History Main / DividedStatesofAmerica

* UsefulNotes/{{Hawaii}} going back to ative rule.

* ''TabletopGame/CrimsonSkies'' takes place in an AlternateUniverse where the United States broke up in the early 30s due to the Great Depression.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': Referenced when watching ''Film/{{Squirm}}'', which takes place in the southern U.S. Near the end of the movie, Crow gets aggravated and tells the South to go ahead and secede again, claiming the North won't stop them this time. Mike quickly tells the South not to listen to the "sad little robot".

* ''VideoGame/VictoriaAnEmpireUnderTheSun'': As a GrandStrategy series set starting in the 1800s, not only is this possible, but the integration of territories into states is also simulated in different forms through the series. Most notable for Victoria III being the first video game to have the American flag dynamically change it's number of stars as territories gain statehood.

* ''VideoGame/VictoriaAnEmpireUnderTheSun'': As a GrandStrategy series set starting in the 1800s, not only is this possible, but the integration of territories into states is also simulated in different forms through the series. Most notable for Victoria III being the first video game to have the American flag dynaically change it's number of stars as territories gain statehood.

* UsefulNotes/{{Hawaii}} going back to [[HulaAndLuaus native rule]].

** The Guatemala Incorporated timeline has an example based on ''The Falcon Cannot Hear'' above. In this universe, a Second American Civil War broke out in the 1930s, which resolved in a ceasefire between variant claimants to legitimacy -- a military government runs the Pacific holdings from Hawaii (though is now a Japanese PuppetState), the Constituent Assembly controls the West Coast and part of the southwest, the British-backed Continental Congress controls most of the center of the continent, the American Soviet Republic controls things from New England to the Great Lakes and down to part of the Upper South, and a remnant of the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName fascist "White"]] movement controls Florida. There are also several breakaways -- Maine declared independence and eventually joined Canada (taking part of New Hampshire with it), most of the Deep South and part of the Upper South is the black socialist Republic of New Africa, there's a warlord state running things in the region surrounding the Grand Canyon, and the US Navy forces in Guantanamo (while technically loyal to the military government) run it as a ''de facto'' city-state.

* Another Creator/HarryTurtledove work, ''The Valley-Westside War'', depicts the US far more thoroughly broken up in the aftermath of a nuclear war in 1967. A hundred years later, there are a score of sovereign nations in the territory of the city of Los Angeles alone, each with its own national pride, a specific system of government, hereditary enemies, a miniature national army and protective tariffs to defend the national product. In the whole of the former US territory, there must be many thousands of such mini-states.

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'': The USA hasn't existed since the 21st century in the setting, but the Terran Hegemony and the Free Worlds League are close enough to qualify. In the Terran Hegemony's case their territory was divided up by the Successor States in a series of brutal wars following the fall of the Star League. In the Free World League's case . . . well, it's pretty much a RunningJoke in the franchise that there's a betting pool going for when their next civil war is going to break out.

* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' takes place in Night City in the Free State of Northern California. Background material reveals that the New Unites States has re-conquered most of the Free States except the Republic of Texas and Night City has remained independent only thanks to Arasaka's influence. However tensions remain high between the Eastern states and the semi-autonomous West.

** In ''VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis'' these include Quebec and Louisiana, and ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIron'' includes California, Texas and a reinstated Confederacy. Their ideology is technically dependent on what ideology an eventual occupier who wishes to partition the USA has, but the Confederacy ministers are all fascist, the Texas ministers are all paternal autocrat, and the California ministers are all social democrat. Other nations can be similarly divided (like Russia, China and large sections of the British Empire).
** ''VideoGame/VictoriaAnEmpireUnderTheSun'' not only includes the Confederacy but also the nations of Texas and California, as well as nations for the Cherokee, the Sioux, Mormon Deseret, a possible New England secession and the Manhattan Commune (of course, given the period covered, several of these nations are historical). Canada gets in on it too, as it has both a Quebec and a Metis Confederation. The sequel adds even more, including even the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion Holy Kingdom]] in China with a patch. Why yes, Paradox ''does'' [[ShownTheirWork do a lot of research]].

* A series called ''Literature/{{Timeline 191}}'' by its fans, is set InAWorld where the Confederacy won the Civil War. Along with the obvious, some of the states in this timeline are different from real life. North and South Dakota are one state (just called Dakota), and Arizona and New Mexico are also just New Mexico. Down South, the Confederates bought the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora. They also have Oklahoma, which is called Sequoya and was given to Native Americans. The books range from the year 1881 to the 1940s. More changes take place, such as a piece of [[ItMakesSenseInContext Texas being broken off and renamed Houston]].

* [[UsefulNotes/TheOtherRainforest Oregon, Washington, British Columbia (the latter being up in UsefulNotes/{{Canada}}), and sometimes northern California]] form Cascadia, which is much more left-wing than the former U.S. and built upon [[GreenAesop environmentalist]] principles.

** Downplayed in the 2021 reboot version, ''TabletopGame:DeadlandsTheWeirdWest'', where the subtle meddling of heroic timetravelers [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong caused the Confederacy to fall]]. Whilst there are still some independent nation-states, the big split between Union and Confederacy no longer exists.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'': Following the collapse of civilization with the Coming of the Rifts, most of Canada, the West Coast, the Rockies and the Great Plains were swallowed by immense forests and house no civilization beyond a few scattered and highly isolated settlements (both human and non) and roving nomads and barbarians, while the desert states are somewhat more settled in that the scattered settlements are less distant and the barbarians more common. Texas is divided between a multitude of feudal statelets and a powerful bandit kingdom, the Midwest and Ontario are mostly ruled by the powerful Coalition States, and Minnesota and Upper Michigan are home to hundreds of tiny farming and industrial communities. The Mississippi, Ohio River Valley and Appalachians are another wilderness, filled with demons and monsters from the intense Rift activity there and home to no civilization beyond an evil rump {{Magocracy}}. Lower Michigan and the Toronto area are likewise filled with monsters and torn apart by Rifts, but are home to numerous kingdoms of mystics, psychics and non-human beings. Most of the Deep South and the East Coast have been washed into the sea, leaving only isolated settlements along the Gulf, a dinosaur-infested swamp where Florida and Georgia used to be and yet more monster-filed wilderness going north, with small communities and kingdoms scattered here and there, while Quebec is ruled by an independent nation.

* Marie Lu's ''Literature/LegendTrilogy'' takes place with America being divided east to west: the dystopian Republic, where the ghetto sectors are used for plague testing and the Colonies, which seems to be a utopia but actually a consumer-dominated police state.

