Turtledove
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Minnesota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by a Lake Superior water border with Michigan and a land and water border with Wisconsin to the east, Iowa is to the south, North and South Dakota to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba are to the north. The state is the twelfth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the 21st most populous, with 5.2 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the 32nd state on May 11, 1858. Known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes, the state's name comes from a Dakota word for "sky-tinted water". Those waters, together with forests, parks, and wilderness areas, offer residents and tourists a variety of outdoor recreational opportunities.

Nearly 60% of Minnesota's residents live in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area known as the Twin Cities.

Minnesota in "The Breaking of Nations"[]

Minnesota was the site of some anti-Somalian pogroms in the 2020s.[1]

Minnesota in "Election Day"[]

Minnesota went to Democrat John F. Kennedy Jr. in the 2016 presidential election, which was a nice pick-up.[2]

Minnesota in The Guns of the South[]

Minnesota remained part of the Union during the Second American Revolution.

During the 1864 presidential election, it was one of 12 states carried by incumbent Republican President Abraham Lincoln during his unsuccessful reelection campaign.[3] The state had four electoral votes during the election.

Minnesota in Southern Victory[]

Minnesota's geographical position within the United States kept it safe from most of the country's foreign wars.

Minnesota remained a Republican stronghold, or as close to one as existed in the country, following that party's fall from grace after the War of Secession. Minnesota voted for Abraham Lincoln in the 1864 presidential election, one of few states to do so, in gratitude for the role he played in managing Amerindian violence and opening the frontier for settlement.

In the aftermath of the Second Mexican War, Minnesota tended to vote Socialist. However, prior to the Second Great War, the state elected a Republican governor, Harold Stassen. In 1944, Stassen became the Republican Party's presidential nominee. While he didn't win, he did take his home state from the Socialists and also won the states of Indiana, Kansas, and Wisconsin. The last was remarkable as it was the home state of Socialist incumbent Charles W. La Follette.

Minnesota in "The Weather's Fine"[]

Minnesota's weather often dipped into the 30s. On one terrible occasion, the state faced a starvation crisis when the weather plunged all the way into the 00s, and the only way to get food to the market was with horses and buggies.[4]

Minnesota in Worldwar[]

Minnesota was the home of 1964 Democratic Presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey, and Republican President Harold Stassen.

Nuclear physicist Jens Larssen was from a small Minnesotan town, where he spent his entire pre-college life.

Minnesota in The Two Georges[]

See Mississippi (The Two Georges), Ontario (The Two Georges), and New Guernsey.

Literary Comment[]

Minnesota in this timeline is part of three Provinces of the NAU. The portion east of the Mississippi River is part of New Guernsey, along with all of OTL Wisconsin and the Upper peninsula of Michigan. The southwestern portion of the state is part of Mississippi, and the northwestern portion part of the state is part of Ontario.

When Thomas Bushell and Samuel Stanley are riding the Prairie Schooner from Regina to Astoria, they look down and see what looks like 10,000 lakes, but the story does not tell which province they are looking at.

References[]

  1. And the Last Trump Shall Sound, p. 12.
  2. Alternate Peace, loc. 613, ebook.
  3. The Guns of the South, appendices.
  4. E.g., The Best of Harry Turtledove, pg. 471.
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