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Much like France considered itself to be "the bastion of liberty" due to it's tradition of being the oldest modern republic, the same way the Vespucia Free State called itself "the outpost of liberty", surrounded by colonial powers yet fostering a very free and democratic system of government.

The Free State was founded in 1762 after a bloody war of independence, and while it started out as a subservient state under the Netherlands, this overlord relationship was not meant to last. Vespucia successfully broke it's ties with the homeland in 1775, during the heat of the German Revolutionary Wars, when the Netherlands were on the brink of bankruptcy and far more focused on the possibility of a French or German invasion. The VFS was one of the few nations in the world who openly supported Germania and it's struggle for independence - after all, the Vespucians still remembered their Liberty Legion and how it helped them acquire independence - which almost drew them into a war with France after Germania's capitulation. But both countries were quick to realize that such a war would be meaningless because of the vast distances and oceans involved, so in the end, the European powers left Vespucia alone, even though it was in many ways just as radical as Germania itself.

Much like many European countries, Vespucia moved forward towards constitutional law - however, she was, in fact, the first in the world to do so. The Constitutional Act of the Free State was signed by the Vespucian Assembly in 1775, and among many other things, it established the system of government of the republic. The highest authority in the nation was the Democrat of the Free State of Vespucia, the head of state, elected by popular vote every four years. The Assembly believed that a democracy is the complete opposite of a monarchy, and thus, if a monarchy (autocracy) is ruled by a monarch (autocrat), a democracy must be ruled by a democrat. Under the requirements of the division of power, the Democrat would have to share his powers with the Assembly (Vergadering), a single-house parliament and the legislative organ of the nation, elected through proportional party representation a month after the Democratic Election. A number of other organs of the system were also created, like an independent court system and administrative divisions.

In VFS's first democratic election in 1778, the race boiled down to two main candidates - the head of the Vespucian Assembly and the first man to sign the Constitutional Act, Florentijn Nije Blokvoort, representing the more moderate forces within the country, and an officer from the Independence War, Jan-Willem Nijhout, representing the radical Republican faction. Being a much more experienced politician and campaigner, Blokvoort won the election with 54% of the vote, becoming Vespucia's first Democrat.

Unlike France, Vespucia never devolved into a two-party system. The two main parties that formed out of the original Assembly, the Republican Party and the Legitimist Party, never grew to completely dominate the political landscape, and numerous minor parties representing all types of the political spectrum from extreme Protectionists to proto-Unitarians were constantly competing against them for seats. Coalitions and coalition building became a far more important procedure in the Vespucian political process than it ever was in France, and this feeling of choice created a sense of belonging and patriotism among the Vespucian population.

Despite it's name implying control over the entire continent, the VFS was an isolationist state. Far from the concert in Europe and untouched by the Revolutionary Wars and the Paris System, it saw the Old World as none of it's business, especially when there were vast untamed lands to the west to take care of beforehand. Vespucia's western expansion started out as a necessity - from it's creation, it was a very attractive land to immigrants and refugees, it was a land of opportunity and liberty, where there are no oppressive autocracies, long military service, slavery or serfdom, wars or conflicts... By 1850, the Free State's population had tripled due to high immigration and some natalist policies, and since the East Coast was not enough to feed this rapidly rising population, expanding west was a natural answer. The first Vespucian settlers crossed the Appalachians in the 1780s, conflicting with the local natives who were usually just left alone by the Dutch. As VFS pushed more and more west, it soon came into conflict with Spain and it's colony Luisiana. Spain claimed a large portion of the lands around the river Mississippi, and even wished to take over all of the Great Plains, even if their resources and budget didn't allow it. Vespucia, meanwhile, also wanted to take control over the river. In 1809, this resulted in the outbreak of a war between Spanish Luisiana and the Vespucia Free State, dubbed the Second Dutch-Spanish War, a large-scale conflict in the plains and Appalachians. In the next three years, the Vespucian Army successfully defeated it's opponent, securing complete control over the upper Mississippi and nearby Spanish claims, and the Europeans were eventually forced to sue for peace.

The Second Dutch-Spanish War was the first war the VFS won after it's establishment, and it helped secure it's position as a strong secondary power in the Vespucias - not to mention that it caused the beginning of the disintegration of the Spanish colonial empire. Vespucia was free to expand even beyond.

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The next chapter will be about a new colonial empire.