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[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/ShatteredUnion https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shattered_union_map.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:United, we stood. Fallen, we divided.]]
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->''"We, the people of the State of South Carolina, in convention assembled do declare and ordain […] that the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name of the 'United States of America,' is hereby dissolved."''
-->-- '''[[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar South Carolina Declaration of Secession]], 1860'''

The United States of America began its existence as [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution thirteen rebellious colonial governments]] brought together by a dislike of the [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire central government]]'s attempts to enforce taxation. Two-plus centuries later, that hasn't changed a whole lot. It's a small miracle that a strong central government was formed, against the states' wishes, that has lasted this long, especially since dissolution has had both [[UsefulNotes/WarOf1812 perceived]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar dangerously real]] close calls.

So now you're writing a story TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, or perhaps in an AlternateUniverse. How do you show that things have irrevocably but believably changed? Break up the Union. Perhaps the States suffered some sort of [[FallenStatesOfAmerica crisis]] and things went FromBadToWorse. Maybe the country was broken up [[InvadedStatesOfAmerica by foreign invaders]], dissent with an [[OppressiveStatesOfAmerica oppressive government led to a break-up]], or regional separatism and nationalism took hold as it kind of did in the UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar. For whatever reason, the country now consists of many smaller nation-states.

The new and smaller nations, without the tempering influence of what voters on the opposite side of the continent think, will be able to run free with their own agendas, resulting in a bit of cultural {{Flanderization}} that might actually seem justified. Your HollywoodAtlas will seem a lot more authentic. You may see:

* The [[MegaCorp MegaCorporate]] Enclave of [[BigApplesauce New York]]. In the case of a European writer, the Dutch might take it back.
* A [[UsefulNotes/{{Mormonism}} Mormon]] [[TheTheocracy theocracy]] in the Holy State of Deseret, formerly known as UsefulNotes/{{Utah}}, possibly with UsefulNotes/{{Idaho}} and northern UsefulNotes/{{Nevada}} joining in.
* The People's Republic of [[HollywoodCalifornia California]]. Otherwise the rich in Hollywood and Silicon Valley aren't ready to give up their wealth and UsefulNotes/{{California}} becomes OneNationUnderCopyright like in ''Film/BladeRunner'' with some Japanese influence as well.
* The Coalition of UsefulNotes/LasVegas, an American [[FreestateAmsterdam Amsterdam]].
* The loud, proud, rather jingoist [[UsefulNotes/{{Texas}} Republic of Texas]]. Alternately, a Hispanic-majority República de Tejas. [[MexicoCalledTheyWantTexasBack Sometimes, it will even get reabsorbed back into Mexico.]]
* The descendants of the UsefulNotes/NativeAmerican tribes coming together to form a new nation, complete with BraidsBeadsAndBuckskins. Never mind the cultural differences between the tribes and for most, it would mean abandoning their sacred lands for another tribe's lands.
* The South has risen again to form the [[DeepSouth resurrected Confederate States]], hopefully with less overt racism this time around. Possibly, there is a [[MalcolmXerox Black Republic of New Afrika]] centered around UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}} that is at peace, war, or [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar something of both]] with the Confeds.
* The Southwest reclaimed by the [[InjunCountry Reformed Tribal Territories]], and possibly [[MexicoCalledTheyWantTexasBack at war with Mexico]]. Alternately, Mexico could fuse with it and call the new country [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconquista_%28Mexico%29 Aztlan.]]
* [[UsefulNotes/TheOtherRainforest Oregon, Washington, British Columbia (the latter being up in]] UsefulNotes/{{Canada}}[[UsefulNotes/TheOtherRainforest ), and sometimes northern California]] form Cascadia, which is much more left-wing than the former U.S. and built upon [[GreenAesop environmentalist]] principles.
* The [[HollywoodNewEngland New England]] states are also off on their own, something that both New Englanders and non-New Englanders find very appealing. Sometimes, New England is combined with the Mid-Atlantic to form a Northeast country or it joins Canada.
* Combining the above two examples, as well as California and the Upper Midwest states, joining with Canada to form [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesusland_map The United States of Canada]], whilst the remaining states (sometimes including Alberta and Manitoba) descend into a theocracy known as "Jesusland". A pro-conservative version keeps the same lines, but the south remains The United States of America and the north becomes "[=NAMBLAstan=]."
* UsefulNotes/{{Alaska}} is fused with the Canadian territories to form another Inuit province, or at the very least seeks protection from Canada. Alternatively, [[RussiaCalledTheyWantAlaskaBack the Russians take it back.]] In some cases, if UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} is in its UsefulNotes/{{Soviet Russia|UkraineAndSoOn}} mode, it will be named as Alaskan SSR.
* UsefulNotes/{{Hawaii}} going back to native rule.
* A [[VestigialEmpire powerless rump state]] in UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC (or elsewhere if DC [[AfterTheEnd was destroyed]] or [[WashingtonDCInvasion overrun]]), still claiming descent from the Federal government and issuing grandiose proclamations which are ignored by the rest of the 'country'.
* The Midwest [[FlyoverCountry not existing, or becoming a giant farming commune or something.]] Otherwise, those tired of the West Coast always being the leftist breakaway will have the steel belt workers form a [[CommieLand socialist or syndicalist]] proletarian state.

...and so on. More details below.

If you have trouble with the concept of a Balkanized America, consider the [[http://web.archive.org/web/20201109032613/http://www.tjc.com/38states/ 38-state Union]] imagined by C. Etzel Pearcy, a geography professor at California State University, Los Angeles, in 1975. Pearcy's strategy groups cities together based on population centers, shared services, and similarity of lifestyle (for example, the New York metro area would be one state, rather than expanding into New Jersey and using bits of Connecticut and Pennsylvania as suburbs), so they would make reasonable estimates of the territory each neo-state could control. On paper, such a concept could save the country billions each year, but the obvious political FlameWar[[note]]In the proposed state of Allegheny alone, the battle between UsefulNotes/{{Cleveland}} and UsefulNotes/{{Pittsburgh}} over which would be the capital would be epic. And bloody.[[/note]] makes it [[StatusQuoIsGod extremely unlikely]].

AfterTheEnd settings can sometimes have this on a more-fractured scale, with a bunch of city-states that barely have any contact outside the random trade route. Odds are, most of them won't resemble the smoking husks they were built on at all unless it was a CosyCatastrophe.

A downplayed version of this trope can include mentioning the fall in the fiction's history but never really going into details.

If there's still an "official" U.S. government, but its control over the country is massively weakened, this can overlap with VestigialEmpire and is usually FallenStatesOfAmerica. See also InvadedStatesOfAmerica and AmericaIsStillAColony. The polar opposite of this is ExpandedStatesOfAmerica, in which America instead grows ''larger''. A SubTrope of DifferentStatesOfAmerica and BalkanizeMe. A SuperTrope of SecondAmericanCivilWar, which is a common dividing event that may or may not end in restoration of the Union. This can be combined with some form of PunkPunk.
----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* Creator/ShirowMasamune's ''Manga/{{Appleseed}}'' and ''Franchise/GhostInTheShell'' both take place in the same universe, and the United States split up into three countries. A peaceful resolution of the Cold War in 1988 resulted in a portion of the United States turning into the Ameri-Soviet Union (renamed the Russo-American Alliance post real-life-1992.) After WorldWarIII turned Nuclear in 1996, the rest of the United States would divide as well.
** The democratic rump state of the United States of America is reduced to the states of Washington, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.
** The Russo-American Alliance consists of Alaska, Hawaii, California, Oregon, Nevada, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York. They become minor allies to the main characters in Appleseed.
** Imperial Americana AKA the American Empire takes up all the rest, including Washington D.C. After Non-Nuclear World War IV in 2019-2020, this industrial and militaristic extreme right-wing conservative nation resorted to aggressive foreign policies to help stabilize their economy, casting them as antagonists in ''Appleseed'' and in the second season of ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' as a result.
* ''Anime/TurnAGundam'', which largely takes place in the New England and Dixie long AfterTheEnd, has a few different independent nations. At one point the country known as Inglessa, whose geography is not terribly well defined, was at war with Lousana (Louisiana, at minimum). The nations are more clearly defined in the [[AllThereInTheManual artbook]] ''Turn A Gundam Art Works''. Inglessia is roughly everything north and east of Ohio, while Luziana is everything from its Western border to the Western border of "MIMAL"[[note]]Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana[[/note]]. There are also regions named Tejas, Floria, Alahama, and Cuppa; the region consisting of Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas goes unnamed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In Kurt Busiek's AlternateHistory comic ''ComicBook/{{Arrowsmith}}'' what would be the USA and Canada in our reality is (as of 1914) divided into the United States of Columbia, Acadia-Canada, Tejas, Deseret, California, Dakota, Newfoundland (Northern Canada and Alaska) and Grand Florida (which includes Bermuda and the Bahamas).
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'': A smaller scale version than normal, but in the ''No Man's Land'' arc, Gotham suffers a massive earthquake that devastates the city. Rather than help fix it, the Federal Government and the state of New Jersey both carve Gotham out of their respective borders, turning it into a ruined city-state. Naturally, things got better and Gotham is back as part of the Union.
* In [[ComicStrip/TheBoondocks Aaron McGruder]] and Creator/ReginaldHudlin's ''Birth of a Nation'', after election fraud causes a NoCelebritiesWereHarmed version of George W. Bush to be elected president, the city of East St. Louis declares its independence from the United States to become Black Land. Very {{Anvilicious}}.
* In the ''ComicBook/CaptainConfederacy'' mini-series, the U.S. has balkanized into several different independent nations. One is trying to reunite them, by any means possible.
* ''ComicBook/DallasBarr'' had the Florida keys successfully seceding and forming the Conch Republic.
* In ''ComicBook/{{DMZ}}'', a second American Civil War has the Midwest fighting against both coasts, to the point where New Jersey and New York are on opposite sides and the title location (the Demilitarized Zone) is Manhattan Island, where an uneasy cease-fire has formed. DMZ says the free state movement was more of an ''idea'' than a territorial location, making it more in line with modern 4th generation warfare.
* In the Creator/BoomStudios comic continuation of ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork'', it's shown that Florida has seceded and declared itself a free republic after being taken over by an anarchist militia led by a pair of adolescents who have somehow convinced their followers that they're {{Physical God}}s. They've gotten away with this for so long because they bought Missile Crisis era nukes off of Cuba and buried them along Florida's sole border, threatening to set them off if the US army moves in. [[spoiler:Snake eventually sets them off to spite both sides, turning Florida into an island.]] A map glimpsed in one panel suggests that other states are in similar states of unrest.
* In Creator/FrankMiller's ''ComicBook/GiveMeLiberty'', we get to see the U.S. balkanize throughout the original series. The biggest split occurs when the BigBad [[PresidentEvil Takes Over the Presidency]] -- [[DystopiaIsHard and discovers he's not capable of keeping the various blocs he's been appeasing from just leaving]]. By the time order's restored, New England, UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, Florida, Texas, the Northwest, South California, the Southwest, and the DeepSouth have all seceded from the US, leaving them with only 20 states. (Alaska and Hawaii aren't even mentioned -- maybe people just forgot about them in the mess.) This example features a number of unusual features that seem to be a deliberate inversion of the usual regional stereotypes. For example, the Deep South ends up as a left-wing hi-tech StrawFeminist gynocracy, while the hardline Religious Right theocracy that usually ends up in the Deep South is here in the stereotypically-liberal Pacific North-West.
* Implied to be the case on [[Comicbook/GothamByGaslight Gaslight Earth]] in the comic book adaptation of the ''VideoGame/InfiniteCrisis'' video game. Gaslight [[Comicbook/{{Hawkman}} Hawkgirl]] is the Queen of the South, a country not entirely friendly to the US, and talks in a SouthernBelle accent.
* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' of ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'' has Mega-Cities One (includes eastern Ontario) and Two (later nuked) on the east and west coasts, Mega-City Three (Texas City), Uranium City (in Alaska), Las Vegas (also eventually nuked) and the ungoverned and desolated Cursed Earth in between. After Chaos Day, The leadership of Texas City tried to overthrow their counterparts in Mega City One to reunite the United States; it backfired on them.
* In the ''ComicBook/TheWastelands'' universe, the villains took over the US and it got broken up in several pieces with the US being the original thirteen colonies.
* In the [[ComicBook/CivilWar2015 alternate version]] of ''ComicBook/CivilWar2006'' shown in ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'', America is divided in twain between the Iron, ruled by [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] and the Blue, ruled by [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Steve Rogers]]. The Iron being analogous to the Eastern US with the Blue being the west, and St Louis, which was devastated during the escape from the Negative Zone prison, is the boundary between the two. Both sides see their side as an {{Utopia}}: The Iron clamps down on certain civil liberties, such as superpowers, but is very prosperous and growing, with many seeing them as a legitimate nation. The Blue is a free nation where there're only two real rules: don't wreck shit and don't be a deadbeat. However, most of the Blue is barren land where places to grow food is tough and other nations refuse to recognize it as anything more than a rogue state. The Iron, however, is ''too'' prosperous and is growing out of control.
* Played straight in the Franchise/{{Superman}} story ''[[ComicBook/SupermanRedSon Red Son]]''. The USA experiences a second civil war, with 16 "prodigal states" (including Georgia) successfully seceding. [[spoiler:America gets better, but it takes [[PresidentEvil President Lex Luthor]] to do so.]]
* The 2012 ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'' crossover ''Divided We Fall'' has this as its primary plot, as America is divided into several sovereign nations, with Texas now having access to nuclear armaments.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* [[https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/list-of-alternate-presidents-and-pms-ii.407398/page-284#post-17287042 This oneshot]] ''ComicBook/{{Crossed}}'' scenario is based on this premise, with the federal government collapsing in light of the Crossed virus and several claimants emerging afterwards: a Donald Rumsfeld-led faction formed by the cabinet and national security officials who had been relocated to Cheyenne Mountain, a military-based GovernmentInExile in Afghanistan formed from overseas troops by David Petraeus, a coalition formed by Congress members in Mount Weather, and technically the horde led by the infected but still intelligent George W. Bush.
* Briefly mentioned in ''[[Blog/ThePredespairKids The Despair Kids]],'' where there are multiple American [[LaResistance resistance groups]] fighting the Ultimate Despairs. However, the Alaskan Group seems less like a resistance movement and more of a separatist one.
* In the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12662796/1/The-Fourth-Council-Race The Fourth Council Race]]'', the USA refuses to remain in the Systems Alliance once a motion passes to reorganize it into a form where they are no longer the top dog. [[https://thefourthcouncilrace.tumblr.com/image/171529916979 A couple civil wars later...]]
