[quote=Pepperm1nts]
I would have been in favor of closing our eyes, covering our ears and pretending none of that shit ever happened in the US.
[/quote]

I tried to create a back-story that would be relatively easy to take up, since we were afraid that having a vague and confusing web of basic ideas would scare people away. We can definitely rejig it so long as the most basic aspects remain the same.

The most important thing is this; that there is some civil war at the start that causes some reasonable break off state that includes Florida to become independent for a period of time, only to unite later on. At some point, there is a conflict with Canada that causes territories to change hands. And at some point, either in the distant or recent past, some form of mild socialism causes the US to align with China.