[[caption-width-right:350:What about UsefulNotes/{{Quebec}}?]]

* A [[UsefulNotes/{{Mormonism}} Mormon]] [[TheTheocracy theocracy]] in the Holy State of Deseret, formerly known as Utah, possibly with Idaho and northern Nevada joining in.
* The People's Republic of [[HollywoodCalifornia California]]. Otherwise the rich in Hollywood aren't ready to give up their wealth and California becomes OneNationUnderCopyright like in ''Film/BladeRunner'' with some Japanese influence as well.

* The loud, proud, rather jingoist [[EverythingIsBigInTexas Republic of Texas]]. Alternately, a Hispanic-majority República de Tejas. [[MexicoCalledTheyWantTexasBack Sometimes, it will even get reabsorbed back into Mexico.]]

* [[UsefulNotes/TheOtherRainforest Oregon, Washington, British Columbia (the latter being up in Canada), and sometimes northern California]] form Cascadia, which is much more left-wing than the former U.S. and built upon [[GreenAesop environmentalist]] principles.

* Alaska is fused with the Canadian territories to form another Inuit province, or at the very least seeks protection from Canada. Alternatively, [[RussiaCalledTheyWantAlaskaBack the Russians take it back.]] In some cases, if Russia is in its UsefulNotes/{{Soviet Russia|UkraineAndSoOn}} mode, it will be named as Alaskan SSR.
* Hawaii going back to [[HulaAndLuaus native rule]].
* A [[VestigialEmpire powerless rump state]] in Washington DC (or elsewhere if DC [[AfterTheEnd was destroyed]] or [[WashingtonDCInvasion overrun]]), still claiming descent from the Federal government and issuing grandiose proclamations which are ignored by the rest of the 'country'.

* The [[http://web.archive.org/web/20180727114832/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/bradley-whitford-courtney-b-vance-903104 cancelled 2016 series]] ''Civil'' would have featured this. The show never aired after TNT felt it would hit "too close to home" after the controversial 2016 elections however.

* ''Series/KeyWest'': In one episode, the residents of Key West decide to secede from the Union forming the Conch Republic, reflecting a similar "Conch Republic" set up in real life (see Real Life, below).
* ''Series/TheLastShip'': In Season 3, it's shown that in an attempt to bring stability to [[AfterTheEnd post-plague]] America whilst the federal government is rebuilt almost from scratch, President Michener has had the 48 contiguous states divided into five semi-autonomous territories (Northeast, South, Midwest, Southwest, Northwest) controlled by local leaders who report to the new capital district surrounding St. Louis. This is somewhat of a downplayed example, as it's meant to be a temporary measure until a new Congress can be elected... Or at least, that's the plan, until [[spoiler:the regional leaders stage [[TheCoup a coup]], killing Michener and deposing Vice-President Oliver, in order to dissolve the Union and formally turn their territories into their own fiefdoms, with the treacherous White House Chief of Staff trying to get St. Louis as her own city-state as her price for planning the coup]]. Things get a little more complicated from there, as [[spoiler:the Northwest leader [[HeelRealization gets cold feet]] and is [[RedemptionEqualsDeath killed for it]], leading to the Southwest leader absorbing his territory, only for [[TwentyFifthAmendment President]] Oliver and the ''Nathan James'' crew to lead a counter-coup and arrest him, turning the whole West Coast into TheRemnant of the actual US.]] These complications are resolved by the end of the season, as [[spoiler:the other conspirators are captured or killed, allowing Oliver to regain total control of the country]]. Aside from an implication that Hawaii is under Naval control, there's no mention of the status of either it or Alaska.
* ''Series/TheHandmaidsTale'': It seems Gilead only covers a portion of the former U.S., with a civil war being fought in other parts (such as Florida, according to Ofglen's comments about the oranges meaning "the fighting is going well" there). Offred mentions that Anchorage is the capital of "what's left of the United States," though it's hard to tell if she means Gilead or what remains of the original government. From the Commander's comment about [[spoiler:going to D.C. for some meetings]], it's probably the latter. It's hard to tell, given that the women in the series have no access to reliable news or other outside information. [[spoiler:Other than Ofglen, because she's in the resistance.]]
* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': Referenced when watching ''Film/{{Squirm}}'', which takes place in the southern U.S. Near the end of the movie, Crow gets aggravated and tells the South to go ahead and secede again, claiming the North won't stop them this time. Mike quickly tells the South not to listen to the "sad little robot".
* ''Literature/TheManInTheHighCastle'': In this AlternateHistory, the Axis powers win WWII and divide America into the [[FallenStatesOfAmerica Greater Nazi Reich and the Pacific Japanese States]], with the Neutral Zone in the middle as a sort of neo-Wild-West.
** In the TV Series' finale, America regains sovereignty but is left fractured, with the Black Communist Rebellion taking the JPS after the Japanese army withdraws, the GNR local administration declaring seccession from the Nazis, and the Resistance seizing control of a super science project in the Neutral Zone to give them full autonomy. Unfortunately, all three sides hate each other too much to consider re-uniting the country.

* The [[PunkPunk Cattle Punk]] TabletopRPG ''Aces and Eights'' takes place in an AlternateUniverse, where the Divided States of America include the U.S., the Confederate States of America, Deseret, and a Tribal confederacy.

* ''[[http://www.bigheadpress.com/roswell Roswell, Texas]]'' takes places in an alternate timeline where the Republic of Texas won at the Alamo and remained independent, and also controls Oklahoma, Arkansas and New Mexico. California is also an independent nation, run by President For Life, Creator/WaltDisney. It takes place in an alternate 1948. Space in between them is referred to as "the Deseret Corridor" indicating it's run by the Mormons.

