Usonia

This country is part of the Altverse universe.

Federalist States of Usonia États fédéralistes d'Usonia (fr) Estados federalistas de Usonia (es)
Flag Coat of arms
Motto:  One People, One Country, One God
Anthem:  Lift Every Voice and Sing
Location of Usonia in North America
Map of Usonia with its state boundaries Map of Usonia with its state boundaries
Capital and largest city	Independence
Official languages	English
Recognized languages	French and Spanish
Ethnic groups (2020)	71.3% Black 18.5% White 7.9% Mixed 2.7% Hispanic or Latino 1.7% Asian 0.6% other
Demonym(s)	Usonian
Government	Federal republic
• President	Joseph Durham III
• Vice President	Atasha Mayer
• Speaker of the House	Josiah Hawkins
• Chief Justice	Dorothy Rayleigh
Legislature	Congress
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	House of Representatives
Independence  from the United States
• Declaration	November 8, 1866
• Constitution	January 1, 1870
• Recognized	February 23, 1873
Area
• Total	1,190,112 km2 (459,505 sq mi) (27th)
• Water (%)	7 (including swamps)
Population
• 2020 estimate	118,328,094 (12th)
• 2010 census	115,133,235
• Density	99.4/km2 (257.4/sq mi) (86th)
GDP (PPP)	2020 estimate
• Total	$6.546 trillion (4th)
• Per capita	$55,322 (15th)
GDP (nominal)	2020 estimate
• Total	$5.173 trillion (4th)
• Per capita	$43,718 (19th)
Gini (2020)	50.7 high
HDI (2020)	0.843 very high · Nth
Currency	Usonian dollar (UN$) (UND)
Time zone	UTC−6 to −5 (UTC)
Date format	dd-mm-yyyy AD
Driving side	right
Calling code	+1
ISO 3166 code	USN
Internet TLD	.us

The Federalist States of Usonia (FSU), commonly called the Federalist States (F.S. or FS) or Usonia, is a sovereign state located in the southeastern quarter of North America. Usonia is a federal republic constituted as a federation, comprising nine constituent states and a federal district. The country extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Mississippi River in the west, and from the Caribbean Ocean down through the Florida Panhandle in the south, to the Appalachian Mountains and across the 36°30′ parallel in the north. It is bordered by Brazoria to the east and the United Commonwealth to the north, and shares a maritime border of the latter's Caribbean possessions to the south, these being Cuba and The Bahamas. Usonia spans a total land area of 1,190,112 square kilometers (459,505 sq mi), making it the 27th largest country by area just ahead of Ethiopia but behind Colombia in overall size. Likewise, Usonia hosts the world's twelfth-largest population with an estimated 118 million inhabitants. Usonia is home to the world's largest African dispora population, with some 94 million people claiming African or mixed-African ancestry, placing it ahead of Brazil by number of people of African descent. Independence is the capital and largest metropolis in the country. Other major urban centers by order of size and population include New Orleans, Miami, Raleigh, Charlotte, and Jacksonville.

Originally home to various Native American tribes such as the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw and Choctaw among others, the early inhabitants of Usonia were rapidly displaced by European settlers in the mid-16th and 17th centuries as a consequence of disease, force of arms, and purchase of lands, leading to depopulation throughout the region. These lands would be developed by the settlers, the majority of whom were indentured servants of English and Scotch-Irish descent, seeking to obtain their freedom by working the land. The introduction of slaves to the economy in the early-17th century completely revolutionized the South, becoming a major facet of the Southern character and culture. The American Revolutionary War would further define the culture and society of the South, as its period fought to distance themselves from the British Empire and the powerful northern merchants and politicians with their bases in New York City and Philadelphia. Through the use of slavery, the south's ruling elite grew to host some of the United States' most wealthy and influential characters, their wealth built upon the cultivation and export of cash crops such as cotton, rice, sugar and tobacco, and ushering in a period of calm and cultural enrichment known as the Antebellum era.

The question of slavery would become a defining aspect of northern and southern relations throughout the history of the United States prior to its dissolution. Events such as the Nullification Crisis in South Carolina over the rights of a state, and Missouri Compromise which define the location of free states and slave states entering the Union, would play into the building tensions between the pro-slavery and abolitionist movements of the country. Things would come to a head first in 1859, with the raid on Harpers Ferry by the abolitionist John Brown, and later with the disastrous 1860 United States presidential election, which saw the abolitionist Republican Party take the executive office. This would lead directly to the succession of South Carolina later the following year, and the opening salvos of the Battle of Fort Sumter leading to the start of the American Civil War. The disagreements that had been allowed to fester for decades throughout south would see seven of the slave-holding states of the Union join to form the Confederate States of America, later followed by another four states throughout the course of the war. Though the Confederacy would go on to loss the war, the abolition of slavery granted to American blacks throughout the south in 1862 would see hundreds of thousands of freed blacks exercise their right to self-defense and form militias throughout former Confederacy to defend themselves.

