I can try to defend myself saying they meant the Thirteen themselves.... :D
But, there was another unifying point to said Thirteen - they were all Anglo-founded (outside NY, which was at least in claimed English territory) settler colonies, the only mainland English colonies, and together...
I'm gonna buck up and say yes they could have: colonial unions were being proposed as early as 1697 by William Penn of all people (he wanted New York as capital) and such proposals continued sporadically to the Big One of the 1754 Albany Plan. We also saw Ben Franklin start to make some inroads...
The Spanish-speaking-and-settled areas back in 1846 very roughly match where Hispanic blood and culture form majorities or pluralities today:
-Texas below the TX-Colorado River
-Oklahoma panhandle
-Kansas below the Arkansas River
-Colorado below the Arkansas River and its San Luis Valley inside...
Whatever the exact borders, the less southern colonies the USA holds still ironically means less Francophilia, since the south from Virginia downward adored France while the north, especially New England, were the hotbeds of Anglophilia.
Granted, keeping NC and VA definitely keeps the bulk of...
Ah, Kentucky was created from Virginia just like Maine from Mass, and was contiguous with Virginia, mountains or not. That West Virginia was not happy with Virginia itself I forgot of, though. It would possibly be seen as just a neo-Kentucky situation that finally happened later than it should have.
MA and the revival of New Plymouth!
New York east of the Appalachians and Oswego River, "Genesee/Niagara" west of it.
East and West Jersey, natch. East being original NJ so to speak.
PA east of the Appalachians of course, "Allegheny/Westsylvania" west of them.
Illinois as we know it was...
I believe France wanted an expedition to recapture Acadia in general and not just Louisbourg, albeit that may be the Le Clue expedition spoken of. In which case, if we assume it succeeds or at least Louisbourg is recaptured, and St. John's is conquered, then France would probably gun for the...
Seeing even small timelines on independent Hispano - Neomexicano, Californio, and Tejano - states would be interesting, since at least Francophone (Creole/Cajun alike) Louisiana timelines get some attention at least.
Truth, though I do suspect a revived Royal Navy will still sweep them as much as it did the rest of the Caribbean the moment it can.
I do want to say while it's possible to make Spain even more victorious, and even likely with such a POD, I cannot stress just how bad Charles IV and Ferdinand...
I'd have to think in more detail on a lot of things but some things that strike me off the bat:
-Spain already saw a bit of a revival post-ARW in gaining the Floridas and Minorca, and Charles III actually being a decent king trying to reform the Spanish state and empire. Gibraltar would be a...
Requesting the 44-star American flag design here (https://anthonysfineart.com/products/44-star-american-wyoming-flag) but in the modern Wikipedia png format they use for their flags.
I think it'd cause popular unrest in Mexico, even accounting that many of the Neomexicanos and Californios were decidedly not happy living under Mexican rule by that point. Indeed, once hostilities broke out, New Mexico tried to proclaim independence.... only for Kearney to conveniently march in...
I have to imagine sooner or later it would get its own charter due to sheer distance. Plymouth Colony got one when it ended up settling in New England even though it was sailing under the Virginia Company's auspices (admittedly, it got blown into territory outside its suzereinity), this colony...