United States of America

"A Broken Republic Amidst the Engines of Empire"

By 1851, the United States of America is but a fragment of its former dream. What was once a young, sprawling republic destined for continental dominion now clings to survival, confined to seventeen northern states.

This outcome is no accident. It is the result of calculated British intervention — a geopolitical maneuver designed to cripple the American experiment in democracy and ensure that Britain remained the dominant power in the new age of steam and logic.

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The Collapse of Expansion

In this world, the British Empire, resurgent and technologically superior after the Industrial Radical Revolution, viewed the growing United States with suspicion and hostility. Fearing the rise of another industrialized continental power that could one day rival Britain, London worked to destabilize America from within.

The key strategy: supporting the secessionist ambitions of the Southern states.

Throughout the 1830s and 1840s, British agents and diplomats encouraged Southern planters and politicians to break from the Union. The Empire supplied weapons, steam-powered armaments, and diplomatic recognition to the Confederation of Southern States, ensuring their successful secession. British-controlled Caribbean colonies acted as supply hubs for this intervention.

Without the resources and manpower of the South — and facing internal division — the USA was unable to expand westward. The dream of Manifest Destiny withered.
Instead, the fledgling republic fractured along economic, cultural, and technological lines.

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The State of the Union

By 1851, the United States is a wounded and stagnant nation, consisting only of the seventeen northern states.

• Maine
• New York
• New Hampshire
• Vermont
• Massachusetts
• Connecticut
• Rhode Island
• Pennsylvania
• New Jersey
• Ohio
• Indiana
• Illinois
• Kansas
• Michigan
• Wisconsin
• Iowa
• Missouri

The Northern states attempt to push forward, embracing industrialization and computation, but without the vast interior resources of the west and south, they struggle economically. Dependency on British technology and trade is a humiliating reality.

The political atmosphere is toxic:

• Federal authority is weak, reliant on fragile coalitions and backroom compromises.
• Trade guilds and industrial magnates often act as de facto rulers within their regions.
• British corporations exert heavy economic influence, particularly over the ports of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia.

A new political movement — the American Consolidation Party — emerges, advocating for reunification through industrial strength, but progress is slow and sabotaged by British diplomacy.

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Society and Culture

The cultural mood of the United States is one of bitterness and introspection.
Literature, art, and philosophy grapple with themes of lost destiny, betrayal, and resilience.

• Public education lags far behind Britain’s steam-driven academies.
• Steam technology and computational engines are imported rather than invented.
• A fearful skepticism of automation lingers among the working classes, who blame machines for economic hardship.
• Trade unions are powerful but fractious, often at odds with political leaders over how to modernize.

A growing number of American savants advocate for an indigenous American renaissance of technology — a homegrown path forward that rejects both British influence and internal division. However, their success remains uncertain.

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International Standing

In the eyes of the world, the United States has become a cautionary tale:

• France views it with some sympathy but offers little concrete support.
• Prussia eyes the divided nation as a possible future puppet.
• The Confederation of Southern States, bolstered by British trade and military advisers, thrives economically and dreams of further expansion into the Caribbean and Central America.

The once-proud eagle of America now finds itself wounded, earthbound, and gasping, unsure whether it can soar once again — or whether it will remain forever shackled to the ruins of lost potential.