Basic Trope: The United States has expanded to include more states, or surrounding nations.
- Straight: After Alberta, British Columbia, and the Yukon break from Canada to join the Union, the United States now has fifty-three states.
- Exaggerated: The US expands to encompass most of the world.
- Downplayed:
- The US only has one new state after Puerto Rico votes to change its status from territory to statehood and the two houses of Congress vote to permit this.
- The US has fifty-one states after Michigan's two peninsulas become separate states.
- Justified:
- Truth in Television, and with plenty of historical precedence for the following reasons:
- A nearby nation became too weak to support itself and asked to join the Union.
- Another country had land that it didn't need and offered it to the US in exchange for money/resources/other concessions.
- A territory voted to join the Union for political/social/economic reasons.
- An existing state split into two or more states for political/social/economic reasons.
- Inverted:
- The former Confederate states re-secede from the Union, bringing the number down to thirty-nine.
- Russia invades and retakes Alaska, bringing the number of states down to forty-nine.
- The US has forty-seven states after the unifications of North Dakota with South Dakota, North Carolina with South Carolina, and Virginia with West Virginia.
- The US has forty-six states after Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California return to Mexico.
- Subverted: The US joins with Canada and Mexico, not because the US is more powerful, but because it is weak now and needs them to survive.
- Double Subverted: However, the US sector of the new North American Union becomes powerful enough that it takes over and the Union is pretty much an Expanded States of America.
- Parodied: The US expands to the entire universe, parallel worlds, and mystical dimensions. It reaches to the point where everywhere you go, your current area will be surrounded by nothing but Texan-style or at least Wild Western Eagleland.
- Zig-Zagged:
- The US expands west, gathering up Asia, but another power from Europe expands into the US, taking up the Atlantic coast.
- Michigan's two peninsulas become separate states, followed by North and South Dakota uniting into one state of Dakota. Then Texas splits into five new states and California into two, but the six New England states merge with each other. The net result is that there are still fifty states.
- Averted: The US has the same fifty states it has had since Alaska and Hawaii attained statehood in 1959.
- Enforced: A patriotic group wants to show a positive world with America at the forefront.
- Lampshaded: "Hey, the flag has more stars on it now!"
- Invoked: The President of the United States enacts a new policy of American expansionism.
- Exploited: The United States expands north into parts of Canada. Alice and Bob are Canadians living on the now-American-claimed territory and they decide to support their new government in hopes of getting better treatment than they think they got under Canada.
- Defied:
- Mexico, Canada, and possibly other countries form an alliance aimed at countering American expansion.
- Michigan's Upper Peninsula tries to become a separate state, but the federal government votes against it.note
- Discussed: "So, the people of Puerto Rico are voting on statehood, are they? Get that fifty-one-star flag ready, just in case."
- Conversed: "Think the US is gonna get any new states anytime soon?"
- Implied: The USA flag has more stars on it.
- Deconstructed: Members of the new state are upset having to lose certain rights or privileges due to joining the US.
- Reconstructed: But then they decide that the perks of statehood (having votes in Congress, for example) are worth it after all.
- Played for Laughs: As soon as Quebec joins the Union, all former French Canadians suddenly don cowboy hats and speak with a Southern drawl.
- Played for Drama: The US expands violently, crushing all in its path.
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