Vermont 2016?

[enbylvania]

I got an idea a few days ago for an alternate history scenario. What if Vermont from July 25th, 2016, at 10 in the morning, suddenly was transported in time to early August, 1754? 1754 Vermont at this point has very few settlers, probably less than a thousand total, and several thousands or tens of thousands of Abenaki people. Most of people in the state are tourists, now forever cut off from their homes. Their population, combined with that of Vermont's permanent residents is more than that of the entire 13 colonies that year.

Now with intermittent blackouts, not enough food to feed everyone and a majority huge homeless population, Vermont must try to make the best of it in a very dark and dangerous situation, surrounded by warfare and the bizarre, alien world of the 18th century.

Feedback from people actually from Vermont or who know it very well would be greatly appreciated!

(This is only my second post on this site so I may not understand the tagging system and other features yet. Please be patient with me.)

 

[enbylvania]

Some important assumptions: 2016 Vermont is sort of transposed with 1754 Vermont. Buildings, dams, electric poles, pipes, farms with crops planted, clearings for cattle etc are all transported. 2016 Buildings may overlap with existing buildings from 1754 Vermont, which could leave both of them uninhabitable. Mines and quarries would suddenly be filled with all the stone, dirt and ore not yet removed in 1754. Lawns and other non-agricultural clearings will be replaced with the plants from the forests of 1754. Clearings for any fall or winter plantings are also covered in trees. People and animals are not transposed because this is already dark enough without that kind of gore. Any infrastructure, below or above ground, that passes through state lines or the border with Canada is cut through. This means that for any above ground transmission wires, there's a good chance of starting some forest fires.
The state government will take the viewpoint that the US government no longer exists, making Vermont an independent sovereign country. The Constitution of 1793 is still in force, and federal law will be incorporated into the state law (with a committee to reject integrating any federal law that is inappropriate for Vermont's circumstances). However in the chaos that ensues, rule of law is kind of lax. It'd be impossible to hold the August primaries and November general election in the circumstances anyway, with so many displaced people and services stretched so tight.

 

[enbylvania]

Less important, more open to reconsideration assumptions:
The Cowasuck and Missiquoi tribes of Abenaki merge into Vermont. There's no other way to reconcile Vermont's security need for exclusive sovereignty over its land, the huge imbalance of population and military capability, etc. Vermont does not join the Wabanaki Confederacy as Vermont's strongly anti-war government would not like to participate in Wabanaki wars, but they will pursue friendly relations. The small colonies of down-time New Hampshire families will be absorbed for similar reasons
The first few months are going to be very chaotic, as telephones, internet etc don't work. Contact with Vermont authorities will be difficult. Tourists will be looting shops. Far-right militias might decide that this is their chance to seize power - they won't succeed, but they could do a lot of damage while trying.
Vermont will suffer a major food shortage, as there's too many people to feed through local agriculture - especially as frequent power failures leave refrigeration useless, thus causing widespread spoilage of Vermont's dairy. The population is too high for sustainable hunting to be able to feed them. A lot of people depressed about the loss of their friends, family, their online life or wanting to secure more food for their relatives will kill themselves. The very high rate of gun ownership in Vermont will make this sadly all too easy to do.
Land which belongs to out-of-state absentee landlords will be nationalised and given to the homeless. It won't be enough though. With lack of food and shelter, many tourists will try to tough it outside of Vermont, without the support of the state. Some might try to live with neighbouring tribes or join nearby colonies. Others might try to form their own settlements. Many of them will not survive, being killed by wildlife, by indigenous people who see them as trespassers that have no protection from a colonial government, by downtime colonial Americans and Québécois who find their modern worldviews outrageous.
On a positive note, Vermont has one thing in abundance that stores well without refrigeration. While the outside world may struggle to accept the concept of fiat currency, they will not hesitate to accept this trade good: mass produced maple syrup.

 

[enbylvania]

Phil Scott (R) is the Acting Governor. Peter Shumlin (D), the incumbent governor and Vermont's entire congressional delegation are outside of Vermont that day because of the the DNC's first night was that day. Sanders was a presidential candidate while Shumlin, Welch and Leahy were Superdelegates.

