The outpouring of support California had received from the nations of North America had started a new ideology: one of "North American Brotherhood". In the east, the United States and Confederate States had stopped seeing each other as enemies, and had started seeing each other more as brothers who had simply taken different routes in life. The Confederacy had slowly phased out slavery in the 1880s, improving its perception abroad. Under President Roosevelt in the USA, and President Simmons in the CSA, relations had normalized to the point that the two had opened formal embassies in each other's capitals. Even Cascadia and Canada had started growing closer to the two American nations than they were to the United Kingdom. In 1907, as one of his last major acts as President before the election, President Stanford signed the "Trans-America Pact" with the USA and CSA, which created a "bond of goodwill and brotherhood" between the three nations. While it was largely symbolic, the three nations did share quite a few interests. All three were determined to remain divorced from European affairs, all three were Anglo-American in heritage but increasingly diverse, and all three wanted to pursue closer relations with the others.
The election of 1908 was an odd one. While Stanford had given the Bear Flag Party a new lease on life with his management of the Quake of 1906, their candidate, former Senator Abel Carvell, was something of a buffoon. He seemed to forget many of the important issues of the day, and constantly used several malapropisms, such as referring to the California Grizzly as the "Mighty Beaver of the Sierras". By contrast, the Progressive candidate had finally captured the minds of the people who had voted Progressive to start with. The former Governor-Mayor of San Francisco during the Quake, Hiram Johnson had established himself as a man thoroughly committed to social issues. It was under his watch during the reconstruction of San Francisco that the Chinatown was desegregated from the rest of the city, and the barrios were deprived of their legal existence. Quickly, Johnson received a massive base of support, attracting Progressive voters back to the banners of their party, and leading to a major victory in the election, bringing Johnson to be the 14th President of California.
In 1909, the first major challenge to the Celestial Laws came in the form of Johnson v. California Republic, a court case brought before the Supreme Court that was essentially the President suing the nation he was in control of over a legal suit. And it had a great effect. Through a thorough investigation, it was shown that the "separate but equal" doctrine was in no way being applied, and therefore the segregation was unconstitutional. With this court case, two separate birds were killed with one stone: not only was the segregation of the Celestial Laws rendered null, but Separacíon was also obliterated. This court case was quickly called one of the most landmark legal events in Californian history, if not the whole history of North America. The effect was immediate: President Johnson signed the Equal Protection Act, which afforded full rights to vote for every single citizen of California. And what was even more remarkable was the EPA itself: when it stressed every single citizen, it meant every single citizen. When it was enacted in 1910, California became one of the few nations in the world to have officially given women the right to vote.
At home, the new protections were met with mixed reactions. Among the more progressive citizens, it was celebrated, with many stating that "California is now truly equal". However, there was also a darker side to this. The reactionary elements of California were quick to form lynch mobs that targeted the minorities of California: Chinese-Californians, Afro-Californians, and Hispanic-Californians. Under Johnson's administration, however, special squads were formed to round up these people, and bring them to justice. Regardless of these efforts, more than 700 men, women, and children were killed by vigilante justice from 1910 to 1930.
In 1912, California's economy was on the rise. The San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys were becoming the most prosperous agricultural region in all of North America, and possibly even the world. The railroad links to the east, when combined with the advent of refrigerated train cars, allowed large agricultural companies to ship their produce to the United States and the Confederate States, leading to massive influxes of money to the republic. The country had become known as "the world's cornucopia". It was also a shipping hub, with the city of San Francisco serving as the main port of entry for all of western North America. Under the Johnson Administration, the state subsidies to the economy were spurring a new wave of investment, growing industries such as steel production, shipbuilding, and lumber. Mining was also booming, with fresh veins of gold and silver being discovered in the interior, bringing new wealth to the state of Plata.
With California's economy prospering, along with that of the whole of North America, the outbreak of "The Great War" in Europe had almost no effect. Nations like the United States and the Confederacy also weren't too concerned, and they were far closer to Europe. California, being on the opposite side of a continent from the conflict that had begun burning Europe to cinders, was even further removed from the chaos. The most that was happening was sporadic outbreaks of violence between German immigrants and British and French immigrants. The election of 1914 was a quiet affair, with Vice-President Thomas Bartley running for and successful securing the Presidency for the Progressive Party against the Bear Flag Party nominee, Senator Ernest Malcolm. Bartley campaigned on a platform of "Peace in California", stating that the conflict in Europe was the problem of Europe alone. And indeed, that was the prevailing mood across most of North America. Only Cascadia and Canada were involved in the war, and that was by being part of the British Empire. Peace would continue to prevail across the continent until the following year.