Kingdom of Hawthorne
Kingdom of Hawthorne | |
|---|---|
Coat of arms
| |
| Motto: Though shall not pass | |
| Anthem: Hawthorne the strong File:Hawthorne Anthem.ogg | |
| Status | Active |
| Capital and Population | Big Iron City |
| Official languages | English |
| Recognised national languages | English |
| Religion | State secular, Christian |
| Demonym(s) | Hawthornian |
| Government | Parliamentary constitutional monarchy |
• King | David Hawthorne |
| Legislature | Parliament |
| Royal Parliament | |
| Independent | |
• Established | 3 August 2020 |
• Current iteration | 3 December 2020 |
| Area | |
• | 0.03641406 sq mi (0.0943120 km2) |
| Population | |
• Estimate | 6 residential citizens 20 Global Citizens |
| Currency | United States dollar (USD) |
| Time zone | Central Standard Time (UTC -6) |
The Kingdom of Hawthorne, more commonly known simply as Hawthorne, is a self-declared sovereign state more commonly referred to as a micronation by external observers. Located in the U.S., it is geographically composed of several parks and the residence of the King, spanning a total area of 23.305 acres of land. The Kingdom has six residential citizens, and whilst maintaining a primarily local presence, it keeps a small online presence and has over 20 global citizens. Hawthorne is a constitutional monarchy with a King, an elected Prime Minister, a Royal Court, and a Royal Parliament. The current and only monarch has been HM King David Hawthorne I since the Kingdom's foundation on 3 December 2020.
David Hawthorne founded two colonies, Bocker and Hocker between July–August 2020. Bocker belonged to Yu-Xia, and Hocker to Matachewan. He later notified both leaders that he would be establishing the Kingdom of Hawthorne, and thus dissolving both territories. Bocker dissolved on 25 November, and Hocker on 2 December. The following day Hawthorne published the declaration of Independence, which is celebrated on Independence Day. The first constitutional convention was held on 4 December, and the first parliament was elected on 14 December. The constitution was finished on 2 January 2021.
The Kingdom has a small, mainly agriculture-based economy with a few gardens that produce cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, and other cash crops. It also has a small service-based economic sector that mows lawns and shovels snow for residents. The government does not instate taxes, and its budget is funded entirely with donations. Government spending averages 13–15 dollars a month but can be higher depending on the budget parliament sets.[1]
The Kingdom scores mediocrely on most micronation scales. It scores a 3.7 on Daniel's Scale of Micronational Seriousness, a 1.7 on Categoric-Gradial System of Classification, 6 on the MRI (Micronational Rating Index), and a 3.6 on David's Micronational Potential Index. The Kingdom holds a mostly isolationist policy that has been fading away. It currently only recognizes a few other nations but is an observer in the Grand Unified Micronational.
History
Foundation
The Kingdom of Hawthorne is the successor of two colonies founded by David Hawthorne, named Bocker and Hocker. Bocker belonged to the Republic of Yu-Xia and was founded on 3 August 2020, and Hocker belonged to the Grand Kingdom of Matachewan and was founded around 30 July. David Hawthorne eventually notified both leaders that he was starting the Kingdom of Hawthorne and needed the land, so he would thus be dissolving both colonies. Bocker dissolved on 25 November, and Hocker officially dissolved on 2 December. The Kingdom of Hawthorne was founded on 3 December 2020 by David Hawthorne after he had released a declaration of Independence from America and made it public. It was founded as a constitutional monarchy because David Hawthorne had analyzed what he believed to be the most successful micronations, and thought most of them were constitutional monarchies. He also thought constitutional monarchies come with more stability and would last longer.
Constitutional convention
The first constitutional convention was held on 4 December 2020 with the constitution being inspired by Matachewan's constitution. The main author of the constitution was David Hawthorne with him taking a lot of advice from Tau. The deadline set for the constitution to be finished was 1 January 2021. The constitution would make for a constitutional monarchy by giving the King the majority of the power along with creating a parliament that would handle the legislative issues and a court that would handle judiciary issues. Since it was decided, that Hawthorne was going to be a constitutional monarchy. David also decided that they must give strong rights to citizens to keep them from being oppressed.