 

[enbylvania]

Oh and the Secretary of State of Vermont is also a superdelegate. I underestimated how many people from Vermont's government were at the 2016 DNC.

 

[enbylvania]

The Vermont State Emergency Council is created shortly afterwards, consisting of
Acting Governor Phil Scott (R)
Acting Secretary of State Chris Winters (D)
State Treasurer Beth Pearce (D)
Auditor Doug Hoffer (joint Democrat and Progressive)
Acting Secretary of Administration Michael Clasen
Secretary of Agriculture Food and Markets Chuck Ross (D)
Acting Secretary of Commerce and Community Development Lucy Leriche (D)
Secretary of Human Services Hal Cohen
Secretary of Natural Resources Deborah Markowitz (D)
Secretary of Transportation Chris Cole
President pro tempore of the Vermont Senate John F. Campbell (D)
Vermont Senate Majority Leader Philip Baruth (D and P)
Vermont Senate Minority Leader Joe Benning (R)
Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives Shap Smith (D)
Vermont House Majority Leader Sarah Copeland-Hanzas (D)
Vermont House Minority Leader Donald H. Turner (R)

And the heads of various state commissions, which are divisions within the executive branch

It might also include Attorney General William Sorrell (D) - not sure about him, due to many scandals about him. If not, Deputy Attorney General Susanne Young (R) will fill the role.
I have been unable to find the party affiliations of Clasen, Cohen and Cole. This does not necessarily mean they don't have any, just that I couldn't find any.

 

[enbylvania]

Among the commissioners, the most important will be Keith W. Flynn, Commissioner of Public Safety, the department in charge of police, emergency management and firefighting. Again, I cannot find his political orientation.

Edit: I have since found out Keith Flynn is a Republican

 

[enbylvania]

After agreements with the downtime Cowasuk and Missiquoi, the Emergency Council is expanded to include notables from the downtime tribes. Under the agreement, 2016 Vermont state-recognised tribes, the Missisquoi Abenaki Tribe, Koasek Abenaki Tribe and the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation also send a common representative to represent the uptime indigenous population (whose status of whether they are real or pretendians is a subject of much debate both IRL and in this alternate history; I personally do not have an opinion and do not want any debates on their real life status in this thread)

 

[enbylvania]

I found out that there were French Jesuit missionary villages in Vermont in the 1750s. As they mostly work as agents of French colonial interest, they'd probably encourage the Abenaki to flee from Vermont's influence into other Abenaki regions to the north and east. I think most (but not all) of the indigenous population will flee. So nevermind all my stuff about the merging of the tribes and the government of Vermont and tribal leaders being appointed to the Emergency Council.
--
Been thinking about how the Catholic Church would react to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington
ultimately I don't think the 18th century Catholic Church is one that modern day liberal Catholics would be willing to join, what with the inquisition, antisemitic doctrines, the death penalty being okay, castrating boys just so they can retain a high voice in the choir etc
--
also, I wonder is there anything one can use hundreds of millions of pounds of spoiled milk for.

 

[Shadow007]

At some point Vermont needs ports to dominate trade and build a navy. Controlling the Americas is a must to protect and educate Natives

Slavery will end much sooner thanks to an earlier Industrial Revolution plus new tech

China, Korea, Siam and Japan would be much more powerful in this timeline. Siberia would have a much higher Asian population

1750s Spotlight would greatly damage the Church

 

[enbylvania]

I think Vermont is not interested in military domination, and will not expand its territory - so no ports outside of Lake Champlain (which is not connected to the St. Lawrence-Great Lakes canal system anymore).
In the first several years, Vermont will be starving, losing population to suicide and deaths from causes they no longer have sufficient medicine to help against. The focus of the country will be inwards.
However, not all the people who came from 2016 will stay in Vermont. Suffering from lack of food and shelter, around 250,000 of the tourists will leave to make their own settlements or join existing colonies or native tribes, seeing that Vermont does not have the resources to take care of them.

