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Woo! I appeared! :D

Another great update... shame about Kemper...
 
President Wagner died in 1977? He had a loooooong life. :p

Keep the work up, and may California be prosperous.
 
If I remember correctly the next US-Confed war is decisive for the confeds, if they survive it they might live to the end of the game, happened in one of 3 games in my Vicky 1 games.
 
I like the foreshadowing that California may become an actual empire....if his name is Norton my head will explode with awesome.
 
Fantastic stuff! I presume that it has taken considerable self-restraint not to attack both the CSA and Mexico (apart from taking Baja) during your campaign so far. I do not think this is a bad thing. On the contrary, it gives your story a more realistic character. Keep it up!
 
@Sakura_F: Norton won't be making a large appearance.

@Riccardo93: It won't be the last time, and thanks.

@Heroicnoodles: Good!

@Comm Cody: Oops. I fixed that.

@Surt: If they can win the next war, I'm sure that they will survive to the end of the game.

@LeeroyJenkins: I have been told I am good at foreshadowing before. Thanks.

@Commandante: I was tearing myself apart during the past twenty years. I'm trying to go for as realistic as possible in this AAR.

Update inbound (eventually)
 

Baxton: 1881 - 1886


President Wade Baxton's inauguration speech payed tribute to his late rival Harold Kemper, but was far more focused on his great vision for California, which he proudly stated that under his reign, he would work on conquering many of the Pacific Isles for the ever-expanding Californian Empire. Besides former President Giddings, President Baxton's speech was the first mention by a public official of a Californian Empire. His assertion was not groundless either. The Californian Republic was the twelfth most powerful nation in the World, only slightly behind the Kingdom of Spain. Baxton laid out a clear goal, being as much of the Pacific Islands under the control of California, and begin to create a sphere of influence [1].

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1. Wade Baxton, Seventh President of the Californian Republic.

A new issue was beginning to constantly seep into discussions at both the civilian and political life in California. This was, of course, the rapid growth of companies inside the nation, specifically Howard Industries and Jamous Steel Works, by far the largest companies in California. Some were beginning to notice that as soon as a smaller industry started up, they were either bought out, or pressured out of business. Because not many people were effected by this, public attention merely gawked at the sheer size of the companies for a bit and went on with their business. Until a man by the name of Joesph Randal took a very public, very violent stand against these companies.

For the past ten years, Howard Industries had been undergoing a massive expansion program, with a main piece being the laying of railroad track into and out of the country to easily ship goods around North America. It just so happens that Howard Industries needed to take control of property currently owned by Californian Citizens to build their railways. The citizens that did not capitulate and give in to the demands by Howard Industries, saw the entire town cut off from the Howard Industries supply chain. So if they did not get up and leave out of desperation, the townspeople drove them out on their own. This was all until Joesph Randal, a retired Army Captain, decided he wouldn't give into the demands of the company or the townsfolk. He threatened to shoot anyone that would come near his property, which had been in his family since 1832.

With the town cut off from supplies, a group of twenty-four men tried to storm the house to kill Randal, only for him to shot six of them dead and wound three as they charged across his lawn. The reaming survivors retreated and decided to simply inform the company he was no threat and that the demolition could go through with. On April 7th, 1881, Joesph Randal killed over twenty-five men as they tried to enter into his house from across his property. His massive amounts of death prompted both citizens and the company to take him to court for murder.

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2. The home of Joesph Randal shortly before it became the scene of a bloody battle.

On May 5th, 1881, the county Court House was hearing the case of Howard Industries vs Randal, to try and charge Joesph Randal with thirty-two counts of murder. After a very livid and lively case that lasted well into the fall of that year, the jury was in deliberation for three weeks before issuing their explosive verdict. Joesph Randal was cleared of all charges, because he was acting in defense of his property, and that furthermore, Howard Industries was to be forced to offer a five million dollar compensation fund to all the people they forced out of their homes in order for them to build their rail lines.

