DBWI: If Western Columbia had not been sold to the United States would the attempt at Canadian Confederation have succeeded?
- Thread starter colonel
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I don't see any reason why Western Columbia remaining a British colony would make any ridiculous effort to establish a "Canadian Confederation" succeed. The people of Upper and Lower Canada belonged to different cultures with different political traditions; the idea that adding more colonies together would let them have some sort of two-tiered structure that offered all things to all people may have had a brief vogue but it never made sense. Splitting the British colonies into Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland was the only sensible solution.
Look at the West Indies Federation, or the British attempt to federate Natal with the Boer Republics- "two-tiered federalism to let us retain all our territory without the political conflicts that come with it" is simply not a realistic concept for a democratic country.
Look at the West Indies Federation, or the British attempt to federate Natal with the Boer Republics- "two-tiered federalism to let us retain all our territory without the political conflicts that come with it" is simply not a realistic concept for a democratic country.
Not to mention the Fenech population of Quebec. The eventual independence of the nation was no surprising.
To make a long story short.....this often is quite surprising to many Americans in particular, but this actually came fairly close to happening IOTL and was seriously considered for some time even after the former Western Columbia was annexed: only after the Great Splintering of 1896-1907 did the dream of a Canadian confederation die out for good, with Ontario and Newfoundland proper(Labrador initially was jointly claimed by Quebec and the U.S., before it became a U.S. state in 1957) joining the U.S. and the former Maritime colonies(previously part of "Greater Newfoundland" between 1880 and then) becoming consolidated into Micmacea in 1907, not to mention Quebec's and Manitoba's independence(though Manitoba had an easier time of it as it wasn't even incorporated when the first attempt at confederation fell through).
In any case, this could have some very interesting knock-on effects, especially with popular culture. Vancouver, Cascadia IOTL eventually became America's "second Hollywood" starting in the 1970s, and the Yukon is well-known for being the setting of a couple of the most famous "Arctic Westerns" in the 1960s and '70s(George T. Bush as Dudley Doolittle in "Dudley of the Yukon", especially, has inspired a whole bunch of pop-culture cliches + references over the decades)-could something similar happen with a Canadian *Cascadia?
There is some truth to this, but it's worth noting that these divisions actually were lessening over time up until the initial failure of confederation, and only from 1880 onwards did they really begin to accelerate again(and there is some evidence that expansionist parties here in the U.S. may have exacerbated some of those divisions, in both the Democratic and Republican parties, even including good old Pres. Chester A. Arthur himself!).
Yes, but the West Indies Federation really only fell apart because of constant mismanagement(and, frankly, a little bit of laziness on the end of the Tories)....and as for the Federation of South Africa, Natal and the Boer states were definitely far more divided even in the 1950s, than even the Canadian colonies had been a half century earlier(at least Quebecois and Ontarian, etc. Canadians weren't shooting each other in the streets en masse, like what was happening with the English and Scots vs. the Boers in South Africa; seriously, some of the stuff that happened there in the 1910s and 1920s, honestly arguably made the problems with sectarianism in Northern Ireland in the 1980s and neo-Confederate terrorism in the Southern U.S. in the 1960s, both look like a cakewalk!).
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The West was going to become American the moment the US bought Alaska.
The only question was if Britain would take cash, or be forced to give it up at bayonet point.
They took one look at the American standing Army post Civil War, one look at storm clouds in Europe and India, and said "cash first".
The only question was if Britain would take cash, or be forced to give it up at bayonet point.
They took one look at the American standing Army post Civil War, one look at storm clouds in Europe and India, and said "cash first".
colonel
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In the end all of the English speaking portions of North America fell under US control. Micmacea at least got to have its admission based on former borders with Nova Scotia coming in as a state and Prince Edward Island being linked to New Brunswick. It was a surprise that Newfoundland was linked to Labrador. Even Manitoba and Ontario finally relented, giving the US eight states out of the former British holdings in the North. Were it not for the language issues and the constant fighting inside Quebec with the its native peoples that too would likely have been gobbled up.