Mishmahig wrote:Application:
NS Name: Mishmahig. You can also call me Mish, Mishy, etc, etc.
RP Nation Name: The North American Union. (The United States of America is also acceptable, although slightly outdated)
Capital City: Washington
Currency: Dollar
Total Population: 105,742,000
Languages/Linguistic breakdown (percentage/number of people who speak what as a first language):
Lingua Franca(s):Religious breakdown:
- English: 100% (Only officially accepted language)
Ethnic group breakdown:
- Christian: 94% [99,397,480]
- Catholic: 27.5% [29,079,050]
- Baptist: 22.6% [23,897,692]
- Methodist: 14% [14,803,880]
- Lutheran: 8.4% [8,882,328]
- Presbyterian: 7.3% [7,719,166]
- Episcopalian: 3.2% [3,383,744]
- Pentecostal: 1.8% [1,903,356]
- Other Protestant: 8% [8,459,360]
- Mormon: 1.2% [1,268,904]
- Jewish: 4% [4,229,680]
- Other/None: 2% [2,114,840]
Land Claims:
- White: 89.3% [94,427,606]
- African-American: 10.5% [11,102,910]
- Other: .2% [211,484]
Type of Government: Federal Republic, with powers/responsibilities enumerated in a Constitution
Leader Name: President Charlie Chaplin
Total Points: 48
- Points on Economy: 22
- GDP per capita: $40,700
- Total GDP: 4,303,699,400,000
- Points on Happiness: 9/12.5
- Total Happiness Percent: 64%
- Points on Military Numbers: 8
- Total Military Numbers: 1.8% [1,903,356]
- Active: 903,356
- Reserve: 1,000,000
- Points on Military Tech and effectiveness: 9/19
- Points on Army/Marines: 6/7
- Points on Navy: 3/7
- Points on Air Force: 0/7
Short History of your Nation:One bullet. One bullet was all it took to radically change the course of American history forever. Of course, it happened to be a particularly important person it was aimed at, but the man who fired it had no idea how it would affect his world, considering he left it several minutes later, gunned down by American soldiers. Unfortunately, the bullet had already hit its target by that time, piercing skin and bone and flesh to pass firmly through the target's brain. To onlookers, the whole side of his face would seem to have erupted in a shower of red, before he toppled from his horse in slow motion, landing with a thud on the dull and beaten earth. The man? General George Washington, on his way to accept the surrender of General Cornwallis at the Siege of Yorktown.
Within minutes, the finest American and British doctors were summoned, and Washington was carried to Cornwallis' tent--but even the finest medical minds of the time would have thrown up their hands in despair at the utter ruin that was Washington's face. Patching it and desperately placing the fragments of bone back into the wound, they ended up slapping a bandage on the whole thing, and shrugging helplessly anytime someone asked the prognosis. "In God's hands," they said. Well, if it were really God who decided the end result, then it was a cruel and capricious God, a downright evil one. You see, Washington survived, but it wasn't really Washington who walked out of that tent a week later. Oh, men swore up and down that he was changed, that he was more than a man. You should've heard them--"Our general took a bullet to the brain, and came back, better than ever!" How hollow those boasts seem, now...
Washington accepted Cornwallis' surrender a few days later, when he was recovered enough to ride a horse again, and went on to see the British entirely out of the American colonies, ensuring the independence of the fledgling United States. Donning the hat of a politician, he attended the Constitutional Conventions of 1787 and 1788, and helped write the founding documents of the first truly democratic country. Elected by a unanimous vote of the electoral college in 1789, he gave his first inaugural speech from the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City, and went on to guide the country to a golden age, a glorious age, an age of American peace and prosperity.
Or at least, that's what the textbooks say. In reality, something changed in Washington's mind. We don't know if it was the bullet, or if it was something else, but the noble public servant of the 1770s was gone, and in its place was something...else. Something not right. Washington became, well, the best term for it nowadays would be something the shrinks call "paranoid schizophrenic". He apparently started seeing plots and treachery behind every wall and around every corner, and acted pretty irrationally for most of his first term. It's rumored that his advisers had to stop him from attacking his own wife for supposedly attempting to poison him with a plate of peas in 1790....Still, it was Washington! The first democratically elected President, the beloved general of the American people, and whatever he wanted, he got. As it happened, he wanted another term. And another after that.
