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I'll just start this new page for you...

So, what exactly are you planning on doing (give us a hint)? A full alliance between the Union, Mexico, and California against the Confederacy? Or you just going it alone... which doesn't sound very wise...
 
@Riccardo93: I assume you meant President Hensdale. Hayden has not spoken at all yet.

@TKFS: Thanks for the support, and maybe there will be, maybe there wont be.

@BigBadBob: Now, like you, I was hoping in the next five year to be an "American Restoration to the Confederate provinces". Only problem now, the Confederacy owns Mexican provinces. Restoration of the Union will have to be done piece by piece, or not at all.

@Neoteros: I am honoured to have you on board. As for the Confederates - I have no idea what their plans are.

@Gloa: I couldn't find the Vallejo picture you used, so I resorted to using their creepy picture of a US Post Master General

@blindgoose: You just might. Depends on the way the POPs vote.

@Riccardo93: "California finds it future not in the East, but in expansion Westward" - President-elect Jeremiah Williams

@King50000: Thanks, and no. Unfortunately the Socialists are gaining great power. I'm pretty much screwed if they take over.
 
So long as the CSA exists you might go free from foreign aggression but if the USA regains its losses they might think they need to take you too! at least that was my experience in V1
 
I see Jeremiah Williams leading California to greatness and enforcing California's claims on the Pacific Coast. California extending from Baja to Washington would be nice.
 
The end of the civil war has left California's southeastern borders in a bit of a mess. Mexico need to be careful that they don't weaken the CSA too much as they US will doubtless come calling for their cores at some point and if they do manage to enforce a Restore Order CB they'll go after Mexico next.
 
This has been great so far. :)

I've been thinking for awhile now, its time to take Hawaii. You really need to have annexed and built a port on it by the time you can start colonising, the Pacific islands are rightfully Californian!
 
@Surt: That's what I am fearing. I'm hoping to all hell that the CSA can keep the USA... for the time being anyway.

@atomicsoda: Well, under Williams, California WILL be expanding...

@Dewirix: It's going to be impossible for the USA to enforce a restore order CB now. The Confederacy annexed two Mexican states, and Mexico has half the standing army of California, at the moment.

@Tommy4ever: Thank you! I am looking at Hawai'i myself... it does seem like a wonderful jewel to add to my crown, especially with a weak United States.

Alright everyone, update incoming.
 

Williams: 1871 - 1876


President Jeremiah Williams wasted no time getting his ambitious foreign policy off the ground. He announced during his inauguration speech to the collected masses of the citizens of California, that he was going to submit to the Californian Congress a proposal to declare war upon the island nation of Hawai'i. He declared that the Kingdom of Hawai'i has defaulted on several of its debts with the Californian government. Thus, he argued, that this nation must be brought under the control of California to secure the debts and money duly owed to California. The members of the Farmer-Laborer party rallied against this bill before it even hit the desks of the congressmen. They decried the trumped-up charges against Hawai'i, and tried to uncover them as the falsehoods they were. Regardless, the Californian Congress voted to declare war on the Kingdom of Hawai'i on January 28th, 1871.

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1. Jeremiah Williams, Sixth President of the Californian Republic.

The message containing the Californian declaration to the Kingdom of Hawai'i was loaded onto a transport ship and headed to Hawai'i. Shortly behind it, was the Californian Marine Corps loaded onto their specific fleet. The plan was to bring the message to the King of Hawai'i, while only a day after blockading the port and launching an amphibious invasion against the Hawaiians three thousand men. The Marine force sent to Hawaii numbered eighteen thousand men. A quick, crushing, force was sent to Hawaii in order to pacify and easily take control of the islands.

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2. King Kamehameha V of the Kingdom of Hawai'i.

The war was one of the quickest ever recorded in modern warfare. The Kingdom of Hawai'i surrendered unconditionally to the Californian Republic on May 4th, 1871. New of this reached San Diego by the end of the month, and finally, on June 6th - the former Kingdom of Hawai'i was turned into the Hawaiian Territory, an officially organized territory of the Californian Republic. Instead of directly annexing the territory like they did with the Mexican territory, the Californian Congress opted to make territorial status necessary for any new land to be incorporated into the Californian Republic. Before becoming an integral part of the nation, there must be enough registered Californian, English-speaking citizens inside the territory [1]. Then, and only then, will the territory be divided into Districts and given representatives in the Californian Congress.

