List of U.S. state partition proposals

This is a list of official or otherwise noteworthy proposals for dividing existing US states into multiple states. It does not specifically address statewide or other movements to secede from the United States. The word secession can refer to political separation at different levels of government organization, from city to state to country; this list focuses on secession from (rather than by) U.S. states, particularly to form new U.S. states.

Article IV of the United States Constitution provides for the creation of new states of the Union, requiring that any such creation be approved by the legislature of the affected state(s), as well as the United States Congress.

Since the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, four states have been created from parts of an existing state: Maine (from Massachusetts), West Virginia (from Virginia), Kentucky (also from Virginia), and Vermont (from New York) — though New York's claim to Vermont was weak, as it was asked for its consent and Vermont was essentially an independent republic until 1791. In the case of West Virginia, it formed itself as the legitimate government of Virginia within the Union, then essentially gave itself permission to leave Virginia in order to avoid annexation by the Confederacy.

Many other state secession attempts resulted from internal divisions over the formation of the Confederate States of America. While majorities of states may have voted to secede and join the Confederacy, or remain in the Union, even in those years regional and cultural ties prompted portions of the populations of those states to strongly favor the other side.

Since the creation of West Virginia in 1864, no states have been successfully created from parts of already existing states.^[1]

Contents 1 Alaska 2 Arizona 3 California 4 Colorado 5 Connecticut 6 Delaware 7 Florida 8 Georgia 9 Illinois 10 Kansas 11 Kentucky 12 Maine 13 Maryland 14 Massachusetts 15 Michigan 16 Minnesota 17 Missouri 18 Montana 19 Nebraska 20 Nevada 21 New Hampshire 22 New Jersey 23 New Mexico 24 New York 24.1 New York City 25 North Carolina 26 Ohio 27 Oklahoma 28 Oregon 29 Pennsylvania 30 Rhode Island 31 Texas 32 Utah 33 Vermont 34 Virginia 35 Washington 36 Washington, D.C. 37 West Virginia 38 Wisconsin 39 Confederacy-related proposals 39.1 Alabama 39.2 Arkansas 39.3 Georgia 39.4 Illinois 39.5 Kentucky 39.6 Louisiana 39.7 Mississippi 39.8 Missouri 39.9 New York 39.10 Tennessee 39.11 Virginia 40 See also 41 References 41.1 Notes 41.2 Bibliography

Alaska

• In 1923, some people in the Southeastern Division of the Territory of Alaska, headquartered at Juneau, openly agitated for a complete separation of and statehood for the Southeast.^[2] This was in response to some comments made by President Warren G. Harding on his visit to the region.

Arizona

On February 10, 2011, Tucson politicians and activists representing at least three political parties launched the Facebook page "Start our State", seeking to secede from Arizona.^[3] The idea, first proposed in the 1980s by Hugh Holub, began to gather steam quickly after a front-page article about the movement in the Arizona Daily Star on February 24, 2011.^[4] Around 1986, Holub proposed to separate Arizona at the Gila River (between Phoenix and Tucson, which until the Gadsden Purchase in 1853 also formed part of the Mexico – United States border) following the election of Governor Evan Mecham, who, before being impeached and removed from office, cancelled the state's celebration of Martin Luther King Day. (This led to a widespread economic boycott of Arizona.)

Partition gained new advocates during the governorship (2009– ) of Jan Brewer. The nascent movement, which excoriates Brewer's "open chauvinism,"^[5] appears committed to making Pima County (and possibly surrounding counties, and part of New Mexico) the State of Baja Arizona. Pima County, by itself, is larger in area than both New Jersey and Connecticut, and has a population greater than Vermont and Delaware.^[5]

California

Colorado

• Two counties have, in the past, proposed leaving Colorado and joining with New Mexico: the San Luis Valley in the 1950s, and Costilla County in 1973.
• In the mid-1930s, the Walsenburg World-Independent proposed that Huerfano County secede from the state.^[6][7] This was a pet project of Sam T. Taylor, sports editor, who went on to become a long-serving state senator^[8] where he also unsuccessfully pushed the idea.^[9]