 

[Shadow007]

I think Vermont is not interested in military domination, and will not expand its territory - so no ports outside of Lake Champlain (which is not connected to the St. Lawrence-Great Lakes canal system anymore).
In the first several years, Vermont will be starving, losing population to suicide and deaths from causes they no longer have sufficient medicine to help against. The focus of the country will be inwards.
However, not all the people who came from 2016 will stay in Vermont. Suffering from lack of food and shelter, around 250,000 of the tourists will leave to make their own settlements or join existing colonies or native tribes, seeing that Vermont does not have the resources to take care of them.

Click to shrink...

Vermont can do what Carthage did to expand. Cultural assimilation, trade and protection rights. That is why Carthage is more multiethnic than Rome before the Punic Wars

Starvation would be an issue only until the first harvest comes. Just need to create lots of new farm fields for crops. Hunting and harvesting wild plants are important for the first year

Vermont needs to establish trade, diplomacy and co-owned farm fields with neighboring tribes. There are Uptime Natives in Vermont so that helps with the language

There would be a population boom in Vermont and nearby Indian tribes as the economy would be booming and Natives get modern healthcare. Tribal warfare becomes nonexistent as Vermont enforces peace and later establishes an Confederation like the Iroqious

Vermont eventually assimilates all of the Americas which is a much better fate for the Natives

Uptimers should be more resistant to certain diseases compared to downtimers until said diseases adapt

 

[enbylvania]

Starvation would be an issue only until the first harvest comes. Just need to create lots of new farm fields for crops. Hunting and harvesting wild plants are important for the first year

Click to shrink...

Most people in Vermont, both tourists and residents, aren't farmers and don't know how to farm. It is not so easy to learn farming skills. Also it'd take time just to clear out all of the 1754 forest that is now present in farmland from 2016, forget about the additional farmland. Vermont cannot be self-sufficient for food for a while. They can mitigate the worst effects through hunting and gathering, but with one and a half million people they'd quickly start running out of things to hunt unless they start hunting on other people's lands.

Vermont needs to establish trade, diplomacy and co-owned farm fields with neighboring tribes. There are Uptime Natives in Vermont so that helps with the language

There would be a population boom in Vermont and nearby Indian tribes as the economy would be booming and Natives get modern healthcare. Tribal warfare becomes nonexistent as Vermont enforces peace and later establishes an Confederation like the Iroqious

Click to shrink...

Neighbouring tribes already have their own European protectors they are quite loyal to. Haudenosaunee loyalty to the British could be shaken by sharing future information about how Britain ultimately abandons them, but I doubt there is anything that could be done to dissuade the Abenaki alliance with France. About the 2016 Abenaki in Vermont, there is very little knowledge of the Abenaki language among them and the 21st century pronunciation by 2nd language speakers of Abenaki based on a dialect that wasn't originally spoken in Vermont might not be intelligible to the 1754 Abenaki in Vermont. It is more likely that communication is carried out in French.

There is no population or economic boom in Vermont. The loss of the existence of the 21st century and absence of the many conveniences of 21st century life that are not made in Vermont itself and cannot be reproduced due to lack of resources or expertise means that Vermont's GDP would contract by more than 2/3rds. People are depressed about losing contact with their friends and families, their jobs being useless in the new situation, about starving, etc. Instead of making lots of babies, people will be killing themselves out of desperation and in hopes that it eases the food situation for others. Additionally, there is a new shortage of medications that used to be shipped in to Vermont, including medications that save people's lives. Vermont has no interest in being an imperial power that protects the indigenous people; the government is very much focused inwards (especially due to the hardships being faced, but also because Vermont already has very anti-interventionist politics). They could mediate between tribes and perhaps sell weapons so that tribes can defend themselves better, but ultimately Vermont is uninterested in intervening in the tribes' wars.

Vermont eventually assimilates all of the Americas which is a much better fate for the Natives

Click to shrink...

I fail to see how Vermont is in a situation to do this, why it would want to do it or why this is better than providing aid but respecting indigenous culture and identity.


