Empire of the Pacific - A California AAR

[King50000]

Poor Wagner, such great success and yet he was betrayed by his own party. I hope history tells of his greatness and the foolishness of his citizens. And I never knew that the debt in Vicky2 equaled out into millions. I always that it was a little wire that nations were only loaning me $25 xD

[Dewirix]

Going into the election, Wagner was the least liked President of anytime in the Republic.

To be fair, he's only the second or third president the Republic's ever had, so least-liked isn't as disastrous as it seems.

I'm really enjoying the AAR so far. California starts off small, but you're seeing good migration figures so far and those can only improve as consciousness rises in the Old World.

[TKFS]

Hopefully Stephens won't blow the treasury on ships that the Republic doesn't really need.

[blindgoose]

Great update! As I said earlier, I like your style, the mix of gameplay and creation is really good and it is difficult to tell them apart. Can't wait to see California expand!

[Morrell8]

Hopefuy we will see new californians become president.

[Omen]

This is a fun AAR to read. Keep up the great work!

[Commandante]

A great AAR on a fascinating country of choice. I shall be looking forward to reading more about California.

[Tanzhang (譚張)]

I really like the focus on POPs in this AAR, immigrants in particular. POP-focused AARs seem to be a rare thing these days, despite POPs being such an integral part of Vicky's gameplay.

By the way Fry, how did you add the Californian culture and such? Did you just edit the vanilla game or did you create a mod?

[Frymonmon]

@Reqinald: Thanks!

@King50000: I think thats what the debt equals, I am not 100% sure.

@Dewirix: Oops, let me change that. It was supposed to read "Politician" and not "President"

@TKFS: The Farmer-Labor party, Stephens included, have the notion that they all need a large navy. It will be interesting to watch the whole debt debacle.

@blindgoose: Great! The mixture is just what I was looking for. I like to keep it at 60-40. 60 based on real, 40 made up.

@Morrell8: Soon. So far, President Wagner and President Stephens were born in the United States

@Omen: Many thanks.

@Commandante: I'm glad, I shall be looking forward to writing more updates for everyone.

@Tanzhang (譚張): I am focusing on POPs mostly because I really never saw a POP-based AAR for Vicky 2. So I decided to take POPs, along with a country rarely played, and give it a shot! As for the culture and the specific events, I made a mod that only aides California a little bit, nothing huge that will give me an unfair advantage, just a small nudge so I dont have to deal with my country being 50% Mexicans and 50% natives, with no yankee pops of my own.

Also, my good readers, there will be an update today for President Stephens term. Stay tuned!

[Frymonmon]

Stephens: 1846 - 1851

President Wagner’s time was now over; Joseph Stephens was inaugurated as the third President of the Californian Republic on the first day of the year 1846. He was forced to come in under the shadow of President Wagner’s shaky, if not failed, second term. The trust for any Farmer-Labor politician in the country was at a low point, and a protest against President Stephens and his party took place in San Diego the day before and during his inauguration, interrupting the walk the newly elected President takes from the Congressional house to the Presidential Palace only six blocks away.

1. Joseph Stephens, the Third President of the Californian Republic.

During the spring of 1846, General Joshua Buell approached the President with an idea that would ensure California is properly protected. Although the debt was still fresh on the minds of the population, General Buell boldly outlined a plan for the Californian Republic. By 1850, the nation’s armed forces would be doubled in size, with two garrisons and land fortifications constructed in San Diego and San Francisco. Next to this, the port of San Francisco and the port of San Diego would be expanded to accompany a large volume of military and commercial naval traffic. To top off the plan, he promoted the idea of construction two more transportation vessels and another steam-powered warship.

President Stephens was looking for a bold start to his Presidency, and this was the perfect way to do it. He issued a declaration to the Congress of California on March 1th, 1846 that he wished his new “Californian Plan” to be pushed through Congress and money appropriated from education and governmental affairs should be used to pay for the massive armament project. Undoubtedly this would plunge the already debt-weary nation further into debt, and incite the population further.

