Ten nations of North America

nine nations of north America

the 11 nations of North America

which of the 11 nations of North America do you live in ?

Novel Excerpts

For several years, there has been a debate over the nations of North America.  In the late 70s, journalists and political scientists first floated the idea that there are ten to 12 nations of North America, not three nation-states.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The three nations of North America were three multi-state nations subdivided into distinct regional states.  According to political science, there is a difference between a nation in the cultural sense and a nation in a political sense, ideally, the two should be the same as in France, or Germany perhaps.  But in the United States, Canada, and Mexico there were ten to 15 distant nations in a cultural sense, three in a political sense,  and 75 or so sub-national states.  In other words, California is a distinct nation (perhaps five nations) as in Texas as in the mid-west, etc.

I explore this in my unpublished novel, ‘The Great Divorce.”

I have divided North America into 15 nations as follows in my unpublished novel the Great Divorce.  The Christian States and their allies were Christian theocratic authoritarian governments, the west coast and east coast were secular democracies as were the rest of the nations.  In the Christian States, sex outside of marriage was illegal, homosexuality, transgenderism was illegal as was abortion, pornography, drugs, alcohol, and gambling.  The public schools were all run by the Church and there was a strict social morality test required for all government employees and schoolteachers.  The official language was English, immigration was limited to Christians and favored European immigration.  the Christian States were openly white supremacy in policy,  Non-Christians, and non-whites were officially discriminated against and Muslims and other religious minorities had been deported. Atheism was also illegal.  The media was strictly censored.  Prison slave labor was common.

The coastal states were secular and proudly multi-cultural, group marriages were common.  Drugs, sex, pornography were legal as was gambling.  The California ethos predominated which maintained that women should be in charge of sexual relations and that everyone was naturally bisexual and polygamous.  Group marriages were the norm.

The divisions were

New England including Canadian maritime provinces capital Boston

New York mid-Atlantic capitol New York

Quebec including Maine, Lousiana, and French Speaking Caribbean islands

Great Lakes region including Ontario capital Chicago, and Toronto

Upper mid-west including Canadian prairie states  capitol Omaha  allied with Christian States

Utah including Idaho/Montana and Nevada capitol Salt Lake City  allied with Christian States

The South -aka the Christian States of America capitol Little Rock, combining with the upper midwestern states

The Mountain States including Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, Alberta capital Denver  allied with Pacific states

The pacific northwest including Alaska, BC, Western Washington, Western Oregon, Northern California Capitol either SF or Seattle allied with Pacific states

The Southwest including northern Mexico, the capital of Los Angeles allied with Pacific states

Mexico including central America  allied with Pacific states

Texas including Oklahoma Capitol Dallas  allied with Christian States

Caribbean states capital Miami neutral

The Pacific islands states including Guam, Samoa, and the PI islands capital Honolulu allied with Pacific states

The native states of America capital eastern Oklahoma but consist of the major tribal areas across North America.  Neutral

Each nation would consist of mini-state governments.  California would be divided into eight states five Pacific Northwest and three in the Southwest.  These states would be northern California, The Bay Area, the central valley, the Sierras,  the Northeastern area merging with eastern Oregon. eastern Washington and Idaho forming the state of Jefferson, the desert east, Los Angeles, San Diego including TJ and Baja California.

In addition, the major cities would form their states thus NYC would be a state, Philadelphia would be a state,  Washington DC would be a state called Colombia, Boston would be a State, Chicago would be a state, Miami would be a State, Texas would be five states  Dallas-Ft.  Worth. Houston, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso, and Oklahoma with the rest of Texas being part of the respective sub-states.

After the war, North America enters into a period of intense regional competition among the various new nations.  The Christian State,  Desert State and Texas were allied, the west coast, Pacific and east coast were allied, the Caribbean, Quebec, and first nations were allied,  The United Nations remained in NYC, but the US pulled out of NATO. the Christian States instituted a draft and stationed troops along its borders and the West Coast, Chicago and New York did the same.

I envision this arising after a civil war between the Christian States of America and the rest of the country.   Afterward, there would be the new nations emerging after a second constitutional convention.

One of the things I noticed during the Trump era was that the West Coast region and the Northeastern region had pulled together and become quite independent-minded coordinating climate change and COVID strategies after the failure of the dysfunctional federal government to launch a unified national response. In that sense, I see North America moving towards a new political framework.

For more information see the following:

The 11 nations of North America Colin Woodward and Tufts/Brian Stauffer Author and journalist Colin Woodard identified 11 distinct cultures that have historically divided the US.  His nation-state map would look like this:

This map shows how the US has 11 separate ‘nations’ with entirely different cultures

 

Yankeedom values education and members are comfortable with government regulation.