Even in the situation where Vermont is no longer suffering so badly, it still has a dramatically shrunken economy and a lack of needed resources to restore 21st century lifestyle. It has to deal with the hostility that will no doubt develop over modern mores about sexuality, human rights, fashion, religion etc. It will have to deal with there being an ongoing regional war that could possibly, as it did OTL, escalate into a global conflict. This isn't a feel good "modern man always wins" timeline. It is a serious exploration of what would happen if you took 2016 Vermont, a state that depends on a global logistical network for a highly comfortable standard of living, and removed it from all of its external support structures. The result will not be pretty, even though Vermont is still more powerful than all of its neighbours.

 

[Shadow007]

Can't Vermont just trade for food? They can also help their neighbors grow more food and split the harvest.

Only 2% of people are needed to farm in first world nations. Unless Vermont doesn't have any large-scale farming and its farmers suddenly died AND all farming knowledge suddenly vanish it shouldn't be that difficult to upscale farming so that the next harvest produces much more food that needed

More people means more food needed but also more work can be done. Clearing fields shouldn't take all of their time, especially since kids and non-violent convicts can do some of the work (plenty of construction vehicles). Illegals are now free to do the best to improve Vermont. Mass-producing neccessary tools for farming shouldn't be the most difficult thing to do

ICE agents now do other things to actually help Vermont and humanity. If the Roman Legions can build good roads on the go, the Vermont National Guard should be building rail lines and fast-paved roads like clockwork

The New World Colonies would be willing to trade with Vermont, especially if the home governments are bribed enough. They would be willing to take in some of the Vermon immigrants, especially the Quakers or those that have nearby Indian tribes as neighbors

Vermont can improve the New World Colonies's ports and build better ships. Anything to facilitate more food trade is on the table. Easy to make mass-produced vaccines/meds (there should be a few medical labs and warehouses) would greatly improve diplomacy and food.

If Eric Flint's 1632 Grantville did not starve at all despite being stuck in the middle of the Thirty Years War, with 2000s tech, I don't see how Vermont would starve unless you have severe/restrictive food allergies. Most of Grantville's deaths were military or old age and those factors are much less problematic in this scenario

The mass production of superior clothing, bicycles, farming tools, mining tools, etc would greatly offset the drop in GDP. Besides, GDP would not matter in the first few years as emergency laws would pass, switching to a Command Economy. There are also 16k MILLIONAIRES there so money wouldn't be a problem later down the line.

 

[enbylvania]

Vermont can trade for food. It will be difficult though because of a lack of transportation infrastructure between Vermont and supplying colonies.
I do think upscaling farming would be difficult.

As for kids, I think social attitudes about child labour will persist. Children can help out in physically non-demanding labour only. But there isn't really a shortage of labour anyway to the degree that children would be necessary, as there's plenty of tourists or people employed in industries that can no longer function in 1754. Mass-producing tools will require enormous amounts of scrap metal, as Vermont does not have the resources needed to start up steel production at the beginning. Government could step in and buy cars and other useless equipment, but it'll take time for people to be comfortable selling all these things that they used to think of as necessities.

ICE in Vermont really just acts as customs service for the border with Quebec. Their agency no longer existing, they'll probably just join the police. The Vermont National Guard cannot be repurposed to public works, as they need to be at all times ready to repel raids by neighbouring tribes and to quell unrest. Again, large numbers of otherwise unemployed people are there and can do those things instead. They can't really pave new roads though due to a lack of fossil fuels to derive asphalt from (existing stock of fuel that travelled back in time would be kept as reserve supplies for fueling vehicles); all new roads would be unpaved.

Grantville had a benefit of having a much smaller population to feed, being transported to a region with much more agriculture, having a coal plant and reliable electric supply early on and a better farmer per capita ratio. I also feel Eric Flint was being too optimistic about people adapting psychologically to the loss of friends and family from the year 2000.

