A Shining Valley - The Great Desert Lake in California

What's the population of the cities in TTL's *California?
Okay so the populations are slightly higher than OTL, but with different population distribution. There is a large urban corridor that stretches from San Gabriel, just north of the Gran Lago to Los Angeles proper, and then down to San Diego. For Los Angeles, more live in the east and southeast compared to OTL. More people live in the desert around the Gran Lago, although water restrictions limit it to around 500,000 people around the lake.
 
Free State of Liberty
For @HowAboutThisForAName and @GlebPro2004 because of their interest.
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“The election of Robert Smalls as Governor in 1874, proved that a demographic majority of former slaves in South Carolina translated to a majority in votes. The irony that the former heart of the Confederacy, elected an black person as Governor was not lost on white supremacists. That year the Red Shirts, with the support of Redeemers across America, launched a violent uprising intending to bring South Carolina back to white control. With the assistance of federal troops, Smalls was able to crush the revolt, alibet with significant bloodshed. The end of the Red Shirt Revolt, marked the end of any violent attempt to suppress the black population of South Carolina. The reelection of Smalls for another term only put the nail in the coffin for the attempts of white supremacists to regain white control over the former heart of the Confederacy.
...

With the establishment of the black government in the late 1870s, the state experienced extraordinary demographic shifts in a very short period of time. Between 1876 and 1880, tens of thousands of whites moved out the state, refusing to be governed by blacks. Over those four years, over 50,000 white people left the state while over 100,000 black people fleeing increasing racial oppression, migrated to South Carolina. In 1860, around 57% of the population was black, by 1890 the percentage grew to over 80%. In that time, state soon saw itself as one of the safe havens for black people across the South, where they could be live without discrimination in a place ruled by their peers. In 1885, the state government passed the “Free State Bill” marking the beginning of a new era for the people of the state. There were already some attempts on the county and state level to erase the reminders of the Confederacy; cities were renamed, flags changed, and statues put up. However the Free State Bill took this a step further, most prominently by renaming the entire state from South Carolina to Liberty.
...

Redeemers and white supremacists looked at the development in the state now known as Liberty with horror. The first state to leave the Union in the Civil War, was now a unrecognizable safe haven for black people. While many of them were pleased to see black people in their own states leave for Liberty or Louisiana, it did not mask the fact that the South “lost” two states to black majority governments. In response a new ideology emerged, pushed by former Confederate officials, as well as organizations like the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Known by various names such as the Lost Cause, the Coming Redemption, and the Great Struggle, it declared that the cause of the Confederacy was a just and necessary one to preserve the Southern way of life from the North and in particular blacks. If left to their own devices, the proponents believed that black people would eventually outnumber whites in the south because of their supposed lascivious nature. From there with their demographic majority these blacks would take over state governments as they had in Liberty and Louisiana, and then destroy the cultural heritage and Institutions of the south. Building upon old racist stereotypes, this ideology and racial conspiracy would become pervasive in the South, poisoning race relations for decades to come."

-Excerpts from Us, Americans.

The History of these United States with Sources

Volume 2: Since 1864.
 
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What happened to the Cajuns and Creole of Louisiana?
For the Cajuns and Louisiana Creoles its a bit of a mixed story. Obviously the black and multiracial ones can fit right in, but for the white ones its much more complicated. The black government in Louisiana, largely maintained the three-tried society that existed before hand despite abolishing the legal restrictions. The really racist ones (and with money) left of their own accord, but the ones either too poor or at least somewhat tolerant of a black majority government stayed. Meanwhile what the white Cajuns experienced is largely shared by other whites who lived in the Free States, unless they actively assisted and participated in the society in the Free States, they were viewed with distrust. Still the white Cajuns stayed in Louisiana because of the perceptions of them by other Southern. From the view of whites outside the Free States, the white people who lived in the Free States were seen as unfortunates oppressed by an inferior race or collaborators and race traitors. The Cajuns largely fitted in the latter category except for the racist vocal ones, because of their French Catholic heritage. its not particularly nice for the white Cajuns anywhere in the Southern United States, but the mixed race Creoles could only really live in Louisiana without being labeled black and having the racial laws applying to them.
 
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Gian

Banned
For the Cajuns and Louisiana Creoles its a bit of a mixed story. Obviously the black and multiracial ones can fit right in, but for the white ones its much more complicated. The black government in Louisiana, largely maintained the three-tried society that existed before hand despite abolishing the legal restrictions. The really racist ones (and with money) left of their own accord, but the ones either too poor or at least somewhat tolerant of a black majority government stayed. Meanwhile what the white Cajuns experienced is largely shared by other whites who lived in the Free States, unless they actively assisted and participated in the society in the Free States, they were viewed with distrust. Still the white Cajuns stayed in Louisiana because of the perceptions of them by other Southern. From the view of whites outside the Free States, the white people who lived in the Free States were seen as unfortunates oppressed by an inferior race or collaborators and race traitors. The Cajuns largely fitted in the latter category except for the racist vocal ones, because of their French Catholic heritage.

