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INTRODUCTION

The snow topped peak of Mount Marcy sits silently on a clear winter's day, one of the many tall peaks of the Adirondack range that spreads across Northern New York. As wind blows where Colonel Theodore Roosevelt led a heroic struggle in the Adirondacks against the tyrannical United States in the winter of 1894 and 1895, we hear the echoes of the men and women who heroically fought for the existence of a country and a people. 118 years have passed since the harsh winters of the War of Independence, and while the scars of battle on the land and the people have long passed into distant memory and whispers, their sacrifices and their actions cannot and will not be forgotten. 118 years have passed, and so much has changed. The nation of Theodore Roosevelt is now a Republic, as he had always envisioned. The city of short buildings is now an unrecognizable behemoth of tall glass, stone, and metal structures, and her ports busier than ever. Mountains, which only the bravest had dared to venture into are now a political and historical pilgrimage site for children visiting Roosevelt's Mount Marcy Headquarters, and areas that had once been isolated in the Catskills or Adirondacks are now only a few hours of travel away from the nation's capital city in New York. The nation, while physically unrecognizable, has remained the same in character, a fiercely independent nation that would fight tooth and nail for herself.

New York has like many nations on the North American continent has a fascinating history, with many claiming New York is a hybrid of the best traits of each country. The emphasis of the individual received from Texas, yet welfare for all adopted from California are ever present. The liberal attitudes of New England, Vermont, and New Hampshire are easily recognizable all across the new Republic, and yet the conservative modesty of the United States comes across her massive land border to the south along the Delaware River. New York has been a magnet of cultures since before her independence. Her attractive and strategic location on the eastern coast of North America has garnered her a lot of attention for a nation of 30 million people, and her rich history has reserved her a status that many countries of similar size (Both in area and population) are usually given. A land of many cultures, nearly a fourth of the entire nation's population is foreign born, and many of her people cannot claim to be of a single racial, ethnic, or religious identity. That is what former President Nicholas Murray Butler believes it means to be a true New Yorker after his term in office, "A nation where one is not distinguished as White or Negro, Christian or Jewish, or any such distinction, but is instead identified solely as a New Yorker. We used to say in the United States "I am Italian-American" or "I am Irish-American", and even "I am a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant", but after our Independence, we all came to be known as New Yorkers, and just New Yorkers." Theodore Roosevelt, the Father of the Nation and our first President, said that New York is "More than just a collection of towns and villages surrounding a massive city to form a nation. New York is an idea. An idea that no matter your background, you are a New Yorker first."

These attitudes would make New York notable among western nations. She is seen by billions across the world as the most diverse in the nation. The first truly egalitarian nation that saw within four years New York being part of a nation that had segregation and no women's rights, evolve into an independent Confederation that saw all races and both sexes as equals. Despite her fierce independence, New York arguably is most similar to her former enemy, the United States. Despite fighting multiple wars against one another, New York and the United States share the same heroes and villains. George Washington is idolized in New York as much as Theodore Roosevelt is. Many schoolchildren claim that Abraham Lincoln is an idol due to his impact on the African populations on the continent, and for his desire to keep a nation together despite half of its will to fall apart. Streets in our capital city are named after both, as are theaters, museums, and schools. Despite New York's posturing as an enemy of the United States until recently, there are more comparisons to the United States than there are differences.

This following volume seeks to inform the ready of why things came to be like this. Why New York is Independent nation despite so many common similarities with her former oppressor? Why is New York one of the most diverse nations in the world? Why is New York so influential despite its small size? These questions, which have often been the subject of scholarly debate, will be answered in this volume, which covers New York's history from her War of Independence in 1894 to the National Revolution in 2011, the latter seeing a new President and a new Republic founded in the place of a government that existed since 1897. As I end this introduction, we must remember that all of these figures in our history are fully accurate, and that none have been omitted. Our history is our history, the good parts and the bad, which we must all be aware of. Long live the Republic of New York! Long Live the National Revolution! Long Live the President!

Excelsior!

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