The switch to greater industry would probably not offset the GDP all that much as it won't pay as well as much of the service industry of modern times - especially as the outside world isn't rich enough to pay that well. I do not understand how command economies make GDP not matter - GDP is a measure of the size of the economy itself. Most of the millionaires of Vermont are probably just old people whose wealth comes from their property values but don't actually have much cash. Indeed all of the assets owned by Vermonters that are held out of state are wiped out. There will be a shortage of actual cash, leading both government and ordinary people to rely on IOUs. Further more, while there will be nationalisation and businesses taking orders regarding their operations from the government during the emergency, I do not think that the market economy will be abolished. To a large extent, the cash shortages and desperation could lead to a shift to an economy based more on social obligations and mutual aid, but it won't mean capitalism will be abandoned.

 

[enbylvania]

I have grossly overestimated the amount of animal feed modern Vermont imports. Vermont's cows are fed much more than they require in order to facilitate more milk production. As a Vermont with little electricity and massively reduced transportation capacity cannot even store so much milk anyway, many cows will be slaughtered and those that are not will be fed less. Combined with grain imports from the other colonies and a state initiative to get people to grow potatoes in their gardens and people won't really be starving. Many people will feel hungry and their diets will not be balanced, but they won't starve. I think this means far less people try to flee Vermont - perhaps in the 10s of thousands instead of a quarter million. It also means Vermont could accept a small amount of refugees from tribes and neighbouring colonies. This also means that pets won't be butchered for meat and somewhat reduces the suicide rate (especially among older people - it's more the young people who are concerned about losing all their internet friends). Suicide rate will still be pretty high though.

 

[Shadow007]

I doubt there would be any raiding by Natives or Colonists against Vermont. Thieves or Con Artists or Smugglers/Black Market types would be the main problem

No one is suicidal enough to anger Drones! Or Cars!

The biggest problem would be when the Natives/Colonists upgrading their military tech and using it on each other. Later on it would be German-Austrians using Bolt-action rifles and Bazookas against the Ottomans.

The Natives and Colonists would swell in population and would be great friends for Vermont. Apartment complexes would be luxurious in their eyes.

China is going to be a problem as they will Industrialize in a few decades. Then they would certainly go to war with everyone nearby.

 

[enbylvania]

Cars will mostly be phased out due to lack of gasoline. Not sure when Vermont will be producing its own batteries, so not sure about drones.
Natives largely didn't even create their own gunpowder tech but traded natural resources for it. With Vermont struggling to copy its own existent tech, it'll be a while before colonists start copying, much less powers on other continents. Also social issues may be an impediment to industrialising in some areas - many places in OTL were very resistant to railroads for instance (which is why Qing dynasty avoided building them and France had to fight large wars in West Africa to force local rulers to allow French railroads to be built)

 

[enbylvania]

Emergency measures (will end after the end of the Emergency Government after 2-4 years)
Public schools are cancelled for the Vermont 2016-2017 school year. Municipal governments are allowed to decide what to do with the building - most opt to have them essentially operate as a place to dump kids while the parents work.
Enforcement of drug laws shall be limited only to medical drugs
Enforcement of labour and environmental laws will cease, except for enforcement of laws on hunting, which will be left for individual police departments to decide whether to enforce or not
Pharmaceuticals, chemical labs and machine tool manufacturing will take directions from the state government
25% of all corn and soybeans produced belongs to the state. 50% of all other grains and legumes produced by intensive farming and 35% by organic farming belongs to the state.
The state shall have a monopoly on the right to sell maple syrup out of state.
All US citizens are to be treated as Vermont citizens. Other tourists, immigrants (both legal and illegal) and downtime indigenous people are to be treated as legal permanent residents. These provisions only apply if they continue to live in Vermont or come back to Vermont after trying to live independently. The government will also not protect Vermont citizens who leave and don't come back.
Statewide-elections are cancelled. Local governments allowed to decide whether to proceed with local elections or not.
Pay for state employees cut in half or reduced to minimum wage, whichever is higher.
Numerous senior state officials shall opt to not take their salary, easing the budget
No taxes are collected for the first two years
Electricity will only be available for general consumption on certain hours and the amount each household is allowed to consume will be limited