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3. The court house in which the landmark case Howard Industries vs Randal took place.

These companies exploded into the public attention, and tore apart the fabric holding the existing political parties together. The already defunct Farmer-Laborer Party officially disbanded, only to have a few of its core supporters to form the Californian Conversation Party (CCP), a party which sought to keep the traditions of old in place, and promote industrial development. Not surprisingly, they strongly support the companies and the power they held, claiming it was simply the way things worked in a free society. The age-old Ursine Imperialists simply revised their policy slightly to be pro-business, but against the power of one company. They would emerge to be called the Freedom and Empire Party (FEP), and would align with the Californian Conservatives most of the time, only going against them on the issue of Monopolies. The Free Soil party and Populist Party had meet to try and make a merger, but resulted in both factions disbanding, and from the ashes rose two new parties. The Federal Party (FP), was formed of Pro-Expansionism, Pro-Small Business, Anti-Monopoly thinkers, while the Republican Party (RP) was formed of Anti-Expansionism, Pro-Small Business, Pro-Small Government thinkers. Finally, the Worker's Union Party (WUP), stayed right where they were, claiming their views did not change, demanding fair rights for the worker, and thats it.

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4. A meeting of the Worker's Union Party inside the house of a fellow comrade.

The resulting debate between these newly minted political parties mimicked the fierce debate between the newly realigned members of the Californian Congress. The Speaker of the House Anthony Magnano, made it clear that the "two most important issues of this decade will be Monopolies and Expansion." It was along these lines that the debate became rather convoluted, with members of all the political parties crossing the aisle to work on legislation and try and prevent legislation they didn't like from passing. One of the most unthinkable alliances was between the Federal Party and the Freedom and Empire Party, their similar views allowed them to work together on business legislation and expansionist policies, and that was about it.

One of President Baxton's first victories was the final incorporation of the Hawaiian Islands into the Territory of Hawaii. Along with the main island chain, the islands of Tutuila, Midway, Wake, and Palmyra were officially handed from Military Occupational Control to the civilian government of Hawaii. Quick offices were set up and the territorial legislature took a tour of the island of Pago Pago, a worthy port that, next to Pearl Harbor, would serve the interests of the Californian Pacific Merchant Marine quite well.

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5. The Californian Navy in Pago Pago Harbor, Hawaii Territory.

The Californian people were then thrust into making yet another decision that was sure to be divisive. The question was whether or not to continue the spread of territory across the Pacific Ocean. Obviously, President Baxton and his party, the Federal Party, believed in the continued expansion of Californian land, but a fierce opposition was put up by the Republican and Conservative Parties. The uneasy alliance between the Federals and the Freedom and Empire Party seemed to be able to hold this first onslaught against their beliefs of expansion. This was able to serve as a rallying cry for these two parties to join together around, the idea of a California stretching from the West Coast to Japan down to Australia made many people consider the greatness and prestige California would get from a vast Pacific Empire.

The determining bill that ensure continued Californian Expansionism was the Naval Act of 1882, which gave the green light for the allocation of funds from the Californian Treasury to modernize, upgrade, refit, and double the size of the Californian Navy. This was to ensure the undisputed dominance of the Californian ships now starting to appear more frequently in the Pacific. The Australian Colony, owned by the United Kingdom, saw California become its largest trading partner, surpassing the United Kingdom in late 1881.

With California's increased trade with the Pacific countries, the railroad industry, besides the ones privately owned by large corporations, saw their first big boom since the introduction of the railroad to California in the 1840s. San Francisco became the home to the largest rail yard on the Pacific Coast at the time[2], with nearly every train not owned by a Monopoly passing through it at some point in the day. To combat the monopolies, the government-owned and government-friendly railroad companies offered free or deeply discounted passage on their railway for the smaller factories and businesses, because the Monopolies would charge egregious amounts of money to have a single car roll down their track.

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6. The San Francisco Rail Yard in late 1882.