Connecticut

Up until 1786, Connecticut enforced a claim to land in Pennsylvania, extending into the Wyoming Valley, that had been granted to the state in its colonial charter. Connecticut formed one county in this territory called Westmoreland County (distinct from present-day Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania) and encouraged settlement by Connecticuters. Between 1752 and 1782, there were a series of armed conflicts between Pennsylvanians and the Connecticut settlers, until Congress declared the area to be part of Pennsylvania. In response to the ruling in their favor, Pennsylvania annulled the voting and land rights of the Connecticuters and drove them out. In late 1784, the ousted settlers returned in force, overtook Fort Dickinson, and seceded the county from both states as the State of Westmoreland. To avoid civil war, Pennsylvania reversed itself in 1786 and granted Pennsylvania citizenship and property titles to the Connecticuters, and Westmoreland agreed to be subsumed into Pennsylvania as Luzerne County.^[10]

Delaware

Prior to the American Revolution, the three counties of Delaware were known as the Lower Counties on the Delaware River, part of the Province of Pennsylvania but with a separate tax structure and court system. In 1776, after being granted "independence" from Pennsylvania control, Delaware declared independence from Great Britain as an outright state.^[11]

Florida

Politicians in the South Florida metropolitan area have made numerous proposals to split Florida into two states—North Florida and South Florida.^[12] They argue that southern Florida is politically and culturally distinct from northern Florida, and that not enough tax money goes to the Miami area. They also argue that politicians in Tallahassee ignore southern Florida. If South Florida became the 51st state, it would be made up of 4 counties: Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe.

An attempt was made in 2008 to split Florida into North Florida and South Florida, but that proposal failed. However, as recently as 2011 proposals were still being made to split Florida in half,^[1] as in this quote from South Floridians:

"We'd have Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Miami. They'd have Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville. We'd have Donald Trump. They'd have Donald Duck. We'd have the Keys. They'd have the Redneck Riviera. We'd have Big Sugar. They'd have Big Citrus. We'd have the Dolphins and the Hurricanes. They'd have the Gators and the 'Noles. We'd have the Everglades. They'd have Busch Gardens. We'd have casinos. They'd have school prayer. We'd have same-sex marriages. They'd have the defense-of-marriage act."^[1]

Georgia

• Dade County, in the northwest corner, had no roads connecting it to the rest of Georgia until 1939; the only ways to access Dade County were through either Alabama or Tennessee. In the days leading to the Civil War a local politician seceded Dade from the state of Georgia, and thus the Union, rather than wait for Georgia to secede. This created the Independent State of Dade. In 1939, when the state of Georgia purchased land that would become Cloudland Canyon State Park, the State of Dade finally became connected to Georgia. In 1945 the State of Dade passed a resolution "officially" rejoining Georgia and the Union over 80 years after the end of the Civil War. The area is still known today as the State of Dade.^[13]
• In January 2008, columnist Bill Shipp wrote an editorial urging the creation of two Georgian states. This proposal in the article was largely attributed to a severe drought and concerns over infringement of the water rights of citizens in southern Georgia by politicians and officials from the Metro Atlanta area and North Georgia.^[14]

Illinois

• In 1925, Cook County, which contains Chicago, considered seceding from Illinois as a new state named Chicago.^[15] This proposal was revived in November 2011 by State Representatives Bill Mitchell and Adam Brown, who felt that all of Illinois outside of Cook County should become a separate state due to Chicago "dictating its views" to the rest of the state.^[16]
• In 1861, the southern region of Illinois, known as Little Egypt, made a proposal to secede from the rest of Illinois due to cultural and political differences from Chicago and much of Central and Northern Illinois.^[17]
• In the early 1970s residents of Forgottonia in western Illinois protested what they felt was a lack of concern for its needs, sparking a secession proposal.^[18]

Kansas

• In 1992, a group in southwestern Kansas advocated the secession of a number of counties in that region from the state. The group was nominally headed by Don O. Concannon, a lawyer and former gubernatorial candidate from Hugoton. Various media reports indicated as few as five or as many as two dozen counties were involved in the movement. The state was to be called "West Kansas", and early meetings included proposals for official state bird (the pheasant) and state flower (the yucca). The proposal stemmed from state laws raising the state property tax and shifting state education funding away from rural school districts and into more urban areas, though the secessionists' call was the fairly generic "Give us equality or set us free." Though organizers arranged for a series of straw polls that demonstrated widespread support for secession in at least nine of the counties, the movement died out by the mid 1990s.^[19][20]

Kentucky

• In 1849, part of Pike County petitioned the state to allow it to join Virginia (which then included West Virginia).
• In the 1950s, Letcher County threatened to secede from the state, demanding better roads in the area.