This is the format that was used:
- Preamble
- Section I: The Monarchy
- Section II: The Royal Parliament
- Section III: The Royal Court
- Section IV: The Prime Minister
- Section V: Emergency powers
- Section VI: Administrative Divisions
- Section VII: Rights of Citizens
- Section VIII: Nobility
The constitution ended up being fully written on 2 January 2021 only a day after the original goal.
First elections
David Hawthorne announced on 8 December 2020 that the first parliament elections would take place on 14 December 2020. He also announced that there would be six seats open for election. Soon after he announced citizens began to announce their candidacy; however, only six citizens announced their candidacy for parliament. On 14 December 2020, every candidate who ran was given a seat. The party that gained the most seats was the Patriotic Front for Burdettian Unity, gaining two. The Fatherland Movement, Freedom Alliance, and Royalist Front all gained a single seat, with the final seat given to an independent who was not affiliated with any party but supported the military. The winners of the election are:
- David Augustus
- Nathan Jiang
- Frau May
- Moustapha Hoteit
- Addison Dillon
- Alojzije Franjević
Following the 1st Royal Parliament elections, sign-ups opened for the speaker of parliament on 16 December 2020 and gave members of parliament 24 hours to announce their candidacy. In those 24 hours, three members of parliament announced they would be running. Voting began on 17 December 2020 at 1:27 PM CST and ended at 2:00 PM CST once every member of parliament had voted. May won the election with 4 votes beating Addison Dillon's 2 votes.
The candidates were the following:
- May Cambridge
- David Augustus
- Addison Dillon
This parliament mostly acted as an advisory council until the constitution was ratified. That constitution gave parliament official powers.
A few months after the parliament and speaker of parliament elections the Prime Minister was elected sign-ups for the Prime Minister election began. Two locals announced candidacy for Prime Minister. The election was later held on 12 January 2021. James Heim was elected with 75% of the vote, the other 25% went to James Hawthorne. The election had a local turnout of 66 percent.
Geography
The land of Hawthorne is comprised of two parks and two houses, spanning a total area of 23.305 acres of land. It is landlocked within the U.S. Most of the land is urban, and the majority of the land that is used for farming tends to be in the backyard of the King's residence. Most of the land tends to be flat except for the hills at the parks. The most prominent border is the entrance to the King's residence that is protected by a gate and a locked door. Conversely, the parks maintain open borders which anyone may access, as they are treated as beneficial for the health of the population, and construction in these parks is fully prohibited.
Climate
The Kingdom experiences a hot-summer humid continental climate (Dfa in the Köppen climate classification),[2] and has cold, snowy winters. Precipitation is uncommon in the summer. The hottest average temperatures reach 28 °C (82 °F) in July, and the coldest averages reach as low as -4 °C (25 °F) in January. Tornadoes are also possible in Hawthorne from March–November, with the peak tornado month being June. Usually, tornadoes are rated F2 or lower on the Fujita scale, however approximately every 25 years an F5 tornado occurs.
| Climate data for Kingdom of Hawthorne | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | -4 (25) |
-2 (28) |
5 (41) |
13 (55) |
21 (70) |
26 (79) |
28 (82) |
27 (81) |
23 (73) |
15 (59) |
6 (43) |
-2 (28) |
13 (55) |
| Average low °C (°F) | -14 (7) |
-12 (10) |
-5 (23) |
2 (36) |
9 (48) |
14 (57) |
17 (63) |
16 (61) |
11 (52) |
4 (39) |
-3 (27) |
-11 (12) |
2.333 (36.199) |
| Average Precipitation mm (inches) | 21 (0.83) |
21 (0.83) |
46 (1.81) |
60 (2.36) |
88 (3.46) |
108 (4.25) |
101 (3.98) |
101 (3.98) |
76 (2.99) |
53 (2.09) |
38 (1.5) |
26 (1.02) |
739 (29.09) |
| [citation needed] | |||||||||||||
Government and politics
Political parties
Political parties in the Kingdom of Hawthorne range from center-left to right-wing, with a wide array of ideologies being adopted. The most common are monarchism, capitalism, and social democracy. In total, there are six parties, all of which hold seats in parliament.
