History Main / DividedStatesOfAmerica

*** MA, PA, KY, and VA are states for all intents and purposes. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth "Commonwealth"]] is probably the loosest defined political term in existence. For instance the Commonwealths of Australia, Dominica, and the Bahamas are themselves members of the Commonwealth of Nations (aka the British Empire).

* While that annexation treaty did not actually allow the state of Texas to secede if it wished, as is sometimes incorrectly implied, it does allow Texas to balkanize itself into up to five separate states if it so wishes.[[hottip:*: Of course, if Texas did decide to partition itself, it might mean 10 Texan senators.]] The joke is that this will never happen because no one would agree on who gets to keep the Alamo.

* The D20 Modern campaign setting, ''Otherverse America'' is one of these. The central conflict is an armed civil war between pro-Choice pagan and anti-abortion Christian factions.

So now you're writing a story TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, or perhaps in an AlternateUniverse. How do you show that things have irrevocably but believably changed? A highly symbolic move is to break up the Union. Perhaps the State suffered some sort of [[FallenStatesOfAmerica crisis]] of the type it's never really seen before, and then things went FromBadToWorse. Maybe the country was broken up [[InvadedStatesOfAmerica by foreign invaders]], dissent with a [[OppressiveStatesOfAmerica powerful government led to a break]], or maybe regional separatism and nationalism took hold as it kind of did [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar last time]]. For whatever reasons, the country now consists of many smaller nation-states.

* Robert Ferrigno's ''Prayers for the Assassin'' 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.republicworldnews.com/images/prayers_finalmap_smaller.JPG a handy map]].

* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': [[http://www.revolution-show.com/map-of-revolution-monroe-republic/ This map]] (first shown in [[Recap/RevolutionS1E5SoulTrain episode 5]]) shows how the United States (and to a lesser extent Canada and Mexico) have been broken up. For those who can't read the map. Note that since some of these nations extend into Canada and/or Mexico this trope is combined with ExpandedStatesOfAmerica:

* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': [[http://www.revolution-show.com/map-of-revolution-monroe-republic/ This map]] (first shown in [[Recap/RevolutionS1E5SoulTrain episode 5]]) shows how the United States (and to a lesser extent Canada and Mexico) have been broken up. For those who can't read the map:
** The Monroe Republic: New England, the Mid-Atlantic and Great Lakes areas

** The California Commonwealth: The West Coast including a sizable chunk of British Columbia. Considered to be "heathens" by at least one high-level Monroe Militia officer (Neville)

* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'':
** [[http://www.revolution-show.com/map-of-revolution-monroe-republic/ this map]] (first shown in [[Recap/RevolutionS1E5SoulTrain episode 5]]) shows how the United States (and to a lesser extent Canada and Mexico) have been broken up. For those who can't read the map:

* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': [[http://www.revolution-show.com/map-of-revolution-monroe-republic/ this map]] shows how the United States (and to a lesser extent Canada and Mexico) have been broken up. For those who can't read the map:

* A smaller scale version than normal, but in the [[{{Batman}} 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.

* 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.

* In MattRuff's ''The Mirage'' the Christian States of AMerica is composed of 17 States, 18 after Mississipii 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 a Pentacostal Heartland State of Gilead. How big the latter is is unstated but Tennesee, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan form it's eastern edge.

** A much larger-scaled version happens in an AlternateTimeline from "Back to the Pilot", where Brian's efforts to the prevent 9/11 attacks causes the formation of a second Confederacy. All in the name of [[TakeThat bashing]] [[GeorgeWBush Buch]] once again.

* The legalities involved in state secession can go several ways. On one hand, as 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 in any case, the Confederate Constitution made it clear that the Confederacy wouldn't look too kindly on states attempt to secede from ''it'' (Georgia came close to trying).

* 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. This name "Paneme" is derived from [[GratuitousLatin the Latin phrase "panem et cicenses"]] 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.

* The ''VForVendetta'' movie, set in Britain TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, refers to "the former United States", presumably by analogy with "the former Soviet Union". There was no nuclear war in the movie, but from what little is shown (on the [[UnreliableNarrator propaganda-heavy]] television of the fascist British government), it looks like they have fallen into anarchy and internal strife and are plagued by disease to no end.

