The United Commonwealth of America

The United Commonwealth of America
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "E pluribus unum" "Out of Many, one"
Anthem: "The Battle Cry of Freedom"
Capital	Boston Capital District
Largest city	New York City
Official languages	None at the federal level
Recognised national languages	English
Recognised regional languages	New England French, Revived Wômpanâak
Government	Federal semi-presidential republic
Legislature	Congress
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	House of Representatives
Independence from the United States
• Declaration	March 7, 1980
• Albany Declaration	April 20, 1980
• British Recognition	July 4, 1980
• Federal Recognition of secession	July 12th, 1980
HDI	0.950 very high
Currency	U.C. Dollar ($) (UCD)
Time zone	EST
Driving side	right
Calling code	+1

The United Commonwealth of America (UCA), commonly known as the United Commonwealth (UC) or American Commonwealth, and occasionally colloquially referred to as New England, is a country in eastern North America, primarily in the former American Northeast. It is the fourth most populous nation in North America, behind Mexico, the Midwest and Western States, ahead of Canada and Texas, and the third in the former United States. The Commonwealth consists of nine states (seven fully controlled, one half covered by an exclusion zone, and one considered to be in exile), three 'sister republics' and the Alaskan Joint-Control Sector. The core UC is bordered by Canada to the north, the Midwest to the west, and the Three Mile Island exclusion zone to its south. As for the Commonwealth Sister Republics, Florida borders Reedy Creek and the American Federation to its north, Lakota borders the Midwest to its east, Canada to its north and the disputed Plains-Rockies territory to its west, and Sequoyah borders Texas to its south and west, Mississippi to its east and the PRT to its north.

General Overview

For the entire history of the New England region, see History of New England and Prehistory of New England

Human habitation of the New England region goes back to at least 10,000 years ago, after the end of the last glacial maximum and start of the Holocene, shortly after trees and other larger plants began recolonizing the area. Around 1000 years ago, many of the more nomadic people of the region began to settle down after the introduction of corn to the area. By the arrival or Europeans to the Americas, a large number of native groups populated the region.

The first English settlement in the region dates back to the early 1600s. By the American Revolution, the region saw heavy fighting and revolutionary activity, and would be influential in the Industrial Revolution in America, becoming one of the nation's most productive regions until the start of the Great Depression and less of an influx of immigrants after the first world war. Eventually, by the 1980s and the collapse of the United States, much of this once lost spirit was partially rekindled, with an influx of refugees from the disaster-affected states and British economic support.

A few weeks before the one year anniversary of the disaster, the state governments of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont came together to proclaim an independent New England state. After a failed loyalist coup and communist insurrection was put down, New Jersey, New York and remnants of the Pennsylvanian government voted to join the Commonwealth, officially proclaiming the nation in its current form. After successfully petitioning for British aid, the extremely weakened Western rump state recognized the independence of the new nation.

Military and Agencies

United Commonwealth Armed Forces

Main Article: United Commonwealth Armed Forces

The armed forces of the Commonwealth is split along similar lines of the United States, with the UC Army, Navy and Air Force being separate sections. Unlike the US, the Marines and Navy are under one naval service more along British lines. The UC also has several de-facto paramilitary forces under its wing, most notably the American Army of the Underground and the American Volunteer force. These are not, however, directly under the command of the UCAF and are officially separate.

A founding member of the Tokyo Accords, the UC is bound to defend any of its allies, as are its allies bound to defend it. The UC also continues the Five Eyes program and maintains close ties to the British Military.

National Agencies

Along with several smaller agencies, the Commonwealth has three main National Intelligence and Criminal Agencies,

• Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI): Primary domestic intelligence and security service of the UC. Not to be confused with the FBI of the West Coast.
• Office of Strategic Services (OSS): Primary foreign intelligence service of the UC. Formed by many defectors from the CIA, the organization fills the same role as the CIA did/does for America. The Agency takes its name from the American intelligence agency of World War Two and de facto CIA precursor, also called the OSS.
• National Bureau of Anomaly Security (NBAS): Primary paranormal investigative service of the Commonwealth and Canada. While considered controversial, the bureau has comparable agencies in the Midwestern Department of Civilian Defense's Paranormal Division and the American/Western Project Blue Book.

Government and politics

Government

The United Commonwealth is a federation of nine states, with its capital a federal district. The Commonwealth takes much of its governing bodies directly from the United States, though has formed a unique system, with models taken from both the French Fifth Republic and Australia. (The latter of which took much of its design from the United States). Being predominantly in New England, the Commonwealth sees itself as the birthplace of American democracy and in turn democracy, democratic values and press and religious freedom are heavily valued. Most American Amendments and aspects of the constitution was retained, with the most notable (and perhaps ironic) exception of the first amendment, which was initially modified in 1980 to permit banning of stated "extremist" groups in national emergencies, a notion that was (and still is) controversial since its inception after the Providence Rebellion. Eventually, in the 1991 Law on the Reformation of American Democracy, often called the Commonwealth's Bill of Rights, established the main replacement for the Amendment, establishing several main points:

• Prohibiting the Government, (State, Local, Federal or otherwise) to recognize any religion, organized or unorganized, as being official or influencing any policy.
• The Protection of any religion, organized or unorganized.
• Protections on the Freedom of Speech, Press, Assembly and the Right to Petition, however maintaining the prohibition of 'extremist' groups during times of war or emergency, citing precedence in the Sedition Act of 1918.

The secular doctrine initially proved controversial, being based more on French Laicism over American style secularism, but has since been relatively accepted.

Government power is separated into three main bodies:

• Legislative: The bicameral Congress, split into the House of Representatives and the Senate. This is nearly unchanged from the United States.
• Judiciary: Comprising the Supreme Court, the Court of appeals, Commonwealth courts and State courts. Relatively unchanged from the United States, with minor elements borrowed from Australia.
• Executive: The most changed from the United States, the executive branch borrows much of its system from the French government, dividing powers between the President and Prime Minister, with the president being the head of state and handling international agreements, holds the title of commander in chief of the armed forces, and having the ability to appoint judges. The Prime Minister is the head of government, and is typically appointed by the President. The Prime Minister controls domestic matters and many parliamentary issues.

Political parties

For the Main article, see Sixth Party System.

The Government of the United Commonwealth is dominated by five major political parties, although has additional minor ones. The major parties are as follows:

• The Republican Party: The primary conservative and moderate party. Typically pro-interventionist and pro-Accords.
• The Progressive Party: One of two left wing parties (though falling primarily along the center-left), and the much more interventionist and anti-communist of the two.
• The Libertarian Party: The Primary anti-interventionist (both economically and internationally) but socially liberal party, the Libertarian party has grown substantially after the parties restructured in the 1990s.
• The Democratic Party: Fallen from its primary role in the United States, with many joining the Progressives or Republicans since the 1990s, the Democratic Party maintains a center, moderate position and typically aligns itself with the Republican or Progressive Parties in Congress.
• The Commonwealth Socialist Party: Arguably the smallest 'major' party, the CSP is the primary remnant of the Socialist Front and minority factions of the SDPUCA, and takes an isolationist and more outwardly socialist (albeit still democratic) position over the Progressive's policies.

Etymology

The United Commonwealth derives its name from from the name of the United States and the traditional English term Commonwealth, a term also used by Australia, the Bahamas, Dominica, and the Commonwealth of England, a (de-jure) Parliamentarian faction during the English civil war. The name commonwealth was also used by several American states, and most notably for the Commonwealth, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.