God knows what would have happened if he had lived to see those terms--as it is, he died halfway during his third, from some sort of seizure in the night. The entire nation went into mourning, and John Adams became the second President of the United States. By that time, though, the damage Washington had done was too deeply set in our nation. The poison was buried too deep for Adams to root out, although he did try, bless his soul. That poor sad man spent three years of his life, and nearly all the political capital he had to try and undo the damage Washington had done to the United States.
You see, Washington, in his paranoia, didn't exactly like or get along with the Senate, or the House of Representatives, or the Supreme Court, or....anyone for that matter. And the people he didn't like tended to suffer some unfortunate political aftereffects--namely, the loss of their roles and powers to the Presidency. At the end of Washington's terms, Congress needed to be called by the President, the agendas needed to be approved by the President, and the entire budget, down to the last quill, was scrutizined by the President. The Supreme Court suffered a no less ignomious fate---Washington personally hand-picked every case they heard, and made every session open to the public, exposing the courts to enormous ridicule.
The worst damage, oddly enough, wasn't done through any act of Congress, or the Presidency, but a simple statement of Washington's, uttered at a social event in Philadelphia. A local politician, deeply interested in the newly formed political parties, asked Washington which one he particularly favored, or whether he belonged for one. Washington's response, a simple six words, sent the course for future Presidencies forever. His response? "Why, the Democratic-Republicans, of course!" Such was Washington's popularity that the Democratic-Republicans experienced a massive upsurge in political opinion and clout, a wave that didn't end for three decades.
After Adam's brief stint in the Presidential office, he was followed by a long string of Democratic-Republican Presidents: Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and John Quincy Adams, who was disowned by his father for abandoning the family tradition of hardcore Federalism. All of them worked pretty much as the textbooks say they did; gradual expansion of Presidential powers, dealing with various issues facing America, etc, etc. The Louisiana purchase went through, and before long, Lewis and Clark were wending their way through the wilds of middle America, paving the way for thousands that would soon push Westward.
For the next three decades, the American people prospered, pushed westward, and pretty much ignored the actions of the man in the head office who changed names every so often. That stopped, of course, in drastic electoral upset in 1837, when Richard Johnson beat Martin van Buren for the Presidency, against all odds, soaring into office on the Virginian and Maryland electoral votes. His Presidency was perhaps the most exciting and eventful in American history.
It began with the forging of the great rings---no, wait, wrong RP. It began with the Upper Canada Rebellion in 1837, where a group of men, led by William Mackenzie, who sought Canadian independence from Great Britain, fled to the United States ater their rebellion failed. Their American backers and supporters had supplied them with a steady stream of equipment and money on the American steamboat SS Caroline, a supply that did not diminish even after their failed rebellion. A group of Canadian loyalists, led by a British Colonel, Sir Allan MacNab, seized the SS Caroline, dragged her across the international boundary line, and set her afire before letting her float across the Niagara Falls.
Needless to say, the newspapers at the time went beserk, with respectable newspapers reporting several dozen dead, while tabloids and pennyrags speculated that over a hundred god-fearing Americans had perished in the icy plunge. National opinion was so violently against the Canadians and their British overlords that President Johnson sent General Winfield Scott to handle and calm the situation. His orders were to prevent any further incidents from happening, and to diffuse the situation overall. He failed utterly.
American patriots slipped across the border retaliated by capturing and burning the Sir Robert Peel in American waters, which was shortly followed by Canadian retaliations at the Battle of the Windmill in 1838. The war hawks in the 26th Congress, led by Robert Hunter, Democratic Speaker of the House, seized the opportunity and pushed a declaration of war through both houses, forcing President Johnson to sign it. America went to war for the first time in almost half a century.
And it did surprisingly well. The British Empire had been weakened for several decades, and was realistically no match for the American forces, as ill-trained and ill-equipped as they were. Defeating the hastily-assembled Canadian forces in several pitched battles around Quebec, Montreal and Ontaria, America quickly forced British forces to their knees throughout Canada, subjugating them brutally and mercilessly. After a year of sporadic fighting, America was left in unquestioned control of Canada, leaving but one question: what to do with it?
Debates raged through the 26th Congress, with almost every viewpoint brought up, but no consensus was reached for several months, and the fate of Canada was left hanging in limbo, until the President stepped in. The war had pushed President Johnson into a second term, and bolstered by his soaring popularity ratings, he dared to propose the unthinkable: annexation. Gradually, the idea grew in popularity with the Democratic-Republicans, but was met with fierce opposition by the Whigs, who felt it would reduce their power base overly much, should such a large population base be amassed so far from their own political base of support.
