Kingdom of Burdette

The **Kingdom of Burdette**, more commonly known as **Burdette,** is a self-declared, sovereign state usually referred to as a micronation, located in the state of Minnesota. Its land claims add up to 23.305 acres of land, primarily composed of parks and the house of the king. It has 6 local citizens and 10 global citizens with a small online presence and a primarily local presence. The Kingdom's form of government is a constitutional monarchy with a King, Prime Minister, a Royal Court, and a Royal Parliament. The current and only monarch has been Isaiah Burdette since it's founding on 3 December 2020.

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 of Minnesota. The government does not instate taxes and its budget is funded entirely with donations. Government spending usually is about 13-15 dollars a month but can get higher depending on the budget parliament sets.

The Kingdom scores mediocrely on most micronation scales. They got a 3.7 on Roscoe's Scale of Micronational Seriousness, they score a 1.7 on Categoric-Gradial System of Classification, they score 6 points on the MRI(Micronational Rating Index), and they score a 3.6 on David's Micronational Potential Index. The nation also is isolationist and recognizes no other nations nor does it participate in any intermicronational organizations.

## Etymology

"Burdette" has a French origin, meaning "small bird". It consists of 2 syllables and 8 letters, and it has no variant spelling. The name was most popular in 1992 with 74 occurrences of a child being named Burdette.

The name Burdette is the last name of the first monarch, Isaiah Burdette. The last name originated as a name the Normans brought with them when they conquered Europe. The Burdette family lived in Leicestershire, the surname is a reference to the family's former district of Bordet, Normandy, where they held a family seat as the Lords of Cuilly.

The Burdette name got to the USA when many English families began to leave to the New World in search of land and freedom from religious and political persecution. Passage on the ships was dangerous so many did not make it, these English families who did make it helped develop early Canada and the United States.

## History

### Founding

The Kingdom of Burdette was founded on 3 December 2020 by Isaiah Burdette after he released the declaration of Independence and made it public. It was founded as a constitutional monarchy because Isaiah Burdette had analyzed the most successful micronations and thought most of them were constitutional monarchies. He also thought constitutional monarchies come with more stability and 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 Isaiah Burdette with him taking a lot of advice from Tau. The deadline set for the constitution to be finished was 1 January 2020. 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 Burdette was going to be a constitutional monarchy Isaiah 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 2020 only a day after the original goal.

### First Parliament Election

Isaiah Burdette announced on 8 December 2020 that the first parliament elections would take place on 14 December 2020. He also announced that there would be 6 seats open. Soon after he announced this citizens began to announce their candidacy. However, only 6 citizens announced their candidacy for parliament. When 14 December 2020 rolled around every candidate who ran was given a seat.

The party that gained the most seats was the Patriotic Front for Burdettian Unity which gained a total of 2 seats. The Fatherland Movement, Freedom Alliance, and Royalist Front all gained one seat. The final seat was given to an independent who was not affiliated with any party but supported the military. The 6 candidates who got seats are the following

* David Augustus
* Nathan Jiang
* Frau May
* Moustapha Hoteit
* Addison Dillon
* Alojzije Franjević

Isaiah Burdette said that this parliament would mostly act as an advisory council until he finished writing the constitution that would give parliament codified powers and have checks and balances.

#### 1st Speaker of Parliament Elections[edit]

Following the 1st Royal Parliament elections, Isaiah Burdette opened sign-ups for the speaker of parliament on 16 December 2020 and gave members of parliament 24 hours to announce a candidacy. In that 24 hours time period 3 members of parliament announced their candidacy. Voting began on 17 December 2020 at 1:27 PM CST and ended at 2:00 PM CST when every member of parliament voted. May won the election with a 4-2 majority.

The candidates are the following

* May
* David Augustus
* Addison Dillon

This is how every member of parliament voted

* David Augustus voted for Addison Dillon
* Addison Dillon voted for Addison Dillon
* Moustapha Hoteit voted for May
* Nathan Jiang voted for May
* Alojzije Franjević voted for May

## Geography

The total land claimed adds up to about 23.305 acres it consists of 4 pieces of land located in Minnesota that is comprised of 2 houses and 2 parks. Most of the land in Burdette is urban and most of the land that is used for farming tends to be in the backyard of the king's house. Most of the land tends to be flat except for the hills at the parks that the Kingdom of Burdette claims.

### Borders

The Kingdom of Burdette has several borders with Minnesota the most notable one is the entrance to the king's house that is protected in the back of the house by a gate and in the front of the house with a locked door. The parks Burdette claims are open borders and anyone can access them. They are set aside not to be built on by the Kingdom of Burdette so they are treated as space for all to use and benefit from.

## Government and politics

### Government

The monarch of Burdette is known as King if male and Queen if female. The position is hereditary. The Monarch has significant powers that can 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 like the main leader of the Burdette armed forces and can veto legislation among other powers. The monarch is given the most power and influence out of every other position. So far Isaiah Burdette has been the only Monarch of Burdette with him being the founder and is attributed for early development.

The Royal Parliament is the unicameral legislature of Burdette. The house consists of 7 elected citizens, with 6 being elected in the parliamentary elections and the other being the Prime Ministers' seat they are elected through the single transferable vote. Parliament can pass acts and laws with a simple majority that can be vetoed by the King, if the King vetoes an act there veto can be overturned with a 2/3 majority. Parliament can also amend the constitution with a 2/3 majority along with the power to impeach officials with a 2/3 majority. The only exception to this rule is that the King may not be impeached. Parliament can verify judges nominated by the Minister of Justice with a simple majority.

The Executive Branch in Burdette is headed by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is an elected position that only residential citizens elect. It is currently a vacant position due to the lack of age of Burdette, but the King is quoted to say he will find a local to fill it at the end of December. 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.

### Law and order

The Kingdom of Burdette has one court which is headed by a judge. There is only one judge and it is nominated by the Minister of Justice and confirmed by the Royal Parliament. There is a lack of legal problems and disputes so the courts primarily verify every law passed by parliament is constitutional and interpret the constitution when disputes arise. Burdette categorizes cases into 3 separate categories

* Misdemeanors: Minor offenses that do not require a Jury, they require only a judge to make a ruling. (Ex. theft of less than 10$, assault, etc.)
* Triable: A low-level offense that still warrants a jury. (Ex. Theft of over 50$, assault causing bodily harm, violation of funding, etc.)
* Indictable: An extremely high profile case that could result in major consequences and warrants a jury. (Ex. Treason, election fraud, etc.)

It is the judge's responsibility to categorize the cases that arise. If the Judge is found to abuse any power a vote of no confidence may be held where if 50% of the Royal Parliament do not support the judge he will be removed.

### Foreign Relation

The Kingdom of Burdette is in a mostly isolationist state but has ratified several conventions including the Sough Convention on Global Climate Change of 2020 Volume II, Wrythe Convention, and the Edgbaston Convention. They plan to open foreign relations when Burdette attains the age of 6 months, they also plan to apply for the Cupertino Alliance when they hit their 6-month mark.

## Economy

The Kingdom of Burdette has a small market-based economy mostly providing services to Americans, such as mowing lawns and shoveling snow. This could also be considered foreign aid for the macronation, however, Burdette is still yet to be recognized. It also has an agriculture sector that is mainly composed of the garden in Isaiah Burdette's backyard where cucumber, bell peppers, tomatoes, and other cash crops are grown and then sold in exchange for American Dollars, those dollars are then fed to the micronation's economy and such. Seeing as the US Dollar is the Kingdom's currency, it is assumed that they have a stable economy, even if small.