Maine

Maine was initially part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Politicians of Aroostook County have proposed spinning off the county as a new state since the 1990s. As recently as 2005 the question has been brought up before the state legislature.^[21] Proposed names for this state include Aroostook, Acadia, and North Maine.

Representative Henry Joy submitted legislation March 9, 2010 after seeing a report that a group called Restore: The North Woods submitted a plan to preserve 3,200,000 acres (13,000 km²) of forest in northern Maine. Rep. Joy says environmentalists have a plan to take control of 10 million acres (40,000 km²) in northern Maine and hand it over to the government for preservation, kicking everyone out of their homes and not allowing any further development in the region.

Rep. Joy says Maine needs to be split into two states "so the people of northern Maine can decide their own destiny. They don't like being used as pawns in some giant environmental chess game."

Under Rep. Joy's plan, Maine would include Aroostook, Piscataquis, Somerset, Franklin, Penobscot, and parts of Washington, Hancock and Oxford Counties. The newly created state of Northern Massachusetts would include York, Cumberland, Androscoggin, Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Waldo, Knox and Kennebec Counties.

Maryland

Three times in the Maryland General Assembly legislators have submitted a bill for the 9 Eastern Shore counties of Maryland to secede from the western half of the state and combine with the three counties of the State of Delaware to the northeast and the two Virginia counties to the south to form the state of Delmarva. The most recent was in 1998.^[22][23]

Massachusetts

• Maine, which is not connected to Massachusetts by land, was separated from it as a new state in 1820, as one of the provisions of the Missouri Compromise.
• During the abolitionism era some supporters of William Lloyd Garrison sought the secession of Essex County from the state.^[24]
• In 1977 a Martha's Vineyard Statehood Support Committee existed,^[25] promoting the secession of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket from Massachusetts largely in response to redistricting which associated the islands with Cape Cod. All three areas are known for their status as oceanfront summer resort and vacation communities.

Michigan

• As part of the most geographically divided of the contiguous states, Michigan's Upper Peninsula has a distinct and proud regional identity. A few have called for the Upper Peninsula, along with portions of Wisconsin and Minnesota, to become a new State (possibly named "Superior",^[26] after Lake Superior) or to secede from the United States.
• On several occasions after the Missouri Compromise of 1820 it was proposed that, if certain territories were to enter the Union as slave states, such as Cuba or Kansas, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan would enter the Union as a Free State in order to keep a balance in representatives in the Senate.

Minnesota

• On July 13, 1977, the town of Kinney in northern Minnesota announced its secession in hopes of receiving foreign aid from the U.S. government. The new nation was called the Republic of Kinney. The national news story broke on February 7, 1978. Many in the town still claim its independence.^[27][28]
• There has been intermittent advocacy for the Arrowhead of Minnesota, the three northeast counties of the state adjacent to Lake Superior, to join with northwestern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to form a new state to be named "North Country" or Superior, with Duluth as its capital.

Missouri

• McDonald County declared itself a territory (the McDonald Territory) for a brief period of time in July 1961.
• Southern and central Missouri was often in the proposed state of Ozarkia to include northern and western Arkansas.
• Both northern and eastern Missouri including St. Louis attempted state secession drives in the early 20th century.

Montana

• The geographic, political, and sociological similarities of Western Montana and Northern Idaho have led some to suggest the formation of a "State of Kootenai", a proposed union of the six northernmost counties of Idaho with the six westernmost counties of Montana. The proposed state would have 524,888 residents, a larger population than Wyoming.
• In 1939, a brief state secessionist movement proposed the State of Absaroka to be drawn in portions of Montana, with adjacent areas of Wyoming, Nebraska and parts of North and South Dakota. The craze was reflected in state automobile license plates bearing the name; the only "Miss Absaroka" contest, held in that year; and a minor league baseball team called the Absaroka (Rapid City) Eagles.

Nebraska

In the 1890s residents of the Nebraska Panhandle tired of the state government's refusal to enact water laws (like Wyoming had) to encourage irrigation into the area. Area leaders threatened to secede from Nebraska and join Wyoming, which finally prompted the state to enact the desired laws.^[29]

Nevada

With so much disparity between Las Vegas and Nevada's state capital, Carson City, 450 miles (720 km) away, some have proposed splitting Nevada into two or more states. One proposal has northern Nevada linking with northern California, Southern Nevada splitting away with other regional areas, and eastern Nevada becoming part of Utah.^[30] There has also been talk of the city of Wendover, Utah merging with West Wendover, Nevada to become Wendover, Nevada,^[31][32] due to tax and economic divides.