* In the ''Film/ThePatriot2000'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1872979/1/God-Save-the-King-How-Thomas-Met-His-Destiny God Save the King! How Thomas Met His Destiny]]'', this happens mixed with AmericaIsStillAColony - the war ends in a negotiated peace where Maryland, Delaware and Virginia form a nation called the "United Commonwealth of America", New England also becomes independent, while Georgia, the Carolinas, the western half of Virginia (i.e Kentucky), New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania remain under British control.
* In ''Fanfic/IncompatibleSystem'', after the Quick War, USA had been split into pieces, some annexed by the neighbors, some independent now. The author elaborates on this a couple of times, but is yet to present a map.
* ''Fanfic/ReimaginedEnterprise'' features scenes set during the [[AfterTheEnd Postatomic Horror]], where this has happened to the USA due to many competing continuity governments, and it is informally referred to as the Disunited States.
* Fanfic/TarkinsFist: Mostly averted. The North American Union is one of the few nations on Earth to maintain some semblance of order and government after the initial orbital bombardment at the start of the Empire-Earth War. Their preoccupation with the Imperial invasion of the West Coast, however, allows Alaskan nationalists to seize control of the state and secede unopposed. The self-proclaimed Alaskan Free Republic sits out the war and refuses to contribute to the defense of North America. [[spoiler:Shortly after the war's end the Alaskan secessionists are ruthlessly crushed; their leaders captured for show trials or otherwise shot out of hand]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]
* It's implied that the zombie infested Las Vegas in ''Film/ArmyOfTheDead'' is no longer counted as part of America.
* The backdrop of ''Film/{{Bushwick}}'' reveals Texas and some Southern States want to secede from the United States and to make it successful, the Secessionists covertly send mercenaries into Northern States areas like Bushwick to cause chaos. Unfortunately, the secessionists didn't expect the locals to fight back.
* Creator/{{A24}} and Creator/AlexGarland's ''Film/CivilWar2024'' is "Divided States of America/Main/SecondAmericanCivilWar: the feature film," with 19 states seceded along with California and Texas, who made their alliance together, and Florida just seceded themselves from the rest. It tells a point of view of journalists trying to reach the Capitol all while trying to navigate their family through the violence while attempting to report the truth — despite violent threats to journalists from the army.
--> [[Creator/WagnerMoura Journalist]]: "There is some kind of misunderstanding here."
--> [[Creator/JessePlemons Soldier]]: "Pardon?"
--> Journalist: "We are Americans. Okay?"
--> Soldier: "Okay. What ''kind'' of Americans are you?"
* In ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork'' and its sequel, ''Film/EscapeFromLA'', the title cities have been deliberately cut off from the rest of the country and turned into prison facilities. Still, the United States has also apparently expanded internationally: the second film mentions Bangkok as a U.S. territory.
* In ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}'', the American flag has only twenty-five stars on it, so it’s possible half the states have seceded. On the other hand, there are only eleven stripes, so it’s possible it has simply been forgotten what the stars and stripes are supposed to represent. Or that nobody can count that high anymore.
* ''Film/{{Lone Star|1952}}'': The film is set in Texas in 1845 as Texas's annexation by the United States is debated. Craden, who is against Texas joining the USA, presents his master plan. He believes that he can get Mexico to cede California and the Southwest to Texas. Then when civil war that Craden (correctly) anticipates will happen between the free and slave states, Craden thinks the slave states will join their sister slave state Texas. He shows his audience a map that shows a Greater Texas occupying about 3/4 of the modern-day USA, with a rump United States occupying the northwest corner. Everyone in his audience is appalled.
* ''Film/TheSecondCivilWar'' depicts the break-up of the USA, starting with the secession of Idaho and snowballing from there.
* The ''Film/VForVendetta'' movie, set in Britain TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, mentions a "Second American Civil War" afflicting "the former United States" (presumably by analogy with "the former Soviet Union"). There was no nuclear war in the movie, but from what little inter-national news is shown (on the [[UnreliableNarrator propaganda-heavy]] television of the Norsefire Party) it looks like they have fallen into dire poverty and are plagued by disease to no end (though famine isn't among their problems, possibly).
* In the ''Film/WildWildWest'' film, Loveless proposes to ally with some foreign governments to do this to the burgeoning United States. This has roots in the original series in which Dr. Loveless believed that California was rightfully his due to a Spanish land grant to his family before the Mexican Revolution.
--> '''Loveless''': Great Britain gets back the thirteen original colonies, minus Manhattan. Florida and the Fountain of Youth go back to Spain. [[MexicoCalledTheyWantTexasBack Texas, New Mexico, California, Arizona revolve a México]]. ''(points to most of the northwest, labeled "[[{{Egopolis}} Loveless Land]]")'' And a little piece for me to retire on.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/ElevenTwentyTwoSixtyThree'': In the alternate universe created by the prevention of JFK's assassination, Maine is a Province of Canada.
* In ''Literature/TheAccidentalTimeMachine'' by Joe Haldeman, the main character visits a future in which the northeastern part of the United States has become a theocracy and closed itself off from the rest of the country.
* In ''After America'', John Birmingham's second book in his ''Literature/{{Wave}}'' trilogy about a mysterious energy field called "the Wave" that wipes out the populations of huge chunks of Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Cuba. Most of the continental US remains uninhabited three years after, with a renegade general becoming the Governor of Texas and running it as a quasi-independent state, Manhattan being a battleground between jihadis, pirates, European mobsters and the reestablished US government. That government, based out of Seattle, is trying to create seed colonies scattered around the country.
* In Robert Evans' ''Literature/AfterTheRevolution'' the SecondAmericanCivilWar happened in 2041. The resulting extremely chaotic war saw the federal government pitted against several different rebel factions, and the conflict lasted for over a decade, and by the end, the USA had been split into several different entities. The remnants of the old federal government, known as the North American Federation (or just "[=AmFed=]"), still maintain control over the New England and the Middle Atlantic regions, as well as parts of the East North Central states, except for the Great Lakes area, which has become a protectorate under the Canadian government. Meanwhile, most of the Southern states has branded together into a theocratic union known as the United Christian States. Other larger states includes the Califonian Republic and Cascadia, a union of the the nothern pacific states. Several other states have attempt to strike out on their own, but to very limited success. Utah (along with parts of nothern Nevada), popularily known as "Mormonland", is embroiled in a conflict between two competing Mormon sects. The Republic of Florida is referred to as "the [[BananaRepublic Banana-est Republic]] in North America". The Republic of Texas, where most of the story takes place, meanwhile, is a mostly failed Liberatian state, locked in a deadly conflict with the Heavenly Kingdom, a group of extremist Dominionist Christian rebels. Weirdest perhaps, is the so-called Kingdom of Albuquerque, a small dictatorship (its borders are not really defined, but it is implied to be [[LandOfOneCity limited to the city of Albuquerque itself]]) run by an autocratic ruler who has proclaimed himself king and is heavily implied to be TheCaligula.
* ''Literature/ATLStoriesFromTheRetrofuture'': It's unclear what happened in [[GreatOffscreenWar "the war"]], but it certainly ended up with the United States broken up since there is the Republic of Georgia with Atlanta as its capital. Characters often mention "The West" as a foreign area, as well.
* Richard Morgan's ''Literature/BlackMan'' (also known as ''Thirteen' in North America) includes a "United States" that was forced to Balkanise through a mix of external and internal pressure; the remnants take the form of the fairly moderate, civilised North Atlantic Union, comprising the North East and New England, the extremely conservative, economically and socially backwards Confederate States of America (informally referred to as "Jesusland", in a nod to the common nickname for "Red State" America) and the capitalistic, libertarian Pacific Rim Union. The Union and the Rim don't get on particularly well, but both are united in their mutual distaste for the Republic, which is more than reciprocated.
* In ''Literature/BrokenAngel'' by Sigmund Brouwer, Appalachia is a {{Dystopia}}n theocracy independent from the United States.
* In Creator/MikeResnick's ''Literature/TheBuntlineSpecial'' the United States of America's border, as of 1881 stops at the Mississippi River thanks to Indian (specifically Cheyenne and Apache) magic. There are white settlements west of the river but they are independent entities and exist on Indian sufferance.
* ''Literature/ACanticleForLeibowitz'' is set in a [[AfterTheEnd postapocalyptic]] North America and spans several hundred years. In the opening chapters, North America is divided into feudal kingdoms such as "Texarkana". Texarkana is the name of a city that straddles the border of Texas and Arkansas, likely one of the cities that managed to escape the war, and became a power center when people began to rebuild civilization. There's also the Kingdom of Laredo (based in what used to be Laredo, Texas), a cowboy-esque nomadic [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy warrior culture]] (a little along the lines of the Mongols) who look down on the agrarian "grass-eaters" of Texarkana.
* The ''Literature/ChooseYourOwnAdventure'' books ''Escape!'' and ''Beyond Escape!'' and the series ''Trio: Rebels in the New World'' took place in an America that had been split into the "nice" Turtalia, the evil Dorado, and Rebellium. This setting was explored in far greater detail in the ''Trio'' series (by the same author), which elaborated on the somewhat simplistic descriptions (and presented a more realistic view) by pointing out that Turtalia was a deliberate attempt to maintain the democratic ideals of the collapsed United States, while Dorado was a military dictatorship set up by a former crusading lawyer and the remains of the New Mexican National Guard, while "Rebellium" was simply a nickname given to the collection of warring city-states that made up much of the East Coast. There was a fair amount of corruption in Turtalia, as well as a number of soldiers in Dorado who sincerely believed that the only way to preserve civilization was to enforce totalitarian rule until things stabilized, and had no doubt that they were in the right and that the Turtalians were deluded idealists whose society would eventually collapse on itself.
* Neil Cross's ''Literature/{{Christendom}}'' has this as part of its {{backstory}}. America collapsed into anarchy, but the fundamentalist Christian nation of New Jerusalem eventually arose on the East Coast and took back the rest of the country. After a series of wars, it went on to 'reclaim' parts of Australia, India, China, and northern Europe, as well as all of Egypt and Japan.
* In ''Literature/ChristianNation'', after President Steve Jordan decides to suspend the Constitution in favor of the Fifty Blessings based on his fundamentalist Christian view of God's law, several states in the Northeast, as well as California, decide to split off from the rest of the union to form the Secular Bloc States. It does not last, however, as Steve Jordan uses military force to recapture the seceding states and force them to submit to the new laws of the country.
* In ''Literature/{{Cloudsplitter}}'' by Russell Banks, John Brown constantly predicts the takeover of the United States by pro-slavery forces which, he says, will force New England to secede.
* In Maurice Dantec's ''Literature/CosmosIncorporated'' the combination of the Grand Jihad and the Second Civil War results in an America with three capitals (Detroit, Washington DC, which is little more than a city-state surrounded by a Muslim Caliphate controlling the east coast and Atlanta). There is also a Mohawk nation straddling the former US-Canada border.
* Creator/KimNewman's ''Literature/DarkFuture'''s America plays on the Southern States leaving--Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Florida, Arkansas, and Kentucky are unofficially known as the Independent States of America. Utah was sold to an {{Expy}} of the Mormon Church and was renamed Deseret. It's a sufficiently separate state that its citizens have their own passports.
* The ''Literature/{{Daybreak}}'' series is about a radical environmentalist group using nanotech, biological agents, and fusion bombs (super nukes) to destroy modern technology and infrastructure, sending the world back into (at best) early [=1800s=] tech. While this is a global event, the main focus is on the United States and its disintegration over the course of the series. By the time the series is done: after the nuking of DC, two rival governments emerge -- the Provisional Constitutional Government, based in Olympia, Washington, which directly controls the Pacific Northwest and has influence over the entire western half of the country, and the Temporary National Government, based in Athens, Georgia, which controls most of the South (and which is later taken over by religious extremists who declare the region the Christian States of America). Utah, Texas, and California (which is taken over by a neo-feudal movement and declared a duchy) become highly autonomous, with the latter two eventually seceding. Alaska secedes early on. Hawaii dissolves into chaos and loses contact with the mainland. Arizona loses territory to California and Nevada, as well as the newly declared Apache and Navajo nations. Oklahoma likewise loses its eastern half to Native American independence, resulting in the Allied First Nations and Western Oklahoma. Montana is part of the PCG, but has strong movements for both independence and federating with Alberta. And then there's the Lost Quarter, the entire region north of the Carolinas and east of Kentucky and Illinois, which is so heavily devastated by the immediate and after effects of Daybreak and overrun by pro-Daybreak tribals that any large government in the area is impossible. That said, there are a few centers of civilization -- Castle Earthstone in Indiana, a tribal stronghold that declares independence from Daybreak and eventually establishes a Domain around the eastern Great Lakes region; Pelissipi, several counties along the Virginia/West Virgina border region which banded together to drive off the tribals and found a new state; and Manbrookstat, which is technically just a city-state operating out of the ruins of New York City, but whose totalitarian leader, the Commandant, declares nominal control of all Lost Quarter territory not claimed by the TNG/CSA or the Domain. And further complicating things is the Commandant founding the Atlantic League (a confederacy of similar city-states around the Atlantic), and opening the Lost Quarter to colonization by his partners.
* The ''Literature/{{Deathlands}}'' action/adventure novels (by Jack Adrian et al) has a [[AfterTheEnd post-nuclear United States]] consisting entirely of feudal baronies, as no one has the technology to control anything larger.
* In Bruce Sterling and Creator/WilliamGibson's ''Literature/TheDifferenceEngine'' the USA is split into Union, Confederacy, Texas and California. Among the minor characters is Sam Houston, an emissary from the Republic of Texas. A Marxist Manhattan Commune, actually founded by Karl Marx, is also mentioned.
* ''Literature/DirkPittAdventures'': ''Flood Tide'' had a secret plan to carve a Latin nation called "Hispania" in the Southwest east from UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, and a Chinese-run nation of Pacifica on the West Coast from UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco, through Seattle and Vancouver up to Alaska. Even the President (in this book, a less honorable guy) feels that this is inevitable.
* In Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''[[Literature/CrosstimeTraffic The Disunited States of America]]'', every state becomes its own country after the United States ceases to exist because they kept the Articles of Confederation. California is an economic and technological superpower in the region and is one of the most liberal societies, while many former slave-owning states in the South have a racial caste/hierarchy/apartheid system where the white people are the top of the ladder while the blacks are treated like trash (with the exception of Mississippi, where the racial oppression is reversed). Some states are also geographically different, including a United Virginia, a United Carolina, and the state of Boone (Kentucky and half of Tennessee). Since every state is its own country, there are many conflicts in North America, such as the Florida Intervention (the state was forcibly split into three parts, one of which becomes owned by Cuba). Most of the plot centers around Virginia, where Ohio decided to piss off that state and start a war by spreading a [[SyntheticPlague genetically modified measles virus]] and supplying weapons to the oppressed black population in Virginia.
* Ernest Callenbach's ''Literature/{{Ecotopia}}'' details the titular country, composed of the entire West Coast minus Southern California. A forerunner of "Cascadia", discussed elsewhere on this page.
