While the much more industrialized America still had the advantage, it would prove a much harder and bloodier fight than they planned for. 

Fortunately for the provinces, and unfortunately for México, the war did not exist in a vacuum. Separatist groups all around the nation seized their chances, especially now that they had military support from America and material support from Britain. The Mayans in Yucatán and Zapotecs in Oaxaca would re-ignite previous fights for autonomy and sovereignty, while the settlers in California and the north-eastern plains would do the same. 

While Britain was interested in expanding its colony westward and committing forced to help in México, it was largely pre-occupied by a popular uprising in India combined with violence breaking out in its southern American domain over the recent phasing out of slaves, which was to take place over the next five years (this widespread tension would eventually result in Carolina from becoming a separate colony from the rest of Anglia). 

The war would finally end when President Francisco and his ruling party were overthrown in an internal coup and replaced with a new government, which immediately sued for peace in the unpopular war. America secured its claims to northern California and the Oregon territory at this point, making sure none of its new borders dipped too far south to violate its oldest treaty. The remainder of California was organized into a new nation, though its borders would continuously shift under new agreements and negotiations for years after. A part of the north was also spun off into the new country of Táysha, named for a local Indian word meaning "land of friends." This was an attempt to try and reflect cooperation between its diverse population, made up of native tribes, Indians who migrated from the north fleeing America, Zionese and Louisians settlers and freed slaves from the east, and an assortment of American and Méxican farmers and ranchers. 

Even though America was victorious, it was largely left soured by the thought of war. A part of the population felt that their husbands and sons were fighting and dying for no better reason than to guard people who had willingly abandoned their country and its protections. The romanticism of war was tarnished from stories of men dropping like flies to thirst and disease without ever firing a shot or seeing an enemy soldier, in lands which wouldn't even be annexed under America but given away to other new countries. This period marked a shift in American priorities, especially not that it finally reached the Pacific. A large part of the budget and national support was given to consolidating and developing the vast tracts of nearly-empty lands instead of trying to gain more through bloodshed. 

That is not to say, however, that America would not continue to grow. Between 1850 and 1900 three major land purchases would be made, first from the Russian Empire for Alyeska, Aleutian Islands, and a portion Chukotka; the second would be with Britain over Rupert's Land and Arctic territories. These two purchases would stretch America far north to the Arctic circle and give it access to new sources of gold, timber, furs and other resources. The third and final purchase would be the smallest, but also the most expensive. Following the revolution, Bermuda had become a strategic asset to trade with America as well as serve as a forward military base. However, the long-standing peaceful relations between the two countries, combined with the peaceful transition to home rule of Britain's main American colonies, diminished the focus the Royal Navy paid the island. In 1899 Bermuda was sold for $23.5 million and was incorporated as a county in Virginia. 

While the island was becoming less important to Britain, America was becoming more and more interested in securing locations like it for its growing navy. With access to the Pacific, trade routes were able to be firmly established over the years with China and the East Indies. This brought in a great amount of wealth, but also increased the rick of piracy, especially from Perú and Malacca. Because of this it became more important to strengthen its navy and ability to project power. This also brought increased interest in the building of a canal to bypass South America entirely. While one was started in Panamá, disease and lack of funds would cause it to eventually be abandoned in favor of the Miskito canal further north. 

The UPA would spend the first decade of the 20th century concerned with securing coaling stations across the Pacific and continuing its internal projects of railroads and canals. Outside its borders, however, the world was quickly changing. A succession crisis in the Ottoman Empire combined with failed republican revolutions devolved into a widespread civil war. The European powers had long been chipping away at the weakening Empire, and now that it seemed to be falling apart at the seams they all started to rush in to carve its territory up amongst themselves. Part of this included the French capture of large parts of the Maghreb and joint Franco-Italian forces invading Egypt and installing an Italian protectorate there. 

This caused a crisis in Britain as the Suez canal, which was built with British capital and kept open by treaty, was now threatened. Without access to the canal, the Empire would face much longer travel times for its merchants and armies alike going to and from India, the crown jewel. An ultimatum was made for the French and Italian troops to withdraw from Egypt or face open war. They chose to remain. 

Other powers would soon be drawn in. At this point France, Italy, and Spain shared mutual alliances and promises of defense. France was of course the most powerful of the three, and was itself lead by the Revanchists who wanted to restore French prestige and global influence, as well as fight against the recently unified Austro-Germany and its occupation of Alsace-Lorraine and the Low Countries. Russia, and later on China, would also join this makeshift alliance as they had positive relationships with France and a common interest in pushing Britain out of their spheres of influence. 

On the other side, Britain and Germany were strange bedfellows. The wave of unification following the collapse of the Holy Roman corpse, which included the Austrian Empire, had gone against British interests of maintaining the balance of power on the continent. An industrial nation stretching from Dalmatia to Transylvania to the Baltic had the potential to become a hegemon and threaten Britain, and so it had made numerous attempts to thwart their plans. Now, however, both nations had a common interest in keeping the Egyptian canal open to all, as well as common enemies in France, Italy and Russia. What would have originally been a localized war was quickly becoming a global affair.

