Separatist Movements
A 2017 Zogby Poll Found:
-While nearly 1/3 of the public (32%) agree that the federal government should intervene to stop any state movement for secession, nearly four in ten (39%) agree that each state has the ultimate say over their destiny and that secession is a right. Just shy of three in ten were not sure (29%).
-Drilling down deeper, those 18-29 years of age are most likely of all age groups to support secession (47%). Support drops with the progression of each age cohort. Those 65+ only find 1 in 3 voters (33%) who agree.
-Looking at party, Democrats take a slight lead with 41% in agreeing on the right of secession, followed by 40% of those identifying as “Independent or Other party”. Republicans have similar a level of intensity as 38% also went with the option supporting the right of a state to break from the federal government.
-Finally, a breakdown of region shows high support for secession within the South, Northeast, and out West (48%, 43%, and 43% respectively) while those living in the Central/Great Lakes region show support from one quarter of residents (25%).
Separatist Movements in the U.S., from Wikipedia:
Ethnic, cultural, linguistic and geographical regions
-Cascadia (including Washington, Oregon, and the Canadian province of British Columbia) ... Cascadia (independence movement ... Proposed state: Cascadia ...Pressure group: Cascadia Independence Movement
-Confederate States of America ... Neo-Confederate ...Proposed state: Confederate States of America or Southern United States or Dixie or Dixieland ...Pressure groups: League of the South, other neo-Confederate groups
-New Afrika ...Proposed state: Republic of New Afrika... Ethnic group: Afro-Americans ...Proposed entity: Includes Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi
-Northwest Territorial Imperative ...Racial group: White Americans ...Proposed state: Northwest American Republic... Pressure groups: White Aryan Resistance, Aryan Nations, Northwestern Imperative...
-Lakotah ...Proposed state: Republic of Lakotah ...Ethnic group: Lakota people
-Hawaii... Hawaiian sovereignty movement ...Ethnic group: Native Hawaiians, Haoles ...Proposed state: Republic of Hawaii or The Hawaiian Kingdom ...Pressure groups: Nation of Hawaiʻi, Office of Hawaiian Affairs ...Political party: Hawaii Independence Party...
-Puerto Rico... Independence movement in Puerto Rico ... Cultural group: Puerto Rican people... Proposed state: Republic of Puerto Rico ...Political party: Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP)... Militant organization: Boricua Popular Army (Macheteros), Cadets of the Republic ...Pressure group: Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, Movimiento Independentista Nacional Hostosiano (MINH), Socialist Front...
State Movements for Secession, from Wikipedia:
Some state movements seek secession from the United States itself and the formation of a nation from one or more states.
-Alaska: In November 2006, the Alaska Supreme Court held in the case Kohlhaas v. State that secession was illegal and refused to permit an initiative to be presented to the people of Alaska for a vote. The Alaskan Independence Party remains a factor in state politics, and Walter Hickel, a member of the party, was Governor from 1990 to 1994...
-California: California secession, known as #CALEXIT, was discussed by grassroots movement parties and small activist groups calling for the state to secede from the union in a pro-secessionist meeting in Sacramento on April 15, 2010... In 2015, a political action committee called Yes California Independence Committee formed to advocate California's independence from the United States... On January 8, 2016, the California Secretary of State's office confirmed that a political body called the California National Party filed the appropriate paperwork to begin qualifying as a political party... The California National Party, whose primary objective is California independence, ran a candidate for State Assembly in the June 7, 2016 primary... On November 9, 2016, after Donald Trump won the presidential election, residents of the state caused #calexit to trend on Twitter, wanting out of the country due to his win; they argue that they have the 6th largest economy in the world, and more residents than any other state in the union... 32% of Californians, and 44% of California Democrats were in favor of California secession in a March 2017 poll... The Attorney General of California approved applications by the California Freedom Coalition and others to gather signatures to put #CALEXIT on the 2018 ballot... In July 2018, the objectives of the Calexit initiative were expanded upon by including a plan to carve out an "autonomous Native American nation"... that would take up the eastern part of California, and "postponing its ballot referendum approach in favor of convincing Republican states to support their breakaway efforts."...
-Florida: The mock 1982 secessionist protest... by the Conch Republic in the Florida Keys resulted in an ongoing source of local pride and tourist amusement. In 2015, right-wing activist Jason Patrick Sager... called for Florida to secede...
-Georgia: On April 1, 2009, the Georgia State Senate passed a resolution, 43–1, that asserted the right of states to nullify federal laws under some circumstances. The resolution also asserted that if Congress, the president, or the federal judiciary took certain steps, such as establishing martial law without state consent, requiring some types of involuntary servitude, taking any action regarding religion or restricting freedom of political speech, or establishing further prohibitions of types or quantities of firearms or ammunition, the constitution establishing the United States government would be considered nullified and the union would be dissolved...