* In S.M. Stirling's ''Literature/{{Emberverse}}'' novels, the world suffers 'the Change', in which electricity and gunpowder suddenly cease to work. Much of America ends up as a bone-littered wasteland, but in the inhabitable parts, small countries and fiefdoms of every stripe spring up; what used to be Oregon ends up with a half-dozen or so.\\
\\
In the later books, all the little nations in Oregon have formed a UN-like organisation, and we have the Church Universal and Triumphant that initially occupies what is roughly Montana, the United States of Boise which is basically Idaho (but calls itself just the United States because it thinks of itself as the VestigialEmpire), and New Deseret, the Mormon theocracy based in Utah. So large states do survive in some areas.\\
\\
Further east, about a dozen new nations form around the east side of the Mississippi--the Republics of Fargo, Marshall and Kirksville, the Provisional Republic of Iowa, the State of Nebraska and the Emergency Powers Zone of Concordia (basically Kansas). The rest of the U.S. is either a death zone full of corpses and cannibals (the highly populated areas, like the East Coast and California) or small townships, in places like the Gulf of Mexico and the remote parts of the Appalachians. This is a completely JustifiedTrope; considering just how much our civilization relies on the electricity and oil that become useless, it's not surprising that this occurs, - though AuthorAppeal applies, considering that Great Britain survives with its monarchy intact.
* In ''Literature/FireOnTheMountain'', John Brown enlists Harriet Tubman's aid in his raid on Harper's Ferry and, thanks to her support, is successful. This sparks off a series of slave revolts that coalesce into "Nova Africa", a socialist republic run by former slaves made up of most of the states that would have become the Confederacy.[[note]]The idea was based on the real-life separatist/social movement "The Republic of New Afrika", which sought to secede states in the Deep South from the United States by a referendum of African Americans and form a new country[[/note]] Additionally, Mexico has taken advantage of the situation by reclaiming California, Arizona, and Texas. A Civil War does still take place, with Robert E. Lee, Abraham Lincoln, and others attempting to reclaim the former states; but the Union ultimately is defeated. The remainder of the current real continental USA is governed by several different Native American nations. In the alternate 1940s, the United States was replaced by a socialist state after another revolution.
* Card also wrote a series of short stories (collected as "Literature/FolkOfTheFringe") in which US society crumbled after a limited nuclear exchange with Russia. The Mormon church and the population of the mountain west establish a quasi-theocratic society called Deseret in Utah and the surrounding areas. While certainly not a utopia, this nation is implied to be relatively stable and successful, while much of the country has descended into anarchy.
* ''Literature/TheForestOfTime'' has a similar premise to ''The Disunited States of America'', though with much less westward expansion. The main focus is on the conflicts between the Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking Pennsylvania and its English-speaking neighbors New York and Virginia.
* The setting for Creator/RobertAHeinlein's novel ''Literature/{{Friday}}'' balkanized the States in just this fashion, with Vicksburg being a center of a laissez-faire economy where the nation of Texas, for example, could go to hire mercenaries for use in battles along the Mississippi River. Meanwhile, out on the west coast, there is the California Confederacy, headed by a "Chief Confederate". There is also a Chicago Imperium which, despite the name, controls the entire Upper Midwest. Heinlein has it ruled by a "Chairman", thus averting an Anvilicious TakeThat to the Daley political machine in Chicago. Other nations included the Atlantic Union, Vegas Free State (centering on Las Vegas) and Deseret (Mormon-controlled Utah).
* ''Literature/{{Galaxias}}'' by Creator/StephenBaxter, set in 2057, when the government of the Federated Kingdom of England has a conference call with the US government, there are also representatives of the American Free States and the New Californian Republic present.
* In Creator/LEModesittJr's ''Literature/{{Ghosts}}'' series, history is different due to the presence of actual, scientifically-verifiable ghosts that appear after a violent death in which the person knows he or she is dying. North America is split into Columbia (a United States analogue where the Dutch are one of the prominent people), the Mormon Theocracy of Deseret, New France, and Quebec, among other things.
* The ''Literature/HaloEvolutions'' story ''The Impossible Life and Possible Death of Preston J. Cole'' uses the term "the first American Civil War", hinting that the US fell into at least one more civil war between the present day and the 26th century.
* Creator/WalterJonWilliams's ''Literature/{{Hardwired}}'' has a heavily balkanized territory formerly known as the USA, in which Hovertank jockeys make a fortune flying contraband across fortified state borders.
* In the ''[[Literature/TheHungerGames Hunger Games]]'' series, the United States has been renamed "Panem" and split into a Capitol (the Rockies) and twelve distinct and separate Districts in various parts of the country, such as Appalachia. The name "Panem" is derived from [[GratuitousLatin the Latin phrase "panem et circenses"]] or "bread and circuses", hence Peeta being the son of a baker and the titular "Games" serving as circuses to entertain the masses and keep them in check. It could also mean "Pan-am", as in "Pan-American".
* The setting of the Creator/RobertAHeinlein novella "Literature/IfThisGoesOn" had an oppressive theocracy as one part of a divided U.S. The theocracy ruled pretty much the whole U.S., with the exception of Hawaii (mentioned as an independent republic). His novel ''Literature/TheCatWhoWalksThroughWalls'' had this as well. The theocracy, started by the prophet cum President Nehemiah Scudder, is part of Heinlein's "Future History," a title applied to a large percentage of his work which all takes place in the same Universe. Consequently, this version of the United States appears in much of Heinlein's fiction, though it may not be mentioned directly.
* ''Literature/TheIndiansWon'', by Martin Cruz Smith, speculates that if Crazy Horse had lived, and if he and other Native leaders had had the resources, they'd have joined with Paiute holy man Wovoka[[note]]whose Ghost Dance movement really was intended to do this[[/note]] to unite the High Plains nations against the European invaders. Further south, Native peoples join with the Latter-Day Saints in a separate nation-state. Much of the needed weapons and food are actually supplied by an evil European cabal who plan to overthrow the new governments once they're established, but the Indians catch on and thereby hangs the tale.
* Many Russian science fiction writers include in their novels a mention that the US has been split into several nation-states due to ideological differences and/or corruption. One notable exception is Creator/MikhailAkhmanov's novel ''[[Literature/ArrivalsFromTheDark Invasion]]'', in which the US actually merges with Canada to form the "United States and Canada" (USC) and is as strong as ever (with Russia by its side).
* In ''Literature/ItCantHappenHere'', widespread revolts erupt after Haik assumes power, and America is quickly divided into areas that dissidents control and areas that Haik's government controls.
* Max Barry (of Website/NationStates fame) explored a similar setting in the novel ''Literature/JenniferGovernment''. Nearly all society and law is individually administered by corporations (right down to corporate sponsored schools and security firms), while what's left of the government is relatively weak and looked down upon. At the same time, however, what's known as "The United States" is a SpaceFillingEmpire, albeit one without a meaningful central government. It covers both North and South America, Great Britain, Australia, parts of Asia, and possibly other areas as well.
* In Alan Steele's ''Literature/JerichoIteration'' UsefulNotes/{{Oregon}} and UsefulNotes/{{Washington}} have seceded to form the nation of Cascadia.
* Marie Lu's ''Literature/LegendSeries'' takes place with America being divided east to west: the dystopian Republic, where the ghetto sectors are used for plague testing and the Colonies, which seems to be a utopia but actually a consumer-dominated police state.
* ''Literature/LucifersHammer'': The protagonist survivors, living in and around California's San Joaquin Valley, all make jokes about the five announcements they've received over short-wave radio, each proclaiming a different person President of the United States. The only one they give any level of credence to is the group in Colorado Springs because a) the person making the proclamation is the former Speaker of the House and thus might actually have legal authority and b) apparently NORAD survived and they still have nukes and working bombers. As far as they are concerned, Arthur Jellison (former US Senator and leader of the effort to organize and rebuild) is their leader. One person jokes that Jellison is "the Duke of San Joaquin". [[spoiler:In the epilogue, after Jellison's death, Tim notes that Harvey and Maureen "would have to come to terms" with the Colorado Springs group, implying either that either they do have that authority or that they're powerful enough to be respected anyway.]]
* Though it doesn't impact the story directly, in George Alec Effinger's ''Literature/MaridAudran'' series, this is mentioned as one of the reasons that the Islamic world has risen to dominate world politics. Bill the cab driver was born in the nation of Deseret, centered around the former state of Utah.
* In ''Literature/{{Metatropolis}}'', a series of environmental and energy crises have reverted civilization into city-states. There's the anarcho-environmentalist community of Cascadiopolis hidden in UsefulNotes/TheOtherRainforest, the decaying slums of Detroit, the tightly controlled "zero-footprint" city of New St. Louis...
* In Creator/MattRuff's ''Literature/TheMirage'' the Christian States of America is composed of 17 States, 18 after Mississippi joins in 1990. An attempt to annex Louisiana results in the Mexican Gulf War. There is also an Evangelical Republic of Texas that also claims Oklahoma, New Mexico and the Mexican state of Coahuila although the inhabitants of these place all beg to differ, a Rocky Mountain Nation that controls,more in theory than fact, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and the Dakotas because it itself is split up into small tribal factions, a Mormon nation although it's based in Missouri rather than Utah and the Pentacostal Heartland State of Gilead. How big the latter is is unstated but Tennesee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan form its eastern edge.
* In John Barnes's ''Literature/MotherOfStorms'', set in 2028 (written in 1994) Alaska successfully petitioned the UN for its independence.
* The [[AlternateHistory alternative nineteenth century]] of Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Nation}}'' features the ''Re''United States of America, implying that this trope must have happened at some point.
* ''Literature/TheNightMayor'' is set entirely in England, but there's a passing mention of a recent "War Between the States" that has resulted in political upheaval in North America including the establishment of the CSA as an independent political entity.
* ''Literature/NightOfPower'': At the end, UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity secedes and declares itself a black homeland.
* Creator/PoulAnderson's "No Truce with Kings" features this in a recovering post-disaster world.
* By the end of Creator/WilliamRForstchen's ''Literature/OneSecondAfter'', [[spoiler:China has taken over the West Coast, Mexico has grabbed a large chunk of the South West, the US Government controls the East Coast and the rest of the country is more or less up for grabs and in chaos.]]
* Creator/RobertSilverberg's short story "The Palace at Midnight" is set in The Empire of San Francisco, in a ''really'' balkanised USA. One of the characters is the ambassador from the Republic of Monterey; also mentioned are the Holy Carolina Confederation, the Three Kingdoms of New York, the Realm of Wicca in Oregon, and The Grand Duchy of Chicago.
* Octavia Butler's ''[[Literature/ParableOfTheSower Parable of the Talents]]'' takes place during the "Al-Can War", when Alaska successfully secedes from the United States. The rest of the country is in shambles and is being run by a fundamentalist Christian leader.
* In ''Literature/ThePassage'' both California and Texas secede when the Vampire Apocalypse hits. [[spoiler:California didn't last. Nearly a century later the Republic of Texas is still a going concern.]]
* In ''Literature/ThePeaceWar'', the former United States has fractured into numerous smaller nations, a state of affairs encouraged by the Peace Authority because it means none of them are large enough to pose a threat. The only one that bears much resemblance to the former US is the Republic of New Mexico; other forms of government represented include the feudal autocracy of Atzlan (formerly southern California) and a region with no central government where the peace is kept by [[LawEnforcementInc protection companies]]. The sequels show that after the overthrow of the Peace Authority nobody seems particularly keen on reviving the old Union, and eventually all the countries dissolve as people prefer the ungoverned land/protection company model.
* On [=E3=] in Creator/IanMcDonald's ''Literature/{{Planesrunner}}'' has the Confederate States of America, which apparently seceded in the 1850s, the United States, and Mexica, which is the west coast that used to belong to Mexico before ''it'' seceded.
* Robert Ferrigno's ''Literature/PrayersForTheAssassin'' trilogy takes place in a future where the United States is split into four pieces following the nuking of New York and D.C., with the northern states becoming an Islamic Republic and the southern states becoming "The Bible Belt", with Utah as Mormon territory and Nevada as a free state/American Amsterdam. The inside cover has [[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/attachment.php?attachmentid=26602&stc=1&d=1177373663 a handy map]].
* ''Literature/RedQueen'': Thousands of years into the future, the US and Canada have been split into six monarchies, a republic, and three conflict zones. Most of the main characters hail from Norta (the Northeastern United States), Farley is from the Lakelands (the Midwest and Canada east of Lake Superior), and the other monarchies are Piedmont (the South east of the Mississippi), Tiraxes (the South west of the Mississippi), Prairie (the vast North American Prairies), and Ciron (the West Coast). The sole republic is Montfort, centered on the Rocky Mountains. The conflict zones are the Choke (Niagara Falls), the Wash (Washington, D.C.), and the Disputed Lands (all along the stretch of the Mississippi, where Reds live free from Silver rule).
%% * Daniel da Cruz's ''Literature/RepublicOfTexas'' trilogy. The title says it all.
%% No, no it doesn't.
* ''Literature/ResurrectionDay'', a novel by Brendan Dubois, explores a world after a Cuban Missile crisis where nobody blinked. The resultant nuclear exchange destroyed Russia and devastated the USA, leaving Europe largely untouched. A crippled rump USA hangs on, but roles have reversed: a resurgent Britain is now an effective leader in the English-speaking world and is succoring the Americans with aid. This is not given unconditionally; as the book progresses it becomes clear the British are planning to take over and reverse the whole 1776 thing, exploiting deep divisions and resentments in what is left of America.
* Stoney Compton's ''Literature/RussianAmerika'' features an alternate universe where North America is made up of The United States, The Confederate States, The First People's Nation, New France (Quebec), British Canada, The Republic of California, Deseret, The Republic of Texas, New Spain (Mexico), and the titular Russian Amerika (Alaska). Notably, the latter is not an example of RussiaCalledTheyWantAlaskaBack, as, in this reality, the Alaska Purchase never happened due to the Union not having enough money to acquire it after losing the Civil War.
* The webserial ''Literature/{{Sanctioned}}'' briefly mentions that America has split into God's Beloved Chosen America, and the United Northern States of America. As it's set in Scotland, not much is said about things in America.
* In ''Literature/TheSchizogenicMan'', America has fragmented into several small countries, including New City, Texas, Tropicana, and the Middle. [[spoiler:Texas eventually declares war on Tropicana, causing refugees to pour into New City. When the war turns nuclear, New City is destroyed, and the governmental supercomputer MEQMAT with it. MEQMAT unsuccessfully tries to find a timeline in TheMultiverse where the war doesn't happen.]]
* ''Literature/{{Serpent}}'' had a BigBad who not only wanted to [[MexicoCalledTheyWantTexasBack make himself leader of a country called Angelica formed from the Southwest plus Mexico]], he also had contingencies in place for the Chinese-controlled Pacifica, plus Quebec separating from Canada and the Maritime Provinces, cut off from the rest of the country, joining the remainder of the USA.