Usonia's formation would begin in 1866, just a year after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated and the United States disintegrated in the fires that were the War of Contingency. Resurgent Confederate soldiers, extremists from the Ku Klux Klan, and armies from the newly-established United Commonwealth, were all rebuffed by the black militias and rebellious units of the former United States Colored Troops who had been left to occupy the south, and in their rebellion and thrown open the gates to the arsenals of the former Confederacy to blacks throughout the land. With their independence recognized in 1873, Usonia would rebuild itself into a paragon of liberty and civil rights, though these rights would initially be limited to blacks and mulattoes with black fathers. Usonia would quickly move to establish itself as a major power in world politics, attempting to prove itself worthy of respect on the international stage; joining the Entente Powers during the First World War, and later aligning itself with the other nations of Anglo-America in solidarity against the Axis Powers after Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. As with the other powers on the continent, Usonia was heavily-involved in the the Manhattan Project which it saw as a bulwark against the forces of fascism and communism throughout the globe.

In the wake of the Second World War, Usonia would later use its resources to sponsor pro-democracy revolutions throughout the Third World, seeking to repeat the successes of its own war of independence during the 19th century, and preventing the spread of communism in regions where socialists ideologies had a strong following, namely Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia. Such foreign entanglements would see Usonia dragged into the Korean War and the Vietnam War for years, and a hardening stance against the ideology throughout Usonian culture and society. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War in 1991, Usonia's focus on the development of its economy, regional alliances, and focus on global stability, have helped to shape the prosperity enjoyed by the citizens of the country. As with the rest of the developed world, Usonia was hard hit by the Great Recession and suffered a brief contraction of its GDP in the wake of the financial crisis. Since 2010-11, Usonia has recovered from the effects, and continues to grow financially and industrially as the world's fourth-largest economy. As a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Usonia is heavily-involved in the War on Terror and global attempts to combat Islamic extremism, and has been a major contributor to the War in Afghanistan since 2001.

Usonia today is a strong ally of several nations throughout the African continent, many of which have been the source of immigration to Usonian throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Several of the nations in Africa are today thriving democracies due largely in part to the military interventions staged by Usonia to remove tyrants and military juntas that gained prominence in Africa during the 1960s and 1970s, ensuring that the inhabitants of those nations could live in peace and develop their countries. Usonia also enjoys a close diplomatic relationship with Brazoria and Sierra due to their old alliance during the War of Contingency to repel the invasions of the United Commonwealth. Usonia and the United Commonwealth have never had a strong relationship, with much of Usonia's ongoing militarization of the population a direct consequence of the ever-present threat the United Commonwealth poses. Usonia is a founding member of the League of Nations and North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and a member of several other international organizations such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Organization of American States, and the Conference of American States.

Etymology

The origin of word Usonia has traditionally been attributed to the author and former slave Sidney Harkness, one of the country's founding fathers and a noted nationalist who had advocated for a name that blended the new identity of its people and their "uniquely American" culture and attributes. During the All-Negro Nation Convention which had been convened at the height of the Usonian War of Independence for the purposes of formulating and organizing a new government in the liberated territories, Harkness gave an address to the assembled audience promoting the name he had developed for the new nation:

We are not Americans in the usual sense, no. For we have been rejected as men worthy of the respect and equality afforded to such 'Americans'. Rather, we are Africans afforded the luxury of living as Americans; we are have no right nor claim to the name, one of which I am of the opinion, does not belong to the United States alone. For are not all on this continent not Americans by virture of birth? Indeed I believe that we are desirous of a new name all our own. Usonians! Usonians is what we ought to be be! Through the undeserved sweat of our brow and blood of our flesh, this great land blossomed but gave its fruit to Americans. This land is Usonia — the land by and for the Usonians!

—Sidney Harkness' "Usonia for the Usonians" address on 17 October 1869

Harkness never explained the origins of the name or how he came to select it as the preferred means of identifying the new nation itself. Regardless, Usonia was instantly accepted by the convention's participants, who had come to agree that a new identity for the black population was necessary to separate themselves from the white American population that had enslaved them and destroyed their culture and history. The new government still based in New Orleans agreed that a unique identifier would be vital in the decades to come, as the lack of a shared culture beyond the horrors of slavery would be dangerous to the future of the new republic. Consequently, at the convention the Usonian Provisional Congress was established, incorporating the name Usonian into its official title. Likewise, the Usonian Provisional Army was established the same year to replace the old United States Colored Troops as the new fighting force of the nation.

