Partition and secession in California

This article documents historical attempts to split up the state of California, the most populous state in the United States and the third largest in area, since it acquired statehood in 1850. Throughout the state's history, there have been more than 220 attempts to divide California into multiple states^[1] including at least 27 serious proposals.^[2] In addition, there have been various calls for the restoration of the California Republic, which would entail secession from the United States.

Contents 1 History of partition movements 1.1 Post-statehood 1.2 20th century 1.3 21st century 2 Nature of partition proposals 3 Impact of partition proposals 4 Secession 4.1 San Francisco 4.2 Cascadia 4.3 California 5 See also 6 References

History of partition movements

Before statehood, the South strongly pushed for a slave state in Southern California below the 35th parallel north;^[3] after the California Constitutional Convention of 1849 applied for statehood in the current boundaries, the South reluctantly acceded to a single, free state in the Compromise of 1850, proposals for division continued up to the Civil War.

Post-statehood

• In 1854, the California State Assembly passed a plan to trisect the state. All of the southern counties as far north as Monterey, Merced, and part of Mariposa, then sparsely populated but today containing about two-thirds of California's total population, would become the State of Colorado (the name Colorado was later adopted for another territory established in 1861), and the northern counties of Del Norte, Siskiyou, Modoc, Humboldt, Trinity, Shasta, Lassen, Tehama, Plumas, and portions of Butte, Colusa (which included what is now Glenn County), and Mendocino, a region which today has a population of little more than half a million, would become the State of Shasta.
• In 1859, the legislature and governor approved the Pico Act splitting off the region south of the 36th parallel north as the Territory of Colorado.^[4][5][6] However, owing to the American Southeast secession crisis in 1860, the proposal never came to a Congressional vote and the Federal government never acted on it.
• In the late 19th century, there was serious talk in Sacramento of splitting the state in two at the Tehachapi Mountains because of the difficulty of transportation across the rugged range. The discussion ended when it was determined that building a highway over the mountains was feasible; this road later became the Ridge Route.

20th century

• Since as far back as the mid-19th century, the mountainous region of northern California and parts of southwestern Oregon have been proposed as a separate state. In 1941, some counties in the area ceremonially seceded, one day a week, from their respective states as the State of Jefferson. This movement disappeared after America's entry into World War II, but the notion has been rekindled in recent years.
• The California State Senate voted on June 4, 1965, to divide California into two states, with the Tehachapi Mountains as the boundary. Sponsored by State Senator Richard J. Dolwig (D-San Mateo), the resolution proposed to separate the 7 southern counties, with a majority of the state's population, from the 51 other counties, and passed 27-12. To be effective, the amendment would have needed approval by the State Assembly, by California voters, and by the United States Congress. As expected by Dolwig, the proposal did not get out of committee in the Assembly.^[7] A previous proposal to this effect, the Pico Act, was advanced in 1859-1860 but was tabled due to the American Civil War and never revived (see above).
• In 1992, State Assemblyman Stan Statham sponsored a bill to allow a referendum in each county on a partition into three new states: North, Central, and South California. The proposal passed in the State Assembly but died in the State Senate.^[8][9]

21st century

• In the wake of the 2003 gubernatorial recall, Tim Holt^[10] and Martin Hutchinson^[11] proposed in newspaper op-eds that the state should split into as many as four new states, dividing distinct geographically and politically defined regions as the Bay Area, North Coast, and Central Valley, as well as the historic Shasta/Jefferson region, into their own states.
• In early 2009, former State Assemblyman Bill Maze began lobbying to split thirteen coastal counties, which usually vote Democratic, into a separate state to be known as either "Coastal California" or "Western California." Maze's primary reason for wanting to split the state was because of how "conservatives don't have a voice" and how Los Angeles and San Francisco "control the state." The counties that would make up the new state would be Marin, Contra Costa, Alameda, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Los Angeles Counties (San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties vote Republican more often than Democratic but are included for geographic contiguity).^[12]
• In June 2011, Republican Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone called for Riverside, Imperial, San Diego, Orange, San Bernardino, Kings, Kern, Fresno, Tulare, Inyo, Madera, Mariposa and Mono counties (see map at right) to separate from California to form the new state of South California. Officials in Sacramento responded derisively, with governor Jerry Brown's spokesperson saying "A secessionist movement? What is this, 1860? It's a supremely ridiculous waste of everybody's time."^[13] and fellow supervisor Bob Buster calling Stone "crazy," suggesting "Stone has gotten too much sun recently."^[14]

Nature of partition proposals

Most partition proposals call for the splitting of the state of California into at least two states comprising some portion of Northern and Southern California. More recent proposals have reflected either the sharp political divide in California politics or the general standards of living between counties and regions; for instance, the proposal by Riverside County supervisor Jeff Stone would provide for the secession of less-wealthy counties in Southern California which consistently vote along conservative lines, thus purposefully excluding other Southern Californian municipalities and counties such as the wealthier Los Angeles metropolitan area, which tend to vote in the majority for more liberal or progressive candidates.

Impact of partition proposals

Most partition proposals, if they were approved by the federal government, would result in a growth in membership of the Congress of the United States and may cause logistical issues in relation to such a larger size. Any U.S. Territory or partition proposal considering statehood would have the same concern.

A partition which would separate a portion of Southern California may be very well impacted by long-standing commercial issues which affect the current state. Specifically, states may consider renegotiating their water allocation, such as between Arizona and Southern California, or participants of the 1922 Colorado River Compact.

Such a partition may also heighten or lengthen the dominance of state political parties and ideological polarization, as well as demographic distribution of population and cultural impact.

Secession

San Francisco

Writer Ernest Callenbach wrote a 1975 novel, entitled Ecotopia, in which he proposed a full-blown secession of San Francisco from the United States in order to focus upon environmentally-friendly living and culture. He later abandoned the idea, feeling that "We are now fatally interconnected, in climate change, ocean impoverishment, agricultural soil loss, etc. etc. etc."^[15]

Cascadia

California

The Committee to Explore California Secession (or Move On California), established by Jeff Morisette, was founded in 2004 to advocate for the secession of California from the Union in relation to the presidency of George W. Bush. It was defunct by 2010.

See also

• Secession in New York
• Texas divisionism
• List of U.S. state partition proposals

References