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3. Californian Marines accepting the official Hawaiian surrender.

President Williams was faced with a new task, there were eighty-five thousand citizens on the island of Hawaii, twenty-two thousand of them where able-bodied men, who could rise up in revolt at any time. He needed to find someone to appoint to become the territorial governor of Hawaii. He wished, above all, to pacify the Hawaiians to make sure they didn't take up arms against the Californians, they had little to no ability to continue to house soldiers on the island to control it by force, so the President decided to take a rather unpopular decision with his party, and he appointed one of California's most outspoken Congressmen, Frank Gallo to become the territorial governor. Williams choose Gallo because of his ability to work with the Free Soil party and his opposition to war and believed in working with the people.

Frank Gallo quickly set out for Hawaii after his appointment was given to him, he accepted emphatically, he felt that Hawaii could become his own personal place to experiment his ideals of governing, and eventually he could use it to propel himself to the Californian Presidency, should he be successful in transforming Hawaii from a backwater kingdom to a true pillar of civilization in the Pacific Ocean. With him, he took three of his personal friends, and they formed the basis of the First Territorial Government of Hawaii.

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4. The First Territorial Government of Hawaii.

The debate in the Californian Congress next turned to the issue of the new Territorial Constitution submitted by Governor Gallo for approval. It stated that the Hawaiian Legislature shall be open and free for any citizens to run and vote in. The Constitution also stated that the right to vote was extended to all residents of Hawaii that held Californian citizenship, regardless of gender. Back in San Diego, this motion was seen as absurd. There was no possible way they would ever support the right for women to vote, even if it was just a small island territory. They quickly struck down that version, and resubmitted a modified version that made it necessary to be a landed male in order to vote, and only those citizens who spoke English may be allowed to run for office.

Naturally, Governor Gallo resented this new Constitution but was forced to work with it. In November of 1871, he announced the official and final creation of the Hawaiian Territory, as he raised the flag of the Californian Republic over Government House in Honolulu. One of the first acts of the provisional Hawaiian Legislature was to establish an elections committee to regulate the elections in Hawaii. There would be two competing parties, the Hawaiian Democrats, which advocated for an expanded democracy to the native Hawaiians, and the Hawaiian Federalists, which sought to bring control over the territory and quickly assimilate the natives into the Californian way of life, in order to make Hawaii an official district in Hawaii.

With the announcement of new land opening up in the Pacific, where the climate was quite good for a variety of staple crops, Californians began to pack on crowded boats and head West into the Pacific Ocean, to stake their claim to a part of the Hawaiian pie.

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5. Californian Immigrants in Hawaii.

The Hawaiian elections of 1871 were quickly counted, and by an overwhelming majority, the Hawaiian Federalists earned 90% of the seats and 76% of the vote. They immediately started to draft and pass laws handing out land from native Hawaiians over to Californian immigrants. Governor Gallo, who recently resigned the Farmer-Laborer Party and joined the Hawaiian Democrats, did all that he could to prevent this measure, but he was being subverted everyday by the increasingly powerful Legislature. He took his plight to the native Hawaiians, who more and more, became less interested in changing the new government, and just going along with it.

When the spring of 1872 rolled around, the people of California started to look towards their own homes and firesides in California proper, ignoring the current issues with Hawaii. As far as most of them were concerned, it was just an isolated plot of land not many of them would ever see or profits from this far off land, so interest soon turned to how the new President's policies were effecting the country, given that President Williams was the first Free Soil President in California.

The first real controversy faced by President Williams was when the USS Colorado, returning from a raiding mission against Confederate Shipping in the Pacific, asked for permission to re-coal and re-stock in San Diego, before heading around South America to return to new York Harbour. Pressured by the Confederate Government to turn the ship away, or seize it and turn it over to the Confederate Government. President Williams choose to leave the ship be, and reject it to safely make port in San Diego. Only a few minuets after the Colorado left the safety of Californian waters, the CSS Shenandoah engaged and sunk the Colorado in a battle that lasted only a few hours [2].

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6. USS Colorado after being turned away from San Diego Port.

The United States Government was obviously enraged at this development of affairs, considering California was still allied with the United States. In order to influence California, the Confederate States intervene upon the rapid communication between San Diego and Washington by cutting all the telegraph lines owned by the United States that lead into California. From this point on, the Californian Republic decided to null the treaty between the United States and California - no longer could they feel protected by the United States as their ally and partner. Instead, President Williams sent a telegram to President Longstreet in Richmond to see if a meeting of representatives could be set up in order to improve and promote cordial relations between the two countries.

