Apologies once again for a (slightly shorter) absence. Unfortunately I had to return to my day job as a high school teacher last week which has impacted the amount of time I have to devote to this project.
Nevertheless, I present a revamped and expanded look at the American Midwest in
Hail, Britannia (maybe not my best work but I'm happy with it):
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The
Commonwealth of Missouri is a constituent country of the United Kingdom located in central North America, bordered by the Dominion of Oregon and the Kingdom of the Californias to the west, the Republic of Texas and the Union of Louisiana to the south, the Dominion of Ohio to the east and the Dominion of Canada to the north. The Missourian province of Dakota is the only part of the country to have a coastline, located on Lake Superior.
Having been inhabited by aboriginal peoples for millenia, the territory that makes up much of modern day Missouri was claimed as part of New France during European colonisation, specifically part of Louisiana. Passing to Spain in the aftermath of the French & Indian War, Louisiana would later be returned to France in 1802 before being conquered by Great Britain in 1807 during the Napoleonic Wars and subsequently annexed to the United Colonies of Britain-in-America in 1820. Missouri was sparsely populated for much of the early 19th century, until the nation experienced a large influx of settlers in the aftermath of the Republican Rebellion (1848-1852) which helped solidify the loyalist nature of Missourian culture.
Formed in 1867 as a federal dominion of four provinces, namely Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Osage, Missouri was slow to expand across the American Frontier. The Midwest Territories (modern Colorado, Montana and Wyoming) were added in 1870 but expansion northwards were hamstrung by Minnesota's attempts to form a separate a dominion. Ultimately Minnesots joined Missouri on 4 July 1876, along with Colorado, the same day that the Acts of Union formed the United Kingdom. The three later provinces of Dakota, Montana and Wyoming were all formed on 2 November 1890. Missouri has, for much of its history, been a relatively quiet member of the United Kingdom - earning it the nickname of the "Flyover Dominion".
The 6th most populous dominion, and the 4th largest, Missouri boasts a strong farming based economy, with the 6th largest total GDP in Britain, for which it is called the "Agricultural Heartland" and has consistently had the lowest unemployment rate in the United Kingdom since the 1980s. Recently the economy has diversified to include the aerospace and transportation industries, as well as the important defence sector, particularly in the province of Colorado which is home to the Royal Air Force College at Colorado Springs, the headquarters of NORAD and a top-secret international military operation run out of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex.
The
2014 Missourian federal election was held on 12 August 2014 to elect, under the mixed member proportional system, the 263 seats in the House of Assembly. Despite opinion polls predicting a third consecutive plurality for the
Progressive Conservatives, under incumbent First Minister Mike Johanns, the
Progressive-Farmer-Labor Party were able to become the largest party in the House, thanks in large part to voter disatisfaction with nearly 14 years of Conservative dominance and the perception that the PCP had "run out of steam".
The
Liberals, under new leader Brian Schweitzer, were able to increase their share of the vote, despite having been in coalition with the PCs since 2006, and formed a majority coalition with the PFL. The centre-right
Conservative Heritage continued its decline as a major player in Missouri politics, which had began in 2006, having dropped to fourth place in this election. The liberal conservative/libertarian
Reform Party successfully held all their seats whilst the right-wing paleo-conservative
Nationals, who had split from the CHP in opposition to the merger in 1993, lost 4 seats.
Amy Klobuchar is the 24th, and current, First Minister of the Commonwealth of Missouri and leader of the Progressive-Farmer-Labor Party. Klobuchar was sworn in as Missouri's first female First Minister on 14 August 2014, having led her party to a victory in the recent federal election and forming a coalition with the Liberals.
Klobuchar began her political career as a member of the Minnesota Legislative Assembly between 1998 and 2004, prior to which she had worked as a prosecutor and lawyer in Minneapolis. At the 2004 federal election, Klobuchar was lucky enough t be place high enough on the PFL list to win a seat in the House of Assembly. A prominent member of the opposition, Klobuchar served on both the Justice and Agriculture Committees before being appointed the Shadow Justice Minister in 2011 under leader John Marty. Upon Marty's resignation to take a seat in the Imperial Council in 2014, Klobuchar was elected to suceed him as leader and briefly served as Leader of the Opposition before winning the 2014 election.
So far the Klobuchar Government is very popular with Missourian voters, having suceeded in passing legislation which expanded federal tax credits to include same-sex couples (a fact which was overlooked when same-sex marriage was passed in 1998), as well as expanding labor and environmental protections and the ongoing process of reforming and streamlining the operation of NHS Missouri. Opinion polls currently predict that if an election were held the PFL would remain the largest party in the House.
The two dominant parties of Missourian politics are, as of the 2006 election, the
Progressive-Farmer-Labor and
Progressive Conservative parties. The PFL was established in 1944 by a merger of the Progressive and Farmer-Labor parties under then First Minister Burton K. Wheeler and eventually replaced the Liberals as the dominant party of the centre-left. At the imperial level the PFL has been affiliated with the
Party of Imperial Social Democrats and Progressives since 1991, when the
Imperial Alliance of Progressives merged with the
Social Democratic Party.
The Progressive Conservatives were formerly the moderate wing of the Conservatives, before they split in 1979, in opposition to the party's shift to the right as a result of the rise of the Heritage party and the recent election of Margaret Thatcher as Imperial Prime Minister. Affiliated with the
Imperial Progressive Conservative Association, the PCs in Missouri have been the most successful in the United Kingdom, being one of the few affiliates to form a dominion government (2006-2014), riding to power on the growing disatisfaction with the governing Conservative Heritage party.
Hail, Britannia
UK SDP leadership spill, 2004 & leadership election, 2011
American Theatre of World War I
Federation of India
Oregonian general election, 2011
Kingdom of Hanover; Hanoverian general election, 2012
Kingdom of Scania; King Valdemar V; Crown Prince Christoffer
Spanish State (1936-1945)
National Republic of China (1927-1947)
Florida; Floridian general election, 2013; Floridian, Texan & Californian Spanish
Britain-in-America; North American Dutch; Daniel Taylor; Isaac Brock; Taylor-Brock family; Dukedom of Manhattan
Kingdom of Hawai'i; Hawaiian general election, 2015; King Kūhiō; Native Hawaiians
Hawaiians in the United Kingdom (Hawaiian British)
Russian America; Province of Alaska; Orthodox Church in America; Alaskans; North American Russian; Russian-American Company
Mexican Empire; Mexican federal election, 2013; Emperor Agustín V; President of the Government; Josefina Vázquez Mota
First Minister of Florida; Order of the Star of Florida; 2015 Floridian independence referendum; Viceroy of Florida; Carlos López-Cantera; Juan Taylor-Brock y Menendez
Dominion of Newfoundland; Newfoundland general election, 2016; Newfoundland Gaelic; New Labrador Party; Order of Newfoundland
Kingdom of the Californias; Californians; Californian general election, 2013; King Ramón IV; Wasatch Autonomous Region; Jon Huntsman Jr.
Nova Scotia (& 2013 provincial election); New Brunswick (& 2014 provincial election)
Dominion of Canada; Canadian federal election, 2015; United Democratic Federation; Canadian Alliance; Progressive Conservative Party; Alaskan Uprising; North American French
George Washington; Marquessate of Mount Vernon; Washington family
Commonwealth of New England; New England federal election, 2015; Liberty Party of New England; Conservative Party of New England; New England Gaelic; United Kingdom imperial election in New England, 2015
*As usual, nothing is final until I say so. And thanks for enjoying them as much as I enjoy making them!
