Ok, so I think the CA depicted in the map in 1899 is not a single nation, but as the name suggests a loose confederation of largly francophone states most of which have their own governments, heads of state, legislatures and courts. However the CA does have uniform weights and measures, internal free trade, travel, and migration, and a supranational legislature and executive empowered to deal with defence, security, foreign affairs, and disputes between member states - 'La Authoritie Grande' is the name for the entirety of the confederal level of government, voting rights on the legislature and representation rights on the executive are limited to the catholic and francophone continental states, Alaska, the Caribean, and the Anglophone and Spanish speaking areas get to send delegates but they have no real power at the confederal level. In 1856 a bloody slave rebellion across the south east was brutally crushed, the extreme violence however led to mass support for the abolition of slavery in all CA member states, and this came about finally through an ammendment in the 'Concordat' in 1862. Haiti the so called black republic has since become a powerful and influential full partner in the CA, it's the only Caribean island to have full membership, and is due to hold the rotating presidency in 1902.
The French were so busy in North America, that they have sacrificed the rest of the world to the British, Dutch, Germans, Spanish, and Russians...