The independent Japanese "Republic of Ezo" is proclaimed on January 27, 1869 (New Style), with a government organization based on that of the United States, with Admiral Enomoto Takeaki elected as its first president (sosai).

Elections are based on universal suffrage among the samurai class.

This is the first election ever held in Japan, where a feudal structure under an Emperor with military warlords is the norm.

Through Hakodate Magistrate Nagai Naoyuki, attempts are made to reach out to foreign legations present in Hakodate to obtain international diplomatic recognition.

The treasury includes one hundred and eighty thousand gold ryō coins Enomoto had retrieved from Osaka Castle following Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu's precipitous departure after the Battle of Toba–Fushimi in early 1868.

After the defeat of the forces of the Tokugawa shogunate in the Boshin War (1869) of the Meiji Restoration, a part of the former shōgun's navy led by Enomoto had fled to the northern island of Ezo (now known as Hokkaido), together with several thousand soldiers and a handful of French military advisers and their leader, Jules Brunet.

Enomoto makes a last effort to petition the Imperial Court to be allowed to develop Hokkaido and maintain the traditions of the samurai unmolested, but his request is denied.