2. General Joshua Buell, the man who initiated the Californian Plan.

The initial response in the Californian Congress was lukewarm, at best. Most of the Farmer-Labor congressmen were not fully supportive of this plan, and the Democratic-Republicans dismissed this as a new president trying to over-spend his small mandate.

When summer came to bear upon California, President Stephens took to the streets of California, and took part in the first push for public support of passage of a bill in Californian history. He made several speeches in San Diego, San Francisco, and even sent a worded message, translated into Italian, Basque, and Russian, to the immigrant towns in the north. His strategy was to get the public to support the Californian Plan, in order to get the country poised to be on firm military footing.

As the time passed, the bill began to grow. Now, it had provisions for a universal rail system linking all of the large town of California with each other, as well as a budget that would work to reduce and pay off the entirety of the debt by 1855. The most significant change to this was government support for east-ward expansion for Californians into the largely untouched lands of eastern California [1]. Support began to grow for this in the public and rallies were held by the citizens in support of the President and his policies. His "Californian Plan" was seen as a plan that would give Californian's everything they wanted, a larger military, railroad access to the entire country, and the debt would be payed off after a few years.

3. Romanticized image of eastward expansion, created in support of the Californian Plan.

It wasn't until the winter that the Congress took action. A small trickle of support began to come in from all sides of the political divide. Ursine Imperialists emphatically supported the California plan, as it moved population eastward, and open to possible expansion. The Farmer-Labor's decided to finally throw most of their weight behind the President's plan. But yet, this was still not enough to get the bill pass through both houses of Congress.

Finally, after months of deadlock, on February 23rd, seven Congressmen from Northern California, all from the Democratic-Republican party, decided to support the Californian Plan. With their support, the bill had the exact number of votes needed to pass. The Democratic-Republicans became distraught over the betrayal of their fellow congressmen and ostracized them from the party. They took no notice of this, and still claimed to be Democratic-Republicans. In essence, they created their own political party, helping both sides in debates and voting. The nation would know them as the "Group of Seven", hailed as the last independent minded congressmen in the nation, as most votes had been across party lines.

4. The Group of Seven, a delegation of Democratic-Republicans who helped pass the plan.

With his plan passed, President Stephens took no extra time to proceed with the logistics of the new law. Offices were set up in the major cities giving out money and land deeds in the east, laborers were moved from the cities out into the immigrant communities to begin construction of the new national railroad. The keels for three new ships were laid down in the sloops of San Diego, and the government budget was re-drafted to support the massive investment in the country.

The response in the beginning was that most citizens regarded this as a complete success. The citizenry was getting to work, land was being given out, allowing people to grow and develop the land to their needs, the government was led by a popular President whom commanded the respect and trust of the nation, and the federal government as a whole seemed to be working together coherently.

This was the truth for most of the aspects, except there was a growing group of lawmakers and citizens alike who began to grow suspicious of the government's ability to manage their debt. Although it was said that it would all be paid for and paid off, many began to worry it was spiraling out of control, almost unable to be contained at all.

A commotion was raised about C$13,000,000 of debt only a few years back that collapsed the presidency of Wagner, the current Government debt in California topped $C66,790,000 all incurred from spending for the "California Plan". Worrisome talks began between politicians that it could be a national disaster for the debt to reach C$100,000,000 were played down by President Stephens, who proposed a new measure to combat the debt, the Californian Republic would no longer fully pay its governmental obligations, yet it would commit more money to pay off the interest and a small fraction of the national debt.

5. The standing debt in California on January 13th, 1848.

A debate about this new development normally would strike the government and a large conflict would ensue, but a momentousness occasion occurred in the pioneer town of Mariposa, half Californian, Half immigrant. An old man stumbled into the local saloon, spouting gibberish and demanding he be given a drink and a direct link to the local governments office. Once he was given his drink, and he had spoken to the governor of the territory around the town, he burst out of the court house screaming "Gold! I have found Gold! A mountain of Gold!