* ''Literature/FearLoathingAndGumboOnTheCampaignTrailSeventyTwo'': Rather inevitable in the SequelSeries. As of 1985, [[spoiler:California has seceded (or is trying to secede) from the Union. [[OppressiveStatesOfAmerica It's not hard to guess why]]. When Rumsfeld tries to force Pete [=McCloskey=] out of his office and then impeaches the Supreme Court for ruling against him, California officially declares itself to be a Republic. Idaho, Hawaii, and Florida also follow suit]]. The country becomes even more divided after [[spoiler:the Christian Values Party takes control and re-brands the country the Christian States of America]]. By 1990, [[spoiler:Texas and Alaska declare independence, Oregon merges with California to form the Pacific Free Republic, Washington votes to join Canada, the Libertarian-dominated Mountain, and Midwest states become "Bozeman enclaves" home to resistance movements, and the secessionist northeastern states continue to call themselves the [[VestigialEmpire United States of America]], lead by Richard Nixon]].
* ''Website/TheOnion'': In "[[https://politics.theonion.com/texas-constructs-u-s-border-wall-to-keep-out-unwanted-1819570767 Texas Constructs U.S. Border Wall To Keep Out Unwanted Americans]]", Texas secedes from the U.S. and builds a triple wall around itself to drive the point home. [[AcceptableTargets The rest of America is mostly glad to be rid of it]].
* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesusland_map map]] that circulated after the 2004 elections, labeling the blue states and Canada as the "United States of Canada" and the red states as "[[{{Eagleland}} Jesusland]]" and [[MemeticMutation all its variations]].
* In ''[[http://ib.frath.net/w/index.php Ill Bethisad]]'', the USA never formed as such, but a loose confederation exists in its place.
* [[http://althistory.wikia.com/wiki/North_America_(1983:_Doomsday) This post-World War III map]] from ''1983: Doomsday'' on the Alternate History Wikia.
* ''Website/AtlasOfMedievalAmerica'' imagines a world where human civilization is blasted back to TheMiddleAges overnight, and what the USA (which had no medieval period to revert to) would become by the 26th Century. The site remains unfinished to this day, but some of the resulting countries are named. The [[VestigialEmpire rump United States of America]] is an oligarchic maritime republic centered in Baltimore that controls isolated enclaves and the major shipping lanes along the East Coast extending into Canada; the Great Plains are inhabited by a loose confederation of nomadic tribes; the Confederate States (including an independent Georgia and the "Red River Territory") have reverted to plantation slavery but not along racial lines as [[InTheFutureHumansWillBeOneRace everyone in the South is biracial]] by that point; California splits into the northern "Republic" and the Scientologist-controlled southern "Free Zone"; the "Territory of Iowa" is a military dictatorship controlling all land between the Missouri and Wabash rivers; the "State of Deseret" is a Mormon theocracy controlling Wyoming and parts of Utah and Ohio; Washington DC became a city-state under the control of the American Non-Denominational Church similar to the Holy See, with the Supreme Court and Chief Justice filling the roles of the College of Cardinals and Pope; it also mentions several warlords in the East and hydraulic empires clustered around rivers in the Western desert.
* ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'' had California and Cascadia (which added the Yukon, Northwest Territory, and Alaska) secede from the U.S. in the late 22nd century. Both of these were regional superpowers with multiple colonies in the Asteroid Belt and outer solar system until the Nanodisaster.
* [[http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2012/11/27/civil_war_who_would_come_out_on_top_if_the_united_states_all_declared_war.html?wpisrc=obnetwork This article asks which state]] would come out on top if they all fought each other.
* ''Roleplay/CaptoIugulum'': The United States after the Scottist regime collapses spectacularly. Jacksonia [California] and Florida ([[NonIndicativeName actually in Texas]]) break away as independent republics and stay independent. Most of the American South gets taken by revolting [[DirtyCommunists proletarian blacks]] and eventually becomes the United Proletarist Republics of America. The rest gets split among a rump United States, other republics in New England and in the Great Lakes region, and numerous warlord states in the West. All of the latter gets reunited under a "Second Union" within a few years, and the United States remains a secondary power, albeit much reduced in strength.

* In ''Literature/AnExaminationOfExtraUniversalSystemsOfGovernment'':
** The Guatemala Incorporated timeline has an example based on ''The Falcon Cannot Hear'' above. In this universe, a Second American Civil War broke out in the 1930s, which resolved in a ceasefire between variant claimants to legitimacy -- a military government runs the Pacific holdings from Hawaii (though is now a Japanese PuppetState), the Constituent Assembly controls the West Coast and part of the southwest, the British-backed Continental Congress controls most of the center of the continent, the American Soviet Republic controls things from New England to the Great Lakes and down to part of the Upper South, and a remnant of the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName fascist "White"]] movement controls Florida. There are also several breakaways -- Maine declared independence and eventually joined Canada (taking part of New Hampshire with it), most of the Deep South and part of the Upper South is the black socialist Republic of New Africa, there's a warlord state running things in the region surrounding the Grand Canyon, and the US Navy forces in Guantanamo (while technically loyal to the military government) run it as a ''de facto'' city-state.
** In the Southron Popular Republic timeline, the Confederate States win the American Civil War and successfully break away. But furthermore, after the CSA ends up on the losing side of the Great War, they suffer a Communist revolution, which results in Texas and the Indian Republic (OTL Indian Territories/Oklahoma) breaking away and declaring independence. And back in the US, a second civil war breaks out in the 1930s due to a public backlash against government corruption during the Great Depression; by the time it's done, California has declared its own independence.
* ''Literature/{{Catherverse}}'': An Website/AlternateHistoryDotCom series, whose premise is the US breaking apart in the 1930s when the Business Plot takes place and assassinates FDR. By the modern day, the former US and Canada are divided into over a dozen states. The North American states that are the focus are The Industrial Republic of North America [[note]]]covering the Mid-Atlantic states and the Industrial Midwest[[/note]]], the direct SpiritualSuccessor of the USA, the Great Plains United Republic [[note]]which makes up much of the Great Plains, plus Minnesota[[/note]], and a revived Confederate States of America [[note]]which makes up the former Confederacy, minus Texas and Louisiana[[/note]]] which,[[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain unsurprisingly]], is the BigBad of the series.
* In Emerican Johnson's [[https://www.non-compete.com/the-newcomer/ The Newcomer]], set in an alternate world where the Haymarket Affair started an anarchist revolution in the late 1800s, the current territory of the United States is separated down the middle, with the dystopian capitalist USA to the east, and a loose federation of anarchist territories to the west. The Union of American Communes is portrayed rather realistically, with a slight bias, given that the author is an anarchist himself.

* ''Literature/AprilsInAbaddon'': The US exploded into civil war in 2017, and several de facto nation-states have emerged, from the conservative Federal Republic of America to the [[DirtyCommies Stalin-esque]] Eastern American Workers' Army. In a slightly more literal sense, the Provisional Government of the United States controls two large but geographically separate blocks of territory (the Northeast and the Southwest).

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': In which a map is shown of a heavily balkanized United States, including the state of Pennsylvania having split into the "Penn Republic" and "Sylvania." UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC is, however, the capital of Earth.

