View source for The Cascadian "New Birth of Freedom" Speech

The '''Cascadian "New Birth of Freedom" speech''' was a speech given by founder of [[Cascadia]] on Terra Aurora [[Sayerleft]] at the Farewell to Cascadia event on March 22, 2026, several weeks prior to the end of Terra Aurora and the release of Terra Nostra. It is notable for articulating a retrospective on the Republic of Cascadia and the democratic experiment on EarthMC, and arguing the need for further cooperation between post-Cascadian states on Terra Nostra. The speech also paraphrased Abraham Lincoln's "New Birth of Freedom" speech delivered in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1863 amidst the American Civil War.

== Text ==
Cascadia was not expected. The speculators and the planners and the early settlers of Terra Aurora did not anticipate Cascadia. Sure, a group of 3 or 4 people from the Evergreen Republic on Terra Nova went and settled Seattle on Day 1, with a plan to create a city-state that would be a hub for commerce in the region. But no one expected Cascadia, neither the Cascadians of Nova, nor the future Cascadians themselves.

Today, we stand at a a crossroads, where expectation and anticipation fuels discourse on this sunsetting world. The settlers of Terra Nostra have planned and speculated. But know that nothing is assured, and the work of those before you are not drawbacks or vestiges of old to be rejected and remade, but templates and groundworks for a better tomorrow.

Cascadia was founded as a last ditch resort to salvage the Northwest from the autocracy and stagnation of the Oregonian empire. The Pacific Northwest on EarthMC on both Terra Nova and Aurora has a deeply rich history, dating back eight years and more. It is in the Pacific Northwest where democracy first rose on EMC. It is where the first democratic practices and traditions were developed. It is where this server’s first legislative institutions, elections, backroom deals took place. The Northwest is the cradle of what we now take for granted as democracy on EMC.

I joined the server at a time to see this early democracy in crisis. The Cascadian nation on Nova was quickly heading towards civil war, with a barely existing judiciary, corrupt and powerful administrators deleting votes in the Senate, cabinets filled with all one town, and provincial governors calling for secession. It was at this time I was reached out to by a man named Vorobyevite, who, along with others loyal to the ideal of democratic rule, split to found a new nation based on liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

This ideal was not immediately realized. Corruption persisted in both nations. Democratic backsliding occurred leading to a year-long strongman regime in our Salish experiment and a revolving door of provinces in the federal Cascadia. Near the end of Terra Nova, both nations were not strong. They were full of history and intrigue, but they were not forces to be reckoned with. They were weak, feeble, and barely active, and had to merge together in the final months for any semblance of community. While the democratic experiment was united, it was by no means able to face the announced reset and launch of Terra Aurora, with its residents, mayors, governors, and senators, all splitting off to their own nations, many abandoning the idea of democracy altogether. Talking to you Wishful.

I’ve evolved just like EMC democracy has and nothing has provided more to that than Cascadia has. I’ve learned so much, met so many great people, and am  so incredibly grateful to have been able to be be not just a part of Cascadia but a formative player in its creation, growth, maintenance, and success. As someone who’s been in the PNW for 6.5 years on EMC, and as a PNW native who recently has become stranded thousands of miles away from home, it’s even more personal for me. Cascadia has meant a lot for me, and I’m so glad I was able to share it with all of y’all throughout this amazing nation’s history over the last 4 years.

Cascadia has had ups and downs. But more importantly, it was able to create something never seen before in the history of geopolitical towny Minecraft, and likely that will not exist again. And while people are already looking forward to their next towns or nations that they intend to settle or form, often thinking of how they wish to differentiate themselves from what existed on Terra Aurora, do not forget that the lessons learned from Cascadia are not lessons of failure. Cascadia was a success beyond any possible dream. Cascadia is to be emulated, not to be ran away from. Unity in shared spirit, shared motivation, and shared commitment to democracy, community, and preservation of a storied history. These aren’t just goals but necessities for this new start, not for formal agreements or organizations (which I know some of y'all have been traumatized by), but to continue shared friendship, trust, fraternity, economic assistance, and values. The server will little note, nor long remember what we say here today, but it can never forget what the people who made this nation were able to do. It is the duty of us here today, to be dedicated  to the unfinished work which those who came before us have thus far so nobly advanced. It is thus that we here highly resolve that the people who came before us, that joined, played, and left; that spent hours, days, and weeks toiling for our roads, builds, towns, laws, culture, community, and democracy; shall not have done so in vain that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that nations of the people, ruled by the people, and made for the people, shall not perish from this server.