There are three options open to the United Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia in 1867: to continue as a British colony, to be annexed by the United States, or to join with the newly formed Dominion of Canada.

In Britain, many Little Englanders expect, or even hope, that its North American colonies will depart from the British Empire.

Admiral Joseph Denman has told the Admiralty that British Columbia does not deserve Royal Navy protection, and advises the British government to "divest herself of these possessions by any means consistent with honor".

Financially, becoming officially part of the United States makes sense, as British Columbia is economically essentially a satellite of San Francisco, Washington, and Oregon.

American currency and postage circulate widely in the colony, whose nearest British neighbors are Red River, two thousand miles to the east, and Hong Kong, far to the west across the Pacific Ocean.