The American-Australian-New Zealand-British Union Act, 2073, commonly known as the Union Act of 2073, was signed by President Carla Anderson on January 10, 2073. It abolished the Free Associations of Australia, New Zealand, and Britain, annexed them as US territories and established procedures for creating new states and territories within their borders. This act was the largest annexation of new Territory of the 21st Century. Despite not being mentioned in the name, Canada was a reluctant signatory of the Union Act and was also annexed in 2073, as was Ireland as part of the British isles.
History[]
Following the collapse of the Pax Americana in the 2020s, successive American administrations placed heavy emphasis on developing beneficial trade relationships and using America's capital surplus and recent medical breakthroughs to restore the country's soft power, and the former British Commonwealth was a major beneficiary of this system. While Canada received the bulk of this aid at first, as the US-Canadian relationship had been badly wounded by the Trump years, as Japanese and Turkish influence spread, the US increased aid to Australia, New Zealand, and Britain as an element of containment. This aid came with very few strings beyond the geopolitical, and given the state of these nations economies in the 2030s and 40s, it served its intended purpose of improving relations with the United States and containing Japanese and Turkish influence.
Britain, Australia and New Zealand faced serious economic and population decline in the 2030s and 40s. This was due substantially to climate change which left large regions of these nations increasingly inhospitable, and due to contracting economic opportunities caused by the collapse of China and the global trade system of the Long Peace. Thus these nations saw many of their most skilled workers flee to North America to take advantage of the demand for skilled labor which heavily favored English-speaking immigrants. The flight of high value workers led to a further contraction of capital and tax revenue, which made aid from the US, Japan, or Turkey that much more attractive.
After WWIII, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and Britain all entered a Compact of Free Association with the United States. The pre-war diaspora led to many citizens of these nations becoming naturalized Americans or had children who were by right citizens, and as such tax revenue to support a large military (in Britain's case to counter the Poles in Europe) was still below required levels. Thus the US formalized the relationship established during the war, in which they would station a sizable number of troops in these countries both as a staging point, and as a means of economic relief. After the Refreeze saw a return of many of their former citizens to their homelands, enough time had passed that the cultural distinctiveness between America and the rest of the Anglosphere had eroded away. Pro-Union sentiment had grown during WWIII where many former Australian and New Zealanders fought in the US military against Japan, and later in the First Nations War. Nationalist members of the Australian Parliament brought forward a motion to end the Free Association status in 2069, but it was rejected outright as the American bases provided a substantial economic benefit to the country.
After the First Nations War, proponents of Canadian annexation in the Anderson administration began to gain momentum, the idea captured the public's imagination and an independent political movement arose out of Australia and New Zealand to join the Union. American businesses in Australia and New Zealand used the international movement to spur Congressional action and in 2070 the House passed the Union Act in a lame duck session. It was passed in conference committee in 2072 by the Senate with the intent of it being signed after the elections. Technically, Congress didn't have the power to annex foreign nations, but there was no clear definition of "Free Association" in the Constitution, as well as using the prior annexations of Texas and Hawaii as precedents. Following votes by the Australian, British, Canadian, Irish, and New Zealand Parliaments affirming their desire to join the Union, the Union Act of 2073 was signed by President Anderson as her last act in office. The actual admitting of new states would be largely overseen by President Lise Duchesne.