* In John Barnes's ''Mother of Storms'', set in 2028 (written in 1994) Alaska successfully petitioned the UN for its independence.
* Creator/KimNewman's ''Literature/DarkFuture'''s America plays on the Southern States leaving--Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Florida, Arkansas, and Kentucky are unofficially known as the Independent States of America. Utah was sold to an {{Expy}} of the Mormon Church and was renamed Deseret. It's a sufficiently separate state that its citizens have their own passports.
* On [=E3=] in Creator/IanMcDonald's ''Planesrunner'' has the Confederate States of America, which apparently seceded in the 1850s, the United States, and Mexica, which is the west coast that used to belong to Mexico before ''it'' seceded.
* Creator/PoulAnderson's "No Truce with Kings" features this in a recovering post-disaster world.
* In Creator/MattRuff's ''The Mirage'' the Christian States of America is composed of 17 States, 18 after Mississippi joins in 1990. An attempt to annex Louisiana results in the Mexican Gulf War. There is also an Evangelical Republic of Texas that also claims Oklahoma, New Mexico and the Mexican state of Coahuila although the inhabitants of these place all beg to differ, a Rocky Mountain Nation that controls,more in theory than fact, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and the Dakotas because it itself is split up into small tribal factions, a Mormon nation although it's based in Missouri rather than Utah and the Pentacostal Heartland State of Gilead. How big the latter is is unstated but Tennesee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan form its eastern edge.
* Though it doesn't impact the story directly, in George Alec Effinger's ''Literature/MaridAudran'' series, this is mentioned as one of the reasons that the Islamic world has risen to dominate world politics. Bill the cab driver was born in the nation of Deseret, centered around the former state of Utah.
* Although technically still a single nation the United Seven States of America (USSA), in Jerry Jenkins's ''Soon'', has been divided into seven semi-independent districts as depicted in [[http://bayimg.com/GacNdAadg this fanwork]].
* In Maurice Dantec's ''Cosmos Incorporated'' the combination of the Grand Jihad and the Second Civil War results in an America with three capitals (Detroit, Washington DC, which is little more than a city-state surrounded by a Muslim Caliphate controlling the east coast and Atlanta). There is also a Mohawk nation straddling the former US-Canada border.
* In ''Literature/ItCantHappenHere'', widespread revolts erupt after Haik assumes power, and America is quickly divided into areas that dissidents control and areas that Haik's government controls.
* ''Literature/ElevenTwentyTwoSixtyThree'': In the alternate universe created by the prevention of JFK's assassination, Maine is a Province of Canada.
* In ''Literature/{{Metatropolis}}'', a series of environmental and energy crises have reverted civilization into city-states. There's the anarcho-environmentalist community of Cascadiopolis hidden in UsefulNotes/TheOtherRainforest, the decaying slums of Detroit, the tightly controlled "zero-footprint" city of New St. Louis...
* ''Literature/ResurrectionDay'', a novel by Brendan Dubois, explores a world after a Cuban Missile crisis where nobody blinked. The resultant nuclear exchange destroyed Russia and devastated the USA, leaving Europe largely untouched. A crippled rump USA hangs on, but roles have reversed: a resurgent Britain is now an effective leader in the English-speaking world and is succoring the Americans with aid. This is not given unconditionally; as the book progresses it becomes clear the British are planning to take over and reverse the whole 1776 thing, exploiting deep divisions and resentments in what is left of America.
* ''Literature/NightOfPower'': At the end, UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity secedes and declares itself a black homeland.
* In Alan Steele's ''Jericho Iteration'' UsefulNotes/{{Oregon}} and UsefulNotes/{{Washington}} have seceded to form the nation of Cascadia.
* The ''Literature/{{Daybreak}}'' series is about a radical environmentalist group using nanotech, biological agents, and fusion bombs (super nukes) to destroy modern technology and infrastructure, sending the world back into (at best) early [=1800s=] tech. While this is a global event, the main focus is on the United States and its disintegration over the course of the series. By the time the series is done: after the nuking of DC, two rival governments emerge -- the Provisional Constitutional Government, based in Olympia, Washington, which directly controls the Pacific Northwest and has influence over the entire western half of the country, and the Temporary National Government, based in Athens, Georgia, which controls most of the South (and which is later taken over by religious extremists who declare the region the Christian States of America). Utah, Texas, and California (which is taken over by a neo-feudal movement and declared a duchy) become highly autonomous, with the latter two eventually seceding. Alaska secedes early on. Hawaii dissolves into chaos and loses contact with the mainland. Arizona loses territory to California and Nevada, as well as the newly declared Apache and Navajo nations. Oklahoma likewise loses its eastern half to Native American independence, resulting in the Allied First Nations and Western Oklahoma. Montana is part of the PCG, but has strong movements for both independence and federating with Alberta. And then there's the Lost Quarter, the entire region north of the Carolinas and east of Kentucky and Illinois, which is so heavily devastated by the immediate and after effects of Daybreak and overrun by pro-Daybreak tribals that any large government in the area is impossible. That said, there are a few centers of civilization -- Castle Earthstone in Indiana, a tribal stronghold that declares independence from Daybreak and eventually establishes a Domain around the eastern Great Lakes region; Pelissipi, several counties along the Virginia/West Virgina border region which banded together to drive off the tribals and found a new state; and Manbrookstat, which is technically just a city-state operating out of the ruins of New York City, but whose totalitarian leader, the Commandant, declares nominal control of all Lost Quarter territory not claimed by the TNG/CSA or the Domain. And further complicating things is the Commandant founding the Atlantic League (a confederacy of similar city-states around the Atlantic), and opening the Lost Quarter to colonization by his partners.
* In Creator/MurrayLeinster's story "Sidewise in Time" time fractures bringing dinosaurs to the suburbs and other mixed up time zones. In one a salesman for the "Uncle Sam Candy Company" is arrested because he slipped into a place where the Confederacy still exists and the Stars and Stripes cannot be displayed. He is set free to return to the Union in order not to exacerbate the tensions between the two nations.
* ''Literature/{{Unsong}}'' is set in the "Untied States of America" (sic), an EU style federation of sovereign countries. The release of [[BrownNote the Broadcast]] by the forces of hell, via Nixon, caused the collapse of the American federal government. The United States proper still exists but controls only the east coast. Independent countries include the California Republic, the Texas Republic, the Salish Free State, and the Oklahoma Ochlocracy. The Midwest is an anarchic land ruled by feudal warlords. The American Southwest and northern Mexico were ruled by the Comet King, and have since been mostly usurped by the Other King.
* ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'': The central premise is the dissolution of the United States owing to a combination of hyperinflation, pestilence, and disobedience in the face of growing lawlessness. The heroes occupy the Northern Confederacy/Victoria, a deeply conservative version of New England, and in the South a New Confederacy forms, torn between its cosmopolitan and rural elements. Past that, Wisconsin is taken over by Nazis, the 'Party of the Will'. Insane parodies of 'Deep Greener' environmentalists take over the Pacific Northwest, forming Cascadia. California is renamed Azania, moving the capital to the Berkley campus and outlawing men. The rest is overrun by 'orcs' as minority gangs and rioters are called in-story.
* In ''Literature/ChristianNation'', after President Steve Jordan decides to suspend the Constitution in favor of the Fifty Blessings based on his fundamentalist Christian view of God's law, several states in the Northeast, as well as California, decide to split off from the rest of the union to form the Secular Bloc States. It does not last, however, as Steve Jordan uses military force to recapture the seceding states and force them to submit to the new laws of the country.
* In ''Literature/FireOnTheMountain'', John Brown enlists Harriet Tubman's aid in his raid on Harper's Ferry and, thanks to her support, is successful. This sparks off a series of slave revolts that coalesce into "Nova Africa", a socialist republic run by former slaves made up of the states that would have become the Confederacy.[[note]]The idea was based on the real-life separatist/social movement "The Republic of New Afrika", which sought to secede states in the Deep South from the United States by a referendum of African Americans and form a new country[[/note]] Additionally, Mexico has taken advantage of the situation by reclaiming California and Texas. A Civil War does still take place, with Abraham Lincoln attempting to reclaim the former states, but the Union ultimately is defeated.
* ''Literature/TheIndiansWon'', by Martin Cruz Smith, speculates that if Crazy Horse had lived, and if he and other Native leaders had had the resources, they'd have joined with Paiute holy man Wovoka[[note]]whose Ghost Dance movement really was intended to do this[[/note]] to unite the High Plains nations against the European invaders. Further south, Native peoples join with the Latter-Day Saints in a separate nation-state. Much of the needed weapons and food are actually supplied by an evil European cabal who plan to overthrow the new governments once they're established, but the Indians catch on and thereby hangs the tale.
* ''Literature/TheNightMayor'' is set entirely in England, but there's a passing mention of a recent "War Between the States" that has resulted in political upheaval in North America including the establishment of the CSA as an independent political entity.
* In ''Literature/ThePeaceWar'', the former United States has fractured into numerous smaller nations, a state of affairs encouraged by the Peace Authority because it means none of them are large enough to pose a threat. The only one that bears much resemblance to the former US is the Republic of New Mexico; other forms of government represented include the feudal autocracy of Atzlan (formerly southern California) and a region with no central government where the peace is kept by [[LawEnforcementInc protection companies]]. The sequels show that after the overthrow of the Peace Authority nobody seems particularly keen on reviving the old Union, and eventually all the countries dissolve as people prefer the ungoverned land/protection company model.
* ''Literature/ToBeTaughtIfFortunate'' follows astronauts in the twenty-second century, after the [[GlobalWarming Great Shift]]. One grew up in a megacity along the Fraser river (presumably Vancouver) in a nation called Cascadia, which borders a nation called the Pacific Republic to the south. The border is mentioned to be desert.
* ''Literature/RedQueen'': Thousands of years into the future, the US and Canada have been split into six monarchies, a republic, and three conflict zones. Most of the main characters hail from Norta (the Northeastern United States), Farley is from the Lakelands (the Midwest and Canada east of Lake Superior), and the other monarchies are Piedmont (the South east of the Mississippi), Tiraxes (the South west of the Mississippi), Prairie (the vast North American Prairies), and Ciron (the West Coast). The sole republic is Montfort, centered on the Rocky Mountains. The conflict zones are the Choke (Niagara Falls), the Wash (Washington, D.C.), and the Disputed Lands (all along the stretch of the Mississippi, where Reds live free from Silver rule).
* In Robert Evans' ''Literature/AfterTheRevolution'' the SecondAmericanCivilWar happened in 2041. The resulting extremely chaotic war saw the federal government pitted against several different rebel factions, and the conflict lasted for over a decade, and by the end, the USA had been split into several different entities. The remnants of the old federal government, known as the North American Federation (or just "[=AmFed=]"), still maintain control over the New England and the Middle Atlantic regions, as well as parts of the East North Central states, except for the Great Lakes area, which has become a protectorate under the Canadian government. Meanwhile, most of the Southern states has branded together into a theocratic union known as the United Christian States. Other larger states includes the Califonian Republic and Cascadia, a union of the the nothern pacific states. Several other states have attempt to strike out on their own, but to very limited success. Utah (along with parts of nothern Nevada), popularily known as "Mormonland", is embroiled in a conflict between two competing Mormon sects. The Republic of Florida is referred to as "the [[BananaRepublic Banana-est Republic]] in North America". The Republic of Texas, where most of the story takes place, meanwhile, is a mostly failed Liberatian state, locked in a deadly conflict with the Heavenly Kingdom, a group of extremist Dominionist Christian rebels. Weirdest perhaps, is the so-called Kingdom of Albuquerque, a small dictatorship (its borders are not really defined, but it is implied to be [[LandOfOneCity limited to the city of Albuquerque itself]]) run by an autocratic ruler who has proclaimed himself king and is heavily implied to be TheCaligula.
* ''Literature/TrailOfLightning'' features united Navajo nation Dinétah in former New Mexico, the Mormon Republic in former Utah, and the Republic of New Denver in former Colorado. Much of the remainder of the continent is flooded.
* ''Literature/LucifersHammer'': The protagonist survivors, living in and around California's San Joaquin Valley, all make jokes about the five announcements they've received over short-wave radio, each proclaiming a different person President of the United States. The only one they give any level of credence to is the group in Colorado Springs because a) the person making the proclamation is the former Speaker of the House and thus might actually have legal authority and b) apparently NORAD survived and they still have nukes and working bombers. As far as they are concerned, Arthur Jellison (former US Senator and leader of the effort to organize and rebuild) is their leader. One person jokes that Jellison is 'the Duke of San Joaquin'.

