Time to welcome me back to the fold. It's been awhile since I've posted anything. This semester has made me... busy. Not only have my classes been more rigorous than the last few semesters, but I've been consumed with the process with graduate school applications.
So, I'm sure that you noticed (the inimitable) SaoMagnifico's diaries on fantasy states such as Delmarva and a scenario wherein Oregon had won the battle with Washington over the counties between the Snake River and the 46th parallel. In the comments there I also presented a scenario where El Paso County had been given up by Texas along with the rest of the territory ceded by them after statehood, and then later admitted with New Mexico.
Continuing on that interesting trend, I decided that someone should do West Florida - and that that someone should be me. During the colonial era, West Florida and East Florida were established out of territory acquired by the British from the French and Spanish during the French and Indian War. The dividing line between the two was the Apalachicola River. After the American Revolution, Britain ceded sovereignty of both Floridas to the Spanish. Many border disputes followed, with the United States claiming that West Florida was part of the Louisiana Purchase and that much of the land claimed by West Florida belonged to Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. These disputes ended with the Adams-Onis Treaty, where the U.S. negotiated the purchase of the land in exchange for relinquishing claims on the portions of Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado that lie within the Mississippi basin. The portions of West Florida claimed by the three states were distributed to them, and the rest of West Florida was consolidated (with East Florida) into a single Florida.
So, here is where the fantasy comes in: instead of divvying up West Florida, the United States allowed both West and East Florida to gain statehood in their original form. In this diary I present the effects of that. I'll begin by showing West Florida, then move to Louisiana, to Mississippi, Alabama, and then finally Florida.
P.S. Instead of quoting the actual demographics and partisan scores, I'm going to speak in generalizations and estimates. Under such a situation, we should assume that history would not have happened in the exact same way. Obviously, these were done in Dave's App (God Bless Him) with the aid of photo editing software. All population deviations were kept within 1000 (usually within 500).
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