With new railway track being laid by the day, a new, previously difficult, industry appeared in Northern California. The vast forests of the countryside had long been neglected and scoffed at for any real commercial use, considering the sheer size of the trees and the distance to a useful market to sell them. This all changed when the government-owned railroad company the Californian Rail Co., built a railway penetrating deep into the woods and establishing a small town along a river in Northern California. The population growth was explosive, with one thousand residents calling it home after only four months. Griswold & Co. Logging had officially opened its doors as the first logging company in the nation to use the railroad to ship its large limbers from where they were cut to the Eureka market, where two logging processing plants opened their doors to turn the raw wood into planks of lumber.

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7. Workers from Griswold & Co. Logging posing for a picture in front of their logging train.

News had reached San Francisco of a great find in a small valley outside the city. A French Immigrant to the city had been traveling when he noticed something strange, a black substance seeping from a small pool in the ground. As it turns out, he discovered a large deposit of oil[3]. He immediately set out to build a well on the site, which was completed in 1883, and he found poor, out of work, former laborers and factory workers that would follow him to his well to begin drilling. These men followed him, took their families, and established Mentryville, the first oil town on the West Coast, whose economy was centred around the extraction of oil and imported a vast majority of their goods. In the 1885 census, only one household claimed sustenance off the land[4].

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8. French Immigrant Charles Mentry's oil well outside the new town of Mentryville.

News trickled down to California of news of a new country in the world. The Dominion of Canada had recently been created by the United Kingdom in the 1870s, and now she was given her own ability to act as an independent nation, exercising her rights to control her domestic and foreign policy fully. The Californian Republic applauded this move by the United Kingdom and quickly established a diplomatic headquarters in Ottawa, Canada. Relations between the two countries warmed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Canada, George Owen, visited San Diego in an effort to try and get the two nations to work together and cooperate. As it turns out, with the approval of the United States, a railway was built from Vancouver, Canada to Eureka, California in a bid to ship Canadian raw materials to California in exchange for Californian manufactured goods being sent up into Canada's remote western province.

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9. The first Government of Canada, with Prime Minister Sir John A. MacDonald in the centre.

Around the same time Canada came into being, the Californian Army held a momentous celebration. The second corps of the Californian Army was mustered into service with great jubilee alongside the 1st Corps. With this new addition, the Californian Army could register 60,000 men in the event of war, alongside 36,000 Californian Marines, for a total fighting force of 96,000 men and a total of twenty-four well-armed, ready to fire ships. Although seldom in port, the Californian Navy was tasked with sailing the Pacific Ocean, occasionally dropping off a military force to clear an island, in order to bring it under Californian control.

In late 1883, the newly annexed islands in the Hawaii Territory had finally been brought some sort of civilization. In addition to the small settlements on the island, they now boasted their own railway, with a small train, to be used to quickly move things around the small island. This new addition to the islands allowed California to claim more prestige on the international scale, by bring railroads and schools to the islands of the Pacific, not many people could argue with the Californian Republic, because they shaped their colonial conquests to be a Mission to Civilize, much like the Europeans were claiming to be doing in Africa.

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10. View of Pago Pago Harbour from the new railroad on that island.

One of the most outspoken proponents of this Mission to Civilize and the massive colonization efforts by the Californian Republic was Federal Vice-President James Harrison. Harrison, a veteran of the Mexican-Californian War had served in the Californian Senate before the great party shake up. It was then he abandoned the Ursine Imperialists, and joined the Federal party. Having a strong affiliation with candidate Wade Baxton, he choose Harrison to run with him on his ticket of expansion. Vice-President Harrison believed fully in the cause of Californian Expansion across the Pacific Ocean, as well as California claiming her spot as one of the Great Powers in the world.

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11. Vice-President James Harrison in 1884.