New Hampshire

New Hampshire's history is dotted with various movements of communities desiring to secede from the state.

• On the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence, the state of New Hampshire hastily enacted a state constitution. Dismayed at the lack of prudence, leaders of Grafton County effectively seceded from the state by refusing to pay state taxes and fees, and attempted to form a new state ("New Connecticut") or merge with Vermont.
• Between 1776 and 1781, numerous communities along the Connecticut River (the border with Vermont), from Lyman to Newport, expressed their stronger ties with the then-independent Republic of Vermont and voted to join it instead. Eventually 36 towns had been accepted by the Republic, but were still claimed by New Hampshire. General George Washington settled the dispute by threatening military action if Vermont did not give up its claim to the towns. In exchange, Vermont was accepted as a U.S. state.
• In the 1830s, a portion of New Hampshire called the Republic of Indian Stream declared its independence in protest at being claimed and taxed by both the United States and British Canada. It maintained its own organized, elected government for three years before being occupied by the New Hampshire Militia.
• In 2001, the communities of Newington and Rye considered seceding from the state in response to the enactment of a uniform statewide property tax.^[33][34][35]

New Jersey

The residents of South Jersey in the counties of Cape May, Cumberland, Salem, Atlantic, Camden, Gloucester, and Burlington have had a long resentment toward North Jersey under the opinion that they are being slighted and ignored by the state government, which is heavily weighted toward North Jersey. As recently as 1980, a non-binding referendum proposing secession from North Jersey was passed by these counties. It was also voted on in Ocean County, but did not pass in Ocean County.

New Mexico

• Between 1970 and 1990, local activists proposed that the southern half of the state become part of Trans-Pecos (West Texas).
• The eastern half of the state, known as Llano Estacado, wanted to join the proposed state of Jefferson/Lincoln (North Texas).

New York

• New York City has had proponents of its independent statehood (and even nationhood) as far back as 1787. It has long been commonly recognized that much of the upstate is of a different world than ultra-urban NYC (NYC itself contains multiple counties and collects its own income tax). Such proposals have been supported from the upstate side as well, as some upstate residents also feel that voters in New York City either ignore their economic woes or use their dominance in state government to enact exploitative legislation that favors New York City to the direct detriment of the upstate counties, such as New York State Thruway tolls, state regulated electric rates, water supply availability, garbage disposal, farm labor regulations, natural gas drilling regulations, ineffective economic development schemes, and laws perceived to be too friendly to public service labor unions, and thus want to split off into their own state as well.
• Long Island residents have discussed becoming a new state, on the grounds that their tax money gets sent to the state, yet the money is not used to fund programs in their counties.^[36] These proposals may include the entire island (Kings, Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk counties) or the two counties (Nassau and Suffolk) that are outside the realm of New York City (with the possible formation of a third, Peconic, from the eastern portion of Suffolk).^{[37][38][39][40][41]}
• In the early 1980s, when Governor Mario Cuomo proposed the creation of a second Temporary Commission to Study the Future of the Adirondacks, several towns in northern Warren County passed resolutions declaring their intention to leave New York for Vermont, since the first Temporary Commission had led to the creation of the Adirondack Park Agency, whose heavy hand in enforcing its restrictive zoning code had been widely resented. After Cuomo backed off, the proposals died.

New York City

In the New York City mayoral election of 1969, writer Norman Mailer ran in the Democratic Party primary on a ticket with columnist Jimmy Breslin, who ran for City Council President. Part of their joint platform was a proposal that New York City should secede from New York State and become the 51st state.^[42][43] At around the same time, a public-affairs series on the local educational TV station, WNET-TV, channel 13, was called The Fifty-First State.^[44]

New York City has existed in its current five-borough configuration since 1898. One of those five, Staten Island, is connected to the rest of the city and state only by one of its four bridges and the Staten Island Ferry. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in its 1989 Board of Estimate of City of New York v. Morris decision that the city's New York City Board of Estimate was a violation of the constitutional principle of one man, one vote, the borough's residents began grumbling about seceding from the city, or even the state, since as the least populous borough their political influence in a more equitable setup would be diminished. Borough residents, a more suburban and middle-class population than the city as a whole, had long felt either ignored or slighted by the rest of the city's population as well. Upon taking office as borough president, former congressman Guy Molinari fired a mock cannon across Upper New York Bay at city government, signalling an intention to secede from the city if the island's concerns were not addressed somehow. So far the island has remained part of the city.