Upon the formation and adoption of the Constitution of Usonia in 1870, just three months after Harkness' famous speech, the name Usonia was officially adopted into the legal language of the new government as the means by which the country, its citizens, and its institutions would be known as. The new nation was officially termed the "Federalist States of Usonia", with the first half harkening back to the libertarian ideals advocated for by the Founding Fathers Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay in the The Federalist Papers, a collection of essays and articles which would form the bedrock of the nation country's democracy. The latter half highlighted the new identity of its most hard-working yet marginalized inhabitants — black American slaves — slaves who had been responsible for cultivating the land and providing much of the wealth the United States depended upon to establish itself as a major industrial power.

History

Prehistory

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American period

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American Civil War

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Politics

Main article: Politics of Usonia

Government

Main article: Government of Usonia

Joseph Durham III, the 23rd President of Usonia since 2009

The government of Usonia is representative democracy as defined by the constitution, protecting the rights of the minority from the majority, while still providing a unified voice to the collective citizenry of the country. As a federal republic, the country is governed by a system of checks and balances that allow for a measure of stability between the executive, legislative, and judiciary branches of the federal government. The head of state and head of government is the President, who as of the most recent election was Joseph Durham III. The president is selected by indirect vote, in which the vote of the general electorate is apportioned to the states of the union, with an equal number of votes based on their existing number of congressional representatives. The president has the power to sign treaties, declare war, appoint federal judges and officials, and call both houses to an extraordinary session of Congress. In the event that the president is somehow incapacitated, dies, is impeached by Congress, or cannot perform his or her duties, the office is transferred over to the Vice President of Usonia, who will serve as acting president until the president recovers, or until the next presidential election is held.

The Congress of Usonia operates as the premier legislative branch of the federal government, passing laws on behalf of the constituents its members represent throughout the country. The body is bicameral in nature, consisting of an upper house, the Senate, and a lower house, the House of Representatives. The former consists of XX members, with a senior and junior senator hailing from each of the XX states of Usonia. The House consists of 252 representatives, who are elected on a proportional basis from each state, based on their relative populations. As of the 2010 census, each member of the House represented a constituency of approximately 469,556 people. The seats in the House are apportioned every ten years during the federal census, and based on the number of legal, native-born or naturalized Usonians in the country. Currently, TBD had the most seats in the House, with a total of XX representatives, while Independence and XX states had the fewest at just one representative each. Though no explicitly endorsed by the constitutional mechanisms of the state, the legislature of Usonia has been dominated by two political parties since its formal institution as a state organ in 1870; these are the center-right Federalists and the far-right Republicans.

The Nth Amendment guarantees the right of habeas corpus to all legal citizens of Usonia, within the legal framework of the country. Seeking to avoid the same instance of illegally suspending habeas corpus witnessed during the American Civil War, by both Abraham Lincoln of the United States and Jefferson Davis of the Confederacy, the Nth amendment of the Usonian constitution has made it illegal for the president of the country deny a citizen their legal rights and their right to a trial by jury and protection from unlawful imprisonment. Charged with protecting these constitutional rights is the Supreme Court of Usonia, which serves as the highest court in the country's judicial framework. The Supreme Court consists of nine justices with life terms, of which the highest-ranking member is the Chief Justice. This position has been held by Dorothy Rayleigh since her appointment in 19XX. Beneath the Supreme Court are the district courts, which hear cases presented to them if they are not deemed pressing enough to pass onto the Supreme Court itself.

Administrative divisions

Main articles: Administrative divisions of Usonia, Regions of Usonia, and States of Usonia

Law and justice

Main articles: Law and justice of Usonia and Supreme Court of Usonia

See also: Law enforcement in Usonia, Crime in Usonia, Incarceration in Usonia, and Capital punishment in Usonia

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of Usonia

Military

Main article: Usonian Defense Forces

USONIAN DEFENSE FORCES (UDF)
Expenditures
Budget	$248.313 billion (FY 2020)
Percent of GDP	4.8% (FY 2020)
Personnel
Active personnel	1,451,132
Reserve personnel	862,817
Deployed personnel	Classified
Branches
Branch	Active	Deployable	Reserves	Active Reserve
Usonian Army	503,377	167,792	565,835	188,611
Usonian Navy	359,521	119,840	61,778	20,592
Usonian Air Force	345,140	115,046	187,404	62,468
Usonian Marine Corps	202,332	67,444	41,243	13,747
Usonian Coast Guard	40,762	13,587	6,557	2,185
TOTAL	1,410,370	470,122	862,817	287,603