By a twist of fate, it would be, that President Baxton was caught using his political leverage as President of the Californian Republic to influence and manipulate certain companies to give both him and his estate favorable deals. As the investigation got further, it showed that President Baxton had been abusing his power since he was elected President, and has been accused of taking almost fifteen million from the Californian Government to go into his estate or his pocket. the public outcry was immense, the Californian Congress had entered into a special session to impeach and jail the President. Before it could get off the ground, however, President Baxton quickly resigned from the Presidency on July 4th, 1884, becoming the first person in Californian History to resign from the Presidency[5].

This thrust the office of President squarely onto the shoulders of James Harrison. He was informed of his accession into office when he was listening to a speech being made by the exiled "Emperor of the United States" Joshua A. Norton. When Norton realized that someone was interrupting his great speech he squarely looked at now President Harrison and demanded to know why he was interrupting his speech to which President Harrison flatly said, "Because this is now my Empire you speaking in."

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12. Emperor Norton I of the United States of America.

President Harrison, although ascending to office not by the will of the voter, but by the resignation of the President, he held an inauguration speech in San Diego, where he proclaimed the era of Corrupt Government was over. He vowed to destroy the Monopolies plaguing California, and bring equality and fairness to all walks of life in the country. He also looked towards the Pacific, claiming it wholly for California, and that any nation who dare touch what he considered Californian Land, would risk inciting war between the two, one he assured, the opposite nation would surly lose.

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13. President Harrison's Inauguration Speech.

As it would turn out, President Harrison's new approach to politics was extremely popular with the people. It also attracted the attention of the Nations of Europe, where the Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom himself appeared by rail to San Diego to discuss "important and pressing matters" with President Harrison. In a show of force, the British diplomat was forced to present his case first towards the Foreign Minister of California, then he was directed to the President. Normally, had any country done this to the United Kingdom in the past it would have resulted in a declaration of war, but this time, a shocking first in history, the United Kingdom still asked for an alliance between the two nations, and a treaty to be drafted safeguarding British possessions in the Pacific Ocean.

After a week of debate, the Treaty of San Diego was signed. In it, it guaranteed California would not touch any British Possession, but it would be allowed to dock and land troops in British Pacific Territory, Britain would not intervene on the side of any war California took in the Pacific, and the British pledged to not expand their current holdings in the Pacific. President Harrison proclaimed a great victory in this negotiation. California thus became one of the first nations in recent memory to get a vastly favorable treaty to themselves out of the United Kingdom.

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14. The Treaty of San Diego being signed.

Preparations for raising, and shipping, a whole new Corps of soldiers to Hawaii had begun. President Harrison, acting as Commander in Chief and without any Congressional Act, raised several regiments of infantry and artillery to be shipped to Hawaii as soon as possible. The shipment would ready in November of 1884, and President Harrison was busy preparing a speech to be made commemorating the expansion of the Military, and the undisputed righteousness of their cause as the foremost Pacific Power in the world. He was up late working on July 17th, 1884 when he head a commotion coming from outside in the courtyard. People were yelling and screaming, and he could hear his name being called. Curious, he opened his door to find his courier rushing towards him speaking gibberish and waving a Telegram. Thrusting it into his hands, he read the words from the British Foreign Office.

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15. Copy of the Telegram given to President James Harrison.

The President didn't even prepare a speech the next day. He simply walked out of the President's Palace and onto the speaking platform in the San Diego town square, and believed what some historians say was the most important speech in North American History. In it, he proclaimed that the Californian Republic, from humble beginnings, rose the ranks and claimed a spot at the top as the World's first and only Pacific Empire. In his speech, he laid out his ambitions for California and the divine right of all of California to stretch out her wings and bring the Pacific into her fold. He made no mention of keeping to the British Agreement, or even mentioning if the nations his country bordered would be safe from his expansionist onslaught. He also boldly stated that there is but one language in California, and that it is English, and that there is but one loyalty, and that is to California.

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16. President Harrison giving his off the cuff, "We Are an Empire" speech.