* In Creator/MurrayLeinster's story "Sidewise in Time" time fractures bringing dinosaurs to the suburbs and other mixed up time zones. In one a salesman for the "Uncle Sam Candy Company" is arrested because he slipped into a place where the Confederacy still exists and the Stars and Stripes cannot be displayed. He is set free to return to the Union in order not to exacerbate the tensions between the two nations.
* Kurt Vonnegut's ''Literature/SlaughterhouseFive'' shows Billy Pilgrim wandering into the future, where the US has been balkanised for its own good. [[ArcWords So it goes.]]
* Neal Stephenson's ''Literature/SnowCrash'' takes place in a future where America has broken up into ''millions'' of "micronations", where a given [=McDonald's=] store, for example, would be on the sovereign soil of the [=McDonald's=] nation. The US government is still around, but they just mainly run the post office.
* Although technically still a single nation the United Seven States of America (USSA), in Jerry Jenkins's ''Literature/{{Soon}}'', has been divided into seven semi-independent districts as depicted in [[http://bayimg.com/GacNdAadg this fanwork]].
* In John Michael Greer's ''Literature/StarsReach'', during the end of the old time, the United States fractured into several countries. By the 25th century, Meriga only comprises some of the states in the center of the country. Other countries formed from its collapse include Jinya in the Appalacians and Nuwinga around New England, and [[MexicoCalledTheyWantTexasBack the expanded Meycan Empire is implied to have absorbed some of the southern states.]] Other states were lost entirely to the [[FloodedFutureWorld rising oceans.]]
* Dean Ing wrote a trilogy beginning in ''Literature/SystemicShock'' with World War IV: the Chinese-Indian alliance launches a massive nuclear and bio-weapons strike that kills roughly 100 million Americans. Afterward, the U.S. government quarantines the southern East Coast, where most of the bio-weapons spread, from New York down to the tip of Florida, and west to the Mississippi. Mexico grabs a strip of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and almost all of the California coast; New England and each northernmost state along the border become a Canadian Protectorate. The rest is "Streamlined America."
* Creator/OrsonScottCard's ''Literature/TheTalesOfAlvinMaker'' takes place in an alternate version of the 19th century where the English Restoration never occurred, and the Protectorate still rules England--leading the exiled [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfStuart House of Stuart]] to establish a new court in North America in opposition to the Puritan colonies ruled by England's Lord Protector. As a result, North America is divided between the "Crown Colonies" in the South and the Puritan colonies of New England in the North, with the independent United States (including the Native American state of "Irrakawa") caught between them, and the independent nation of "Appalachee" to the West.
* Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''Literature/Timeline191'' chronicles an alternate timeline where the Confederate States won the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar, leading to the Confederacy remaining an independent nation through the late 19th century up through UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Aside from North American being split between the United States and the Confederate States, there are numerous other subtle geographical changes: the states of UsefulNotes/NorthDakota and UsefulNotes/SouthDakota are a single state called "Dakota", UsefulNotes/{{Arizona}} and UsefulNotes/NewMexico are a single state called "New Mexico", Confederate [[UsefulNotes/OklahomaUSA Oklahoma]] is practically an autonomous state called "Sequoyah" ruled by Native Americans, the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua are part of the Confederacy (as is UsefulNotes/{{Cuba}}). Late in the "First Great War" UsefulNotes/{{Quebec}} is set up by the US as an 'independent' republic and western UsefulNotes/{{Texas}} is also established as a separate state called "Houston" (in honor of pro-Union Sam Houston).
* ''Literature/ToBeTaughtIfFortunate'' follows astronauts in the twenty-second century, after the [[GlobalWarming Great Shift]]. One grew up in a megacity along the Fraser river (presumably Vancouver) in a nation called Cascadia, which borders a nation called the Pacific Republic to the south. The border is mentioned to be desert.
* ''Literature/TrailOfLightning'' features united Navajo nation Dinétah in former New Mexico, the Mormon Republic in former Utah, and the Republic of New Denver in former Colorado. Much of the remainder of the continent is flooded.
* ''Literature/{{Unsong}}'' is set in the "Untied States of America" (sic), an EU style federation of sovereign countries. The release of [[BrownNote the Broadcast]] by the forces of hell, via Nixon, caused the collapse of the American federal government. The United States proper still exists but controls only the east coast. Independent countries include the California Republic, the Texas Republic, the Salish Free State, and the Oklahoma Ochlocracy. The Midwest is an anarchic land ruled by feudal warlords. The American Southwest and northern Mexico were ruled by the Comet King, and have since been mostly usurped by the Other King.
* Another Creator/HarryTurtledove work, ''[[Literature/CrosstimeTraffic The Valley-Westside War]]'', depicts the US far more thoroughly broken up in the aftermath of a nuclear war in 1967. A hundred years later, there are a score of sovereign nations in the territory of the city of Los Angeles alone, each with its own national pride, a specific system of government, hereditary enemies, a miniature national army and protective tariffs to defend the national product. In the whole of the former US territory, there must be many thousands of such mini-states.
* ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'': The central premise is the dissolution of the United States owing to a combination of hyperinflation, pestilence, and disobedience in the face of growing lawlessness. The heroes occupy the Northern Confederacy/Victoria, a deeply conservative version of New England, and in the South a New Confederacy forms, torn between its cosmopolitan and rural elements. Past that, Wisconsin is taken over by Nazis, the 'Party of the Will'. Insane parodies of 'Deep Greener' environmentalists take over the Pacific Northwest, forming Cascadia. California is renamed Azania, moving the capital to the Berkley campus and outlawing men. The rest is overrun by 'orcs' as minority gangs and rioters are called in-story.
* The historical background of the ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'' involves the United States falling apart due to internal conflict. The borderline utopian Beta Colony in the series was an attempt to preserve the best of America and is a rather "Blue State" kind of place.
* In Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka's novel ''Literature/WarDay'', following a (relatively) limited nuclear exchange with the USSR, Washington DC has been destroyed and the US is slowly splintering into a collection of Balkanized nations, with California aggressively leading the pack.
* The ''Literature/{{Wingman}}'' series by Mack Maloney (written in the 1980s) takes place in a setting where the United States was forcibly dismantled by the Soviet Union after being tricked into thinking that it lost WorldWarIII. However, by the end of the series, the country has reunited (primarily due to the heroes' efforts).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Amerika}}'' (1987): The Soviet Union plans to do this to the United States in order to prevent a resurgent America from posing a threat. At the end of the series the protagonist Devin Milford is shot by the leader of Heartland's defence force as he's about to make a radio broadcast calling for Americans to resist the breakup; [[WeAreStrugglingTogether this is viewed as 'treason' against Heartland]].
* ''Series/BostonLegal'': The town of Concord, Massachusetts tried to secede from the United States in one episode, citing reasons involving disagreement with the government's current policy. Judge Brown threw it out as ridiculous.
* The [[http://web.archive.org/web/20180727114832/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/bradley-whitford-courtney-b-vance-903104 cancelled 2016 series]] ''Civil'' would have featured this. The show never aired after TNT felt it would hit "too close to home" after the controversial 2016 elections however.
* ''Series/TheHandmaidsTale'': It seems Gilead only covers a portion of the former U.S., with a civil war being fought in other parts (such as Florida, according to Ofglen's comments about the oranges meaning "the fighting is going well" there). Offred mentions that Anchorage is the capital of "what's left of the United States," though it's hard to tell if she means Gilead or what remains of the original government. From the Commander's comment about [[spoiler:going to D.C. for some meetings]], it's probably the latter. It's hard to tell, given that the women in the series have no access to reliable news or other outside information. [[spoiler:Other than Ofglen, because she's in the resistance.]]
* ''Series/Jericho2006'':
** Has two federal governments by Season 2 in the wake of a CosyCatastrophe; the larger of the two's flag is at the top of this article. It is the Allied States of America, a corporate dictatorship [[spoiler:( at least some of whose leaders were behind the catastrophe)]] which rules the states west of the Mississippi (except Texas) and has its capital in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The other is what's left of the legitimate federal government, with its capital in Columbus, Ohio [[spoiler:(notably the city Hawkins was supposed to deliver his bomb to)]]. Off on its own, able to tip the balance is the fully independent Republic of Texas. Season 1 makes a mention of ''six'' federal governments, and briefly shows a map with Sacramento, California; Cheyenne, Wyoming; San Antonio, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; Albany, New York; and Montgomery, Alabama marked as capitals. There is also mention of a Senator from Oregon and a Senator from Alabama making claims to the Presidency. By season 2, though, this has been narrowed down to the above two governments and the Republic of Texas.
** When discussing the six factions in Season 1 mentioned above, it is stated that one of those claiming the Presidency, the man who eventually becomes the (off-screen) leader of the eastern States in season two and thus the United States, is actually the legal and legitimate successor to the Presidency as he was a member of the late President's cabinet when the attacks occurred. However, as Russell explains, there are [[WeAREStrugglingTogether "five other guys who seem to think the attacks have changed the rules"]]. Not surprising given the disaster the country has experienced, which involves [[spoiler:''23 cities'' destroyed by]] nuclear terrorism, [[spoiler:not to mention that one of the upstarts was very likely involved in the attacks]]. Naturally, there's going to be some chaos. Also, each person claiming the Presidency is backed by parts of the military. Again this is narrowed to the two above plus Texas by Season 2, the latter of whom will tip the balance to whoever can recruit them.
** By the end of Season 2, [[spoiler: Jake and Hawkins have exposed the Cheyenne government's conspiracy and treason, causing Texas to rejoin the United States under the legitimate government. It is then flat out said by Chavez and Jake that a Second American Civil War is about to begin. And sure enough, the six-issue comic sequel series starts with the war's beginning]].
* ''Series/KeyWest'': In one episode, the residents of Key West decide to secede from the Union forming the Conch Republic, reflecting a similar "Conch Republic" set up in real life (see Real Life, below).
* ''Series/TheLastShip'': In Season 3, it's shown that in an attempt to bring stability to [[AfterTheEnd post-plague]] America whilst the federal government is rebuilt almost from scratch, President Michener has had the 48 contiguous states divided into five semi-autonomous territories (Northeast, South, Midwest, Southwest, Northwest) controlled by local leaders who report to the new capital district surrounding St. Louis. This is somewhat of a downplayed example, as it's meant to be a temporary measure until a new Congress can be elected... Or at least, that's the plan, until [[spoiler:the regional leaders stage [[TheCoup a coup]], killing Michener and deposing Vice-President Oliver, in order to dissolve the Union and formally turn their territories into their own fiefdoms, with the treacherous White House Chief of Staff trying to get St. Louis as her own city-state as her price for planning the coup]]. Things get a little more complicated from there, as [[spoiler:the Northwest leader [[HeelRealization gets cold feet]] and is [[RedemptionEqualsDeath killed for it]], leading to the Southwest leader absorbing his territory, only for [[TwentyFifthAmendment President]] Oliver and the ''Nathan James'' crew to lead a counter-coup and arrest him, turning the whole West Coast into TheRemnant of the actual US.]] These complications are resolved by the end of the season, as [[spoiler:the other conspirators are captured or killed, allowing Oliver to regain total control of the country]]. Aside from an implication that Hawaii is under Naval control, there's no mention of the status of either it or Alaska.
* ''Literature/TheManInTheHighCastle'': In this AlternateHistory, the Axis powers win WWII and divide America into the [[FallenStatesOfAmerica Greater Nazi Reich and the Pacific Japanese States]], with the Neutral Zone in the middle as a sort of neo-Wild-West.
** In the TV Series' finale, America regains sovereignty but is left fractured, with the Black Communist Rebellion taking the JPS after the Japanese army withdraws, the GNR local administration declaring seccession from the Nazis, and the Resistance seizing control of a super science project in the Neutral Zone to give them full autonomy. Unfortunately, all three sides hate each other too much to consider re-uniting the country.
* In ''Series/MotherlandFortSalem'', a portion of the United States was ceded back to the First Nations peoples in exchange for the [[MagicByAnyOtherName working]] that allows General Alder to be functionally immortal. The country is called the Chippewa Cession, or more commonly just "the Cession", and encompasses what would be Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana in our world (although real-life Oklahoma is called Louisiana instead). The Cession is governed by a council who represent seven distinct language groups (Salish, Shoshone, Lakota, Ojibwe, Muscogee, Iroquois and Cherokee), six of whom are women since most societies in the ''Motherland'' world tend towards matriarchy. Not everyone who lives in the Cession is Native American; one of the main trio of the show, Raelle, is Caucasian and grew up there. Relations between witches and [[{{Muggles}} civilians]] are more equitable in the Cession, which often leads to witches who are dodging the US's country-wide draft using the Cession to hide and move around, although its borders are patrolled by the formidable Cession Marshals.
* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': Referenced in "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S10E12Squirm Squirm]]". Near the end of [[Film/{{Squirm}} the movie]], which takes place in the southern U.S., Crow gets aggravated and tells the South to go ahead and secede again, claiming the North won't stop them this time. Mike quickly tells the South not to listen to the "sad little robot".
* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'':
** The show has several examples of how the United States (and to a lesser extent Canada and Mexico) have been broken up (There is also a map first shown in [[Recap/RevolutionS1E5SoulTrain episode 5]]) Note that since some of these nations extend into Canada and/or Mexico this trope is combined with ExpandedStatesOfAmerica:
** The Monroe Republic: New England, the Mid-Atlantic and Great Lakes areas as well as the Canadian Maritime Provinces and Quebec south of the St. Lawrence River
** The Georgia Federation: The Southeast. Apparently the major rival to the Monroe Republic, and possibly allying with the Plains Nation to eliminate it
** Texas: Texas, with what appears to be parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, as well as a sizable chunk of Mexico
** The Plains Nation: the Midwest from Minnesota to Montana
** The Wasteland: Utah and the Rockies
** The California Commonwealth: The West Coast including a sizable chunk of British Columbia and all of Baja California. Considered to be "heathens" by at least one high-level Monroe Militia officer (Neville)
* ''Series/{{Sliders}}'':
** In "[[Recap/SlidersS02E04TheGoodTheBadAndTheWealthy The Good, the Bad and the Wealthy]]", the Republic of Texas is an independent country which stretched to include UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco.
** In "[[Recap/SlidersS02E10Greatfellas Greatfellas]]", the Greenfelds and [=DeBellos'=] plan is for UsefulNotes/{{California}} and Nevada to secede from the US.