* The 1869 [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_v_White Texas v. White Supreme Court]] decision that ruled secession illegal (and helped scupper Reconstruction, as it conflicted with Congress' "forfeited Rights" doctrine). The Supreme Court basically declared "once in the union, always in the union." Ergo, secession never happened and can't happen, at least without the approval of Congress and possibly a constitutional amendment. No-one ever mentions this decision in any discussion of possible secession I've seen in the last three decades.

!!!In General

!!!The South

!!![[EverythingIsBigInTexas Texas]]

!!!The West

!!!The Northeast

** 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 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.

* UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity mayor Fernando Wood proposed that his city secede from the union during the [[AmericanCivilWar 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]] [[AbrahamLincoln President Lincoln]].

* After the 2012 elections, petitions were sent out to the "We The People" government website asking to leave the Union.

* An interesting historical footnote: When Congress started debating the Kansas–Nebraska Act (or maybe it was the Missouri Compromise), some northern senators threatened to secede from the Union in protest against the way the debate was going. If they had actually done it, the ''North'' would have been the people rebelling against the Union.\\

TruthInTelevision perhaps, as 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 in any case, the Confederate Constitution made it clear that the Confederacy wouldn't look too kindly on states attempt to secede from ''it''. It's been more or less agreed that for a state to secede would at least require the consent of Congress, and possibly a Constitutional amendment. The US Supreme Court made their feelings heard on the matter after the end of the Civil War, basically stating that no State had, has or will ever have the right to secede.
* 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.
* UsefulNotes/{{California}} was briefly a sovereign nation, until U.S. troops moved in and forcibly made it a territory as part of the Mexican-American war. 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.
* Florida is only considered a "Southern" state by default. Many peninsular citizens have proposed secession, either as a state or as their own county. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conch_Republic The Conch Republic]] didn't take this as seriously as others. Curiously, there ''was'' a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Florida#Short-lived_Republic Republic of West Florida]] for a brief period in 1810, but it consisted of what is now southern Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.\\
\\

* [[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.
** Ten years later, after the Republic of Texas was peacefully annexed by the United States, the territory's original borders were minorly balkanized--parts of Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico once belonged to the Republic of Texas.
** While that annexation treaty did not actually allow the state of Texas to secede if it wished, as is sometimes incorrectly implied, it does allow Texas to balkanize itself into up to five separate states if it so wishes. [[hottip:*: Of course, if Texas did decide to partition itself, it might mean 10 Texan senators.]]
** This one is a common urban legend. Article IV of the Constitution specifies that Congress must consent to any subdivision of an existing state. In addition, there was no "annexation treaty," just a joint resolution, the same as with every other post-Revolutionary states.
** 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 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.
* Texas was the source of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_v_White 1869 Supreme Court]] decision that ruled secession illegal (and helped scupper Reconstruction, as it conflicted with Congress' "forfeited Rights" doctrine). The Supreme Court basically declared "once in the union, always in the union." Ergo, secession never happened and can't happen, at least without the approval of Congress and possibly a constitutional amendment. No-one ever mentions this decision in any discussion of possible secession I've seen in the last three decades.

* There are quite a few active organizations arguing for peaceful secession. Ironically, the main complaints cited are high taxes and an overbearing Federal government.

* Cascadia is more of a thought experiment than an actual effort to secede, but this is a cession of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia (and sometimes Northern California as well) 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 how the movement got quashed for the time being.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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 War of 1812, 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 [[AmericanCivilWar 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]] [[AbrahamLincoln President Lincoln]].
* 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 which 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.
* 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.
* 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 peaceful lines like Czechoslovakia rather than what happened in Yugoslavia in the early 90's.
* 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).

* Texas was the source of the 1869 Supreme Court case that ruled secession illegal (and helped scupper Reconstruction, as it conflicted with Congress' "forfeited Rights" doctrine). In White vs Texas, the Supreme Court basically declared "once in the union, always in the union." Ergo, secession never happened. Can't happen. No-one ever mentions this decision in any discussion of possible secession I've seen in the last three decades.

* 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 year or so, 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 peaceful lines like Czechoslovakia rather than what happened in Yugoslavia in the early 90's.