6. Gold is discovered in the district of Mariposa.

Needless to say, the word of gold spread fast. Immigration to the Californian Republic exploded, with thousands of immigrants coming in each month. Only a few months after the initial discovery, immigration hit numbers up in the two thousand and three thousand range, nearly 350% more than previous immigration applications. Able-bodied men and their families flooded into Mariposa and the surrounding areas. The population quickly grew larger, until Mariposa officially became the second largest city in the Californian Republic on December 19th, 1848.

7. Immigration statistics for the month of October 1848.

The news of the gold overshadowed every single aspect of life in California. When two new transport ships, the CRS Liberty and the CRS Freedom, were launched in San Diego harbor, there was no ceremony, and the workers left as soon as they could in order to board the next train bound for Mariposa to go mine for gold.

The Mariposa Gold Rush, now mostly renamed the California Gold Rush, was a phenomenon that gripped the nation and a lot of nations in the world. California was suddenly seen as a great place to invest in, as well as move to, with hopes of striking it rich. A unpredicted side effect of the Gold Rush was now that there were more ways to travel to California, immigrants came not for the gold, but to simply live in the country.

From 1848 up into mid-1849, the primary method for gold extraction was to pan for it in a river, hoping to sift out all the dirt and rocks and be left with pure gold to sell. This would prove to be the method most settlers could afford, as a gold-sifting pan was a relatively cheap investment to get the chance of a small chunk of the gold pie.

8. A Californian man panning for gold along the Washington River.

During this period of rapid growth and the explosion of the influx of gold to the Government's offices, the debt crisis was almost instantly solved for President Stephens. Only a few months before gold was first found, the government was running a deficit of nearly C$3000 a day. Yet now, the government was pulling in an unprecedented and never before seen surplus of C$23,300 per day. In May, the Government already boasted a treasury surplus of over C$20,000,000. At current rates, they were well on track of completely eliminating the deficit incurred from President Wagner and the California Plan.

9. The current budget report for the Californian Republic on May 10, 1849.

Upon news of the Government's ability to handle it's debt caused the economy to explode. By the end of the year, the entirety of the Californian Republic's debt was paid off, and a new emergency budget was passed in order to better fund Governmental affairs. The National Stockpile was moved from funding 20% of maximum needs to 80% of maximum needs. Across the board in education, government spending, soldier employment and pension benefits, the funding was outright set to the maximum of constitutional levels that could be allowed to pay out.

The immense improvement of governmental control was almost instantly seen. Offices ran more efficiently, soldier enrollment went up and the army had been tripled in its size from the start of President Stephens term. Colleges and Schools were popping up to increase the educational standards of the nation. Roads and Railways became more accessible and well kept. The Californian Standard of Living was proclaimed as being one of the highest in the Americas by the London Bureau of Foreign Affairs [2].

All Californian's eagerly looked towards 1850, as it was when the latest population statistics would be made available for the nation. This new census also looked at the workforce, religion, and dominant issues on the minds of all the citizens. On January 1st, 1850 the Californian Republic boasted an impressive 128,530 Able-bodied males. With the total population of all citizens being 514,560 citizens. This was a massive increase of almost 100,000 males for the past five years as a nation. This growth was attributed to the stewardship of President Stephens, the Farmer-Labor party proclaimed.

The most shocking report was the prominence of a new minority. The citizens of the British Empire have moved to California massively, becoming the second largest citizen group in the country. At 10% of the population, the British minority was larger than the Natives. Another shocking report was the emergence of a huge Czech minority. Over the past five years, it boasted more members than the large Italian minority in the nation by almost 50%.

10. Population Statistics of the Californian Republic, 1850.

Now that the Californian Republic was rapidly expanding in population size, and the government's budget was finally on track, tragedy struck the Californian Republic on April 2nd, 1850.

President Stephens was taking a tour of the gold mines outside Mariposa, California's largest city, when a bridge the train was going over collapsed under the weight of the heavy train. With the new wealth of the nation, new, large, grand steam engines and coaches were brought to the Republic to be used to display their wealth. The infrastructure of the bridges, however, could only handle the light-weight engines that originally ran on the track.