Following this development, the Californian Congress issued an expulsion order for the United States Ambassador currently residing San Diego. He was forced out his home early in the morning, and on to a boat the same day. His house and all his objects were quickly auctioned off to anyone in the city who was willing to pay the price.

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7. The former house of the United States Ambassador to California.

The United States was clearly quite disturbed by this series of events. Some in the US Congress clamored for War against the budding Pacific Empire, in order to cut California down to size. Some members even went as far as traveling down to Richmond and petitioning the Confederate States to allow soldiers to move across their western territories to get to California.

By the skillful maneuvering by California's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Christopher R. Bryan, he negotiated a treaty of peace and cooperation between the Confederate States of America and the Californian Republic. This treaty outlined that the Confederacy could yield no ground for usage of foreign powers to attack California for any reason, except if both the Confederacy and California are at war and the territorial loss is not peaceful. This document was hailed as a lifesaver for the people of California, for a few months there was a brief exodus of people moving away from the shore under fear of an American naval attack and subsequent amphibious assault. There fears where alleviated knowing the United States could not re-coal and resupply from the Pacific Coast or from Hawaii.

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8. Minister of Foreign Affairs Christopher R. Bryan.

The spring of 1873 saw the surprise death of General Randolph Caldwell, the General-in-Chief of the Californian Armed Forces. President Williams was quick to try and locate a replacement for General Caldwell, his method of warfare allowed for the quick subjugation of Hawaii, and his organizational methods were top of the line. Under the military reorganization directive, he divided the semi-confederated army into a tight regimental structured chain of command.

President Williams finally decided on Colonel Nicholas Khur, an immigrant to California no less. Colonel Khur was born in the United States, Ohio to be exact, where he gained his military knowledge at West Point Academy before moving to New Orleans for a few years. During the 1850s, his shipping business in New Orleans floundered, and to escape the men looking to recollect their debts, he immigrated to California where he gained a commission as a Colonel in the army. During the Hawaiian War, Khur, being in the Army and not the Marines, was kept in California to help run the logistics and ready the troops should drastic measures be needed to subdue the Hawaiians, or counter any foreign threat to the nation.

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9. General-in-Chief Nicholas Khur.

Khur quickly took to his job, tweaking the army just a bit more to his liking. He set up an impressive General Staff, which began to draw up "imagined" plans for an invasion of most country in North America, as well as a method for subduing and controlling the various Pacific Islands. His work was quickly hushed up and kept a secret by the Californian Government, for fear that some nations could see it as an invasion plan for California's future. However, privately, they commended the impeccable work of General Khur, and rewarded him with a raise and incentive to keep devising these strategies.

All the while, life in California was becoming a rather enjoyable experience. San Diego, although one of the smallest cities in California, had a lively bunch of people living in it, with adequate and abundant places to shop, relax, and entertain. The Gold Rush all those years earlier had produced an exorbitant amount of wealth for most Californians. This allowed some companies to buy and develop valuable space in the cities and use them for recreation purposes. San Francisco, the largest city in the nation and arguably the most residential-friendly, was bustling with life and commerce. Almost once a week a new shop opened up, bringing a new life into this old city, that only forty years ago was nothing but land and a small fort.

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10. Bustling downtown San Francisco.

With the ever-expanding markets, a new name began to show up to compete with the ever-powerful Howard-Wagner Industries. Andrew Jamous applied for, and received, the incorporation of Jamous Steel Works, which was to be built on the outskirts of Eureka. The old immigrant town still had a fairly large minority, and they always worked for a lower wage than Californians did [3]. Jamous' method of running his low-wage, high output factories made his business extremely profitable. From his foundation on May 27th, 1873 to January 1st, 1874, he made triple the money he invested into the company, and had already bought out another small steel mill in Eureka. This granted him complete control of steel manufacturing in Northern California. Something H&W Industries was unsure of letting happen, as they had majority control of most production of Steel in Central and Southern California.

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11. Jamous Steel Works outside Eureka, California late 1873.

One of Jamous' strong points was simply that he wasn't a protege of Howard and Wagner's, but instead he was a Californian-born native that generally seemed to want to bring cheap steel to the people of California so that their lives would improve from all the uses steel had. He was able to offer steel almost at almost forty percent lower prices than Howard & Wagner steel to the people of Northern California, simply because of the location of his factory and the workers and wages he used to produce it.

