Secession

Secession describes the political movement to withdraw a bloc of membership from an organization or especially a section of territory and resident population from an existing state or sub-national unit of government.
Historically, the term "secessionist" is used more often to describe the losing Confederate side in the American Civil War or the War to Preserve Slavery. The present day supporters of the losers of that conflict are also known as the proponents of the Lost Cause of the South. During the Civil War era in America the secessionists were known as "seceshers" and are called such today. Modern era secessionists in the U. S. may include both Southerners (or as they're known to call themselves, "Southroners") and Northerners. All are afflicted by the "false-consensus effect" whereby they overestimate the importance and the popularity of their endeavor.
Even in America, it's not quite dead.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/14/secession-50-states-_n_2131447.html
==History==
A common historical misrepresentation made by today's small community of active secession advocates is that the U.S. and other colonies were born by an act of secession. While in some sense this is true, the term secession implies the leaving of a body you are an integral part of, while a colony, with some exceptions, is a subservient territory under the rule of another country.
Today no country officially considers any part of its territory to be a "colony" and as such independence movements of e.g. Caribbean islands belonging to some European power would be labeled "secessionist" by proponents of their mother country, even though they would describe themselves as anti-colonialist. And that's all we are going to say about that.
Some notable cases of secession politics in the last century or so:
===Successful===
===Crushed Attempts===
Fairly popular from the dawn of Humanity to the recent past, unilateral attempts at secession were both common and bloody whether successful or not.
===Unsuccessful Peaceful Attempts===
==Movements==
==In the US==
From US Independence it was unclear whether a constituent state could legitimately bail out of the United States, until the 1869 decision in Texas v. White ruled that the US Constitution prevented states from seceding unilaterally from the union. Both before and after that decision, various secessionist movements have sprung into existence. The most famous was that which led to the American Civil War, but aside from that there have been many other less violent and more comical examples, ranging from self-proclaimed micronations (e.g. the in Florida) to proposals for the largest states, especially Texas (which was, at least, a viable independent country at one time).
There have also been independence movements in various US territories such as Puerto Rico,Colony, state or independence: Puerto Rico's status anxiety adds to debt crisis, The Guardian, 7 Jul 2015 as well as calls for independence by indigenous groups (e.g. the but they tend to be more rational. In addition, there are various proposals for counties or parts of states to secede from their existing state and form a new state still within the US; this is enormously trivial and not covered here (examples: eastern Washington State, northern Maine, southern California, far northern California and southern Oregon, southern Arizona, New York City).10 modern secession movements in the united states, Listosaur And various figures have proclaimed themselves some kind of monarch without making a serious attempt to secede. This includes in California, and the Mormon leader James Strang who proclaimed himself king in Beaver Island, Michigan, but considered this a spiritual rather than secular position.How a Mormon king shaped a sleepy island in Lake Michigan, Michigan Radio, 2015
===Alaska===
Joe Vogler founded Alaskans for Independence and the Alaskan Independence Party in 1973, 14 years after Alaskan statehood (Alaska became a state in 1959). Initially he focused on a petition calling for secession. The party was officially recognised in 1984. An attempt to hold a vote on a ballot initiative for secession was proposed in 2006, but despite receiving the required number of signatures was ruled unconstitutional and removed from the ballot. Since then the party has moved away from secessionism, adopting a libertarian platform similar to lots of other minor parties (Constitution Party, Libertarian Party, etc). Todd Palin, Sarah Palin's husband, was a member for a while.A Palin Joined Alaskan Third Party, Just Not Sarah Palin, New York Times, 3 Sep 2008
===California===
California has often been viewed as somewhat separate from the majority of the US, but the California National Party was only founded in 2015. Following the election of Donald Trump in November 2016, there were calls for CalExit (funded in part by the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia), i.e. Californian secession, and even proposals to join CanadaCanadians invite liberal US states to break away from Donald Trump's America, Independent (UK), 16 Nov 2016 (which were kinda sensible in terms of sentiment but pretty batty in terms of geography). California's historical claim to independent statehood is genuine (the "California Republic" on its flag is a reminder of it) but so shaky as to be almost ephemeral, since it was declared by Americans with the likely intention to join the US: which it did just a couple weeks after declaring independence.
===Hawaii===
Geographically, Hawaii is detached from the continental US, and it was an independent state for many years. Even today there are those who seek independence, mainly native Hawaiians. Some organisations want the restoration of the Hawaiian monarchy, while others such as the Nation of Hawai'i have called for an independent republic.
===Maine===
Similar to the Second Vermont Republic, there is an effort to get Christian fundamentalists to move to Maine and establish an independent Republic of Maine, which will ban shops from opening on Sundays.The Maine Secession Movement is now actively inviting, Free Republic chat, 24/05/2014 There have also been suggestions that Maine secede and join more liberal Canada, although British Canada wasn't bothered about keeping Maine in 1812.New Ireland: How Maine almost became part of Canada at the end of the War of 1812, National Post (Toronto)
===New Hampshire===
The New Hampshire Liberty Party is a libertarian, pro-independence group formed in 2012.Info, New Hampshire Liberty Party website The movement for New Hampshire independence gained momentum following the Brexit vote in summer 2016.‘NHexit’ calls for secession, Concord Monitor, 26 June 2016
===Texas===
Texas was independent from 1836 to 1845, when it joined the US. Since then, a small subset of Texans have regretted that decision. Texas attempted to secede in 1861 following a referendum, but Abraham Lincoln managed to change their minds after only a little war. There was uncertainty about Texas's status for a while afterwards, but things quieted down for over a hundred years. In the 1990s a renewed secessionist movement began, with such groups as Richard Lance McLaren's Republic of Texas organization and its more moderate offshoot, Daniel Miller's Texas Nationalist Movement. McLaren became increasingly eccentric, demanding 93 trillion dollars in reparations from the US federal government and taking hostages in an armed siege which led to him being sentenced to 99 years in jail, although fortunately there were no deaths.Texas separatist still thinks cause will succeed, Houston Chronicle, 3 May 1997
Texas governor Rick Perry hinted at secession in 2009, and following Barack Obama's second victory in 2012, there was even more widespread interest in secession, though the majority of Texans declared themselves opposed. Texans' calls for independence are often met in the rest of the country with responses that amount to "Don't let the door hit you on the way out."
===Vermont===
:See Second Vermont Republic
==See also==
*Euroscepticism
*Neo-Confederate
*Proposals for new US states
==External links==
*Abe Lincoln, kicking your ass.
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Political movements
Category:Government