| Name | Ideology | Political compass | Chairperson | Membership | Seats in parliament |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fatherland movement | Guild distributism, religious traditionalism, monarchism | Auth center-right | Alojzije Franjević | 1 | 1 / 6
|
| Freedom Alliance | Classic liberalism, social democracy, national-progressivism, and populism. | Center to center-right | Andre Carneiro | 2 | 1 / 6
|
| Royalist Front | Monarchism in any form, loyalism to HM the King, moderate social policies, social democracy to conservative economically | Center | David Augustus | 1 | 1 / 6
|
| Patriotic Front for Burdettian Unity | Corporate Fascism, cultural fascism, radical Augustusism | Tippity top of the auth and slightly left | Mustapha Hotiet | 2 | 1 / 6
|
| Social Democrat Party | Socialism | Center-Left | Sander Koff | 1 | 1 / 6
|
| Independent | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 2 / 6
|
Government
The Monarch of Hawthorne is known as King if male and Queen if female. The position is hereditary. The Monarch is the most person in the nation and has significant powers that may be exercised through Royal Edicts, one of the more common pieces of legislation in the nation. In addition to this, the monarch occupies several other powers such as acting as the leader of the Hawthorne armed forces and the power to veto legislation among other powers. The incumbent monarch is David Hawthorne, who has been the only Monarch of Hawthorne with him being the founder. He is attributed for early development.
The royal parliament is the unicameral legislature of Hawthorne. It consists of seven elected citizens, with six being elected in the parliamentary elections and the other being the seat of the Prime Minister. They are elected through the single transferable vote. Parliament can pass acts and laws with a simple majority that can be vetoed by the Monarch, however, the Monarch's veto may be overturned with a 2/3 majority. Parliament may also pass amendments to the constitution with a 2/3 majority along with the power to impeach officials with a 2/3 majority. Every position aside from the Monarch may be impeached. Parliament can verify judges nominated by the Minister of Justice with a simple majority.
The Executive Branch in Hawthorne is headed by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is an elected position that only residential citizens elect. Currently, the incumbent Prime Minister is James Heim. Unlike parliamentary republics, the Prime Minister is not accountable to the royal parliament, but the Prime Minister has a seat in the Royal Parliament to represent its views to the Royal Parliament. The Prime Minister can also veto but, their veto holds less weight than the Monarch's veto and may be overturned with just a 3/5 majority from parliament. The Prime Minister can also issue government orders and helps the Monarch choose the Cabinet.
Law and order
The Kingdom of Hawthorne has one court which is headed by a single judge. The judge and is nominated by the Minister of Justice and confirmed by the royal parliament. Given that there is a lack of legal issues and disputes, the courts primarily verify every law passed by parliament and interpret the constitution when disputes arise. Hawthorne categorizes cases into three separate categories:
- Misdemeanours: Minor offenses that do not require a Jury, they require only a judge to make a ruling. (Ex. Theft of less than $10, assault.)
- Triable: A low-level offense that still warrants a jury. (Ex. Theft of over $50, assault causing bodily harm, violation of funding.)
- Indictable: An extremely high-profile case that could result in major consequences and warrants a jury. (Ex. Treason, electoral fraud.)
It is the judge's responsibility to categorize the cases that arise. If faith in the judge is lost or it is believed the judge is abusing any power, a vote of no confidence may be held where if 50% of the royal parliament do not support the judge they will be removed.