The Census data came back, only slightly skewered, because a majority of the information gathering had taken place before President Harrison had taken office. Since then, a vast majority of people switched their allegiance to the Federal party, away from the Conservative Party. On the actual population front, California saw an increase of 367,344 able bodied males in the nation. This was surprising because that was 1/3 of the total male population of California only 5 years ago. In 1885, the Californian Republic boasted 1,348,243 able bodied men inside her borders, with a total, overall population of 5,216,935 people. Most citizens were stunned and shocked by this explosive growth, which seemed to be growing ever more rapidly. A recent defeat at the hands of the Germans saw a mass migration of French to California, and then tapering off a steady, yearly trickle of Frenchmen entering California to become Californian. Because of this, the now famous French District of San Diego sprung up.

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17. Population Statistics of the Californian Republic, 1885.

The Presidential Election of 1885 wasn't even considered an election in most books. All the political parties besides the Californian Conservatives got behind President Harrison for re-election to a full term as President of the Californian Republic. The Californian Conservatives ran an unknown man, who wasn't even in government at the time, to head their ticket. His policy was actually taken from an earlier speech made by President Harrison while he was the Vice-President.

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18. Samuel Davis, the Conservative Candidate in the Election of 1885.

The election was over, and victory was almost instantly called for President Harrison. When the official ballots had come in, President Harrison was elected President of the Californian Republic with 80% of the votes, over Davis' 20% of the electorate. Easily the biggest landslide in the history of any Californian Election. President Harrison thanked his supporters, and vowed to stay on the same track he was right now, and he was going to use his next term to stretch out his arms further, run a little faster, and expand the ever-growing might of the Empire of the Pacific.

Previous Update: Williams: 1876 - 1881
Next Update: Harrison: 1886 - 1891

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Author's Note(s)
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[1] - Only in 1998 would the last country leave California's sphere of influence.

[2] - The Portland Rail Yard would surpass the San Francisco one in size around 1946.

[3] - This Oil Well would finally run out in 1995.

[4] - Many households came close, but they all needed to rely on the General Store and shipments of goods from the big cities.

[5] - The other two would be Henry Oswald in 1957 and Peter Shivery in 1961


[*] - Just out of curiosity - how many people would like to see this AAR continued after the official time frame (1836-1936) is over?
 
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I'd love to see it continued.

The court case turned out how I'd have liked it to, but hell! "On May 5th, 1881, the county Court House was hearing the case of Howard Industries vs Randal, to try and charge Joesph Randal with thirty-two counts of murder." That is really impressive for one man.
 
Or HOI2. or DH. Those'd be easier. ^_^
 
I would very much like to see this continued beyond 1936. :)

On the update:

Ah, wonderful. I knew that failure would not be on the cards with James Harrison at the helm of the Ship of State. :D Most excellent update. Can't wait to see California stretch further an faster in accordance with its Manifest Destiny as Empire of the Pacific.
 
@the_hdk: I'm not sure I'd continue it in a game - more of simply update without playing the game itself.

@Omen: He was a pretty pissed off man. And he had a large, open lawn.

@Sakura_F: I'll keep those in mind.

@BigBadBob: Thanks. I do believe I gave Harrison a worthy entrance. It will be under his guidance that California Expands at her most rapid pace.
 
Do continue on past 1936 with just the RP itself, it is great.
And hopefuly Jamous Steel Works will, like Jamous-Khur Works in the Presidents, won't fall to the trust busters ;)
 
Lol Harrison looks alot like a man who will become US President in 1901...
 
DEAR GOD! YES! CONTINUE IT! Quit your job! Drop out of school! Devote your life to it! Its that good!

But in all seriousness yeah, continue it. Maybe play it in HOI3 and start a really big war. Then finish out just RP.
 
Lol Harrison looks alot like a man who will become US President in 1901...

+1

Clearly, as any American historian should know, the greatness of Theodore Roosevelt cannot be contained by the universe. It makes perfect sense that he should exist in this timeline just as our own, albeit under the name James Harrison.