** In "[[Recap/SlidersS04E10Asylum Asylum]]", UsefulNotes/{{California}} seceded from the United States after the Kromaggs left.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* ''Podcast/ItCouldHappenHere'': Robert Evans of ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' fame discusses the possibility of this with the recent (as of 2019) political divide in the United States. The hypothetical scenario consists of the United States being wrecked by a massive financial crash, spurring the creation of far-left insurgents in urban areas, and far-right insurgents in rural areas, and the federal government struggling to effectively clamp down on both, becoming increasingly opressive as it grows more and more desperate in fighting the rebels. Evans discusses possibility of the war, with information gleaned from actual modern day civil war events like in Syria.
* ''Podcast/TwilightHistories'' has used this trope in a few episodes:
** "Cato's War" takes place in a world where the Confederacy won the American Civil War.
** Like most nations, the United States collapsed following the robot war in “Project Gliese.” However, several nations sprang up across the former United States, including a Mormon nation centered in Utah.
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* The [[PunkPunk Cattle Punk]] TabletopRPG ''TabletopGame/AcesAndEightsShatteredFrontiers'' takes place in an AlternateUniverse, where the Divided States of America include the U.S., the Confederate States of America, Deseret, and a Tribal confederacy.
* Steve Jackson's Tabletop RPG ''TabletopGame/CarWars'' features something like this in an AfterTheEnd of easy oil scenario. Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma fall away to become a spirited republic called "the Free Oil States" (convenient for the Austin-based Jackson), a theocracy, and a corporate plutocracy. Utah tries breaking away as well. Quebec makes a run for it from Canada, too.
* In ''TabletopGame/CastleFalkenstein'', America consists of the United States of America (from the east coast to the Mississippi), the Republic of Texas, the Bear Flag Empire of California (ruled by Emperor Norton!), the Twenty Nations Confederation and the Unorganized Territories.
* ''TabletopGame/CrimsonSkies'' takes place in an AlternateUniverse where the United States broke up in the early 30s due to Prohibition and the Great Depression.
* R. Talsorian Games' ''TabletopGame/{{Cyberpunk}}''. Five of the original fifty states have broken off and become Free States: Alaska, Nevada, California, the Republic of Texas and Utah. California has further split up into Northern and Southern California. On top of this, Socialist Wyoming and the White Ethnostate of Idaho pay lip service to the Federal Government at most, and are generally considered "no-go"-zones for anyone associated with it. Large swathes of America are owned by {{Mega Corp}}s, and while these are in theory bound by American law on American soil, in practice [[MightMakesRight corporate economic and military might]] means that the they can write their own rules for their properties and employees. Then there are the Nomad nations, who live on US soil and are subject to US law, but would laugh if you told them that, and consider the rulings of their councils the only true authority.
* ''Otherverse America'', a TabletopGame/D20Modern campaign setting, plays with the trope. America is still one country, but civil authority has partly collapsed due to the Abortion War, and both the "Choicers" (a covenant of believers in various pagan faiths united by pro-choice views) and the Lifers (predominantly fundamentalist Christian antiabortionists) have forced the government to allow them to govern themselves as "pseudonations." Choicers and Lifers are citizens and voters in America, but also citizens of their own communities, and various groups within the two movements are fighting terrorist wars against each other.
* The TabletopRPG ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}'', set in the 1800s in America, the discovery of ghostrock has fostered the continued division of the Union and the Confederate States. The various states' focus on managing their own territories has kept them from expanding into areas of what would otherwise become U.S. territory. Four nations pop up instead: Mormon-run Deseret, the native Coyote Confederation, the theocratic Free and Holy City of Angels in California, and Sioux territories.
** Downplayed in the 2021 reboot version, ''TabletopGame/DeadlandsTheWeirdWest'', where the subtle meddling of heroic timetravelers [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong caused the Confederacy to fall]]. Whilst there are still some independent nation-states, the big split between Union and Confederacy no longer exists.
* ''Diana: Warrior Princess'' and ''Elvis: The Legendary Journeys'' have this. But that's because their 31st century writers are about as accurate as 21st century writers of ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' and ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys''.
* The Tabletop RPG ''TabletopGame/DogsInTheVineyard'' never specifically mentions any real-world locations or dates, but it takes place in an area similar to the pre-Civil War American west, in the lands of the Faith (analogous to the Mormon nation of Deseret). The Terrestrial Authority of the East is analogous to the US government and the east coast states. Though in this setting, the lands of the Faith are technically still part of the Terrestrial Authority, they give little regard to it.
* The ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} [[AlternateHistory Infinite Worlds]]'' meta-setting includes no less than six "Dixies" and one "Gallatin", where the States didn't really Unite in the first place. And that's not counting parallel timelines where the American Revolution failed, where Native Americans held on to their lands, or where other colonial powers managed to establish lasting colonies. Then there's ''TabletopGame/GURPSInfiniteWorldsBritannica6'', in which the New England Confederacy seceded from the USA. Of course, many of the more divergent timelines like Ezcalli, Roma Aeterna or Midgard never had anything remotely similar to the United States.
* The ''Kazei 5'' sourcebook for 6th edition TabletopGame/HeroSystem takes Canada, the United States, and Mexico and chops/blends them into Alta California, Cascadia, Deseret, Nunavut, Republic of Quebec, Republic of Texas, United North America and the United States of America.
* ''TabletopGame/RedMarkets'': During the ZombieApocalypse the federal government wrote off everything west of the Mississippi as a Loss and focused their efforts on securing the eastern states. Even then, the Recession under federal control ended up worse than a third world country while the Loss has no government outside of a few ramshackle city-states established by survivors.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'': Following the collapse of civilization with the Coming of the Rifts, most of Canada, the West Coast, the Rockies and the Great Plains were swallowed by immense forests and house no civilization beyond a few scattered and highly isolated settlements (both human and non) and roving nomads and barbarians, while the desert states are somewhat more settled in that the scattered settlements are less distant and the barbarians more common. Texas is divided between a multitude of feudal statelets and a powerful bandit kingdom, the Midwest and Ontario are mostly ruled by the powerful Coalition States, and Minnesota and Upper Michigan are home to hundreds of tiny farming and industrial communities (though a significant portion of Minnesota - particularly the area around what used to be Duluth - is overtaken by a HordeOfAlienLocusts, the Xiticix). The Mississippi, Ohio River Valley and Appalachians are another wilderness, filled with demons and monsters from the intense Rift activity there and home to no civilization beyond an evil rump {{Magocracy}}. Lower Michigan and the Toronto area are likewise filled with monsters and torn apart by Rifts, but are home to numerous kingdoms of mystics, psychics and non-human beings. Most of the Deep South and the East Coast have been washed into the sea, leaving only isolated settlements along the Gulf, a dinosaur-infested swamp where Florida and Georgia used to be and yet more monster-filed wilderness going north, with small communities and kingdoms scattered here and there, while Quebec is ruled by an independent nation.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'''s back history includes the secession and/or annexation of parts of the US (and other nations) as corporations and mystic elements cause social upheaval. The [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ff/8f/3b/ff8f3bdc98acdd608e580423144abf8d.jpg map]] in the back of the Fourth Edition book splits what used to be the United States into eight separate nations, with four more in what was Canada. Mexico has absorbed much of the Southwest into the new nation of Aztlan. Probably the most entertaining: California spent so long debating over whether or not to secede that the UCAS (United Canadian-American States) finally got sick of it and ''threw California out of the country'', creating the California Free State.
* ''TabletopGame/Twilight2000'' features a nuclear war occurring in the late '90s. The US government has been divided into "Milgov" and "Civgov" factions, but they really only control small areas of the country. The rest is in anarchy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/AfterTheEndAPostApocalypticAmerica'', the United States is nothing more than a memory by the start of the game, with most of its former constituents having developed their own local identities into unique national cultures.
* ''VideoGame/BioFreaks'': The backstory in a nutshell. America is divided by an event called the "[[CorporateWarfare Techno-Industrial Civil Wars]]" and all the states are turned over to the control of {{Mega Corp}}s who use violence to increase their standing. The gameplay itself is the solution cooked up by the fragmented government to mediate these gargantuan corporations in order to avoid a second Techno-Industrial Civil War.
* ''VideoGame/CrimsonSkies'' is set in an alternative universe where the USA has dissolved into several independent nations.
* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' takes place in Night City in the Free State of Northern California. Background material reveals that the New United States of America has re-conquered most of the Free States except the Republic of Texas during what has become known as the Unification War, and Night City has remained independent only thanks to Arasaka's influence. However tensions remain high between the Eastern states and the semi-autonomous West, particularly given the {{Mega Corp}}s which all but rule both.
* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'':
** In the BackStory, parts of the United States declared their independence when the federal government ignored them due to half of California sinking in the ocean. The NSF at this time was the Northwestern Secession Forces. The U.S. got them back, but the war allowed [[MexicoCalledTheyWantTexasBack Mexico to take back parts of the Southwest]] when they aligned with Russia. In some sense, the US still is in a Civil War, with many of its citizens in open revolt by being part of the [=NSF=]. At any rate, some dialogue said by JC hints that the United States may be due for the third round of all-out war.
** ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' seems to be setting up the said civil wars for ''Deus Ex''. Radio broadcasts and newspapers will mention secession sentiment in states that will soon be part of the Northwest War. A conversation overheard between [=NPCs=] in the Sarif Industries lobby after the Milwaukee Junction mission implies that this ''has already happened'' when one of them [[http://deusex.tumblr.com/post/18382748557/in-the-sarif-industries-lobby-after-the-milwaukee mentions]] the [[NoodleIncident Texas Secession.]]
* ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}'': Sometime after the United States landed a man on the moon, each US state [[DifferentStatesOfAmerica was organized into one of Thirteen Commonwealths]], with [[ExpandedStatesOfAmerica Canada later annexed as a fourteenth Commonwealth]] shortly before the start of the [[WorldWarIII Great War]]. The hope was that the creation of a new layer of bureaucracy between the state and federal level would help end political strife and would help resolve common regional concerns shared by states within those Commonwealths. In reality, it created even ''more'' civil and political strife, as the Commonwealths viciously competed against one another and the federal government to promote their own interests above the others. The energy crisis, wars, New Plague, and political oppression only made things worse. In the aftermath of the Great War, social and political organization would rarely exceed the community level.
** ''VideoGame/Fallout1'', which takes place roughly a century after the nukes fly, shows the emergence of independent city-states and communities such as The Hub, Junktown, Necropolis, the Boneyard (within which is Adytum), and Shady Sands. In addition, there is the Brotherhood of Steel, comprising the remnants of a US Army unit operating from the Lost Hills bunker. The Brotherhood deserves special mention; the original army unit seceded ''before'' the Great War after they discovered that the scientists they were protecting at the Mariposa Military Base were experimenting on human subjects for their biological weapons. Led by Captain Roger Maxson (their original commander killed himself when he discovered what was really going on), the unit declared independence from the Union on October 20, 2077... only to receive no response. Three days later, TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt occurred, and none of it mattered. About a week later once the radiation had settled, Maxson led his men and their families to Lost Hills, where they established the first Post-War society.
** ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' introduces San Francisco (within which is Shi Town), Vault City, Broken Hills, and New Reno. It also sees the rise of regional powers like the New California Republic, a democratic federation incorporating several of the communities visited in ''Fallout 1'' and the [[VestigialEmpire Enclave]], the shadowy remnants of the pre-War government and its military-industrial complex, based in an off-shore oil rig.
** ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' features two fairly large communities: Megaton and Rivet City. It also introduces the Institute (located in the [[HollywoodNewEngland New England Commonwealth]]) which makes RidiculouslyHumanRobots, The Pitt (UsefulNotes/{{Pittsburgh}}) which is the local industrial powerhouse, and Ronto (rumoured to be UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}}, Canada) which seems to be significant regional power. In addition, the Brotherhood of Steel has set up shop in the region, becoming a regional power in its own right by the time ''Fallout 4'' comes around.
** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': The New California Republic by then covers most of California and portions of Baja California, Nevada, and Oregon. It has now set its sights on the city of New Vegas proper, ruled by a mysterious technocrat known as Mr. House. They contest Hoover Dam with Caesar’s Legion, a group of Imperial Roman wannabes that control most parts of Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico and were led by a WellIntentionedExtremist. Honest Hearts expands on the InNameOnly New Canaan, which was wiped out by a tribe affiliated with the Legion, with only a handful of characters escaping the community's destruction.
** ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' essentially expands on the Institute and the Brotherhood, with the potential to recreate the early United States with the help of the Commonwealth Minutemen (centered around Boston). Other than that, the largest settlements are Diamond City, Goodneighbor, and Bunker Hill.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fracture}}'' has America's East Coast joining with Europe to form the cybernetics-using Atlantic Alliance, while the West Coast joins with Asia in the genetics-focused Republic of Pacifica.
* ''VideoGame/{{Homefront}}'' makes mention of the individual states squaring off amidst the chaos, Illinois threatening Texas with military action after border guards killed several migrating Chicagoans and such. That and the country literally being divided when the GKR occupies the Western half of the country and poisons the Mississippi with radioactive waste.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'' makes reference to a Second American Civil War, started in 2096 in response to [[ExpandedStatesOfAmerica the U.S. annexing Canada and Mexico]] (with the approval of both countries' populations and governments). From what little information we get on it, it seemed to be more like UsefulNotes/TheTroubles scaled up to the level of the whole of North America, rather than a conventional conflict where the rebels held territory.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'': This was the motive of the titular organization. Solidus Snake, disgusted with the U.S.'s plans for unprecedented censorship of oncoming data on the internet (using an A.I. to immediately filter, alter, and discard any inconvenient truths), planned to cut Manhattan loose from the mainland with an EMP bomb. The dormant island, now run by Solidus and his confederates, would be patrolled by a stolen fleet of Metal Gears, effectively turning it into a free republic. Things didn't quite pan out as such... Solidus hoped to be 'inaugurated' on the steps of Federal Hall just like UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington two centuries to the very day, but he was assassinated on the steps instead.
* Creator/ParadoxInteractive: Most games include ahistorical "revolter nations" in case you badly mismanage your empire or get conquered.
** In ''VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis'' these include Quebec and Louisiana
** ''[[VideoGame/HeartsOfIron Hearts of Iron II]]'' includes California, Texas and a reinstated Confederacy. Their overall ideology is technically dependent on what ideology an eventual occupier who wishes to partition the USA has, but the Confederacy ministers are all social conservative, while the Texas and California ministers are all paternal autocrat[[note]]California gets a little bit more variety in the ''Darkest Hour'' spin-off, but the others do not.[[/note]]. Other nations like Russia, China and large sections of the British Empire can be similarly divided.
** ''VideoGame/VictoriaAnEmpireUnderTheSun'' not only includes the Confederacy, but also the nations of Texas and California, as well as nations for the Cherokee, the Sioux, Mormon Deseret, a possible New England secession and the Manhattan Commune (of course, given the period covered, several of these nations are historical). Canada gets in on it too, as it has both a Quebec and a Metis Confederation. The sequel adds even more, including even the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion Taiping Heavenly Kingdom]] in China with a patch. Why yes, Paradox ''does'' [[ShownTheirWork do a lot of research]].