Demographics

Religion

Main article: Religion in Usonia

Religious affiliation in Usonia (2019)

Affiliation	% of Usonian population
Christianity	89.6	89.6
Reformed Baptist	59.7	59.7
Protestant	20.3	20.3
Mainline Protestant	11.4	11.4
Evangelical Protestant	6.6	6.6
Catholic	9.2	9.2
Jehovah's Witnesses	1.1	1.1
Mormon	0.9	0.9
Eastern Orthodox	0.3	0.3
Other Christian	0.7	0.7
Islam	1.3	1.3
Hinduism	0.4	0.4
Other faiths	2.7	2.7
Irreligion	5.2	5.2
Nothing in particular	3.2	3.2
Agnostic	1.6	1.6
Atheist	0.4	0.4
Don't know or refused answer	0.5	0.5

The constitution of Usonia guarantees freedom of religion, though it does not explicitly prohibit the Congress from passing laws banning certain religions within the country. Usonia is described in the constitution as "...whole, black, and Christian...", clearly establishing the Christian nature of the country and the background with which legislation has been passed by the government. In line with that constitutional narrative, the Congress has often acted to protect the institution of Christianity within the country from competition by other beliefs, with complete disregard for the various denominations that make of the Christian faith, as all are deemed equally "Christian" in the eyes of the state. In spite of this, religious freedom is still protected within Usonia by law, and numerous non-Abrahamic faiths are present within the country. Religions that do not call for the harm of others as an active tenet of its doctrine, i.e., those which specifically calling upon followers to enact harm onto non-believing individuals, are considered perfectly legal and may be practiced without restriction within reasonable limits. Co-existence between the various religions is enforced, and extremism of any sort has traditionally be dealt with preemptively and aggressively by state security services.

According to the 2010 census, the largest religion practiced within Usonia is Christianity, with 89.6% of the total population identifying themselves as Christians. 57.4% of these Christians are affiliated with the Reformed Baptist Church, the largest Christian denomination in the country and the largest Christian church in North America by number of adherents, with more than 70.6 million actively practicing members. Protestantism comprises the second-largest set of Christian believers in Usonia, accounting for 20.3% of the population spread over the Methodist, Pentecostal, Evangelical, and minor Anglican denominations. Catholics accounted for 9.2% of the population, forming the third-largest denomination of Christians. The final group of Christian faiths were Jehovah's Witnesses at 1.1%, Mormons at 0.9%, and Eastern Orthodoxy at 0.3%; with the various other Christian groups making up 0.7% of adherents. 4.7% of the Usonian population belonged to various non-Christian religions. These were Islam at 1.3% and Hinduism at 0.4%, with other faiths such as Buddhism and Judaism, along with a myriad other religions accounting for some 2.7% of the population. The census indicated that 5.2% of the population identified themselves as agnostic, atheist, or simply "undefined".

All of the old Native American religions common to the various regions across Usonia were banned by the Christianization Act of 1887, prohibiting the practice of any pagan faiths or traditions contradictory to the Christian faith. Originally passed with the intent of "civilizing" the Native American tribes residing in the region following the incorporation of their lands into the new Usonian state in 1870, the law explicitly bans the practice of native non-Christian faiths within the country, making some exception for more "organized" religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism brought to Usonia by immigrants. The religious practice of human sacrifice and polygamy were other motivating factors for the adoption of the law. Since 1887, very few Usonians of indigenous heritage remember the lore or traditions of their ancestral faiths, and most members of the native population have since become thoroughly Christianized within the last century and a half. Other Abrahamic faiths such as Islam and Judaism, have likewise been restricted to varying degrees, though not completely outlawed in the same manner as the native faiths across the country. However, in spite of loosening some of these regulations on non-Christian religions, many of the adherents of these faiths moved into the more liberal states in the south, where religious liberty was more intensely protected by the various state governments.

Only a handful of religions are outright banned by the Congress of Usonia; these include the Church of Scientology, Raëlism, Rastafarianism, the Unification Church, Black Hebrew Israelites, and various other cults and new religious movements that either do not follow mainstream religious norms, or make bizarre calls for antisocial behavior. Any belief systems that are predicted on warped power dynamics harmful to the adherents physically, mentally, or financially, demand total devotion to a cult leader as a person, or revolve around a doomsday prediction that requires active pursuit of its initiation by human hands, are considered a threat to the state and its population. As such, the government is quick to shutdown any movements that that follow these doctrines, and actively prosecute any individuals attempting to lead or recruit others into such cults. All religions are allowed tax exemption as a consequence of their role as " public non-profit institutions" for the betterment of the various communities in which they are located and the charity work initiated by their members.