Secession

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Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or political entity.

Examples include the case of the Southern states of the United States seceding prior to the American Civil War. A "reverse" secession of sorts happened at this time when the northwestern counties of Virginia seceded to form the state of West Virginia.

The first serious discussion of secession from the United States was in 1814, at the Hartford Convention. The then-five New England states (Maine was still a part of Massachusetts,) met at Hartford, Connecticut to discuss the Massachusetts State Legislature's opinion that New England ought to secede from the Union.

More local examples of secession also exist, such as Piedmont, California, which was part of Oakland before seceding from the latter in 1907, a short-lived effort to create a Jefferson State out of counties in southern Oregon and northern California in 1941 in part motivated by requests for better roads but ended by the beginning of World War II. Staten Island attempted to break away from New York City, in the late-1980s and early 1990s. San Fernando Valley recently lost a vote to separate from Los Angeles County but has seen an increased attention to its infrastructure needs. Several cities in Vermont including Killington are currently exploring a secession request to allow them to join New Hampshire over claims that they are not getting adequate return of state resources from their tax contributions.

There have been modern secessionist movements in the United States. Advocates in the upper peninsula of Michigan with off and on intensity have called for it be become a separate 51st state. Another called formation of Cascadia in the Pacific Northwest. There are also websites currently advocating a separate California (which was briefly an independent state before joining the union in the mid-19th century.)