Miscellaneous: Before 1900 (Alternate) History Thread

  One possibility, if some territorial change is allowed.  A break-away of the New England area plus possibly Britain successfully protecting the Indians in the Old NW region means that slavery is maintained in the majority of states.  Coupled with a more militarist and somewhat xenophobic US paranoid about foreign influence means that while it expands westwards similar to OTL other than in the areas mentioned it discourages non-Germanic/Anglo-Saxon/Protestant settlers and stays deeply racist against both Blacks and probably also Latinos and Catholics.  You get something like S Africa under an apartheid type system when open slavery eventually becomes impossible, probably aided by the fact that the privileged NW European whites are still a clear majority of the population.

  This would give a US that geographically is similar to OTL US and a major power if not a super-power but radically different in its internal culture.  Especially if the social changes means that TTL US has a tendency for semi-autocratic rule and strong police intervention at times in internal government.

   Well there's one other story I remember reading, a few decades back, called something like "The Brackbock Connection".  IIRC a man from our world is transported into a parallel world where the Shay's Rebellion succeeds and you get a very libertarian US.  Its got very advanced technology with voice-boxes for gorilla's who are full citizens and something like eternal youth.  Not very likely and also it seems to have a massive butterfly net.  Can't remember if the US is any bigger but it isn't any smaller and you have things like WWI occurring pretty much identically to OTL.

  In this latter case you have a situation where the US government decides not to intervene in WWI but then the President lead a popular movement of volunteers to fight in Europe against the Kaiser.  Where those "motivated volunteers" quickly defeat "the Kaiser's peasant conscripts".  Which I always found idiotic.  More likely well organised and trained professional forces would annihilate disorganised and untrained volunteers, at least in pitched battles such as you would have on the western front.  Furthermore who's supplying ammo and equipment to those people?  What about artillery and air support, radio and other communications, etc.