Permanent measures:
The semiconductor plant is nationalised (and completely closed for the first two years).
The nuclear power plant is to be brought back online.
Electric grid is nationalised.
Railroad is nationalised.
Property whose owners were out of state is seized and redistributed.
Federal government programs operating in Vermont come under Vermont's control.
State and federal taxes are replaced with a simpler progressive tax scheme with a top marginal rate of 25%
Vermont is to issue its own currency, the Vermont dollar, equal to the US dollar, in the 3rd year
Refugee camps will be established on the borders to prevent more downtimers from entering than can be fed and to hold in quarantine downtimers that have not yet been tested for dangerous diseases or tested positive (which means ICE agents still have a role to play and might be kept as a separate service). Immigrants and refugees with tuberculosis, whether dormant or active, will not be allowed to leave refugee camps at all.
Physical books cannot be transported out of state unless if another copy exists.
fossil fuels are to be rationed

 

[enbylvania]

The Roman Catholic Vermont Diocese of Burlington is initially accepted into the Catholic Church based on favourable reports by French Jesuits, noting that their doctrines, while overall oddly conservative, are fundamentally compatible with the Catholic Church (although perhaps not with the Latin Rite). A few years later, however, the Christopher J. Coyne, the Bishop of Burlington, visits Pope Benedict XIV and decides that the Church of the 18th century is fundamentally incompatible with the values of the modern church - inquisition, antisemitic doctrines, the death penalty being okay, castrating boys just so they can retain a high voice in the choir, etc. Likewise, the Pope realises that normalising Vermont's investigation of sexual abuse within the Church and the theological conservatism of Vermont's Catholicism would be political disasters for him personally in a time when theologically liberal ideas are politically very powerful and the church is filled with unchecked abuse much worse than any of the scandals of today. The local Jesuits ultimately stay with the Roman Catholic Church of the 18th century, and the Diocese of Burlington becomes an independent Catholic Church which will also take the opportunity to allow women to serve as deacons.

 

[Shadow007]

The American Revolution never happens. Vermont has to decide what to do when the Seven Years War begins

A few Asian Uptimers will go to Qing China to warn them, bring gifts and help Industrialize the nation. They hope that a modernize Chinese army would beat back the European imperialists and eliminate the notion that Asians are weak and backwards. Korea also Industrializes.

A few other Asian Vermonters would go to Japan and jumpstart their Industrial Revolution. An Industrial Japan would invade the Spanish Philippines

Likewise, a few African-Americans go to Ethiopia to help Modernize it. Ethiopia forms the core of an African Confederation, a defensive pact against Imperialist ambitions

The Europeans and Ottomans undergo a Cold War as everyone tries to get a technological lead against everyone else. Russia is much more powerful this timeline but has to deal with Japanese claims on Siberia. They do conquer Central Asia much earlier and with much fewer losses. Horse archers are slaughtered by Bolt-action rifles.

Everyone is building railroads to boost transportation, the economy and the military's mobility. Napalm will become a standard weapon in the newly Modernize armies

 

[enbylvania]

Why would Asian uptimers go to Asia? Most of them aren't first generation, will find 1750s Asia a wholly alien society and there's the risk of various diseases they have not been vaccinated for because they are largely gone in 2016.
Similarly with African-Americans. And why would Ethiopia, an oppressive slave-based monarchial society with rampant racism against non-Amhara and non-Ethiopian Orthodox minorities be suddenly in charge of an African Confederation?
Also it wouldn't be so easy to travel to any specific destination by sea. There's no registry of what routes and transportation options are available, there isn't the modern reliability of ships not getting lost or destroyed, etc.
As for everyone building railroads, there isn't high enough steel output for that yet. It'll take a few years before North Americans are ready to build railroads, much less the rest of the world that has significantly less access to modern information.
Regular usage of napalm requires cheap mass production of petrochemicals. No one has oil refineries - indeed even Vermonters do not have the knowledge of how to build one and will take years to find out how to make them.