** In ''Hearts of Iron'''s AlternateHistory game mod VideoGame/{{Kaiserreich|LegacyOfTheWeltkrieg}}, set in an alternate history where the Central Powers won the First World War, the United States will probably split up via civil war into the populist and nationalist [[PresidentForLife American Union State]], the [[ChummyCommies Syndicalist Combined Syndicates of America]] (centred around the Great Lakes manufacturing region), the [[OppressiveStatesOfAmerica military junta-controlled federal government]] under [[UsefulNotes/DouglasMacArthur Douglas [=MacArthur=]]] (occupying the Midwest and mid-Atlantic), the democratic [[DisasterDemocracy Pacific States of America]] (California, Oregon and Washington) and finally, a democratic New England under Canadian influence. The United Mexican States can also elect to [[MexicoCalledTheyWantTexasBack take back Texas during the chaos]], and Alaska can be taken by Canada. Hawaii also splits off as its own nation, and may either be pressed by the Japanese into joining the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere, later re-join the PSA, or join up with whoever wins the war ([[CurbStompBattle it’s usually]] the CSA due to their [[WeHaveReserves massive manpower and industrial advantage]]). On a side note, New England often remains loyal to the USA but is typically occupied by Canada to “protect it” from the CSA, and the Canadians can elect to annex it (along with the Panama Canal). This can potentially draw the civil war’s victor into a war with Canada/Japan as they try to take back their overseas territories.
** ''[[https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=946684259 Après Moi, Le Déluge]]'' (another ''Hearts of Iron'' AlternateHistory mod) is set in an alternate world where the Napoléon's French Empire survived the Napoleonic Wars. At the start date of 1936, there's no USA but several other countries, all three very roughly occupying similar areas of the continental United States, as well as a few other contries in those territories:
*** The Federal Kingdom of America is the Eastern part of OTL's USA (it also occupies a few islands in Caribbeans, and some colonies in Western coast of Africa). It's a monarchic regime which has been established by the Founding Fathers, and the dynasty descends from Alexander Hamilton (the original king was George Washington, who died without heir).
*** The Kingdom of Louisiana is the central part. It's another monarchy, founded by French monarchists during the when France was split during French Revolution. The first ruler, Louis I, was UsefulNotes/LouisXVI; the French Bourbons are still ruling the country.
*** The Christian Republic of Deseret is the Western part. It is ruled by the Mormons.
*** The Kindgom of Hawai'i rules on Hawai'i (and most of the sparse islands and island groups found between Americas and Australia). It's actually a British puppet.
*** Alaska is still part of the Russian Empire.
*** Californa, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, etc. are part of the Empire of Mexico.
*** Canada itself doesn't exist. It is divided between (from East to West) a Great Britain-controlled Newfoundland, the Socialist Republic of Quebec, the Alconquin Republic, and the Russia Empire.
* ''VideGame/{{Piratez}}'' takes place several hundred years in the future, and the former USA are divided into several large countries. [[Main/CrapsackWorld None of them a nice place to live.]]
* ''VideoGame/RailroadTycoon 3'': In one add-on scenario, the location is a USA where the revolution never happened, with various territories such as New England, Roosevelt (Pacific Northwest), Dixie, and the Texahoma Republic.
* ''VideoGame/TheReckoning'' is set in USA in 2019 after a ZombieApocalypse, and consists of a war between US Army remnants, Confederacy nostalgists, Neo-Nazis, Rednecks, {{Church Militant}}s, and various bands of raiders. This being ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade: Warband'', the player can either join one of them or create his own independent faction.
* ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'': [[spoiler:One of the two endings has [[PlayerCharacter the Boss]] declaring Steelport an independent city-state after driving out the government's STAG forces.]]
* ''VideoGame/ShatteredUnion'': The United States breaks into seven factions: the New England Alliance, the traditionalist Confederacy, the freedom-loving Republic of Texas, the Great Plains Federation, the environmentalist Pacifica, the California Commonwealth, and the [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating grievously unpopular]] European Union Occupation zone in and around the ruins of DC. Hawaii goes off on its own (rejoining after America is reunited), and [[RussiaCalledTheyWantAlaskaBack Alaska gets invaded by the Russians.]]
* ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'': The leader of the Believers faction is specified as coming from the "Christian States of America". She is identified in the background material as born in Athens, Georgia. It seems to be a mixture of Deep South and Christian Fundamentalists. These "Christian States" obviously do not reach far north, for the Pirates' leader, Ulrik Svensgaard, comes from Gloucester, MA, which is listed as being in the United States. And the background material actually gives Miriam's country of origin as the USA.\\
\\
The backstories of the game mention that nations were constantly rising and falling during the last days of Earth, meaning that the CSA, and the USA coexisted or the USA became the CSA, or something wild. Bottom line, [[CrapsackWorld Earth wasn't]] [[JustBeforeTheEnd in the best]] shape.
* ''VideoGame/{{Singularity}}'': Inverted. In an alternate timeline, Unobtainium E-99 is used by the Soviet Union to conquer the world, starting by utterly destroying America, but in one ending you kill everyone involved with E-99, causing the Soviet Union to shatter into '''tiny''' little warring states, while someone with a handheld time machine similar to yours reunites America and beyond into a cult-of-personality dictatorship.
* ''VideoGame/StrikeCommander'''s backstory describes a PostPeakOil situation that caused ''all'' superpowers to break apart in various ways, but the United States has apparently seen the worst of it:
** Due to a CaliforniaCollapse, the Federal government began levying huge taxes from Texas, eventually causing the state to secede from the union. However Texas itself couldn't maintain cohesion either, and broke apart into three smaller nations.
** To replace the oil reserves lost by the secession of Texas, the Federal government started massively exploiting the Alaskan oil fields, causing untold environmental damage. This resulted in Alaska seceding next, and with Canada recognizing its sovereignty, a war broke out in which the United States' reinvasion effort was thwarted. During the game itself, New Siberia (a break-away country from Russia) [[RussiaCalledTheyWantAlaskaBack invades and conquers parts of Alaska]].
** With aid funds to California drying up due to the war, California eventually decided to secede, but also broke in two. North and South California are now at war with each other, primarily over water resources.
** Both Dakotas left the union and combined to create the new nation of Dakota.
** Similarly, both Carolinas seceded and united with each other.
** Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia broke away and became individual states. However they are now bound together in a loose confederation known as the Southern Bloc.
** According to the manual, Hawaii has recently seceded and is amassing an army of mercenaries to defend its independence.
** Arizona and Nevada are both independent and at war with each other over the Grand Canyon, in which the player participates at one point.
** Rhode Island seceded as well, and the player is forced to assist in its re-invasion and conquest.
** During the game, we learn that Massachusettes and Vermont are no longer in the union, though the circumstances of their secession are not explored.
** Whatever states still remain in the Union, the Internal Revenue Service is effectively their new government, attempting to reconquer the secessionist states. It uses various means, mostly violent ones, to try to reassert its control.
* ''VideoGame/SupremeRuler2020'' normally begins with a relatively realistic view of what the world might look like in 2020. Alternatively, you can start in a world where total economic collapse has led to many countries drastically changing, including the US states all being independent countries.
* ''VideoGame/XCOMTerrorFromTheDeep'' is set far enough into the [=21st=] century that the U.S.' dominance has already declined. After the events of the original ''[[VideoGame/XCOMUFODefense X-COM]]'', everything [[MexicoCalledTheyWantTexasBack west of the Mississippi has been eaten away by Mexico.]] Meanwhile, [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld the Chinese century is upon us]], as Asia and Europe have formed their own super-blocs. It's also interesting to note that Africa and Egypt are both [[PrivatelyOwnedSociety privately-owned]] in the future. Many of these countries signed pacts with the invaders in the first Alien War, so it makes sense that nationalism is currently on the wane. It's a big headache for Rand & [=McNally=], but the new borders don't substantially affect the player or their mission.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/BluRiversRevolution'' features the fractured United State, a massively corrupt and unstable republic controlled by corporate interests in the midst of a civil war. Most of the independent regions are also being torn apart by oppurtunistic warlords and ruthless rebel infighting.
* ''[[http://www.bigheadpress.com/roswell Roswell, Texas]]'' takes places in an alternate timeline where the Republic of Texas won at the Alamo and remained independent, and also controls Oklahoma, Arkansas and New Mexico. California is also an independent nation, run by President For Life, Creator/WaltDisney. It takes place in an alternate 1948. Space in between them is referred to as "the Deseret Corridor" indicating it's run by the Mormons.
* In ''Webcomic/{{SSDD}}'', the "Tower Of Babel" storyline starts with an [[http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20060202.html animated map]] of the states and their progressive division. California, Oregon, and Washington are under the [[MegaCorp Maytec Consortium's]] control. New Texas has all of the southeast except Florida, which is independent. And the northeast states from New England to Wisconsin joined the Collective of Anarchist States (which also controls England and parts of Europe and the Middle East).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* [[http://althistory.wikia.com/wiki/North_America_(1983:_Doomsday) This post-World War III map]] from ''1983: Doomsday'' on the Alternate History Wikia.
* ''Literature/AprilsInAbaddon'': The US exploded into civil war in 2017, and several de facto nation-states have emerged, from the conservative Federal Republic of America to the [[DirtyCommies Stalin-esque]] Eastern American Workers' Army. In a slightly more literal sense, the Provisional Government of the United States controls two large but geographically separate blocks of territory (the Northeast and the Southwest).
* ''Roleplay/CaptoIugulum'': The United States after the Scottist regime collapses spectacularly. Jacksonia [California] and Florida ([[NonIndicativeName actually in Texas]]) break away as independent republics and stay independent. Most of the American South gets taken by revolting [[DirtyCommunists proletarian blacks]] and eventually becomes the United Proletarist Republics of America. The rest gets split among a rump United States, other republics in New England and in the Great Lakes region, and numerous warlord states in the West. All of the latter gets reunited under a "Second Union" within a few years, and the United States remains a secondary power, albeit much reduced in strength.
* ''Literature/{{Catherverse}}'': An Website/AlternateHistoryDotCom series, whose premise is the US breaking apart in the 1930s when the Business Plot takes place and assassinates FDR. By the modern day, the former US and Canada are divided into over a dozen states. The North American states that are the focus are The Industrial Republic of North America [[note]]]covering the Mid-Atlantic states and the Industrial Midwest[[/note]]], the direct SpiritualSuccessor of the USA, the Great Plains United Republic [[note]]which makes up much of the Great Plains, plus Minnesota[[/note]], and a revived Confederate States of America [[note]]which makes up the former Confederacy, minus Texas and Louisiana[[/note]]] which,[[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain unsurprisingly]], is the BigBad of the series.
* In ''Literature/DecadesOfDarkness'', New England secedes after the early death of president UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson at the most inopportune moment and manages to stay independent.
* In ''Literature/AnExaminationOfExtraUniversalSystemsOfGovernment'':
** The Guatemala Incorporated timeline has an example based on ''The Falcon Cannot Hear'' below. In this universe, a Second American Civil War broke out in the 1930s, which resolved in a ceasefire between variant claimants to legitimacy -- a military government runs the Pacific holdings from Hawaii (though is now a Japanese PuppetState), the Constituent Assembly controls the West Coast and part of the southwest, the British-backed Continental Congress controls most of the center of the continent, the American Soviet Republic controls things from New England to the Great Lakes and down to part of the Upper South, and a remnant of the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName fascist "White"]] movement controls Florida. There are also several breakaways -- Maine declared independence and eventually joined Canada (taking part of New Hampshire with it), most of the Deep South and part of the Upper South is the black socialist Republic of New Africa, there's a warlord state running things in the region surrounding the Grand Canyon, and the US Navy forces in Guantanamo (while technically loyal to the military government) run it as a ''de facto'' city-state.
** In the Southron Popular Republic timeline, the Confederate States win the American Civil War and successfully break away. But furthermore, after the CSA ends up on the losing side of the Great War, they suffer a Communist revolution, which results in Texas and the Indian Republic (OTL Indian Territories/Oklahoma) breaking away and declaring independence. And back in the US, a second civil war breaks out in the 1930s due to a public backlash against government corruption during the Great Depression; by the time it's done, California has declared its own independence.
** The Republic of Greater New Jersey is set in a ''Literature/Timeline191''-based universe where the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Freedom Party]] controlled Confederate States successfully defeated the United States in the Second Great War. Afterwards, the Confederacy annexed some states, placed others under military occupation, and spun others out as nominally independent {{Puppet State}}s; the titular republic, for instance, is the result of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio being merged together.
* ''Literature/TheFalconCannotHear'' sees a whole lot of this once the [[AlternateHistory Second American Civil War]] kicks off:
** A military government led by Army Chief of Staff Douglas [=MacArthur=], nicknamed the Khakis, which controls Washington D.C., the Rockies, and the overseas possessions. [[spoiler:After [=MacArthur=] dies during a hurricane, the Whites seize D.C., the Japanese occupy the Pacific territories, a Filipino corps stationed in Alaska begins a revolt against the Khakis there, and several Generals and Admirals become independent warlords, with Admiral Ernest King leading a rump loyalist faction out of the Alaskan Panhandle. Most of the warlords eventually align themselves with the Red Oak Pact as the war draws to a close.]]
** The American Soviet Republic, led by Communist Party General-Secretary Earl Browder, which controls a stretch of land from their capital at Chicago to New York City. [[spoiler:The east coast Soviets, feeling that Browder is too authoritarian, eventually split and form the American Workers Collective, forming an anti-fascist Popular Front with the Blues. The ASR proper joins the Popular Front after a coup but turns against it once the Whites are all but defeated. Their defeat to the Red Oak Pact/Popular Front marks the end of the Second Civil War.]]
** The Whites, lead by Huey Long, are a collection of conservative and fascist groups composed of an official government and military under Long, and several paramilitary groups (ranging from the KKK and openly fascist groups to Businessmen's Associations, essentially armed Hoover Republicans) with strong influence over local governments. They control the South, Texas, parts of the Southwest, and eastern New England, with their capital in Montgomery, Alabama. [[spoiler:They seize Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia after the Khakis' leadership is decapitated, but a failed coup by a group of generals fearing the growth of fascist influence causes the fascists to effectively take over. New England defects to the Continental Congress as a result, and between that, the ASR joining the Popular Front, and the fascists' dysfunctional leadership, the Whites fall apart and are soon overrun.]]
** The Provisional Government, also called the Blues, lead by John L. Lewis. A coalition of liberals and democratic socialists, they control the upper Midwest, upstate New York, western New England, and the West Coast, with their capital in St. Paul, Minnesota. [[spoiler:They form an alliance with the Continental Congress known as the Red Oak Pact, and later one with the AWC called the Popular Front. With Canadian backing, the Red Oak Pact/Popular Front defeats the Whites and then the ASR, winning the civil war.]]
