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Old 03-12-2014, 01:52 AM
 
Location: SoCal
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I know that the United States of America successfully acquired many new territories/areas in the 19th century and to a much lesser extent, in the 20th century as well.

That said, I was wondering: Which serious and realistic opportunities throughout history did the U.S. have to acquire territories which (for whatever reason(s)) did not succeed? For the record, I am talking about the U.S. acquiring territories/areas which it never managed to acquire, rather than territories/areas which it successfully acquired later on (for instance, the U.S. successfully acquired the Danish West Indies (later renamed the U.S. Virgin Islands) in 1917 after unfortunately failing to acquire it by just one vote in 1902).
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Old 03-12-2014, 07:11 AM
 
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Interestingly enough, Newfoundland was its own political entity separate from Canada until 1948. The Newfies had one faction that supported joining the U.S. Eventually, referendums were held and they chose to join Canada.

The United States also offered to buy Greenland in 1946 from the Danes, but they balked.

In the Caribbean, Dominica, Belize, and the Dominican Republic had discussions. And, of course, there's Puerto Rico. In Taiwan, a majority prefer joining the U.S. over rejoining China and Sicily had an active political movement to join the U.S. during and after World War II. Plus we granted independence to Cuba and the Philippines.
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Old 03-12-2014, 10:17 AM
 
Location: Old Bellevue, WA
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There were efforts to acquire Cuba in the 19th century, and it easily could have happened. It didn't happen mostly because anti-slavery forces worried that it would become another slave state, thus adding to the clout of pro-slavery forces.

If it had happened, Cuba might today be an island paradise instead of moribund.
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Old 03-12-2014, 10:24 AM
 
Location: Sinking in the Great Salt Lake
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Somewhere along the line, the world conquers decided that rather than moving in and planting a flag it was easier to take over the world by installing puppet governments which appeared to be independent on the surface but weren't in actuality.

If you count that, the USA is MUCH bigger than the 50 nifty United States.
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Old 03-12-2014, 10:40 AM
 
Location: Parts Unknown, Northern California
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In theory, following the conquest of Mexico in 1847, the US could have kept the entire nation as a US colony.

And of course in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, the first instinct of the Americans was to try and wrest Canada away from Great Britain, coming close the first time and failing miserably the second.
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Old 03-12-2014, 11:31 AM
 
Location: SoCal
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cpg35223 View Post
1. Interestingly enough, Newfoundland was its own political entity separate from Canada until 1948. The Newfies had one faction that supported joining the U.S. Eventually, referendums were held and they chose to join Canada.

2. The United States also offered to buy Greenland in 1946 from the Danes, but they balked.

3. In the Caribbean, Dominica, Belize, and the Dominican Republic had discussions.

4. And, of course, there's Puerto Rico.

5. In Taiwan, a majority prefer joining the U.S. over rejoining China and Sicily had an active political movement to join the U.S. during and after World War II.

6. Plus we granted independence to Cuba and the Philippines.
1. Yeah, this might (eventually) work--wasn't the outcome of this referendum something like 52% to 48%?

2. Was there any realistic chance of Denmark ever accepting such a move, though?

3. I know that the Dominican Republic might have been possible for the U.S. to annex around 1870 or so (in fact, there was a lot of support of it in Congress back then, but it simply wasn't enough).

When exactly did we try to acquire Dominica and Belize? Was there ever a realistic chance of us succeeding in acquiring either of these two countries/areas?

4. We already acquired Puerto Rico in 1898.

5. But was the possibility of Taiwan and/or Sicily actually joining the U.S. ever realistic, though?

6. Cuba was never an actual U.S. territorial acquisition, though (of course, we might have been able to acquire it at some point in time given the right circumstances, et cetera).

The U.S. actually did acquire and control the Philippines between 1898 and 1946 or so, and thus, the Philippines are not an example of a territory/area which the U.S. could have acquired but didn't.
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Old 03-12-2014, 11:33 AM
 
Location: SoCal
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wutitiz View Post
There were efforts to acquire Cuba in the 19th century, and it easily could have happened. It didn't happen mostly because anti-slavery forces worried that it would become another slave state, thus adding to the clout of pro-slavery forces.

If it had happened, Cuba might today be an island paradise instead of moribund.
I heard about Cuba before.

My question is--when exactly did the U.S. have the best chance of acquiring Cuba?

For the record, I think that President Polk tried to purchase Cuba for the U.S. around 1848 or so, but Spain refused to sell Cuba back then.
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Old 03-12-2014, 11:35 AM
 
Location: SoCal
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Grandstander View Post
1. In theory, following the conquest of Mexico in 1847, the US could have kept the entire nation as a US colony.

2. And of course in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, the first instinct of the Americans was to try and wrest Canada away from Great Britain, coming close the first time and failing miserably the second.
1. Was there enough political support for this, though? After all, wouldn't many racist southerners (such as John C. Calhoun) have opposed this due to the large number of non-White people in Mexico, and couldn't some/many northerners have opposed this because Mexico was south of the Missouri Compromise line?

2. In which battle(s) exactly did we come close to conquering/capturing Canada?
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Old 03-12-2014, 11:36 AM
 
Location: SoCal
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chango View Post
Somewhere along the line, the world conquers decided that rather than moving in and planting a flag it was easier to take over the world by installing puppet governments which appeared to be independent on the surface but weren't in actuality.

If you count that, the USA is MUCH bigger than the 50 nifty United States.
I was talking about official U.S. territorial acquisitions and expansion here, though.
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Old 03-12-2014, 11:44 AM
 
Location: Parts Unknown, Northern California
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Futurist110 View Post

2. In which battle(s) exactly did we come close to conquering/capturing Canada?
The campaign led by Benedict Arnold and Richard Montgomery captured Montreal leaving only Quebec to complete an American takeover. They managed to break into the city, but Montgomery was killed and Daniel Morgan and his men were cut off and captured within the city. It had been a close battle, a bit of luck going the American's way and they may well have prevailed.

Arnold maintained a siege until May of 1776, but then British reinforcements arrived and the campaign was abandoned for good.
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