History of Palmshire
The history of Palmshire concerns the study of the past in the state that has undergone changes, first being a mere colony to republic to a de-facto kingdom with a constitutional monarchy.
Pre-statehood 1999-2004
Palmshire first came into existence in December 1999 as a former colony called Peace Colony initially ruled by a trading company called Circle of Peace, organized by Legion and Legolas (now known as griffinpage). Peace Colony was already predated by founding of few settlements located within it, including the town of Peaceful Valley in 30 April which was originally its capital upon its founding, shortly later superseded by Peaceville established on 10 December. Legion was the Governor of the colony and later established several smaller settlements. In 2000, city originally founded as Wintertown and later renamed Rockford was established and soon made the capital of the colony until its very end.
Statehood and Republic 2004-2010
Peace Colony became a state known as Commonwealth of Palmshire in its own right on 4 July 2004 with its own government independent of the Circle of Peace that had previously ruled the former colony. With its capital once again in Rockford, Legion became its Prime Minister that day. Beginning in 2009, government begins to expand with first appointment of Deputy Prime Minister in the person of GC and established a bureaucracy including appointment at least three ambassadors and a consul as well a secretary of state.
Glorious Revolution
On 1 September 2010, Prime Minister Legion immediately decided that the government has expanded beyond its mean and embarked on shakeup via what was seen as an illegal and unconstitutional coup to be known as Glorious Revolution. The Constitution was rendered void, although Prime Minister pledged to guarantee liberties enumerated in the document, and the Senate was effectively abolished along with many offices as well consolidation of ambassadorships into single ambassador. Only the office of Deputy Prime Minister escaped the coup unchanged. Riots immediately broke out in Rockford following the coup with the city under virtual siege from the rebels and its early 19th-century cannons, which was quickly quelled and quashed.
Following the Glorious Revolution, the American style system of government was abandoned and authoritarian rule was established in Palmshire temporarily until November that year when the British style system of government was loosely adopted with some difference.
Post-Glorious Revolution
On 4 November 2010, the Parliament with House of Lords as its sole house was constituted. Prior to that, Peerage of Palmshire already came into existence on 1 September 2010 with GC created the Duke of Cypress Hollow and griffinpage created the Duke of Stirling. On the day House of Lords was constituted, Prime Minister was created the Duke of Rockford, Bach Zhaa the Viscount Metaville, and Sidris the Duchess of Lexington. The Parliament first sat on 13 November.
It was during first sitting of Parliament that opposing political parties begin to form, with conservative Tories and liberal Whigs, respectively led by the Duke of Rockford and the Duke of Cypress Hollow. Other political parties later followed, such as Toupée and Communist parties.
During this period between November 2010 and 22 January 2011, various changes took place. Palmshire Army was formally established and House of Lords begin to expand slowly with peerage creations, with two new members appointed since 4 November. A communist rebellion was also bloodily suppressed in city of Palm Hollow during this period.
Parliament was adjourned on 11 December for recess until March but work on reforms continued during this period. On 1 January 2011, the Duke of Rockford announced his retirement as the Prime Minister on 22 January, bringing end to his nearly seven years in that office. On 9 January, the Duke of Cypress Hollow was announced as his successor in office.
Constitutional monarchy 2011
Cypress Hollow era
On 22 January, the Legion I acceded as the first monarch of Palmshire (the head of state) while the Duke of Cypress Hollow became the Prime Minister (head of government). On 8 March, offices of Home and Foreign Secretaries were created to administer domestic and foreign affairs respectively. Consolidation continues with abolishing of former office of Deputy Prime Minister and Palmshire Ambassador-at-large. Small assortment of other offices were created as necessary. However, the new Whig-led ministry led by the Duke of Cypress Hollow is a minority government and was forced to bring in Tories and independents to fill positions and was only able to hang on to their power due to retaining confidence of the crown, although that was beginning to weaken as the Prime Minister and the King, known to favor Tories, soon came into conflict.
On 4 February, riots broke out again in Rockford for several days before Legion I finally ordered troops to open fire on rioters after they refused to disperses as ordered.
As the recess continues, peerage creation rate begins to pick up, as the Duke of Cypress Hollow has taken liberty in advising the King Legion I to create peerages for various people. By the time the Parliament resumes at the end of recess on March 20, the House of Lords now boasts fourteen peers. Six peers were created in a period between the day Cypress Hollow took office as the prime minister and the day the Opening of Parliament took place alone. Since then, the peerage creation rate has remarkably slowed down. Only three peers were created in Peerage of Palmshire since then up to 13 May 2011.
During this period, with new peers, Tories has begun to outnumber the Whigs but were in minority because more than half of the Parliament considered themselves independent.
At the opening session of the Parliament on 20 March, budget proposed by the Duke of Cypress Hollow's ministry were defeated by margin of one vote. The Duke was supposed to resign, as the convention requires in case of defeat on a motion of confidence which the budget bill was, but he refused to do so, precipitating a constitutional crisis that lasted about a week. Finally, the King took the extraordinary step on 28 March to dismiss him and his administration from office. Cypress Hollow returned to the Opposition and became its Leader. King then reappointed all former members of the Cypress administration with Lord Metaville as the caretaker Prime Minister that day.
Rochester era
On 5 April, a balloting for new Prime Minister took place in Parliament, with the Duchess of Rochester defeating Lord Dublin in bitterly contested election. The King then subsequently appointed Rochester that same day as the Prime Minister, making her first female to take the office in Palmshire.
However, her early days in office was faced with a civil war, provoked by secession by Lord Dublin and subsequent declaration of war. The war was relatively bloodless but expensive. The civil war was finally ended by an armistice signed between the Government and Lord Dublin. Near the end of war, the Parliament passed the 4.5 billion dollar budget, the largest budget passed on record in Palmshire history, proposed by Rochester ministry. This passage secured the power of Rochester ministry but has made it even more unpopular among commoners due to resulting tax hikes. However, Rochester was able to retain confidence of the Parliament and the crown to stay in office despite the popular mood.