I certainly think if it had been legally possible at the time to have city-states or charter cities run by the native Americans, that would have been an absolutely amazing outcome.
Unfortunately I think city states and charter cities require really stable government and political borders and this wasn’t feasible at the time. I might be wrong about this. I also don’t think the political theory or political will for this alternative history was there in any meaningful sense (again, I think the closest analog we have is how governance of South America ended up shaking out, though it’s of course not perfect).
Similarly for small states. The US controlling the continent coast-to-coast has been hugely useful for trade and prosperity and governance. I am pretty federalist and think states should have more power, but I don’t think that extends into thinking that multiple nation states on the US continent would have been better (I think South America, and Europe in the 20th century both show different ways of how that would by default go wrong, I think).
I certainly think if it had been legally possible at the time to have city-states or charter cities run by the native Americans, that would have been an absolutely amazing outcome.
Unfortunately I think city states and charter cities require really stable government and political borders and this wasn’t feasible at the time. I might be wrong about this. I also don’t think the political theory or political will for this alternative history was there in any meaningful sense (again, I think the closest analog we have is how governance of South America ended up shaking out, though it’s of course not perfect).
Similarly for small states. The US controlling the continent coast-to-coast has been hugely useful for trade and prosperity and governance. I am pretty federalist and think states should have more power, but I don’t think that extends into thinking that multiple nation states on the US continent would have been better (I think South America, and Europe in the 20th century both show different ways of how that would by default go wrong, I think).