17. A separatist rebellion in the aftermath of the Meiji Restoration, the quickly stifled Republic of Ezo was the first democratic enterprise in the history of Japan
Following the defeat of the Tokugawa shogunate in the Boshin War in 1869, bringing about the Meiji Restoration of Japan, Admiral Enomoto Takeaki fled to the northern island of Ezo (modern-day Hokkaido) with several thousand soldiers. Petitioning the Imperial Court to permit the largely uninhabited Ezo to remain in isolation, governed according to the traditions of the samurai, after being denied Enomoto proclaimed the Republic of Ezo on January 27, 1869. Modeling its government on the United States, following the first elections ever held in Japan and using universal suffrage, Enomoto was elected as the new nation’s first president.
Fortifying the island’s defenses in anticipation of a military response by the Emperor, in April an imperial fleet carried a force of seven thousand to the rebellious island. Defeating the republican forces at the Battle of Hakodate, the fortress of Goryōkaku was quickly besieged. Forced to surrender on June 26, 1869, Enomoto’s life was spared by his captors out of respect for his martial prowess. Renaming the island to cleanse it of any negative connotations, Enomoto, after serving a brief prison sentence, swore allegiance to the Meiji Government and was offered an official position within the administration as an act of reconciliation.