** The Continental Congress, also called the Greens, led by Milo Reno. Composed of Midwestern farmers who don't like any of the other factions, they control the Great Plains from Montana to Oklahoma. [[spoiler:They align themselves with the Blues in the Red Oak Pact, and count themselves among the winners.]]
** And several other independent groups:
*** William Langer, Governor of North Dakota, has declared secession from the Union. [[spoiler:He's eventually brought to heel by Canada.]]
*** Sumner Sewell, Governor of Maine. While not declaring secession, he cooperates closely with Canada and aligns himself with whichever (American) group gives him the most independence. [[spoiler:He eventually sides with the Continental Congress, with White New England surrendering to him after they defect to the Red Oak Pact. Post-war, Maine (which now controls most of New England east of the Connecticut River) enjoys a great deal of autonomy within the Third Republic.]]
*** The B.R.O.W.N. (Banner Revolutionary Organisation of Willing Negroes), a guerrilla group operating in the White territory. [[spoiler:This causes the Whites to begin putting blacks in concentration camps where over a million of them die of disease and starvation. As the Whites fall apart, they align with the Red Oak Pact/Popular Front, and after the war, the former states of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia are merged into the autonomous black state of New Africa.]]
*** Henry Ford, who controls Detroit as his own personal fiefdom using army troops and mercenaries. [[spoiler:He's eventually defeated by the Blues.]]
* ''Literature/FearLoathingAndGumboOnTheCampaignTrailSeventyTwo'': Rather inevitable in the SequelSeries. As of 1985, [[spoiler:California has seceded (or is trying to secede) from the Union. [[OppressiveStatesOfAmerica It's not hard to guess why]]. When Rumsfeld tries to force Pete [=McCloskey=] out of his office and then impeaches the Supreme Court for ruling against him, California officially declares itself to be a Republic. Idaho, Hawaii, and Florida also follow suit]]. The country becomes even more divided after [[spoiler:the Christian Values Party takes control and re-brands the country the Christian States of America]]. By 1990, [[spoiler:Texas and Alaska declare independence, Oregon merges with California to form the Pacific Free Republic, Washington votes to join Canada, the Libertarian-dominated Mountain, and Midwest states become "Bozeman enclaves" home to resistance movements, and the secessionist northeastern states continue to call themselves the [[VestigialEmpire United States of America]], lead by Richard Nixon]].
* In ''[[http://ib.frath.net/w/index.php Ill Bethisad]]'', the USA never formed as such, but a loose confederation exists in its place.
* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesusland_map map]] that circulated after the 2004 elections, labeling the blue states and Canada as the "United States of Canada" and the red states as "[[{{Eagleland}} Jesusland]]" and [[MemeticMutation all its variations]].
* In ''Literature/LookToTheWest'', prior to the Pandoric War (1896-1901), the Empire of North America is most of the US and a chunk of Canada (the rest being the Superior Republic and an expanded Russian Alyeska), but California (including Baja California) is its own republic, Carolina seceded from the Empire and ended up a vassal of the United Provinces of South America, and the Free City of Nouvelle-Orléans ceceded from France to become an independent city-state. The war and its aftermath saw the ENA conquer most of these territories, except Alyeska and California (they also annexed part of Mexico, which along with Superior moves them directly to ExpandedStatesOfAmerica).
* In Emerican Johnson's ''[[https://www.non-compete.com/the-newcomer/ The Newcomer]]'', set in an alternate world where the Haymarket Affair started an anarchist revolution in the late 1800s, the current territory of the United States is separated down the middle, with the dystopian capitalist USA to the east, and a loose federation of anarchist territories to the west. The Union of American Communes is portrayed rather realistically, with a slight bias, given that the author is an anarchist himself.
* ''Website/TheOnion'': In "[[https://politics.theonion.com/texas-constructs-u-s-border-wall-to-keep-out-unwanted-1819570767 Texas Constructs U.S. Border Wall To Keep Out Unwanted Americans]]", Texas secedes from the U.S. and builds a triple wall around itself to drive the point home. The rest of America is mostly glad to be rid of it.
* ''Website/OrionsArm'' had California and Cascadia (which added the Yukon, Northwest Territory, and Alaska) secede from the U.S. in the late 22nd century. Both of these were regional superpowers with multiple colonies in the Asteroid Belt and outer solar system until the Nanodisaster.
* [[http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2012/11/27/civil_war_who_would_come_out_on_top_if_the_united_states_all_declared_war.html?wpisrc=obnetwork This article asks which state]] would come out on top if they all fought each other.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Videos]]
* ''WebVideo/DougDougAIInvasion'': The premise for the American campaign, wherein each state is completely independent.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''
** Parodied in comically small-scale episode "E. Peterbus Unum", in which Peter secedes from the United States (due to a clerical error, Griffin's property didn't technically count as part of the U.S), creating the nation of Petoria--consisting of his house and yard. Peter annexes Joe's backyard pool and rechristens it "Joe-hio", provoking American sanctions.
** In "Back To The Pilot", Brian warns his past self about 9/11 during a time travel adventure to the first episode of the series, leading to him preventing the destruction of the World Trade Center. As a consequence, George W Bush loses his re-election campaign and instead ends up leading several southern states into forming a second Confederacy and seceding from the U.S. This spirals into a second Civil War and eventually reduces the East Coast to an irradiated wasteland.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': In which a map is shown of a heavily balkanized United States, including the state of Pennsylvania having split into the "Penn Republic" and "Sylvania." UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC is, however, the capital of Earth.
* By season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn'', the president has declared the ruined Gotham City to no longer be part of the United States, leaving it to be fought over by various supervillains.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
!!In General
* There are [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_separatist_movements_in_North_America#United_States quite a few]] active organizations arguing for peaceful secession. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the main complaints cited are high taxes and an overbearing Federal government.
* This idea seems much less likely than fiction writers would have it. There are many cultural, economic, and military factors to discourage such a split, and all but the fringiest of U.S. regional and factional interests seem agreed to pursue their interests through the shared democratic process. Historically, though, scenarios like this ''often'' seem impossible… right up to the second they become inevitable.
* The legalities involved in state secession can go several ways. On one hand, all thirteen of the original colonies predate the United States by definition, since it was these states which ratified the Constitution and brought the federal government into existence. Under the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_theory Compact Theory]] of government, any U.S. state can lawfully secede from the Union if the state legislature decides to do so. On the other hand, the Civil War made it clear that on the topic of secession, MightMakesRight, and the US Supreme Court additionally ruled in ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_v._White Texas v. White]]'' that unilateral secession is illegal [[note]]The idea being that the US was originally founded under the Articles of Confederation which specified that the states would stand in "perpetual union," and that the Constitution specifies that it was written "to form a more perfect union." The court ruled that a union that was even "more perfect" than "perpetual" could not, logically, be broken unilaterally. A common myth among Confederate revivalist types is that this case ''made'' secession illegal, but in reality it relied on the notion that the secession was illegal from the outset for its ruling.[[/note]]. Additionally, the Confederate Constitution made it clear that the Confederacy wouldn't look too kindly on states attempting to secede from ''it'' (Georgia came close to trying).
* Even the naming conventions in the United States hint at a looser union than actually exists. The subdivisions of the US are called "states", a term that normally applies to an independent or quasi-independent entity. The name of the country, the "United States of America", is a phrase describing the political union rather than the name of a State per se. These are all a result of the original "United States" being thought of as a loose coalition of the former colonies with the states being the primary powers and the federal government being much less relevant.
* Something that can throw foreign visitors is that the individual state governments have a lot more authority and jurisdiction over their affairs than in most places. Prostitution is illegal in most states, but Nevada has some (tightly regulated) brothels and legalized escort services. Marijuana? By Federal Law, it's a Class 1 (''highly'' illegal) substance. But there are several states (Washington and Colorado as the vanguards) where marijuana is sold in licensed retail shops. Another case was where a lesbian couple was legally married in one state, but moved to another, and couldn't get a divorce because that state didn't acknowledge the marriage.[[note]]As of 2015, this is no longer the case, as the US Supreme Court has mandated that marriages validly contracted in one state must be recognized by all others.[[/note]] This patchwork of state laws creates plenty of business and headaches for the federal court system, which sometimes has to decide which state's law trumps the other.
* In the years following UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution, the new country was constantly on the verge of falling apart. The Articles of Confederation had ensured that the states held most of the governing power, with the nation's Congress too weak to keep them from competing against each other. This ultimately led to the Articles being replaced by the Constitution, delegating more powers to a stronger federal government.
** One of the biggest reasons for this struggle was third vice president Aaron Burr, who was believed to be behind secessionist movements in both New York and the Southwestern US. UsefulNotes/AlexanderHamilton led a smear campaign against him that sabotaged his efforts at becoming governor of New York once his term ended, [[DuelToTheDeath resulting in Hamilton's death at his hands]]. Three years later UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson had him arrested for treason, destroying his political career and prompting him to go into self-imposed exile in England.
* The United States has already fought one [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar Civil War]], which resulted in four years of fighting and at least 700,000 deaths. This is still a sore subject in many places. Special mention should go to [[DeepSouth the South]], where a few people still think the Confederacy should have won, and even those who don't still proudly fly its flag and will attempt to whitewash it of any wrongdoing. Note that some Southerners still use the terms "The Late Unpleasantness" and "The War of Northern Aggression," both examples of different names used to refer to the Civil War.
* The non-fiction book ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Nations_of_North_America The Nine Nations of North America]]'' by Joel Garreau is about how this continent is divided geo-culturally into "New England", "Dixie", "The Bread Basket" etc. There are also anomalies (Manhattan, Washington DC, Hawaii and Alaska) that are their own subcultures. This is expanded upon in ''[[http://www.colinwoodard.com/americannations American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America]]'' by Colin Woodard, which divides the US and Canada into about a dozen regional subcultures based on who happened to settle where first.
* In 1998, Russian professor [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Panarin Igor Panarin]] gave a 55% chance that the United States would break up by 2010. It gained a lot of media attention around the time of the 2008 financial crisis, though unless every news outlet in the world has been lying to us all for the past several years, his prediction has not come to pass. One of Panarin's conclusions was that a US breakup would be bad for Russia insofar as much of its trade is dependent on the US. He advocated trying to steer such a break-up more along [[VelvetRevolution peaceful lines]] like Czechoslovakia rather than [[UsefulNotes/TheYugoslavWars what happened in Yugoslavia]] in the early 90's.
* In the 2002 edition of the ''Encyclopedia of Stateless Nations'', the author defines a stateless nation as a group that self identifies as a distinctive group, displaying outward trappings of a national identity (especially, but not always, a flag) and the formation of political pressure groups for great autonomy. It has within the United States: New Englanders, Texans, Southerners, Californians, Mormons, at least five American Indian nations, Alaskans, and Cajuns.
* The infamous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesusland_map Jesusland Map]], which shows how the U.S. tends to split in half in terms of political candidates. With the exception of a few "swing states", it's a pretty decent guide to political leanings in the U.S. (Or at least it was circa 2004).
* After the 2012 elections, petitions were sent out to the "We The People" government website asking to leave the Union. At least one for each state was eventually sent.
* Primarily as a thought experiment, some commentators have proposed balkanizing the US to address issues with the Senate and the Electoral College. In the Senate, small states like Montana or Wyoming have equal representation as Texas and California, giving those states a disproportionate amount of power (this tends to benefit Republicans, as smaller states tend to be rural and more conservative than the big ones); and, while the Electoral College does reflect the will of the people the majority of the time, on four occasions (most recently in the 2016 Presidential Election, where Donald Trump won the electoral college despite losing the popular vote) they have differed; since a candidate can narrowly win crucial swing states while getting blown out in states safe for the other party the candidate with the most votes does not necessarily always win the Presidency. Worth noting, however, that such "issues" are an inherent part of the design of the U.S. political system. The disproportionate representation of the smaller states in the Electoral College and Senate serves as a check to prevent the larger ones from running roughshod over them, i.e. the "tyranny of the majority". Thus anyone who wants to get a bill passed or be elected President needs to get some buy-in from these states. Conversely, House seats are allocated proportionally, ensuring that the larger states still have plenty of say in lawmaking.
** One method is to [[http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2014/10/if_every_u_s_state_had_the_same_population_what_would_the_map_of_america.html redraw the state borders]] so that the USA consists of fifty states of roughly equal population, this means that each pair of senators will represent the same number of people, and the electoral votes of each state will be roughly the same, so the Electoral College will better reflect the nationwide popular vote.
** Another proposal is to [[http://www.motherjones.com/politics/1998/01/75-stars split all larger states]] into smaller ones of 4-5 million people, again making the Senate and Electoral College more representative as each of the new states sends their own senators and casts their own electoral ballots.
** A less radical proposal would be for all other states to allocate their electoral votes as Maine and Nebraska now do. In both states, the winner of the statewide vote is guaranteed only the two electoral votes corresponding to their U.S. Senators. Each remaining electoral vote goes to the winner of each individual U.S. House district. However, this doesn't account for congressional gerrymandering. Notably, Republicans won a majority of house seats even while losing the popular vote.
* While America's territories frequently saw their borders redrawn before statehood, only twice has a state been carved out from another state.
** The first was Maine, which was originally an exclave of Massachusetts whose residents had long grumbled in favor of secession due to their physical separation from the rest of the state. The UsefulNotes/WarOf1812 only intensified these separatist feelings, as Mainers saw Massachusetts as unconcerned with the British on their doorstep. Maine was granted statehood in 1820 as part of the Missouri Compromise, with Missouri entering the union as a slave state to compensate for the addition of a new free state in the northern US.
** The second was West Virginia. As in Maine ''vis-à-vis'' Massachusetts, many people in the mountainous western part of Virginia had long been disillusioned with the dominance of the state by the eastern lowland planters. As such, when Virginia declared for the Confederacy, the western counties took the opportunity to [[RebelliousRebel counter-secede]] and rejoined the Union, and the state retained its independence after the war. Similar pro-Union sentiments existed throughout Appalachia; Kentucky remained in the Union despite being a slave state (a few pro-Confederates organized a secessionist government in the western part of the state, but never got far), while eastern Tennessee was a hotbed of partisan violence against the Confederacy.
!!The South
* Oregon journalist Chuck Thompson has written a book titled ''[[http://www.amazon.com/Better-Off-Without-Manifesto-Secession/dp/1451616651 Better Off Without 'Em: A Northern Manifesto for Southern Secession]]'', whose central thesis is that the South[[note]]which he defines as all states of the former Confederacy except Texas, plus West Virginia and Kentucky[[/note]] stands alone as its own cultural nation among the geographical regions of the current United States and should be allowed to peacefully secede to allow the rest of America to move forward.