The Whigs stonewalled the annexation proceedings for another year and a half, until the Democratic Republicans, exasperated, gave into their demands, forming the Republique du Quebec out of the remains of Canada, and annexing the rest. It was at this time that the official name of the United States was proposed, given that the United States had evolved past a simple confederation of states into something bigger, something more powerful and complex.....By a close popular referendum, 57% of the population favored the 'North American Union,' while the remaining 43% favored the old "United States of America". Officially, the nation adopted the former, but the latter remains in wide and extensive use.
With the annexation of the remnants of Canada, and the humiliation of the British Empire, America burst onto the world stage, eager to make a name for itself. Successive war-like Presidencies failed to do much, other than plunging America into a war with Mexico, a war that failed to do much other than solidify the borders in the Treaty of Velasco, after a Mexican army was defeated by determined ranchers in Oklahoma, and an American army wandered into the desert, disappearing entirely. With the death of 2,500 Americans, and precious little to show for it, President Polk was forced to re-sign the Treaty of Velasco in a public ceremony in 1845.
A few years later, President Zachary Taylor attempted a similar situation with the Cascadian Federation, ordering 3,500 men to cross the border and seize 'targets of interest to the [American] people," an unclear objective at best; maddeningly vague at worst. For two years, troops trickled back and forth across the Cascadian border, sacking and looting towns on both sides, until a war-weary population forced the Twenty-seventh Congress to declare a ceasefire. A treaty-signing was scheduled for May 17th, 1850, but despite overt attempts at soothing relations between the two countries, border tensions remain, and both sides consider the territory to be theirs.
President Taylor attempted to solve two social and military problems at once, by forming the US state of Deseret out of the remnants of the Montanan and Idaho territories, forcing it through Congress on the provisional basis that the state would take over the border defenses with the Cascadian Federation. Using up the last of his political capital, the state of Deseret was established, and soon showed one of the largest population increases in American history, as thousands of Mormons flooded the state, establishing towns and cities nearly overnight. The resource rich areas of the Montanan Territory and the rich agricultural plains of the Idahoan Territory combined to make Deseret one of the most aesthetically appealing and productive states in the North American Union. With the flow of resources back towards the east, a near-Transcontinental Railroad was begun, and population centers throughout the Midwest began to spring up and thrive.
In 1850, President Taylor died under unexpected circumstances, leading to suspicions that he had been poisoned due to his conflict with his wife's views on slavery, as well as his history of alcoholic binges. After his death, Vice President William King became President, and was inaugurated in time to preside over President Taylor's funeral. Shortly after the state funeral, President King greeted the arrival of the exiled College of Cardinals, granting them political asylum and temporary diplomatic immunity. In 1851, the College of Cardinals decided to establish a Conclave, electing Cardinal Mario Mattei as Pope Pius XII, the first American-based Pope. In honor of the election, President King granted all the Cardinals citizenship, and set aside public land for the establishment of a Papal residence and bureaucracy, immediately outside of Chicago.
The American Vatican, as it soon became known as, won great repute for successfully mediating between the Democratic Party and the Whig-Republican Party on several key issues, as well as serving as a pacifying agency in problematic areas throughout the North American Union. In exchange for their services, they were granted tax-exempt status, and allowed to reform the Vatican on American soil. The sight of the flag of the Holy See flying outside of Chicago soon became a common sight, and was met with great applause and approval by American Catholics. However, there was an ulterior motive to this move by the Democratic Party, as it served as a reminder to the Vatican of the power of the North American Union. In an unofficial backrooms deal, the Vatican was allowed national sovereignty once more, in exchange for turning a blind eye towards the American treatment of various undesirables.
It was at this time that the social and political demographics of the North American Union began to change. Southern conservatives, uniting under the Democratic Party, began to push for southern rights and priorities, gaining enough power to redirect the attention of Congress--even going so far as to capture the Presidency several times during the 1860s and 1870s. It was after President Jackson's second term that the Whig-Republicans finally realized what the rest of us had known for so long--that their party was dying, along with the causes that had made it so powerful.