Did the Free State of Louisiana try to accommodate them in the years since though (maybe adopting French as an official language)
 
Did the Free State of Louisiana try to accommodate them in the years since though (maybe adopting French as an official language)
Yes through the efforts of the Creoles, the government recognizes their heritage and accommodate them. They don't establish a official language though like OTL, they allow them to preserve their culture.
 
So with regards to Free States, is there any migration of minorities elsewhere? Ie. was there a Great Migration or some analogue, or the Asian immigration to the US of the late 19th and early 20th centuries?
 
So with regards to Free States, is there any migration of minorities elsewhere? Ie. was there a Great Migration or some analogue, or the Asian immigration to the US of the late 19th and early 20th centuries?
There was a Great Migration analogue with the migration when the Free States were established. Jim Crow was implemented earlier and more harshly so African Americans migrated to the North as OTL or to the Free States. If you wonder about numbers, more people moved with migration to the Free States or the North being roughly 60/40.

For Asian migration, if you look at the Gran Lago article under the American Rule section in the lake's History there is some explanation. Basically, they liked Chinese labor, but not so much when they are living with whites. So the white Americans basically make the Asians only migrate to California, the only place on the west coast without a white majority.
 
Also if anyone else is wondering about what other Free States are there.
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The Free States are a group of four U.S. states where an ethnic minority in the United States as a whole is a majority in these states and most importantly are governed almost exclusively by the ethnic minorities.

The Free States are:
Red: Hispanic/Latino Free State of California
Orange: Native American Free State of Sequoyah
Blue: African American Free States of Louisiana and Liberty.

Edit (30 May):
This map is out of date, although the free states remain the same.
 
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African American Free [State] of . . . Liberty.​

Wonderful map!​

Is North Carolina still called North Carolina or is it called “Carolina” since is there is no more “South Carolina?” Also, is it considered “white supremacist” if you call Liberty by its old name?
What are the full demographics of Liberty?
Oh, and does Liberia exist ITTL?
 
Does Liberia exist ITTL?

I would imagine Liberia still exists (as the POD doesn't really affect too much for America before the late 1840's), but would be a lot smaller in population. Maybe even only holding onto the coast, or even being reconquered by the local native Africans. They could also be seen as fair game if the Scramble still happens.
 
On a different note, Are we going to see how Spanish (and later Mexican) colonization of California was affected by Gran Lagos? Was the population of California higher? Is the culture of "Californian" as a whole more Mexican than American? Was the republic able to actually revolt earlier and form a real country like Texas?
 
Wonderful map!Is North Carolina still called North Carolina or is it called “Carolina” since is there is no more “South Carolina?” Also, is it considered “white supremacist” if you call Liberty by its old name?
What are the full demographics of Liberty?
Oh, and does Liberia exist ITTL?
Thank you very much! and I'm glad you asked. So when North Carolina elected Lost Causers to their government after Liberty was established, they completely hated their neighbor to the south. Among other things, they implemented unofficial border checkpoints, refused to recognize the name change, and even go so far to host a self-declared South Carolinian government-in-exile. Basically they kept the name all the way until the 2000s, when they finally changed the name to Carolina. If you call Liberty by its old name, you will probably get a lot of odd looks and if you insist on using it enough, yeah you will probably have the label of a racist sympathizer attached to you. I haven't thought that much about Liberia, so I will have to figure that out in the future, but I like @damein fisher's ideas.
On a different note, Are we going to see how Spanish (and later Mexican) colonization of California was affected by Gran Lagos? Was the population of California higher? Is the culture of "Californian" as a whole more Mexican than American? Was the republic able to actually revolt earlier and form a real country like Texas?
Yeah you guys got some glimpses of the different colonization in the Gran Lago history section. Yes, the initial population is higher, but the Spanish concentrate more on the southern region around the lake. I would say Californian culture is pretty unique, its a combination of American, Mexican, and its own influences created by its original settlers and immigrants later on like the Chinese.
Yes the California broke away after Texas did around 1839 and formed its own Republic. But then the Gold Rush happened, the Anglos flooded in the north and the United States went "ooh free land".
I'm not sure in what format I would tell the history of California, I original thought of doing a wikipedia article but I am considering other options.

Also at the insistence of others I've added a definition of a Free State to the map post
 
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What does "ballot party" mean?
A Ballot Party is the TTL term for a national level electoral coalition that is mainly present during Presidential elections, because of the nature of TTL's Presidential Election.

Let me rework the politican pictures
 
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