Foreign relations
The Kingdom holds a mostly isolationist policy that has been fading away. It currently only recognizes a few other nations but is an observer in the Grand Unified Micronational. It has also ratified several conventions including the Sough Convention on Global Climate Change of 2020 Volume II, Wrythe Convention, and the Edgbaston Convention.
| Name | Logo | StatusItalic text | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Unified Micronational[3] | .svg){kind=small}
|
Observer State | 11 February 2021(as Observer) | Was rejected twice and accepted the third time. |
| Flag | Name | Date treaty was signed | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
.svg)
|
Rednecks Republic | 11 February 2021 | Treaty of Mutual Cooperation |
|
Monmarkian Empire | 11 February 2021 | Treaty of Mutual Recognition |
Economy
The Kingdom of Hawthorne has a small market-based economy mostly providing services to Americans, such as mowing lawns and shoveling snow. It also has an agriculture sector that is mainly composed of the garden in David Hawthorne's backyard where cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and other cash crops are grown and then sold in exchange for the American dollar–the de facto currency of the Kingdom– which massively contributes to the Kingdom's economy. The government does not instate taxes, and its budget is funded entirely with donations. Government spending averages $13–15 USD a month but can be higher depending on the budget parliament sets.
Culture
| Citizens | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 2020 | 17 | — |
| 2021 | 26 | +52.9% |
| Information taken from every year | ||
Holidays
The Kingdom of Hawthorne observes several holidays, including religious holidays like Christmas, and national holidays like Burdettian Independence Day. On certain holidays the government takes a temporary break and parliament adjourns. These holidays include:
- Christmas
- Easter
- Thanksgiving
- Independence Day
Citizens tend to be religious on the local level. Many citizens go to church on Easter and Christmas Eve which is the main reason the government is shut down during these holidays.
| Name | Date |
|---|---|
| Easter | Varies[a] |
| April Fools Day | 1 April |
| King David's Birthday | 31 April |
| Fathers Day | 3rd Sunday of June |
| Halloween | 31 October |
| Armistice Day | 11 November |
| Thanksgiving | 4th Thursday of November |
| Independence Day | 3 December |
| Christmas | 25 December |
| New Years Eve | 31 December |
| Source:[4] | |
Vexillology and heraldry
Graphic design symbols in the Kingdom of Hawthorne usually contain red and white. Hawthorne has a small selection of vexillology and heraldry but it is growing substantially as time goes on. Most symbols are made by non-citizens of Hawthorne like the Lower and Upper coat of arms of the Kingdom of Hawthorne which was designed by Ivan Brienovic who was paid an unspecified amount.
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Big Iron Cities flag
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Greater Coat of Arms
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Lesser Coat of Arms
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Flag Icon
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National Flag of Hawthorne
Media
Journalism in the Kingdom of Hawthorne is small and there is only one news source. The only news source is The Hawthorne Times which covers most major events in the Kingdom of Hawthorne. Some of the things they cover include the first parliament elections and the Hawthorne getting into the Grand Unified Micronational. The news source is run by the King but it holds no political bias and is not associated with any political party.
The Kingdom of Hawthorne has an email, Twitter, and a Discord server. The Kingdom of Hawthorne has the biggest social media presence on Discord with over 30 members. The email is not public and is simply used for sites the Kingdom uses like Patreon. The Kingdom of Hawthorne Twitter account is usually inactive.
Notes
References
- ↑ Temporary Finance Act Retrieved 24 January 2020
- ↑ Peel, M. C.; Finlayson, B. L.; McMahon, T. A. (October 2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification". Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. 11 (5): 1633–1644.
- ↑ Kingdom of Hawthorne gets accepted into GUM as a Observer Retrieved 11 February 2021
- ↑ Hawthorne Holiday Act Retrieved 24 January 2020
| Government | |
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| Notable Hawthornians | |
| Elections | |
| Culture, Art and Companies | |