Mustering up the last of their political capital, the Whig-Republicans managed to seize control of 3/4ths of the state legislatures for seven glorious years, along with the Presidency and both Houses of Congress. For seven years, the Whig-Republicans ruled unquestioned, and they seized the chance to push through every act and reform they could muster. Women got the right to vote in 1884, while African-Americans gained their freedom in a tense vote in 1886. A constitutional amendment guaranteeing extensive political and civil freedoms was being considered, but was discarded as the Democratic Party dealt the Republican-Whig Party a resounding defeat in the 1888 elections, taking back control of the states and Presidency. The Republican-Whig party was defeated, and in defeat, lost so much power that it never really recovered as a political party. Staggering on for a few more years, the Republican-Whigs managed to block Democratic-pushed reforms aimed at reducing African-American rights.
This circle of political sparring and fighting continued for many election cycles, until the Democratic Party managed to muster enough votes to push through a vote on the purchasing of Cuba from Spain, paying roughly $100 million dollars, based on the recommendations of the Ostend Manifesto. The cash-strapped Hispanians were forced to accept, and Cuba passed to American hands in 1895, where it was promptly annexed and absorbed as an American state.
With the arrival of the 20th century, the American political structure was radicially different than it had been a century ago. Several political parties had risen and fallen; multiple US Presidents had been assassinated over political issues; the US had welcomed several new states into the fold; women and Africans had the right to vote. However, at the dawn of the 20th century, the Democratic party was weak and crippled from the drawn-out political fights of the late 19th century. The end of the Democrats was nigh---the only question was: who would replace them? The fate of the African-American population rested on that answer.
For the early 1900s, there was no clear answer to this, as minor political parties began to war over the fallen corpse of the Republican-Whig bastion, and nibbled at the crumbling remnants of the Democratic Party. Still, as weakened as they were, the Democrats won every election practically by default, since no other party could muster a majority strong enough to challenge their chokehold on American politics. No party that is, until 1913, when a small political party attracted the attention of a very special person.
In the streets of New York City, disaffected Democrats and Whig members gathered to listen to a man speak. He spoke slowly, but charismatically, his short frame filled with energy as he spoke from the top of his soapbox. Although one might take him for an ordinary crackpot, the sheer size of the crowd drew one in closer, until you got a closer look at the man's face--and you gasped in recognition. It was the face that beamed from every Broadway poster, the face that dominated moving pictures in the 1910s, the face that every American could recognize in a heartbeat. That man, the man before them, was none other than Charlie Chaplin, and he was running for President of the United States.
Running on the platform of the newly minted American Progressive Party, Chaplin relied on his expansive media presence and extraordinary popularity to garner political and social attention, both to himself and his party, and it worked. While Chaplin was defeated in the 1916 Presidential election, he gathered nearly 46% of the popular vote, and the American Progressive Party seized control of the House of Representatives. Rebuilding and recampaigning, they hit the Democratic Party hard for four years, driving the popularity rating of President Cox into the single-digits, emphasizing the economy, employment, and a multitude of other issues.
In the 1920 election, the American Progressive Party seized the chance, and went all out--reaping the benefit. Charlie Chaplin became the 30th President of the United States, with Leonard Wood as the Vice President, while the American Progressive Party secured majorities in the Senate and a number of state legislatures. The time of the Democratic Party was over. The time of the Progressive Party has come.
Short Description of your nation: See above answer.
- General population's view on gay rights/gay people: Homosexual acts are forbidden, and viewed with great suspicion/mistrust.
- General population's view on religions other than the primary one: Judaism and Christianity are fine. Everything else, suspicion and mistrust.
- General population's view on atheism: Horror and mistrust.
- General population's view on abortion: Absolutely forbidden.
- View on other races/ethnic groups other than the primary one(s): African-Americans and non-whites are viewed with great mistrust, suspicion, and outright hatred. Racism is alive and well.
- Status of religion in politics: Pretty much essential. Doesn't matter whether Christian or Jewish, but you have to make a show out of being religious, or people accuse you of being atheistic/Islamic.
- Any big prejudices in your nation (widespread discrimination against a particular group, linguistic conflict, etc): Racism, for the most part.
- View on immigration into country: If you're a white Christian/Jewish person, it's a breeze to get through to America. Everyone else has to jump through hoops until they satisfy the requirements, which are unlisted and change depending on how the immigration officials feel.
- View on emigration out of country (Also, how many people emigrate per year?): America is like Hotel California. You can check-out, but you can never leave. Emigration is discouraged, and extremely difficult due to the sheer levels of bureaucracy one has to go through.
Updated with history. Thoughts? :3