* Ernest Callenbach's ''Literature/{{Ecotopia}}'' details the titular country, composed of the entire West Coast minus Southern California. A forerunner of "Cascadia", discussed elsewhere on this page.
* The historical background of the Literature/VorkosiganSaga involves the United States falling apart due to internal conflict. The borderline utopian Beta Colony in the series was an attempt to preserve the best of America and is a rather "Blue State" kind of place.
* Stoney Compton's ''Russian Amerika'' features an alternate universe where North America is made up of The United States, The Confederate States, The First People's Nation, New France (Quebec), British Canada, The Republic of California, Deseret, The Republic of Texas, New Spain (Mexico), and the titular Russian Amerika (Alaska). Notably, the latter is not an example of RussiaCalledTheyWantAlaskaBack, as, in this reality, the Alaska Purchase never happened due to the Union not having enough money to acquire it after losing the Civil War.
* By the end of Creator/WilliamRForstchen's ''One Second After'', [[spoiler:China has taken over the West Coast, Mexico has grabbed a large chunk of the South West, the US Government controls the East Coast and the rest of the country is more or less up for grabs and in chaos.]]
* In Creator/LEModesittJr's ''Ghosts'' series, history is different due to the presence of actual, scientifically-verifiable ghosts that appear after a violent death in which the person knows he or she is dying. North America is split into Columbia (a United States analogue where the Dutch are one of the prominent people), the Mormon Theocracy of Deseret, New France, and Quebec, among other things.
%% * Daniel da Cruz's ''Republic of Texas'' trilogy. The title says it all.
%% No, no it doesn't.
* Neil Cross's ''Literature/{{Christendom}}'' has this as part of its {{backstory}}. America collapsed into anarchy, but the fundamentalist Christian nation of New Jerusalem eventually arose on the East Coast and took back the rest of the country. After a series of wars, it went on to 'reclaim' parts of Australia, India, China, and northern Europe, as well as all of Egypt and Japan.
* Octavia Butler's ''[[Literature/ParableOfTheSower Parable of the Talents]]'' takes place during the "Al-Can War", when Alaska successfully secedes from the United States. The rest of the country is in shambles and is being run by a fundamentalist Christian leader.
* Creator/HarryTurtledove:
** In ''[[Literature/CrosstimeTraffic The Disunited States of America]]'', every state becomes its own country after the United States ceases to exist because they kept the Articles of Confederation. California is an economic and technological superpower in the region and is one of the most liberal societies, while many former slave-owning states in the South have a racial caste/hierarchy/apartheid system where the white people are the top of the ladder while the blacks are treated like trash (with the exception of Mississippi, where the racial oppression is reversed). Some states are also geographically different, including a United Virginia, a United Carolina, and the state of Boone (Kentucky and half of Tennessee). Since every state is its own country, there are many conflicts in North America, such as the Florida Intervention (the state was forcibly split into three parts, one of which becomes owned by Cuba). Most of the plot centers around Virginia, where Ohio decided to piss off that state and start a war by spreading a [[SyntheticPlague genetically modified measles virus]] and supplying weapons to the oppressed black population in Virginia.
** Another Turtledove work, ''The Valley-Westside War'', depicts the US far more thoroughly broken up in the aftermath of a nuclear war in 1967. A hundred years later, there are a score of sovereign nations in the territory of the city of Los Angeles alone, each with its own national pride, a specific system of government, hereditary enemies, a miniature national army and protective tariffs to defend the national product. In the whole of the former US territory, there must be many thousands of such mini-states.
** A series called ''Literature/{{Timeline 191}}'' by its fans, is set InAWorld where the Confederacy won the Civil War. Along with the obvious, some of the states in this timeline are different from real life. North and South Dakota are one state (just called Dakota), and Arizona and New Mexico are also just New Mexico. Down South, the Confederates bought the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora. They also have Oklahoma, which is called Sequoya and was given to Native Americans. The books range from the year 1881 to the 1940s. More changes take place, such as a piece of [[ItMakesSenseInContext Texas being broken off and renamed Houston]].
* ''Literature/TheForestOfTime'' has a similar premise to ''The Disunited States of America'', though with much less westward expansion. The main focus is on the conflicts between the Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking Pennsylvania and its English-speaking neighbors New York and Virginia.
* In ''Cloudsplitter'' by Russell Banks, John Brown constantly predicts the takeover of the United States by pro-slavery forces which, he says, will force New England to secede.
* In S.M. Stirling's ''Literature/{{Emberverse}}'' novels, the world suffers 'the Change', in which electricity and gunpowder suddenly cease to work. Much of America ends up as a bone-littered wasteland, but in the inhabitable parts, small countries and fiefdoms of every stripe spring up; what used to be Oregon ends up with a half-dozen or so.\\
\\
In the later books, all the little nations in Oregon have formed a UN-like organisation, and we have the Church Universal and Triumphant that initially occupies what is roughly Montana, the United States of Boise which is basically Idaho (but calls itself just the United States because it thinks of itself as the VestigialEmpire), and New Deseret, the Mormon theocracy based in Utah. So large states do survive in some areas.\\
\\
Further east, about a dozen new nations form around the east side of the Mississippi--the Republics of Fargo, Marshall and Kirksville, the Provisional Republic of Iowa, the State of Nebraska and the Emergency Powers Zone of Concordia (basically Kansas). The rest of the U.S. is either a death zone full of corpses and cannibals (the highly populated areas, like the East Coast and California) or small townships, in places like the Gulf of Mexico and the remote parts of the Appalachians. This is a completely JustifiedTrope; considering just how much our civilization relies on the electricity and oil that become useless, it's not surprising that this occurs, - though AuthorAppeal applies, considering that Great Britain survives with its monarchy intact.
* In the ''[[Literature/TheHungerGames Hunger Games]]'' series, the United States has been renamed "Panem" and split into a Capitol (the Rockies) and twelve distinct and separate Districts in various parts of the country, such as Appalachia. The name "Panem" is derived from [[GratuitousLatin the Latin phrase "panem et circenses"]] or "bread and circuses", hence Peeta being the son of a baker and the titular "Games" serving as circuses to entertain the masses and keep them in check. It could also mean "Pan-am", as in "Pan-American".
* In ''After America'', John Birmingham's second book in his ''Wave'' trilogy about a mysterious energy field called "the Wave" that wipes out the populations of huge chunks of Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Cuba. Most of the continental US remains uninhabited three years after, with a renegade general becoming the Governor of Texas and running it as a quasi-independent state, Manhattan being a battleground between jihadis, pirates, European mobsters and the reestablished US government. That government, based out of Seattle, is trying to create seed colonies scattered around the country.
* The [[AlternateHistory alternative nineteenth century]] of Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Nation}}'' features the ''Re''United States of America, implying that this trope must have happened at some point.
* Dean Ing wrote a trilogy beginning in ''Systemic Shock'' with World War IV: the Chinese-Indian alliance launches a massive nuclear and bio-weapons strike that kills roughly 100 million Americans. Afterward, the U.S. government quarantines the southern East Coast, where most of the bio-weapons spread, from New York down to the tip of Florida, and west to the Mississippi. Mexico grabs a strip of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and almost all of the California coast; New England and each northernmost state along the border become a Canadian Protectorate. The rest is "Streamlined America."
* Creator/CliveCussler:
** ''[[Literature/DirkPittAdventures Flood Tide]]'' had a secret plan to carve a Latin nation called "Hispania" in the Southwest east from UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, and a Chinese-run nation of Pacifica on the West Coast from UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco, through Seattle and Vancouver up to Alaska. Even the President (in this book, a less honorable guy) feels that this is inevitable.
** The first Kurt Austin Adventure, ''Serpent,'' had a BigBad who not only wanted to [[MexicoCalledTheyWantTexasBack make himself leader of a country called Angelica formed from the Southwest plus Mexico]], he also had contingencies in place for the Chinese-controlled Pacifica, plus Quebec separating from Canada and the Maritime Provinces, cut off from the rest of the country, joining the remainder of the USA.
* In Bruce Sterling and Creator/WilliamGibson's ''Literature/TheDifferenceEngine'' the USA is split into Union, Confederacy, Texas and California. Among the minor characters is Sam Houston, an emissary from the Republic of Texas. A Marxist Manhattan Commune, actually founded by Karl Marx, is also mentioned.
* In ''Literature/ThePassage'' both California and Texas secede when the Vampire Apocalypse hits. [[spoiler:California didn't last. Nearly a century later the Republic of Texas is still a going concern.]]
* In Creator/MikeResnick's ''The Buntline Special'' the United States of America's border, as of 1881 stops at the Mississippi River thanks to Indian (specifically Cheyenne and Apache) magic. There are white settlements west of the river but they are independent entities and exist on Indian sufferance.
* Creator/WalterJonWilliams's ''Hardwired'' has a heavily balkanized territory formerly known as the USA, in which Hovertank jockeys make a fortune flying contraband across fortified state borders.