Staten Island's complaints also triggered some talk of secession in Queens, parts of which are demographically similar to those on Staten Island. This, too, has not had any results.

North Carolina

In 1784, the western counties of Greene, Washington, Sullivan, and part of Hawkins county, all of which were then part of the Washington District, North Carolina, voted to secede from the state. They formed the provisional State of Franklin, with Revolutionary War hero John Sevier elected as governor. By 1789, the provisional government had collapsed.

In 1790, the North Carolina state government, tired of the troublesome region, relinquished it to the federal government, creating the Territory South of the River Ohio. Six years later, the territory (including the former counties of Franklin) became the State of Tennessee, with Sevier as governor.^[45][46]

Ohio

In 2005, James B. McCarthy, the county executive of Summit County, which contains Akron, publicly advocated that his county (and the rest of Northeast Ohio) secede as a new state.^[47]

Northeastern Ohio has a history of being distinct from the remainder of the state, once known as "New Connecticut" and claimed as the Connecticut Western Reserve.

Oklahoma

The remote Oklahoma Panhandle has often cited the distant state government for neglect, and support for secession as a new state has been voiced. Alternate proposals have the region merging with Texas, as the closest major city to the area is Amarillo.

Another proposal would merge Texas's Panhandle with the State of Oklahoma, since residents in that area have more in common with neighboring Oklahomans than they do with more distant Dallas, Austin and Houston.

The ongoing state secessionist movement for Eastern Oklahoma with Tulsa as its largest city and possible state capital has resurfaced at times.

A state of Sequoyah separate from the Oklahoma Territory, to consist of the lands of five Native American tribes (the Cherokee Nation, Chickasaw Nation, Choctaw Nation, Creek Nation (or Muskogees), Seminole Nation and Osage County), was proposed but rejected in favor of the state of Oklahoma in 1907.

Oregon

• In 1941 some counties of southwestern Oregon joined counties of Northern California and ceremonially seceded as the State of Jefferson. See also California above.
• In the wake of controversy over the issue of same-sex marriage as well as rifts with the rest of the state over tax laws and the flow of capital funding, the secession of Multnomah County, which contains most of the city of Portland, has been proposed in some local media.
• Some talk has also been made of Eastern Oregon following suit (and perhaps merging) with Eastern Washington were it to secede from its parent state (see Washington below). In both states distinct political, geographic, and cultural divides exist on either side of the Cascade Mountains.^[48] A more formal movement was proposed in 2008.^[49]

Pennsylvania

• In 1787 the residents of the Wyoming Valley attempted to secede from the state as the State of Westmoreland. Before the issue was decided, the state militia was mobilized to put down any attempt to make good on the threat.^[50]
• During the era following the American Revolution, there were proposals to split Western Pennsylvania from the rest of the state to form Westsylvania. Western Pennsylvania retains a distinct identity from the rest of the Commonwealth today, having more in common with Ohio, West Virginia, Western New York, and Western Maryland than the eastern side of the state.

Rhode Island

• In 1790, the urban center of Providence was frustrated with the state government's reluctance to ratify the Constitution and join the United States. In response, Providence threatened to secede and ratify on its own as its own state. The threat finally compelled the state to ratify by a narrow majority under the name of Rhode Island and the Providence Plantations.
• In 1984, angered over the state's refusal to enact noise pollution laws, the township of New Shoreham, located on Block Island, threatened to secede from the state. Reportedly, both Massachusetts and Connecticut expressed interest in annexing the island. The state compromised, giving the island ability to limit the sale of noisy mopeds.^[51][52][53]

Texas

• While it would not technically constitute secession, under the joint resolution of Congress by which the Republic of Texas was admitted to the Union, it had the right to divide itself into as many as five different states. It is not clear whether this provides any power beyond that already provided by the Constitution. What is clear is that the Texas Legislature would have to approve any proposal to divide the state using this prerogative. There was a significant number of Texans who supported dividing the state in its early decades. They were generally called divisionists. However, no state has ever been allowed to secede from the Union.^[54][55][56]