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12. Andrew Jamous, President of Jamous Steel Works.

In Europe, 1874 proved to be a year for the history books. The United Kingdom under went a fairly large anarchist rebellion that gripped the Northeastern part of England, where anarchist parties roamed the countryside, making policing and governing rather difficult. The big issue however, was the ending of the Franco-Prussian war. Prussia, along with the North German Confederation, broke through the French lines in the summer of 1874, and marched their way into Paris, where President Patrice de Mac-Mahon surrendered to the Prussian military. As compensation for the losses gained from the war, Prussia annexed the German-speaking territory of Alsace-Lorraine and proclaimed the German Empire, and Empire composed of most German-speaking nations, excluding Switzerland and the Austrian Empire.

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13. Proclamation of the German Empire in the Palace of Versailles.

When 1875 came, mostly government officials waited on the new results of the Californian Census. Most citizens where too busy migrating and moving around. Since the annexation of Hawaii, many Californians have been moving out to the island nation, numbering almost ten thousands able-bodied males and their families, they made up thirty-two percent of Hawaii's population in 1875. The explosive growth continued it trend, with almost two hundred thousand more able-boded males now calling California their home. This is attributed to the high immigration rates as well as the natural fertility of the Californians. The Mexican minority saw itself shrunken once again, claiming an even smaller proportion of the population. An increase in French immigration due to the Franco-Prussian War saw them rise to claim the second largest minority group behind the Mexicans.

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14. Population Statistics of the Californian Republic, 1875.

The election of 1875 was a matter of expansion. President Williams quickly proclaimed he would indeed run again for the Presidency, citing his ability to gain Hawaii quickly the reason he should be reelected, as his policies of expansionism will lead the country to greater heights. The Ursine Imperialists, although more backward thinking than the Free Soilers, decided to band together with the Populist Party and support President Williams. The Farmer-Laborers, in protest of expansionism, ran an obscure congressman from Baja California that boldly proclaimed that Baja California should be returned to Mexico "When the time is right".

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15. Congressman Creswell, the Farmer-Laborer candidate.

The Worker's Union decided to focus on organizing strikes around the country and opted out of the General Election for the Presidency, but still ran several candidates in the Congressional Elections. When the election was finished, the results where a complete landslide. President Williams won with eighty percent of the votes cast, the largest mandate ever given to a Californian President. Upon his victory, former President Giddings gave a speech in San Diego, thanking the people of California for their wise choice in President Williams, and saying that California was now, truly, an Empire of the Pacific.

Previous Update: Hensdale: 1866 - 1871
Next Update: Williams: 1876 - 1881

---
Author's Note(s)
---

[1] - The Californian Republic is divided into Districts. Each District sends two Senators to the Californian Congress, as well as a number of Representatives based on the population of that district. As of 1876, California contains 37 districts. The eventual addition of Hawaii would only add one district.

[2] - Years later, a popular song in the United States was penned, named Colorado: Ghost of the Pacific.

[3] - Compiled by data collected from the Howard-Wagner Steel Company in San Diego.

WOW! This update was longer than I ever expected it to be. Hope you enjoyed reading it!
 
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Meh, the whole Colorado fiasco was a bad call.
 
Gah! A cooling of relations with the US can only be bad in the long run. The Americans will eventually reassimilate the CSA through sheer righteous might, and California would do well to not be a viable target when that happens.

Great update. Still waiting with bated breath to see what you have in store for Harrison.
 
A great update and an interesting turn for the Californians. I like the characters, as well as the possibilities that arise because of the people in power.
 
@Sakura_F: It will indeed come back to haunt them in the future.

@BigBadBob: I'm looking for a challenge from Uncle Sam in the future. I do have something in mind for Harrison. He's not for another update or so.

@King50000: I wasn't going to plug both, but I decided to extend it anyway.

@Omen: I'm glad you think that. It takes a lot to try and get the "character" of each Character molded correctly.

@atomicsoda: I didn't realize that it was Williams who defeated the CSA in the Presidents until after this update was posted. Which just goes to show a large amount of irony.

@Heroicnoodles: Well the good news is I have another AAR for you to follow now, meaning you'll have twice the updating pleasure!

THE EMPIRE of the PACIFIC

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That's not an Empire. It's a faux-pire. A puny little nation who tries to act huge. :p
 
Very nice update. That Confederate beast would be making me very wary.