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[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* In Creator/FrankMiller's ''ComicBook/GiveMeLiberty'', we get to see the U.S. balkanize throughout the original series. The biggest split occurs when the BigBad [[PresidentEvil Takes Over the Presidency]] -- [[DystopiaIsHard and discovers he's not capable of keeping the various blocs he's been appeasing from just leaving]]. By the time order's restored, New England, UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, Florida, Texas, the Northwest, South California, the Southwest, and the DeepSouth have all seceded from the US, leaving them with only 20 states. (Alaska and Hawaii aren't even mentioned -- maybe people just forgot about them in the mess.) This example features a number of unusual features that seem to be a deliberate inversion of the usual regional stereotypes. For example, the Deep South ends up as a left-wing hi-tech StrawFeminist gynocracy, while the hardline Religious Right theocracy that usually ends up in the Deep South is here in the stereotypically-liberal Pacific North-West.
* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' of ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'' has Mega-Cities One (includes eastern Ontario) and Two (later nuked) on the east and west coasts, Mega-City Three (Texas City), Uranium City (in Alaska), Las Vegas (also eventually nuked) and the ungoverned and desolated Cursed Earth in between. After Chaos Day, The leadership of Texas City tried to overthrow their counterparts in Mega City One to reunite the United States; it backfired on them.
* In ''ComicBook/{{DMZ}}'', a second American Civil War has the Midwest fighting against both coasts, to the point where New Jersey and New York are on opposite sides and the title location (the Demilitarized Zone) is Manhattan Island, where an uneasy cease-fire has formed. DMZ says the free state movement was more of an ''idea'' than a territorial location, making it more in line with modern 4th generation warfare.
* In [[ComicStrip/TheBoondocks Aaron McGruder]] and Creator/ReginaldHudlin's ''Birth of a Nation'', after election fraud causes a NoCelebritiesWereHarmed version of George W. Bush to be elected president, the city of East St. Louis declares its independence from the United States to become Black Land. Very {{Anvilicious}}.

