The Red The Gray and The Blue (Reboot)

The Red The Gray and The Blue
The Trials and Tribulations of the Former American Republics

ACT 1 - The Western Social Republic

Victor Chaney (Independent)
(1912-1913)

“The War Hero”

Victor Chaney was born in 1876 in San Francisco to Flora Wellman, a Music Teacher and William Chaney, an astronomer. Chaney had an intimate childhood, but later left home to join the navy, against his parents' wishes, serving with honor in the Niho-American War. After the war, he accepted a job at the San Francisco Gazette. While at the Gazette, he gained props as an investigative journalist, especially in his uncovering a lot of corruption in the state of Sacramento's handling of the 1897 Earthquake. In the 1898 Election, he was elected Mayor of Oakland as a member of the Syndicalist Party, among a wave of growing Syndicalism in the United States. At the end of his first term as mayor, he was elected as the Governor of Sacramento, on a Syndicalist-Populist Fusion ticket and defeated incumbent George Pardee.

Then the Election of 1908 of the Lloyd/Riel Progressive/Populist/Syndicalist Party ticket; and the subsequent coup and murder of said ticket at the hands of the junta led by James Pershing tossed everything upside-down. Chaney, along with the Governors of the states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Rio Grande, Comanche, Cherokee, Colorado, Sonora, California, Nivada, Oregon, Blackfoot, Vancouver, and Columbia gathered in San Francisco. Chaney there made a rousing speech about the illegitimacy of the Washington regime, and urged the Governors to fight against the junta, and to secede their states from the militarists. As the Pershing regime was too busy consolidating its shaky hold on the country, these states, as well as the states of the former Southron Republic voted to secede from the illegal regime.


the battle lines in 1908

To distract the commoners with a swift victory, Pershing invaded the anti-Pershing Canadian Republics. The Second American Civil War, as it was later dubbed saw all-out fighting between the so-called “Alliance of Freedom” led by Victor Chaney, and the Second American Republic of James Pershing. The Alliance of Freedom was composed of Chaney's American government, Freedom-aligned Partisans in the Second American Republic, Canadian Freedom Fighters, and the Second Southron Republic.

The War finally ended in 1912, following the assasination of Pershing by Partisans, and the new government immediately signed a peace treaty, the Treaty of Havana. The Treaty stipulated the restoration of independence of the Republic of Upper Canada and the Republic of Quebec, the Second Southron Republic, and the new Western Republic.


The Former United States in 1912

The face of the country was forever changed, most noticalby by the collapse of central authority in Washington, with the various regional Cliques based in St. Louis, Chicago, New York, and Boston nullifying the central government following the Revolutionary Committee refusing to hold democratic elections. The Constitutional Convention of the Western Republic of 1912 was a hectic affair, the delegates wanted to ensure the Constitution was written well; but they also wanted to have the government up and running as soon as possible. It was decided that the Western Republic would be nearly identical to the United States at the Judicial and State level. It was the other two branches where the drastic changes were made; following the ambiguity of the close election of 1906 Election, the Electoral College was abolished. The Legislative Branch was remolded to follow a more Westminster-esque governance with the Speaker of the Assembly being the leader of the largest party in the Assembly and sharing powers with the President. The Senate was abolished, and the Vice Presidency was not included in the Constitution, with the tie-breaking vote going to the President, in lieu of the Veto.

Moderate Socialist and Progressive reforms were included in the new government, Government took control of the utilities and the banks; and taxes on the upper bracket were increased. However, stability had only just been restored to the Western Economy, politics, and most of the nation began the long process of rebuilding when disaster happened. Victor Chaney was struck down suddenly and without warning with a stroke at the age of 56 under suspicious circumstances, leaving a vacuum of power in the young Republic. And then a figure from the nation's army, the hero of Denver, stepped up to restore order to the chaotic government, and provide hope in the time of troubles.
 
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The Election of 1908

(Author's Note: To help continue the flow of ideas, here's a quick little diddy.)

.The Election of 1908 is a watershed moment in American Politics, and considered by many historians to be the true beginning of the 20th Century, and the beginning of the End of the Balance of Power that had existed since the end of the Franco-Prussian War.

.The People's Party (Officially the Progressive-Populist Party) was founded in 1905, following the landslide victory of the Democratic President Winfield Hearst, which was due to the two left-wing parties splitting the vote between them. They ran on a Progressive platform the likes of which the country had not seen since the collapse of the Republican Party in 1876 following the impeachment of President Burnside. Lloyd was an expert stump speaker, who drew large crowds, while Hearst famously had a rally in Illinois where only one spectator came to watch.

