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Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or political entity. Typically there is a strong issue difference that drives the withdrawal. The word is derived from the Latin term secessio.
Political secessions
Confederate States of America
One of the most famous secession movements includes the case of the Southern states of the United States seceding to form the Confederate States of America (states that seceded include Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida). Less dramatically, new U.S. states were commonly formed out of an older state as the United States grew, such as in the northeast (Maine created out of Massachusetts), the mid-Atlantic (Kentucky created out of Virginia) and then repeatedly in the western territories. The formation of such states are not typically considered secessionist because they were officially accepted by the parent state and the national government. During the American Civil War, West Virginia seceded from the state of Virginia (which had joined the Confederacy) and became the 35th state of the U.S. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 1869 case Texas v. White that unilateral secession by a U.S. state was unconstitutional and that it had no force in (statutory) law.
South Carolina
During the presidential term of Andrew Jackson, South Carolina had its own seccession movement due the "Tariffs of Abomination" which threatened both South Carolina's economy and the Union. Andrew Jackson also threatened to send Federal Troops to put down the movement and to hang the leader of the secessionists from the highest tree in South Carolina. Also due to this, Jackson's vice president, John C Calhoun, who supported the movement and wrote the essay "The South Carolina Exposition And Protest", became the first US vice-president to resign.
American Revolution
A proposed example of successful secession in the modern era is the American Revolution by which the Thirteen Colonies separated from the British Crown. Some argue that this was a secession movement as opposed to a revolution. Revolutions seek to replace current governments or to seek independence from colonial rule, while secession movements seek to separate from current governments in which the party seeking separation already has a voice.
Local examples in the United States
Local examples of secession also exist, such as the attempt of Staten Island to break away from New York City in the late-1980s and early 1990s (See: City of Greater New York). San Fernando Valley recently lost a vote to separate from Los Angeles in 2002 but has seen an increased attention to its infrastructure needs (See: San Fernando Valley secession movement). Several cities in Vermont including Killington are currently exploring a secession request to allow them to join New Hampshire over claims that they are not getting adequate return of state resources from their state tax contributions.
There have been other modern secessionist movements to create new states. There was a short-lived effort to create a Jefferson State out of counties in southern Oregon and northern California in 1941, in part motivated by requests for better roads, but it was quickly shelved by the outbreak of World War II. Advocates in the upper peninsula of Michigan, with off and on intensity, have called for it to become a separate 51st state. A movement in Western Massachusetts, harkening back to Shays' Rebellion, seeks to secede from Massachusetts. In 1977, Martha's Vineyard tried to secede from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (it also tried to secede from the United States and become an independent nation) along with the island of Nantucket. There have been calls for formation of Cascadia in the Pacific Northwest. A less ambitious plan would create a new state from Washington east of the Cascade Mountains, along with northern Idaho, northwestern Montana, and possibly northeastern Oregon. It would be centered on Spokane, Washington (the largest city in the region), and called "Columbia" after the Columbia River.
The Great Republic of Rough and Ready was another example of local secessionism in the United States.
There are also web sites currently advocating a separate California nation, and independent nation of Hawaii as well as other sections of the United States. A humorous response to an alleged infringement of the Constitutional protection against unlawful search and seizure inspired the brief formation of the Conch Republic in the Florida Keys.
Many articles after the 2004 Presidential election questioned whether the so-called "blue" and "red" states can continue to co-exist or ever reconcile or if they might be drifting toward irreparable policy differences and social conflict and possible future separation. Alternatively it is possible the political conflict may result in gradual diminution of the federal government- for lack of a true national consensus - and perhaps a greater emphasis on state rights to permit them to chart more of their own domestic agendas while maintaining the federal union for a more limited set of national actions than undertaken today and for international purposes.
Such viewpoints have faced criticism. The historical strength and intensity of American nationalism means that calls for separation along contemporary socio-political lines are not taken too seriously. Determination for "blue" and "red" (markers indicating on media outlets whether a state votes Democratic or Republican, respectively) is made on the popular vote in the state itself; and many states are often close (within the range of 2-5%). Calls for the "secession of blue/red states" are typically used in a satirical or partisan manner.
Canada
Canada has had the chronic threat of the province of Quebec seceding in some fashion from the confederation. This has led to two referendums for separation (1980, 1995) that have both failed, but the possibility of another remains. See Quebec sovereignty movement. There is also a growing Secessionist sentiment in the province of Alberta, see Alberta Separatism and a provincial secession movement in Northern Ontario, see Northern Ontario Secession Movement.
Australia
Australia currently has an active secessionist [1] movement in the state of Western Australia. Western Australia has had two referenda for secession, both of which were passed, but due to the constitutional position of the time, the referenda had to be ratified by the British Parliament and authorized by the Queen of Australia who is also Queen of the United Kingdom. The only other way to secede would be through the use of arms, which was not a viable option at the time.
[2] There have always been rumblings in WA about being shortchanged by states on the East Coast. Many there felt that the federal government was pandering to the business and power interests of eastern cities (most notably, Sydney and Melbourne), and there was a growing mood that WA was fast becoming the "Cinderella" State, contributing more to the federal coffers than it gets back.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has a number of different secession movements:
- In England there are a number of small movements that call for a separate devolved English parliament or full independence from the United Kingdom, among them the English Democrats Party and the Campaign for an English Parliament. None of these have made any significant electoral impact. The Conservative Party has called for non-English MPs to be excluded from voting when a matter solely concerns England - a call which SNP and Plaid Cymru MPs also support. However the Conservative party is still an avowedly Unionist party, indeed its official name is the Conservative and Unionist Party.
World of art
In the world of art, the term Sezession has been applied to withdrawals from official academies by artists seeking greater freedom to exhibit avant-garde or controversial work. Three such withdrawals occurred in the German-speaking world in the last years of the nineteenth century: the Vienna Secession and the Munich and Berlin Secessions.
See also
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