This is an interesting concept since El Salvador once adopted the U.S dollar and that there were movements and proposals in the Central American nations for them to join the U.S. What if the U.S. Decided to act on these proposals?
Central America As U.S. States
- Thread starter TickTock The Witch's Dead
- Start date
I think Nicaragua has to be a starting point for any serious U.S. expansion in Central America. Interest in a possible canal was high. Still, I think you need a fairly early POD for this to happen.
Tallest Skil
Banned
Ecuador uses it exclusively today.
I’d love it, but you’d need an early enough POD.
I'm not sure when El Salvador petitioned for statehood, but the Yucatan did so and failed in 1849. IIRC, had they petitioned in 1848 they would have been successful due to a more pro-slavery senate.
When are we talking here, in the 20th century, or 19th? In the 19th they'd be little more than colonies. Not something any of the Central American countries would want, and they'd fight against it. At best you might end up with a Puerto Rico-type situation in the end, where the territories aren't at all an integral part of the United States, but have autonomy and the economic situation is good enough to not push for independence. But I think it would more likely end up as a Philippines-type situation, especially if the territory was of any significant size.
In the 20th I don't think Congress would accept it, not as them being full states anyways. They might accept some sort of protective arrangement.
In the 20th I don't think Congress would accept it, not as them being full states anyways. They might accept some sort of protective arrangement.
Assuming they are acquired before the civil war they would definitely be made slave states in an attempt to balance the senate.
In the period between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the Spanish-American War there were numerous proposals by both Central American governments and US politicians for the annexation of various Central American nations and Caribbean islands. As an example, the Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo, at the time) asked for annexation following the end of Haitian occupation, hoping to avoid dominance by the European powers or Haiti (which had treated them quite brutally). Grant was unable to get it through Congress. Essentially, the post-war pacifist theme in American politics nixed the attempts in the bud.
I don't think the United States would have had any ability to gain them prior to the Civil War, so that's out. And if they did, I strongly doubt they have been accepted anyway, due to pre-Civil War tensions and desire to maintain free-state-slave-state balance.
That's the point of annexing them. From 1846 to 1859 five free states joined the Union and not one slave state.
This could cause problems, like for the Dominican Republic:
-Over 90% of the Dominican population is of West African descent, Catholic, and Spanish-speaking. these arent excepted things in 19th-century America, especially not for people who would be given full statehood and us citizenship.
-The US economy compared to dominican economy is huge, and in a 19th century example it would probably eman the dominicans get swarmed with cheap american goods and would crash afterward.
-dominican economy just isnt stable enough in the long-term, its dependent on sugar and tobacco and staple caribbean cashcrops
I can see dominican leaders being really happy and excited for american rule but finding out that racist treatment and exploitative american businesses would move from hawaiian sugar to dominican republic would ruin any goodwill between the two. depending on what time, but particularly after the civil war, i can see dominican senators and representatives having even more issues being accepted than reconstruction black senators (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiram_Rhodes_Revels) around this time.
-Over 90% of the Dominican population is of West African descent, Catholic, and Spanish-speaking. these arent excepted things in 19th-century America, especially not for people who would be given full statehood and us citizenship.
-The US economy compared to dominican economy is huge, and in a 19th century example it would probably eman the dominicans get swarmed with cheap american goods and would crash afterward.
-dominican economy just isnt stable enough in the long-term, its dependent on sugar and tobacco and staple caribbean cashcrops
I can see dominican leaders being really happy and excited for american rule but finding out that racist treatment and exploitative american businesses would move from hawaiian sugar to dominican republic would ruin any goodwill between the two. depending on what time, but particularly after the civil war, i can see dominican senators and representatives having even more issues being accepted than reconstruction black senators (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiram_Rhodes_Revels) around this time.
Good point. I can't really imagine these territories being admitted as full states though.
It really isnt the American mentalty at this time.
Somewhere like Texas worked because it had an enormous American settler community and was lightly-populated before the advent of American colonization. The Dominican Republic pretty much comprises a series of discriminated and disenfranchised groups in American society. Dominicans are black, Catholic, and don't speak English. Hstroically, Congress tended to oppose the incorporation of anywhere that was perceived as "alien".
More likely than not, a US-governed/influenced Dominican Republic would end up the same way as Cuba: racist American laws aimed at entrenching the distinction between black and white would be extended to the Dominican Republic (as they were in Cuba) and the area as a whole would be a playground for the Southern planters.
Of course Hispanic politicians could advocate for their linguistic kind.
Tallest Skil
Banned
See, we’re not big on colonies. Either they’re territories slated to become states or temporary occupations slated to become their own countries.
A little thing called the Constitution means that perpetual nonrepresentation doesn’t jive.
CthulhuFhtagn
Banned
Why? What does a white Cuban Senator like Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio have in common with a nonwhite Salvadorian, other than language and religion? And even if they were suddenly struck by a sudden love for la raza, latino politicians are still a tiny minority in the US.
Many Americans are still too racist to this day to even consider admitting Puerto Rico as a state. And this is 2014. It's hard to imagine that a majority of Americans in the 20th century would be willing to view Central Americans as equals without some kind of revolutionary change in race relations.
Driftless
Donor
A real reach.... but 1897 Nicaragua leverages their entrance to the Union by offering to host the Atlantic to Pacific canal. The locals make the canal contingent on their becoming a full US State.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua_Canal
The Canal gives them a substantial economic boost, and the zone gets protected by the US
As I say, a reach....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua_Canal
The Canal gives them a substantial economic boost, and the zone gets protected by the US
As I say, a reach....
Maybe, and it wouldn't be THAT hard to at least get Puerto Rico in the Union, at least after 1960 or so, when the Dixiecrats start to decline.....if the right cards are played(avoiding the extreme polarization of OTL would help, too!).
Redhand
Banned
Race has little to do with it. The idea of a freebie 2 Democratic senators makes it repulsive to Republicans. The idea of a colonized people being made an integral part of the US and taking independence off the table fully annoys American liberals.
So both parties can simply say that they will respect whatever PR wants to do, unless of course that means statehood.