.The Democratic Party meanwhile became known as the 'Big Business Party' among their rivals, due to their liberal roots. The Democrats had a large war chest, the largest ever seen in American history, totaling nearly $600,000, funded mainly by the Champions of Labor, a fraternal organization dedicated to promoting Laissez-Faire economics. However, to shore up the moderate vote, James Bryan of Missouri was selected as his running mate: young, enthusiastic, and entirely unwanted by the St. Louis Machine.

.Finally to finish of the parties of the election there was the Southron Nationalist Party, which while not on the ballot in any state outside of the South meant the south was all but a waste of time for the other two parties; with the exception of famously-progressive Louisiana. The SNP advocated for independence for the South, with the notion having made a comeback since the end of the Civil War in 1868. Other than that, the SNP is much more economically reformist, it did of course call for the creation of a segregationist sentiment, pushing the south's blacks further toward the People's Party.

.The Election was a close one, with the People's Party winning by an extremely thin margin in Massachusetts, giving them just barely enough electoral votes to give them the Presidency. This surprising result led to the famous Pershing Coup in 1908, which cost the lives of both Lloyd and Vice President Riel and sparked the crisis that would eventually lead to the events of the Second Civil War.

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Hamilcar Sinclair (Syndicalist)
(1913)

“The Union Man”

.Following the sudden death of Victor Chaney, the Western Republic fell into a Power Vacuum. The country was so new, and precedents for transfer of power had yet to be set, and the government only stuck together around Chaney. So it was only natural that another powerful personality would take up the mantle of the Great Founder: Hamilcar Sinclair, the Hero of Denver, and hard-line Syndicalist.

.Hamilcar Sinclair was born in Baltimore, Maryland to Upton Beall Sinclair and Priscilla Harden. His father was a liquor salesman whose alcoholism shadowed his son's childhood. Priscilla Harden Sinclair was a strict Episcopalian who disliked alcohol, tea, and coffee. As a child, Sinclair slept either on sofas or cross-ways on his parents' bed. When his father was out for the night, he would sleep alone in the bed with his mother. His mother's family was highly affluent: her parents were very prosperous in Baltimore, and her sister married a millionaire. Sinclair had wealthy maternal grandparents with whom he often stayed. This gave him insight into how both the rich and the poor lived during the late nineteenth century. Living in two social settings affected him and greatly influenced his political views. Upton Beall Sinclair was from a highly respected family in the South, but following the collapse of the Southron economy following the abolition of slavery, Upton moved to Maryland.

.Sinclair moved to the state of California in 1898 following the death of his mother and father in a fire. He quickly found work in a factory is the growing city of Los Angeles and slowly worked his way up in the developing Labor movement. In 1908, he was the head of the California branch of the American Federation of Labor and had many strikes under his belt. When the Second Civil War [now called the War of Rebellion] broke out in 1908 he called for a regiment of labor workers to join the war effort against the “Reactionary” forces of President-for-Life Pershing. Following the disastrous Battle of Colorado Springs, he was the highest ranking officer from California left in the Army of Freedom. He was thus elevated de facto to Brigadier General of the Army of California. His quick thinking and inventive (some would say breaking the London Accords[1]) defenses enabled the army of Freedom to push back against the American forces, and eventually push the US Army across the Missouri River.[2]

It was only natural that there would be some resistance to Sinclair's appointment to the post by the National Assembly. The members of the Assembly from Sonora east threatened to walk out of the assembly and form a new one in Austin. Sinclair did not try to stop them, saying: “Good, if they do not wish to further Chaney's legacy, we do not need them; we shall cut off the dead weight and be healthier for it” One week later on March 14th, his soldiers quickly filed into the Assembly building in Sacramento, and stated that the Western Republic would be reborn as the Western Syndicalist Republic and announced the abolition of the National Assembly. It would be replaced by a People's Assembly with the position of President being replaced by that of Chief Syndic, and that the Syndicalist Party of America[3] would be the only legal party.


After six months, the Western Republic was dead.


[1] - TTL Geneva Convention, signed following the Chartist Revolution, the bloodiest event of the 19th Century
[2] - The US Army was so shattered, they'd probably would have reached Washington if not for the Sons of Liberty's murder of Pershing
[3] - The WSR still claimed the entirety of the Western Republic, as did the Austin government, until 1934

Presidents of the Western Republic:
Victor Chaney
- 1912-1913
Hamilcar Sinclair - (1913)

Chief Syndic of the Western Syndicalist Republic:
Hamilcar Sinclair (1913- 19XX)
 
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I guess this leaves the question, do you want me to focus down just the WSR's history, or intersperse leaders from other North American nations?
 
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