The collapse was the worse tragedy to hit the nation since its founding. All the occupants of the train were killed, and several bodies were never even found. Only 4 years into his first term, the popular President Joseph Stephens was dead. As per the Californian Constitution, the Vice-President would serve out the rest of his term as a caretaker, only making minor decisions, and to wait for the election of 1850.

On a sombre occasion, Vice-President Walter Giddings was inaugurated as President of the Californian Republic on April 2nd, 1850. He announced that he will seek to win the election to become President by his own means, and to continue the legacy of President Stephens.

11. Walter Giddings, the Third Vice-President and Fourth President of the Californian Republic.

The election was not a fervent occasion, it was mostly shaped in the memory of President Stephens, with both parties paying tribute to him. There was not much campaigning, and there wasn't a single negative advertisement, claiming that in the interest of the late president, they were above that kind of political mudslinging.

President Giddings won a resounding victory, capturing over 70% of the electorate. He championed the ideals of the previous government and vowed to continue on its path. He also championed the new immigrations to the country and re-assured any foreign nation that the government will continue to support foreign investment in the gold market.

President Stephens left the country in a better position than he found it. With a genius plan to expand the effectiveness of government, bring infrastructure to the nation, and to expand its armed forces, the Californian Republic was poised to stake its place in the world. It was no longer going to be considered a backwater, revolting nation from Mexico, it was going to be seen as a proper nation on the world stage. The first European powers in late 1850 began to send diplomats to San Diego to establish formal relations.

Emerging as a legitimate nation, President Giddings boldly proclaimed that "Today, California remains at the cusp of an Empire. Should we continue the path we have been set upon by our previous Presidents, California will became the Empire of Liberty along this great Pacific Coast"

Previous Update: Wagner 1841 - 1846
Next Update: Giddings: 1851 - 1856

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Author's Note(s)
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[1] – This government support would include the government giving any Californian who spoke English land in the eastern portion of the state, as well as a sum of money to get them started out on a good footing.
[2] – The same Bureau claimed that British North America was far superior because it was still under the British crown and strongly advised all British citizens to remain under the British crown.

[TKFS]

Well... that was one hell of a lucky break. Does the gold rush extend beyond Mariposa?

[Tanzhang (譚張)]

It's a shame you killed off Stephens, he was by far the most notable Californian President yet. (although one could argue his greatest success was purely luck)

[Dewirix]

The gold will certainly come in handy. Not sure about California building up its army so much though. Are they planning on taking aggressive action against Mexico?

[King50000]

It's time for the California Plan to expand beyond the confines of California, there is plenty of room in Nevada

[Commandante]

Gold is a life-saver. California seems to be doing pretty well. Are you planning any bold moves?

[Frymonmon]

@TKFS: The Gold Rush is Mariposa specific, only because it would give me a huge, unfair advantage.

@Tanzhang (譚張): I killed off Stephens mostly because I didn't want him to become a demi-god figure.

@Dewirix: Well, as President Giddings said, California is poised to become an Empire along the Pacific coast.

@King50000: The rising tide of nationalism in the country will surly bring conflicts to Nevada.

@Commandante: I will say, expect something bold next update.

[Alfredian]

A bold move down south towards Mexico, while the USCA moves North?

[Frymonmon]

@Alfredian: That COULD be a possible plan. I do have high relations with the USCA still.

All right folks, I plan on pushing out an update before the weekend. Hopefully I will have the time to do this. Stay tuned!

[John Forseti]

@Alfredian: That COULD be a possible plan. I do have high relations with the USCA still.

All right folks, I plan on pushing out an update before the weekend. Hopefully I will have the time to do this. Stay tuned!

Looking forward to it.

[TKFS]

All right folks, I plan on pushing out an update before the weekend. Hopefully I will have the time to do this. Stay tuned!

Now I'm pumped