Utah

• In 2002, the United States House of Representatives voted to allow Wendover to leave the state and join Nevada, merging with the city of West Wendover.^[31][32] The opposition of Nevada Senator Harry Reid blocked the bill's consideration in the Senate.^[57]
• In 2008, Joint Resolution 6 'Consenting to Creation of New State Within Utah' was proposed by Representative Neal Hendrickson. This resolution called for "the creation of a separate state, consisting of the southern portion of the present state of Utah with a northern boundary stretching east and west across the present state of Utah at the southern border of Utah County". The bill died in committee in March 2008.^[58]

Vermont

The town of Killington has twice voted (March 2004 and March 2005) to secede from Vermont and become part of the state of New Hampshire. Because the town is not adjacent to the New Hampshire border, this would create an enclave. A similar motion was attempted in Winhall, but was voted down.^[59]

Virginia

• For years, residents and businesses of Northern Virginia have complained that their region, which has about a third of the state's population, sends about half its tax revenues to the State and gets back only 25 cents on the dollar. Some residents argue that Northern Virginia is part of the state in name only, saying that the region is so different from the rest of Virginia, it’s as though the New Jersey suburbs were grafted onto South Carolina. This situation has led some to propose that northern split into the separate state of Northern Virginia.^[60][61] More recently, John McCain adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer created a minor controversy making a distinction between northern Virginia and “real Virginia,” which she said is the “part of the state that is more Southern in nature...”^[62]
• Minor localities have recently grumbled over state secession possibilities in response to various state government decisions on both sides of the political spectrum.

Washington

• Over the latter half of the 20th century (and reportedly as far back as 1889), the counties of Eastern Washington have occasionally raised the possibility of splitting largely conservative and rural Eastern Washington (and sometimes the Idaho Panhandle) away from urban and liberal Western Washington. As recently as 2005, this has been officially proposed in the state legislature, amid the fallout of the 2004 governor's election. Suggested names for such a state include East Washington, Columbia, Lincoln, and Cascadia.

Washington, D.C.

The District of Columbia is an insular federal district separate from any state and under direct control of the United States Congress. Residents of the capital have no voting representation in Congress, nor complete control over their local government. There has been a recurring movement since the 1960s to make the District of Columbia into a state in order to permit residents full voting representation in Congress and control over local affairs. An alternate proposal is for Congress to return most of the District of Columbia (excepting the immediate vicinity of the Capitol and White House) to the state of Maryland (a process known as retrocession), as was done with the Virginia portion of the District in 1846.

West Virginia

• West Virginia was once part of Virginia. It was separated because of political differences between those in Richmond and those in the mountains.
• In 2002 inhabitants of the western part of Mingo County petitioned the county to allow it to break off and join Kentucky on the other side of the Tug River. Neither state has seriously considered the request.
• The southern areas of the state have grumbled about the lack of representation and respect from the state capital in Charleston. Some southern counties, such as McDowell, Mercer, Raleigh and Monroe, have rhetorically raised the idea of joining rural counties in southwestern Virginia (which feel equally disenfranchised from their state government in Richmond) to form a new state. No serious proposals have ever made it to the state capitol for debate, however.

Wisconsin

• In 1967, the village of Winneconne seceded from Wisconsin for one day to protest its omission from the new state highway map.^[63]
• A culture common to the northern counties of Wisconsin, together with Michigan's Upper Peninsula and northeastern counties of Minnesota that is not shared as strongly with the southern portions of each state has resulted in considerations of forming a state known as Superior. These have not been taken very seriously, as most of the northern counties are dependent on the southern parts of their states for funding.
• It is often suggested around election times (sometimes humorously) that Milwaukee and/or Madison should form their own state based on their generally left-wing politics and cultural differences compared to the rest of Wisconsin. Similarly, Kenosha County is often (sometimes pejoratively) referred to as "Northern Illinois" based on its status (as of the 2000 census) as a suburb of Chicago, and urged to formally join Illinois.

Confederacy-related proposals

Alabama

According to legend, upon the secession of Alabama from the United States during the American Civil War, Winston County seceded from the state as the Republic of Winston, and pledged its alliance with the Union. Today citizens of the county still refer to it as the Free State of Winston, which drives the local tourist industry.

Arkansas

During the Civil War, five counties, including Madison County and possibly Marion County, voted against secession from the Union at the second Arkansas Secession Convention. When called upon to renege, four counties did, but Madison, represented by Isaac Murphy, later the state's governor under Reconstruction, resisted. Men of his county fought for the North during the war.

