Unfortunately for these, ahem, regional patriots, what’s going on in Scotland has little to do with our federal government. In fact, the idea that states can secede from the U.S. is nothing more than a pervasive myth.
Simply put, the ruling in the 1867 Supreme Court case
Texas v. White makes any state effort to legally secede from the U.S. absolutely pointless. Chief Justice
Salmon P. Chase’s majority opinion reads, “The union between Texas and the other states was as complete, as perpetual, and as indissoluble as the union between the original States. There was no place for reconsideration or revocation, except through revolution or through consent of the states.” Pretty concrete stuff.
The joint resolution for the
annexation of Texas by the United States also has no mention of Texas’ right to break from the union. Alas, for Lone Star nation fantasists and all other aspiring secessionists, the furthest Texas could go would be to break itself into five states—basically what all those rich guys
keep trying to do with California, to no avail.
Of course, none of that has stopped the dreamers from dreaming. Mainly concentrated in Southern states, pro-secessionists wax rhapsodic about of a life free of that pesky federal government. The most recent, notable flare-up in this ludicrous talk occurred back in 2012 when Texas Governor Rick Perry made comments that were construed as advocating for Texas’ secession in
an interview.
“We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that? But Texas is a very unique place, and we’re a pretty independent lot to boot,” he said.
In spite of the fact that the former presidential candidate stressed that he was not in favor of Texas’ secession after the interview, it incited a storm of media attention, and a
petition for Texas’ withdrawal from the union cropped up in the wake of his comments that garnered more than 125,000 signatures. That’s a lot of wasted ink and paper.
And Texans aren’t alone. Citizens from Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana are among the states that have filed similar petitions to withdraw from the union. The states with the highest number of “secession” searches (in descending order) are South Carolina, Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, Texas, North Carolina and Mississippi, according to Google Trends data.
But the cold, hard facts are these: Any state attempting to leave the union wouldn’t be seceding, it would be rebelling. We all know how well that went last time.
So while the Scots might be able to peacefully, legally free themselves of Queen Elizabeth and their neighbors to the south with a measure of grace, it’s going to take more than a few votes and some legal maneuvering to split up America’s union.
http://www.vocativ.com/usa/us-politics/texas-secession/