America remained neutral throughout the first two years of the war, much to the chagrin of the Alliance and especially Britain. This would change, however, after France began torpedoing American vessels in the Atlantic and Pacific for supplying Britain with food and weapons. Another important factor was California formally entering La Ligue and disrupting trade along the Gulf of California. 

Over the next three years the powers would grind themselves down, with the greater Allied resources winning out. Joint Méxican-American forces would overrun California and reach San Gabriel by the spring of 1923, and elsewhere French colonial possessions would be occupied and cut off from the metropole. Spain would be the first of La Ligue to surrender, followed soon by China. Italy would fall and the north of the country occupied by Germany, while France itself was divided into temporary occupation zones by the different powers. Russia itself would be the last to accept defeat, and once the French front fell, Allied forces would quickly take away its gains in Eastern Europe and eventually cut it off from the Ukraine and access to the Baltic sea altogether. 

The destruction of the war and bankrupted Allies would mark the beginning of the end for most European colonial empires. Many American factories and farms, however, remained untouched and at full-production. It was during this period that the country began to exert a great deal of power outside of its own continent. As new nations achieved independence across Africa and Asia, the UPA stepped in to provide support and pull them away from the old spheres of influence, especially France's. 

An exception was made for the Pacific territories under American occupation. Prior to the war, large American expat communities already existed on the islands of Nouvelle-Zélande and Tuanau, descended from whalers, fishermen and merchants, and now that it became clear they would be carved off from l'Empire sizable numbers of French families left to move back to the metropole. Like other colonies, memorandums were set to be held after a number of years so that they could determine their future, but there was widespread controversy after the islands voted to remain in the UPA and become new provinces. America claimed the elections were fair, while others pointed out most fair elections don't allow the occupying military forces to vote. Similar votes would be held in Polynesia, Nouvelle-Calédonie and Fiji; the first two voted to remain in America's commonwealth, while the last became fully independent (it should be noted there was a vastly smaller military garrison left in Fiji).

It was in the decade following this point that Britain's American colonies would have similar votes. Anglia and Carolina became independent states, though the British monarch would remain their head of state. The Maritimes, which had long been culturally influenced and extremely economically integrated with the neighboring provinces, became two new provinces in the UPA. 

The world would settle down as the powers in the post-war period developed the World Council, an attempt to prevent another World War. The development of atomic arms would make this goal easier to attain, while also making it vastly more important to strive for. 

By the last half of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st, America would lose some of its prestige as the premier industrial power through a combination of fully recovered European powers and the rapid growth of Indian and Chinese industries and markets. Both of the latter two countries were massive realms, both geographically and demographically, which America simply couldn't out-compete with forever. Many post-colonial nations would fall out of the American sphere of influence and into either the Indian or Chinese, or even back with their former colonizers. 

This period of losing international relevance would be internally marked by America becoming more isolationist once again. Its large population and vast tracts of sparsely populated lands and mineral wealth gave it more freedom to further withdraw from global affairs. Its major concerns returned back to the North American continent, especially as it increased investment and integration with its southern neighbors. By the start of the 2000's this would also take the form of investment in environmental sustainability and new infrastructure projects to try and preserve coastlines, push back desertification, encourage reforestation, and creating a water pipeline network connected to coastal desalination plants. 

The effects of centuries of industrialization were now impossible to ignore, and with its massive border, stretching across many areas that are barely inhabited, keeping out hordes of economic and environmental migrants would be nearly impossible. This made investment in the other American nations even more important, as strengthening those nations would make people less likely to flee from them for new opportunities elsewhere.

There were also other changes further north. For all its history the far northern frontier had been sparsely populated, and only spiked during the occasional goldrush. But as the glaciers an ice retreated, the Northwest Passage that had long been sought after finally became a reality for part of the year. This brought a new wave of immigration from the southern provinces as people were needed to work in new ports, fueling stations and more as barges too large to fit through the Miskito canal started to travel north. What was once a large territory with little development was now populated enough to become the new province of Aurora.

As of 2050, the states and territories of the UPA are:
AB - Athabaska
AD - Arnold
AK - Alyeska
AN - Allen
AS - Assiniboia
AU - Aurora
BA - Beringia Territory
CO - Colorado
CT - Connecticut
DE - Delaware
FN - Franklin
HD - Hudson
HN - Hamilton
HR - Huron
IS - Illinois
JN - Jefferson
KN - Keewatin Territory
LC - Lower Canada
LR - Labrador
MD - Maryland
ME - Maine
MI - Missouri
MN - Michigan
MS - Massachusetts
NA - Nevada
NC - Nouvelle-Calédonie Commonwealth
ND - Newfoundland
NH - New Hampshire
NI - Naskapi Territory
NJ - New Jersey
NK - Nootka
NS - Nova Scotia
NY - New York
NZ - Nouvelle-Zélande
OH - Ohio
ON - Oregon
PA - Pennsylvania
PY - Polynesia
RI - Rhode Island
RM - Rocky Mountain Territory
SO - Sacramento
SR - Superior
SY - Sunbury
TA - Transylvania
TU - Tuanau
UC - Upper Canada
VA - Virginia
VT - Vermont
WG - Winnipeg
WN - Washington
WS - Wabash
YE - Yellowstone