Georgia

In the 1850s many from Dade County, in the far northwestern corner of the state, threatened to secede from Georgia (and the U.S.) if the state itself did not secede.^[64][65]

Illinois

Shortly before the Civil War, southern Illinois considered seceding from Illinois and joining the Confederacy; a proposed name for the new state was Little Egypt after the region's local name. However, speeches by Union General John A. Logan, a native of the region, convinced many in the region to remain in the Union.^[66]

Kentucky

On November 20, 1861, representatives from several counties met at Russellville calling themselves "the Convention of the People of Kentucky" (later known as the Russellville Convention) and passed an Ordinance of Secession. It established a Confederate government of Kentucky with its capital in Bowling Green. Although it remained in the Union, Kentucky was represented by a star on the Confederate battle flag and national flag.

Louisiana

During the Civil War, David Pierson, a young attorney, was elected to represent Winn Parish in northwest central Louisiana at the Secession Convention called by Governor Thomas Overton Moore in Baton Rouge in January 1861. Pierson voted against secession in all votes taken and refused, along with several others, to change his "no" vote at the end of the process when asked to do so in order that the vote for secession be made unanimous. This act of voting "no" has confused some into thinking that Winn Parish refused to secede from the Union and was a de facto Union enclave in the Confederate state of Louisiana called the Free State of Winn.

Mississippi

Local legend has it that Jones County, a haven for Confederate military deserters, declared its independence from both countries. Most people in the county had reservations about the strong central government that the Confederate States of America instated and few if any in the county owned slaves. Although some claim that these rumors turned out to be completely false, the county did serve as a safe haven for Confederate defectors such as Newton Knight. This event was inaccurately dramatized in the 1948 movie Tap Roots.

Missouri

• During the Civil War, congressman Frank Blair urged St. Louis to secede from the state if it decided to join the Confederacy.
• Around the same time, Callaway County proposed seceding from Missouri, but with the opposite inclination. Callaway County is sometimes still called "Kingdom of Callaway" and hosts an annual "Kingdom Days" celebration. There is also a city named Kingdom City there.^[67]

New York

• In 1861, the hamlet of Town Line voted to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy. The town contributed several troops to the Confederate Army over the course of the war, but there is no evidence that the Confederacy ever officially recognized Town Line as one of its own. During Reconstruction, the status of Town Line was eventually forgotten, but the area was still technically sovereign. It was eventually discovered in the 1920s that Town Line residents were not paying taxes and were still "outside the Union." In 1946, after significant media attention, town residents voted to rejoin the union.^[68]

Tennessee

• In February 1861, in the early days of the Confederacy, the Southern-sympathetic county of Franklin petitioned the state to allow it to secede and join Alabama which had recently seceded from the Union. By June Tennessee had decided to secede as well, eliminating the reason for Franklin to secede.
• Conversely, the more pro-Union East Tennessee area disapproved of state secession and some proposed seceding from Tennessee to rejoin the Union. Some, however, have characterized this sentiment as mere contrarianism against the sentiment of the western half.
• Scott County in eastern Tennessee did officially pass a proclamation during the Civil War to secede from Tennessee and form the "Free and Independent State of Scott." In 1986 when it was discovered that this county law was still on the books the proclamation was finally repealed and Scott County actually petitioned the state of Tennessee for readmission even though the secession had never been recognized by either the state or federal governments.^[69][70][71]

Virginia

• In the early days of the Confederacy, Lunenburg County grew impatient that the state had not yet seceded from the Union, and threatened to secede from Virginia itself, possibly to join North Carolina.
• After Virginia declared its secession from the U.S. in 1861, its mountainous western half formed the pro-Union Restored Government of Virginia; the Union Congress recognized this as Virginia's legitimate government, with authority to approve its own partition. In 1863, the area was admitted to the Union as the state of West Virginia.
• Two islands on the Atlantic coast of the Delmarva Peninsula – Chincoteague and Assateague – also sided with the Union, and provided the Union with seafood and a Southern base of operations. Because of its loyalty the US Navy helped Chincoteague reconstruct its lighthouse after a devastating storm; the lighthouse still stands today.

See also

• List of active autonomist and secessionist movements
• List of U.S. county secession proposals
• Urban secession
• Hawaiian sovereignty movement

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Secession: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law, Thomas S. Ulen, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• "West Virginians covet new Ky. home", Lexington Herald-Leader, Mar. 4, 2002