* Played straight in the Franchise/{{Superman}} story ''[[ComicBook/SupermanRedSon Red Son]]''. The USA experiences a second civil war, with 16 "prodigal states" (including Georgia) successfully seceding. [[spoiler:America gets better, but it takes [[PresidentEvil President Lex Luthor]] to do so.]]
* In the ''ComicBook/OldManLogan'' story arc, the villains took over the US and it got broken up in several pieces with the US being the original thirteen colonies.
* In the ''Captain Confederacy'' mini-series, the U.S. has balkanized into several different independent nations. One is trying to reunite them, by any means possible.
* A smaller scale version than normal, but in the [[Franchise/{{Batman}} No Man's Land]] arc, Gotham suffers a massive earthquake that devastates the city. Rather than help fix it, the Federal Government and the state of New Jersey both carve Gotham out of their respective borders, turning it into a ruined city-state. Naturally, things got better and Gotham is back as part of the Union.
* The 2012 ComicBook/UltimateMarvel crossover ''Divided We Fall'' has this as its primary plot, as America is divided into several sovereign nations, with Texas now having access to nuclear armaments.

* In the alternate version of ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' shown in ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'', America is divided in twain between the Iron, ruled by [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] and the Blue, ruled by [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Steve Rogers]]. The Iron being analogous to the Eastern US with the Blue being the west, and St Louis, which was devastated during the escape from the Negative Zone prison, is the boundary between the two. Both sides see their side as an {{Utopia}}: The Iron clamps down on certain civil liberties, such as superpowers, but is very prosperous and growing, with many seeing them as a legitimate nation. The Blue is a free nation where there're only two real rules: don't wreck shit and don't be a deadbeat. However, most of the Blue is barren land where places to grow food is tough and other nations refuse to recognize it as anything more than a rogue state. The Iron, however, is ''too'' prosperous and is growing out of control.

* ''Fanfic/ReimaginedEnterprise'' features scenes set during the [[AfterTheEnd Postatomic Horror]], where this has happened to the USA due to many competing continuity governments, and it is informally referred to as the Disunited States.

* In the ''Film/ThePatriot'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1872979/1/God-Save-the-King-How-Thomas-Met-His-Destiny God Save the King! How Thomas Met His Destiny]]'', this happens mixed with AmericaIsStillAColony - the war ends in a negotiated peace where Maryland, Delaware and Virginia form a nation called the "United Commonwealth of America", New England also becomes independent, while Georgia, the Carolinas, the western half of Virginia (i.e Kentucky), New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania remain under British control.

