POD: Conflict between the conservative Centralist government of military dictator Antonio López de Santa Anna and federalist rebels escalated in the late 1830s, resulting in civil war and the balkanization of the Mexican Republic into various independent states.



As a result of this and other events, the Republic of Texas survived without U.S. aid or annexation, and the Mexican-American War was averted. Additionally, the lack of war with Mexico resulted in the continuation of the Oregon Boundary Dispute with Great Britain. Nonetheless, the United States government desired access to the Pacific Ocean and saw the devolution of Mexico as an opportunity to seize Alta California. Captain John C. Fremont was sent to northern Alta California to incite rebellion amongst discontented American settlers. Foreseeing these events, Governor Pío Pico of Alta and Baja California made contact with the Hudson’s Bay Company to request that the Californias be made a British protectorate to avoid U.S. annexation. American rebels seized the port of Yerba Buena (OTL San Francisco) and the H.B.C. trading post therein, prompting British intervention. Nearby Royal Navy ships converged on Monterey Bay, resulting in a standstill later known as the California Crisis of 1846. Narrowly avoiding a third war between the U.S. and Britain, the two signed the Treaty of Monterey in 1848. This treaty, 1) in the vein of the Royal Proclamation of 1763, forbade either nation from asserting direct control over any territories west of the Rocky Mountains for an unspecified amount of time, 2) established the Columbia River as the boundary between the H.B.C.’s Columbia Department and the Provisional Government of Oregon, and 3) recognized Las Californias as an independent republic (under British protection) with its northern border delineated by the Bay of Monterey. The governments of Oregon and California were quickly consolidated, with the seat of government located in the Willamette Valley. The independent Hudson’s Bay Company remained in control of the Columbia Department and was granted territorial autonomy along the O.C.-Las Californias border to serve as a buffer against northern incursion. Soon after, Mormon settlers began to flood the Great Basin unfettered by the U.S. government and established the unrecognized Free State of Deseret. Mormon forts and colonies were established throughout the West and served as waystations for pioneers traveling west. Gold was soon discovered in California’s Central Valley, attracting hundreds of thousands of settlers from around the globe.



The year is now 1855 and the Western Question looms over North America. The Union is itching to seize the rich lands west of the Rockies while Britain’s attention is focused on the Crimean War, the residents of California are chafing under the yoke of the Oregon-based Corvallis government, Mormon influence and colonists are quickly spreading throughout the West, the discovery of gold north of Los Angeles and in the Fraser River Valley beckons American settlers to cross into forbidden H.B.C. territories, and the question of slavery in the U.S. has reached a tipping point as the “necessary evil” has thus far been constrained to the American South. What will happen next?