* These days, UsefulNotes/{{Florida}}'s status as a Southern state exists mainly through the GrandfatherClause. Only the northern third of the state is still considered part of the South, while central and southern Florida are considered culturally 'Yankee' as its residents are mostly migrants from the northeast. As a result, many citizens in both the northern and southern parts of the state have proposed secession from the other half. In the north, there have been many attempts dating to before the Civil War to get the Panhandle to split off and join neighboring Alabama. (Curiously, there ''was'' a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_West_Florida#Short-lived_Republic Republic of West Florida]] for a brief period in 1810, but most of its territory is now part of southern Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.) To the south, meanwhile, the serious suggestion was made by the mayor of South Miami in 2014 to [[http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/10/23/south_florida_as_51st_state_the_city_of_south_miami_votes_to_break_away.html split the state in two]] due to frustration with the state government's perceived lack of action on GlobalWarming (a major concern in low-lying UsefulNotes/{{Miami}}).\\\
North and South Florida have long had a great deal of separation and antipathy. In the 19th century, southern Florida had been mostly empty and seen as economically useless, with the main economic activity being cattle, sugar, and shipping; between economic differences with northern Florida (which was invested heavily in plantation agriculture, particularly cotton) and the lack of easy travel, the southern half of Florida was essentially a separate entity from the north. This gap only grew (albeit in mutated form) when industrialization arrived, with large numbers of Northerners moving in for the sunny, frost-free weather, as railroads and air conditioning enabled resorts, retirement communities, and large-scale farming of citrus, winter fruit, and vegetables that could now be easily shipped north without fear of spoilage.
** On the more tongue-in-cheek end, there's the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conch_Republic Conch Republic]], a secession attempt made by the residents of the Florida Keys (particularly Key West) in 1982. A ton of illegal contraband, particularly drugs, had been trafficked through there, and for logistical reasons the Coast Guard decided to set up a checkpoint on the Florida mainland side of US Route 1 (the only road in or out of the Keys) and check everyone passing through -- including Key residents trying to get to the mainland. The residents basically decided "fine, if you're going to treat us like a foreign country, we may as well become a foreign country!" Key West still uses the Conch Republic as a tourist lure to this day, selling flags and souvenir passports.
* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_New_Afrika Republic of New Afrika]] was a proposed country for African-Americans that was to be made from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, plus black-majority counties in neighboring states. Its proponents also called for reparations from the US government for centuries of slavery. As the group was involved in several violent confrontations, the FBI considered them a seditious group.
* On [[http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/author-says-south-should-form-new-nation-without-gays-and-hispanics-called-reagan/ October 2014]] Douglas [=MacKinnon=], a former aide and speechwriter for presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, advocated for the secession of southern states into a new nation called "Reagan", a new country that would then be based on "traditional" Christian and conservative values.
!![[EverythingIsBigInTexas Texas]]
* First there was the Texas Revolution--originally not to secede from Mexico, but to balkanize the Mexican state of Coahuila y Texas to give the recently immigrated Anglo Texans more control over local politics. Eventually, the rhetoric changed to favor complete separation, when it became clear the Mexican Government was not going to compromise. The increasingly anti-slavery stance of the Mexican government also contributed to this shift.
* Ten years later, after the Republic of Texas was annexed by the United States (which triggered [[UsefulNotes/MexicanAmericanWar war with Mexico]]), the territory's original borders were minorly balkanized--parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico once belonged to the Republic of Texas and were only relinquished because they were north of the latitude that divided free states from slave states.
* In the Joint Resolution admitting Texas to the Union, Congress did allow a provision for the state to divide itself. During the Republican era of Texas and early in its statehood there was a significant political faction known as the 'divisionists' who argued that the former republic was too large to be governed effectively by a single body. The point was rendered moot with the emergence of a Texan national culture.
* Texas then seceded from the USA during the Civil War, though it saw very little action compared to the other Southern states. It did, however, send a relatively large contingent of soldiers for its population size.
* Texas has, even unto the present day, had fringe secessionist movements, which gained some notoriety after Obama's election and in tandem with the rise of the Tea Party movement. Just ''try'' to find an article about Governor Perry that doesn't reference his apparently [[NeverLiveItDown pro-secessionist (or at least sympathetic to secessionists) comments in 2009]].
* Any time a news article features an OnlyInFlorida type of story that happened in Texas, expect to see a few 'Just leave already!' comments. Curiously enough, per capita [[http://www.cgpgrey.com/blog/can-texas-secede-from-the-union the states whose residents are most supportive of Texan independence]][[note]]This link goes by the Whitehouse.gov petition asking for permission to let Texas leave - the petition asks each signer to give their state of residence.[[/note]] (other than Texas itself) are those who generally share political views (Top Five: Louisiana, Oklahoma, Alabama, Alaska, and Arkansas). The ones who'd least want to see Texas leave? [[{{Tsundere}} The reliably Democratic states of New England, New York, New Jersey, Upper Midwest, California, and Hawaii.]]
!!The West (excluding California)
* UsefulNotes/{{Hawaii}} was an independent monarchy before Americans living in Hawaii deposed Queen Liliuokalani in a coup d'état. The United States supported the coup and eventually annexed Hawaii based on trumped-up claims that the Queen's government was oppressing the American immigrants. To this day, the Native Hawaiian community itself is divided over what they want to do about it--some want total independence from the U.S. while others want Hawaii to remain a state but for the Native Hawaiians to have sovereign rights similar to the ones Native Americans have... and there are lots of "in-between" and "none of the above" views mixed in there as well.
* The Alaska Independence Party, which advocates a new referendum that would include the option of Alaska becoming an independent nation, was founded in 1974. It became an officially recognized party in Alaska in 1984 and has maintained that status ever since. In 1990, the AIP even elected a governor, Wally Hickel, but Hickel did not actually support Alaska independence or a new statehood/independence referendum, and he rejoined the Republican Party in 1994. The AIP received some attention in 2008 over allegations that Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin had once been a member (she never was, but her husband Todd was for a time and she once addressed their convention as governor... but only by video, not in person).
* Cascadia is more of a thought experiment than an actual effort to secede, but this is a reformation of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia (and sometimes Northern California) from their governments into a separate, socially liberal, environmentalist nation. There's a website for the Cascadian independence party [[http://cascadianow.org/history.html here]].
* The [[http://www.jeffersonstate.com/ State of Jefferson]] from the 1940s and 1950s, covering the most out-there libertarian Redwoods counties of southern Oregon and northern California. The ball got rolling in October 1941, and continued on through November and early December, culminating in men stopping traffic and handing out proclamations of independence. Those who note what date would come up very soon after this period can guess [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII how the movement got quashed for the time being]].
!!UsefulNotes/{{California}}
* California's history of independence goes back very far. The area was only settled by the Spaniards in 1769, who remained loyal to the Crown during Mexico's War of Independence. After the war, California was only part of Mexico for fifteen years, during which it rebelled against the Mexican government ''four times'' (twice to maintain a locally-based government, twice for outright independence). It was briefly a sovereign nation until U.S. troops moved in and forcibly made it a territory as part of the UsefulNotes/MexicanAmericanWar. It was mostly a given that it would become a state even before that, though unlike Texas, its limbo was solved much sooner, by the Compromise of 1850. Since the election of 2016, there has been some increase in secessionist sentiment among the locals, along with a rise in reciprocal sentiment from people in other states that maybe this "left coast" enclave should be ''kicked out''.
* In 2013, venture capitalist Tim Draper proposed a "Six Californias" plan that would split the state into six pieces, all splitting along existing county lines.
** The northernmost piece would be called '''Jefferson''' after the historic proposal and would consist of Butte, Colusa, Del Norte, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Plumas, Siskiyou, Shasta, Tehama, and Trinity Counties. Its capital would likely be Chico. These counties are mostly rural, and the hypothetical state of Jefferson would have a far lower population density than the other states.
** South of Jefferson would be '''Northern California''', consisting of Amador, El Dorado, Marin, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Sutter, Yolo, and Yuba Counties. Its capital would be the current state capital, Sacramento.
** Most of North California's southern border would be with '''Central California''', the only one of the six proposed states without a Pacific coastline. Comprised of Alpine, Calaveras, Fresno, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Mono, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tulare and Tuolumne Counties, with Fresno as its capital, Central California would become the poorest state in the country on a per capita basis.
** Contrasting this, the ''richest'' state in the country per capita, if the Six Californias plan passed, would be '''Silicon Valley''', just west of Central California. Comprised of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties, with UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco as its state capital, this state houses the wealthy tech giants of the country. It should be noted that Draper hails from this region of California; as such, some cynics have suggested that this is the ''real'' goal of the Six Californias plan, to create a [[OneNationUnderCopyright corporate enclave]] in the Bay Area where Silicon Valley firms and venture capitalists would be free to write the laws in their favor.
** South of Silicon Valley and the western part of Central California is '''West California''', which would be the most populous of the six new states. Comprised of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, and Ventura Counties, its capital would naturally be Los Angeles, [[EaglelandOsmosis which, due to its status as the hub of the American entertainment industry, is what most people think of when they think of California anyway.]] Except for Californians, paradoxically.
** Finally, the counties of Imperial, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego would become '''South California''', with San Diego as its capital. South California would be second to West California in population. [[NonIndicativeName Contrary to what the owners of a certain baseball team would have you believe, this would put Anaheim and Los Angeles in separate]] ''[[NonIndicativeName states]]'', as Anaheim is located in Orange County.
* Following the 2016 election of Donald Trump, the California Independence Movement (Calexit) gained some momentum moving from 13% to 32% in terms of support. Supporters like to point out that the State gives more resources to the Federal Government than it takes and is the 6th largest economy in the world if counted separate from the United States. Detractors like to point out that there is no legal succession from the United States and California is the largest solid for the Democratic Party (and in general) and it leaving will mean a larger gap to cover when the next elections come up. (Notably, Trump won the popular vote without California, and the house would lose over 40 Democrats but less than 10 Republicans in such a scenario) Most people see little difference between this and when Texas was threatening to leave when Obama was elected 8 years previous. Another point brought up against this is that California's economic power is rooted in its large ports for trade between the United States and the rest of the Pacific as well as having the rest of the US as a common market for Californian goods. Further scepticism about Calexit was aroused, when its founder was revealed to be a pro-Trump businessman living in Moscow.


!!The Northeast
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hampshire_Constitution#Article_10._Right_of_Revolution New Hampshire's state constitution]] would seem to suggest not the right to independence, but in fact, the ''duty'' to revolt should the government become overly oppressive.
* Vermont was also an independent nation from 1777 until it joined the Union in 1791. Of course, though Vermont considered itself an independent nation, the rest of the early U.S. just wasn't sure whether it was part of New York or New Hampshire. \\
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Much of northern New Hampshire and a goodly chunk of the Lake Champlain Valley in New York considered themselves and were recognized by Vermont, as part of the Republic of Vermont. Part of the deal when Vermont joined the Union was the abandonment of the claim on this "Greater Vermont".\\
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The Vermonters then turned to the British for recognition during the [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution War of Independence]], but the war started winding down before negotiations really got rolling. Much like Texas, a certain number of Vermonters still cling to the notion that they have the right to secede, and an active secessionist movement there is "committed to the peaceful return of Vermont to its status as an independent republic and more broadly the dissolution of the Union". According to some calculations, Vermont pays more to the Federal government in taxes than it receives back in federal funds.\\
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Other proposals have involved joining UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} as the [[UsefulNotes/CanadianProvincesAndTerritories 11th province]], joining Canada by joining the province of UsefulNotes/{{Quebec}}, or joining Quebec and ''then'' separating from Canada to form an independant Quebec/Vermont state. \\

* New England was the first region to consider secession from the United States, in the form of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartford_Convention Hartford Convention]] of 1815, which discussed primarily forging a separate peace with Great Britain. Important background: Americans were not unanimously in favor of the UsefulNotes/WarOf1812, despite whatever impressions you may have gotten from your history textbook. While today, textbooks primarily cite the British practice of stopping American merchant ships they suspected were bound for France (who they were at war with at the time) and seizing goods or even kidnapping American sailors, many, especially New England, saw the war as a naked attempt to appropriate the land of Native Americans, many of whom were allied with Britain. New England even traded with Canada and Britain throughout the war in defiance of federal laws, which is the main reason they were spared the bulk of the fighting despite being the only area to border a British territory.
* UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity Mayor Fernando Wood proposed that his city secede from the union during the [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar Civil War]] and form a [[TruceZone free-trade zone]] which would have commerce with everybody. It helped that most working-class New Yorkers [[{{Hatedom}} really despised]] [[UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln President Lincoln]], especially over the issue of conscription.
* Also from New York, there have been so many proposals to split the state between its [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkState upstate]] and [[BigApplesauce downstate]] portions that even most New Yorkers have lost count. The divide is a big one -- outside the state capital of Albany, most of upstate New York resembles either rural New England or the Rust Belt in its culture and politics, as far a cry from what is ''the'' Big City in America as one can imagine.
* In the spirit of jest, in 1998, the eastern half of Annapolis, Maryland declared itself separate and thus, the Maritime Republic of Eastport was founded. It's all done in fun, to foster a friendly rivalry between the east and west half of a town, separated by Spa Creek and celebrated with an annual tug-of-war.
** There is a proposal for the five most North Western counties in Maryland (the Eastern Shore, the region made up mostly of counties that border Delaware) to secede and form either their own state or join with either West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware or some combination thereof. This gained steam in TheNewTens after congressional redistricting broke up many of the larger Republican concentrations (which mostly contains the Northernmost counties and Eastern Shore), leading many people to consider the State one of the most gerrymandered in the entire Union. Some parts of a district contain narrow portions that are less than a mile in one direction and connect to larger blobs nowhere near the point of origin.
!!Other
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Lakotah_proposal The Republic of Lakotah]] recently seceded from the United States. Currently, this declaration has been in name only.
* The Arlington area of Virginia is the land originally ceded from Virginia to Washington D.C. when the city was being formed, then seceded/given back to Virginia. The rest of the city is looking to do something similar leaving D.C. to be just the region near the National Mall and some surrounding neighborhoods. Whether the city proper becomes [[ExpandedStatesOfAmerica a 51st State]] or returns to Maryland is a major point of debate hampering further movement. [[note]]Currently, D.C. has one House of Representatives observer who can raise issues, but cannot vote. Almost all D.C. residents are in favor of statehood, with many in favor of either option because it will mean representation. The debate is more up to Congress, which must approve, and falls on party lines. D.C. is reliably Democratic, so the Democrats would like to see it as full Statehood giving it two more safe seat Senators. Republicans would prefer it ceded back to Maryland, where it would net only one reliable opposition House Seat. Overall, D.C. prefers statehood, both because D.C. is one of, if not the, most democratic cities in the United States, but also because most D.C. residents find themselves culturally different from Maryland, as D.C. has been separate from Maryland for over 200 years.[[/note]]
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