For the past few months,
it's felt that everyone in the United States is out to get each other:
Liberals vs Consevatives, the cities vs the rural regions,
the coast vs the continent. We're all messed up,
but at the end of the day we're all still technically in one country: The United States.
But that's just it, "United States".
States that are united.
And for us Americans this is the normality.
The States, while autonomous in many aspects,
all answer to the same higher government in Washington D.C.
They send Representatives, they pay Federal Taxes, and States are subject to federal law.
No matter what we're all legally in the same nation.
This has been the process that has been evolving since the inception of the Constitution.
But Harry Turtledove imagined a different America.
One where the Articles of Confederation was
the only federal document ever signed to govern the country.
And the United States completely collapsed. The states went their separate ways.
In his imagined alternate timeline,
states aren't simply borders on a map, but are their own individual nations.
And each of these new republics has an entirely independent, unique history
which shape the culture and society inside their borders.
This was explored in his novel, "The Disunited States of America".
Since alternate history at its core is a branch of
science fiction novels I felt it was
time to bring some attention to this
ever-growing genre. I'm not going into any
spoilers. just summarizing the scenario
Turtledove crafted. Did the scenario have
to be entirely realistic?
No, it's fiction. It's just for a story.
In this alternate timeline the Articles of
Confederation is the only unifying
Constitution the United colonies ever
signed after winning their independence.
For those who don't know the articles
were a general mess as a federal
government was useless and states were
far more independent. In this alternate
world, the articles are kept and the
Constitution is not. Over the next couple
decades instability grows. By the turn of
the 19th century states already begin
breaking off one by one in many
rebellions for
multiple reasons. By 1806, the USA is
officially dissolved. Swept into the
trash bin of history as a failed
experiment. What's left in its place is many
nations with their own militias
economies and form of government within
the next few years the more powerful
states begin gobbling up the smaller
ones. New York annexes Connecticut and New Jersey.
Virginia never loses West Virginia
and remains one large unified
state. I'll discuss this later. In the
Appalachians a new state is formed called
Boone which is somewhere in Kentucky.
Florida is divided between Georgia and Cuba.
In terms of relationships the
American Republics trade and fight with
and against one another. These are not
friendships between states, but foreign
relations. For example Georgia may be
friends with Virginia but hate Alabama and vice versa.
Over decades in an
ever-increasing web of American
relations begin to form as Republi's
compete over resources. Throughout the
19th century, for unspecified reasons,
colonists still branch out and new states
are formed across the continent.
Pretty much like in our timeline, similar states
are born like Texas and California.
The way that the colonists got there, however,
is far different. Instead of California
being settled by Americans, it's settled
by British colonists from Oregon.
The evidence for this is pretty striking as
California is one of the only Republics
which has a parliament and a prime minister
as well as celebrate certain
events like the queen's birthday. By 2090,
the time the book is set, it has been
centuries since the United States was
formed and The Union is simply a distant
memory after the conflicts of the
nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries.
As the states became more
independent, so too did their culture and
their lives. Lack of communication allows
for different dialects to become
distinct between states. In many cases its
difficult for people from two different
states to communicate simply because of
societal differences from centuries of
separation. Society changes for every
republic on the continent. There is a
disconnect between the highly urbanized coast
and the rural communities inland.
Technology still exist like cars, planes
and modern weaponry. In many aspects
it's very similar to our own timeline,
however because of the deep history
between the Republics, people hardly
travel outside their own state. For some
this isn't so bad.
California is almost like the USA of
the non-existent USA. It has the
largest population and is entirely
self-sufficient. The military of
California has involved itself in
interstate wars for centuries. Sound familiar?
other states are not so lucky and are
subject to absolute poverty especially
in the deep south in Great Plains. What
shaped this was war. Skirmishes happen all
the time between numerous states for
different reasons. I don't want to go
through every single war but there are
prominent ones. Without the federal
government in Civil War, slavery isn't ended in
an instant. Instead, black slaves
revolted on multiple occasions and won
their freedom through violence.
This was the black insurrections in the
deep south. Mississippi switched the
roles as a black majority oppressed the
white minority. In this alternate
timeline, race is very much a predominant factor,
even in 2090. There is very little
interaction between different races,
apart from common courtesy. The severity
of this racism depends on just what
state you're in. Since states can make
their own independent laws, some race
laws may be more severe than others. They
can have their own foreign relations
with other countries as well. During the
Great War, which still occurs,
(and there wasn't a second) the states with
more German immigrants in the Midwest
actually fought with the central powers
against the English descended rest of
the country. Labels, blood and where
you're from as a whole is the largest
recurring theme in this alternate
timeline. Even between states with bad
blood there is hatred. Hatred between
states who would never be enemies in our
own timeline. There is no larger hatred
than between Ohio and Virginia.
Remember when I sai d West Virginia
doesn't exist? Well that means Virginia
borders the Ohio River and the
Appalachians. Over the last two centuries
conflict has arose
time and time again over the resources
and this region, like coal. Conspiracies
are frequently abound as both sides are
paranoid of the other instigating
rebellion among their black populations
Is this the most accurate scenario?
Perhaps not but that's not the point.
The great thing about alternate history is
that it provides an excellent conduit
with its scenario to tell a fascinating story
The lore is simply a slight difference
in an already existing place and that is
why it's an ever-growing genre. Speaking
of genre in books,
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This is Cody of Alternate History Hub.