-Hawaii: The Hawaiian sovereignty movement has a number of active groups that have won some concessions from the state of Hawaii, including the offering of H.R. 258 in March 2011, which removes the words "Treaty of Annexation" from a statute. As of 2011, it had passed a committee recommendation 6–0...
-Minnesota: The Northwest Angle is a small exclave of Minnesota jutting north into Canada due to a quirk in the definitions of the US-Canada border. Because of laws restricting fishing, some residents of the Northwest Angle suggested leaving the United States and joining Canada in 1997. The following year, U.S. Representative Collin Peterson of Minnesota proposed legislation to allow the residents of the Northwest Angle, which is part of his district, to vote on seceding from the United States and joining Canada... This action succeeded in getting fishing regulations better synchronized across these international (fresh) waters...
-Montana: With the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States to hear District of Columbia v. Heller in late 2007, an early 2008 movement began in Montana involving at least 60 elected officials addressing potential secession if the Second Amendment were interpreted not to grant an individual right, citing its compact with the United States of America...
-New Hampshire: On September 1, 2012, "The New Hampshire Liberty Party was formed to promote independence from the federal government and for the individual."... The Free State Project is another NH based movement that has considered secession to increase liberty. On July 23, 2001, founder of the FSP, Jason Sorens, published "Announcement: The Free State Project", in The Libertarian Enterprise, stating, "Even if we don't actually secede, we can force the federal government to compromise with us and grant us substantial liberties. Scotland and Quebec have both used the threat of secession to get large subsidies and concessions from their respective national governments. We could use our leverage for liberty."...
-Oregon: Following the 2016 presidential election, Portland residents Christian Trejbal and Jennifer Rollins submitted a petition for a ballot measure relating to secession from the United States; the petitioners withdrew the measure shortly afterward, citing recent riots and death threats...
South Carolina: In May 2010 a group formed that called itself the Third Palmetto Republic, a reference to the fact that the state claimed to be an independent republic twice before: once in 1776 and again in 1860. The group models itself after the Second Vermont Republic, and says its aims are for a free and independent South Carolina, and to abstain from any further federations...
-Texas Secession Movement: The group Republic of Texas generated national publicity for its controversial actions in the late 1990s... A small group still meets... In April 2009, Rick Perry, the Governor of Texas, raised the issue of secession in disputed comments during a speech at a Tea Party protest saying "Texas is a unique place. When we came into the union in 1845, one of the issues was that we would be able to leave if we decided to do that ... My hope is that America and Washington in particular pays attention. We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, who knows what may come of that."...
-Vermont: The Second Vermont Republic, founded in 2003, is a loose network of several groups that describes itself as "a nonviolent citizens' network and think tank opposed to the tyranny of Corporate America and the U.S. government, and committed to the peaceful return of Vermont to its status as an independent republic and more broadly the dissolution of the Union".... Its "primary objective is to extricate Vermont peacefully from the United States as soon as possible"... They have worked closely with the Middlebury Institute created from a meeting sponsored in Vermont in 2004... On October 28, 2005, activists held the Vermont Independence Conference, "the first statewide convention on secession in the United States since North Carolina voted to secede from the Union on May 20, 1861".... They also participated in the 2006 and 2007 Middlebury-organized national secessionist meetings that brought delegates from over a dozen groups...
-After Barack Obama won the 2012 presidential election, secession petitions pertaining to all fifty states were filed through the White House We the People petition website...
Regional secession
-Proposed State of Jefferson
-Republic of Lakotah: Some members of the Lakota people of Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota created the Republic to assert the independence of a nation that was always sovereign and did not willingly join the United States; therefore they do not consider themselves technically to be secessionists...
-Pacific Northwest: Cascadia: There have been repeated attempts to form a Bioregional Democracy Cascadia in the northwest. The core of Cascadia would be made up through the secession of the states of Washington, Oregon and the Canadian province of British Columbia, while some supporters of the movement support portions of Northern California, Southern Alaska, Idaho and Western Montana joining, to define its boundaries along ecological, cultural, economic and political boundaries...
-League of the South: The group seeks "a free and independent Southern republic" ...made up of the former Confederate States of America... It operated a short-lived Southern Party supporting the right of states to secede from the Union or to legally nullify federal laws...
-Red-State secession / Blue-state secession: Various editorials... have proposed that states of the USA secede and then form federations only with states that have voted for the same political party. These editorials note the increasingly polarized political strife in the USA between Republican voters and Democratic voters. They propose partition of the US as a way of allowing both groups to achieve their policy goals while reducing the chances of civil war... Red states and blue states are states that typically vote for the Republican and Democratic parties, respectively.
Effort to Split California Into Three Separate States