Encompassing the entire Northeast north of New York City and spreading through Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, Yankeedom values education, intellectual achievement, communal empowerment, and citizen participation in government as a shield against tyranny. Yankees are comfortable with government regulation. Woodard notes that Yankees have a “Utopian streak.” The area was settled by radical Calvinists.

New Netherland in the New York area has a “materialistic” culture.

A highly commercial culture, New Netherland is “materialistic, with a profound tolerance for ethnic and religious diversity and an unflinching commitment to the freedom of inquiry and conscience,” according to Woodard. It is a natural ally with Yankeedom and encompasses New York City and northern New Jersey. The area was settled by the Dutch.

The Midlands, largely located in the Midwest, oppose government regulation.

The Liberty Bell. Matt Rourke / AP

Settled by English Quakers, The Midlands are a welcoming middle-class society that spawned the culture of the “American Heartland.” Political opinion is moderate, and government regulation is frowned upon. Woodard calls the ethnically diverse Midlands “America’s great swing region.” Within the Midlands are parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska.

Tidewater started as a feudal society that embraced slavery.

Tidewater was built by the young English gentry in the area around the Chesapeake Bay and North Carolina. Starting as a feudal society that embraced slavery, the region places a high value on respect for authority and tradition. Woodard notes that Tidewater is in decline, partly because “it has been eaten away by the expanding federal halos around DC and Norfolk.”

Greater Appalachia encompasses parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Texas.

Michael Hickey/Getty Images

Colonized by settlers from the war-ravaged borderlands of Northern Ireland, northern England, and the Scottish lowlands, Greater Appalachia is stereotyped as the land of hillbillies and rednecks. Woodard says Appalachia values personal sovereignty and individual liberty and is “intensely suspicious of lowland aristocrats and Yankee social engineers alike.” It sides with the Deep South to counter the influence of the federal government. Within Greater, Appalachia is parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Indiana, Illinois, and Texas.

Deep South adopts a rigid social structure and opposition to government regulation.

The Deep South was established by English slave lords from Barbados and was styled as a West Indies-style slave society, Woodard notes. It has a very rigid social structure and fights against government regulation that threatens individual liberty. Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Texas, Georgia, and South Carolina are all part of the Deep South.

El Norte has a dominant Hispanic culture.

Composed of the borderlands of the Spanish-American empire, El Norte is “a place apart” from the rest of America, according to Woodard. Hispanic culture dominates in the area, and the region values independence, self-sufficiency, and hard work above all else. Parts of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California are in El Norte.

The Left Coast, located in coastal California, is a lot like Yankeedom and Greater Appalachia.

California has permanently moved up its presidential primary from June to March.

Colonized by New Englanders and Appalachian Midwesterners, the Left Coast is a hybrid of “Yankee utopianism and Appalachian self-expression and exploration,” Woodard says, adding that it is the staunchest ally of Yankeedom. Coastal California, Oregon, and Washington are on the Left Coast.

The Far West spans states in the central US including Montana, Wyoming, and Utah.

The conservative west. Developed through large investment in industry, yet where inhabitants continue to “resent” the Eastern interests that initially controlled that investment. The Far West spans several states, including Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Nebraska, Kansas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, Oregon, and California.

New France inhabitants are comfortable with government involvement in the economy.

A percussion band performs for tourist dollars on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2015. New Orleans is nearly three centuries old, mixing African-American, French, Spanish, and Caribbean traditions to create unique forms of music, food, and culture found nowhere else in America. Max Becherer/AP

A pocket of liberalism nestled in the Deep South, its people are consensus-driven, tolerant, and comfortable with government involvement in the economy. Woodard says New France is among the most liberal places in North America. New France has focused on New Orleans in Louisiana as well as the Canadian province of Quebec.

First Nation, most of whose people live in the northern part of the country, is made up of Native Americans.

Back in the ’70s, almost a hundred reporters around the country – Washington Post bureau chiefs, rovers, freelancers, and me, their desk-bound editor – were trying to get our arms around how North America worked. Not how it should work. But how it did work. State by province by region, we started drawing the fault lines on maps, and sometimes on cocktail napkins. Forget those nice, neat rectangles in the middle of the U.S. Let’s be real: The mountains of western Colorado are alien from the wheat fields of eastern Colorado. And Miami is part not of Florida, but its watery Caribbean realm. And what a terrible idea is “California.” It behaves as if it covers three warring civilizations.

Others have divided the North American continent into nine different sub-nations.

the End