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork'' and its sequel, ''Film/EscapeFromLA'', the title cities have been deliberately cut off from the rest of the country and turned into prison facilities. Still, the United States has also apparently expanded internationally: the second film mentions Bangkok as a U.S. territory.
* In ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}'', the American flag has only twenty-five stars on it, so it’s possible half the states have seceded. On the other hand, there are only eleven stripes, so it’s possible it has simply been forgotten what the stars and stripes are supposed to represent. Or that nobody can count that high anymore.
* The backdrop of ''Film/{{Bushwick}}'' reveals Texas and some Southern States want to secede from the United States and to make it successful, the Secessionists covertly send mercenaries into Northern States areas like Bushwick to cause chaos. Unfortunately, the secessionists didn't expect the locals to fight back.
* ''Film/{{Lone Star|1952}}'': The film is set in Texas in 1845 as Texas's annexation by the United States is debated. Craden, who is against Texas joining the USA, presents his master plan. He believes that he can get Mexico to cede California and the Southwest to Texas. Then when civil war that Craden (correctly) anticipates will happen between the free and slave states, Craden thinks the slave states will join their sister slave state Texas. He shows his audience a map that shows a Greater Texas occupying about 3/4 of the modern-day USA, with a rump United States occupying the northwest corner. Everyone in his audience is appalled.
* It's implied that the zombie infested Las Vegas in ''Film/ArmyOfTheDead'' is no longer counted as part of America.

* The ''Literature/HaloEvolutions'' story ''The Impossible Life and Possible Death of Preston J. Cole'' uses the term "the first American Civil War", hinting that the US fell into at least one more civil war between the present day and the 26th century.
* Marie Lu's ''Literature/LegendTrilogy'' takes place with America being divided east to west: the dystopian Republic, where the ghetto sectors are used for plague testing and the Colonies, which seems to be a utopia but actually a consumer-dominated police state.

* Neal Stephenson's ''Literature/SnowCrash'' takes place in a future where America has broken up into ''millions'' of "micronations", where a given [=McDonald's=] store, for example, would be on the sovereign soil of the [=McDonald's=] nation. The US government is still around, but they just mainly run the post office.
* The webserial ''Literature/{{Sanctioned}}'' briefly mentions that America has split into God's Beloved Chosen America, and the United Northern States of America. As it's set in Scotland, not much is said about things in America.
* Max Barry (of Website/NationStates fame) explored a similar setting in the novel ''Literature/JenniferGovernment''. Nearly all society and law is individually administered by corporations (right down to corporate sponsored schools and security firms), while what's left of the government is relatively weak and looked down upon. At the same time, however, what's known as "The United States" is a SpaceFillingEmpire, albeit one without a meaningful central government. It covers both North and South America, Great Britain, Australia, parts of Asia, and possibly other areas as well.

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein:
** The setting for his novel ''Literature/{{Friday}}'' balkanized the States in just this fashion, with Vicksburg being a center of a laissez-faire economy where the nation of Texas, for example, could go to hire mercenaries for use in battles along the Mississippi River. Meanwhile, out on the west coast, there is the California Confederacy, headed by a "Chief Confederate". There is also a Chicago Imperium which, despite the name, controls the entire Upper Midwest. Heinlein has it ruled by a "Chairman", thus averting an Anvilicious TakeThat to the Daley political machine in Chicago. Other nations included the Atlantic Union, Vegas Free State (centering on Las Vegas) and Deseret (Mormon-controlled Utah).
** The setting of the novella "Literature/IfThisGoesOn" had an oppressive theocracy as one part of a divided U.S. The theocracy ruled pretty much the whole U.S., with the exception of Hawaii (mentioned as an independent republic). His novel ''Literature/TheCatWhoWalksThroughWalls'' had this as well. The theocracy, started by the prophet cum President Nehemiah Scudder, is part of Heinlein's "Future History," a title applied to a large percentage of his work which all takes place in the same Universe. Consequently, this version of the United States appears in much of Heinlein's fiction, though it may not be mentioned directly.
* Kurt Vonnegut's ''Literature/SlaughterhouseFive'' shows Billy Pilgrim wandering into the future, where the US has been balkanised for its own good. [[ArcWords So it goes.]]
* ''Literature/ATLStoriesFromTheRetrofuture'': It's unclear what happened in [[GreatOffscreenWar "the war"]], but it certainly ended up with the United States broken up since there is the Republic of Georgia with Atlanta as its capital. Characters often mention "The West" as a foreign area, as well.

* ''Literature/ACanticleForLeibowitz'' is set in a [[AfterTheEnd postapocalyptic]] North America and spans several hundred years. In the opening chapters, North America is divided into feudal kingdoms such as "Texarkana". Texarkana is the name of a city that straddles the border of Texas and Arkansas, likely one of the cities that managed to escape the war, and became a power center when people began to rebuild civilization. There's also the Kingdom of Laredo (based in what used to be Laredo, Texas), a cowboy-esque nomadic [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy warrior culture]] (a little along the lines of the Mongols) who look down on the agrarian "grass-eaters" of Texarkana.
* Creator/RobertSilverberg's short story "The Palace at Midnight" is set in The Empire of San Francisco, in a ''really'' balkanised USA. One of the characters is the ambassador from the Republic of Monterey; also mentioned are the Holy Carolina Confederation, the Three Kingdoms of New York, the Realm of Wicca in Oregon, and The Grand Duchy of Chicago.
* Richard Morgan's ''Literature/BlackMan'' (also known as ''Thirteen' in North America) includes a "United States" that was forced to Balkanise through a mix of external and internal pressure; the remnants take the form of the fairly moderate, civilised North Atlantic Union, comprising the North East and New England, the extremely conservative, economically and socially backwards Confederate States of America (informally referred to as "Jesusland", in a nod to the common nickname for "Red State" America) and the capitalistic, libertarian Pacific Rim Union. The Union and the Rim don't get on particularly well, but both are united in their mutual distaste for the Republic, which is more than reciprocated.
* Many Russian science fiction writers include in their novels a mention that the US has been split into several nation-states due to ideological differences and/or corruption. One notable exception is Creator/MikhailAkhmanov's novel ''[[Literature/ArrivalsFromTheDark Invasion]]'', in which the US actually merges with Canada to form the "United States and Canada" (USC) and is as strong as ever (with Russia by its side).
* The ''Literature/{{Deathlands}}'' action/adventure novels (by Jack Adrian et al) has a [[AfterTheEnd post-nuclear United States]] consisting entirely of feudal baronies, as no one has the technology to control anything larger.
* In ''Literature/TheAccidentalTimeMachine'' by Joe Haldeman, the main character visits a future in which the northeastern part of the United States has become a theocracy and closed itself off from the rest of the country.
* In ''Broken Angel'' by Sigmund Brouwer, Appalachia is a {{Dystopia}}n theocracy independent from the United States.

* Combining the above two examples, as well as California and the Upper Midwest states, joining with Canada to form [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesusland_map The United States of Canada]], whilst the remaining states (sometimes including Alberta and Manitoba) descend into a theocracy known as "Jesusland". A pro-conservative version keeps the same lines, but the south remains The United States of America and the north becomes "NAMBLAstan."