Indeed knowledge of the existence Vermont itself will take about half a year to spread across the Atlantic Ocean and longer to become accepted fact. In most of the world, where there is no trade with North America, it will be treated as some fantastical yarn like stories about women giving birth to snakes rather than as a widely accepted fact.
Due to difficulty of reproducing the mechanical technology, the main spread of technology in the first decade of Vermont's existence will be of ideas, such as the modern educational system, germ theory, political science, etc.

 

[enbylvania]

That said, I do think some radical groups might loot some guns and start a slave rebellion in the Carolinas. It won't be successful because they could bring with them only a small smattering of technology and there'd be too few of them to be able to devote resources to replicating them - but they can successfully get a lot of people both white and black killed before they are defeated. Might also be able to bring education to isolated communities of escaped slaves living in the swamps.
In general, slavery in the 13 colonies and Canada is going to be gone sooner than OTL, but it won't die out on short notice.

 

[Shadow007]

The rise of Trump and the Far-right GOP plus the increased Racism within the US would convince many Vermont Minorities to support the Modernization of their homelands.

Much harder to be racist and lynch Asians if the Qing have a Modernize Army and Economy. The proto-KKK would hesistate to lynch Asians in fear of angering both the Thirteen Colonies/UK and Qing China in this Timeline

Many Vermont Indians would contact their tribal ancestors to warn them and start modernization

It's not hard to turn a musket into a rifled-musket. Revolvers and Bolt-action rifles are easy to teach and mass produce in newly built factories

If a teacher in Eric Flint's Grantville can make Napalm-ish using 2000s knowledge and tech then 2016 Vermont wouldn't have a problem

The Byzantines had Greek Fire which is similar to Napalm so...

The Radicals can bring Drones with them to scare off the slaveowners, provide recon, drop grenades and draw fire. Walkie talkies and binoculars provide massive advantages over the downtimers. A single Radical sniper would kill hundreds of slaveowners and pro-slavery idiots in just hours. Night vision and thermal googles ensure that the slaveowners die faster during nighttime.

Caltrops and Punji sticks not only kill pro-slavery idiots but corral them into a killing field to be ambushed and slaughtered. The Radicals would dominate in guerilla warfare ensuring the countryside is theirs

 

[enbylvania]

> If a teacher in Eric Flint's Grantville can make Napalm-ish using 2000s knowledge and tech then 2016 Vermont wouldn't have a problem
Grantville has a coal mine, a coal plant and unreasonably high availability of advanced chemistry knowledge (not just for petrochemicals but in general) for a tiny coal mining village in West Virginia. Vermont may have the chemistry knowledge, but it has no fossil fuels to mass produced petrochemicals from and a lack of technology for refining the petrochemicals en masse.

About lynching of Asians, this is Vermont a few weeks after Trump won the Republican nomination. Also many Asians in Vermont are not Han Chinese and would actually experience more ethnic discrimination in Qing China than in Vermont. There is no "proto-KKK", as the KKK was founded in response to very specific circumstances that won't be able to happen in this timeline.

As for Vermont Indians contacting their tribal ancestors - well they are literally in Vermont and right next to it and also negotiating with white Vermonters. Of course there's going to be an exchange of information. But there just isn't the population figures for the Abenaki to become a self-sufficient modernised power and the process of doing so would force them to abandon their way of life in very drastic ways. It's not like they aren't aware of the threat that the English colonists pose anyway - they live right next door and already fought many wars at this point and have displaced the southernmost Abenaki groups. Perhaps the Abenaki at this point do trust the French too much, but there's not really any good reason for them to stop trusting the French, who have not made threats to the Abenaki, had not abused them and have little probability of expanding their settlements at this point in time (most of the French migration to Canada happened in the 19th century).

We don't know what Greek fire's composition was, although it probably involved natural petroleum products as an ingredient. It likely was not mass produced in sufficient quantities to be standard issue to large armies.

Drones require batteries and the radicals have no expertise in drone warfare or indeed in warfare at all - they are just filled with righteous fury. They will not have any special military equipment, just whatever they could steal from stores and maybe a museum. I don't think they'll have caltrops but punji sticks are easy enough to make. They will not have enough guns to arm more than a handful of slaves and will quickly run out of ammunition that is compatible with their modern guns.