Obama's secession secret?

There's been a lot of criticism of Rick Perry's talk of Texas secession, but at least he's not giving his vacation dollars to a government that recently voted to secede—like President Obama is. OK, it's a stretch, I admit... but it is kind of funny that Obama is vacationing on Martha's Vineyard—one of the only places in the north that actually voted in favor of secession. And it wasn't centuries ago... it was 1977. The people of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket were so mad at Massachusetts, they actually voted to leave the state. There was some talk of forming a new country, but most of the proposals had Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard joining Vermont. Or perhaps Hawaii. Yeah, Hawaii offered an invitation. Wait a minute, that's where Obama's from! Conspiracy theorists, start your engines!

OK, nobody actually believes that President Obama sides with Martha's Vinyard's lingering secessionists.  So if secession came up, on say, a political talk show, I'd expect Obama's spokespeople to deny any silly secessionist talk. Wait a second! Obama's campaign advisor Robert Gibbs can't seem to stop talking about secession! And press secretary Jay Carney is no better.  Yes, I know they are poking at Perry, but it strikes me as odd to point the "He's a secessionist" finger when their man is actually staying on Secession Island.

Loophole land—where crimes can't be prosecuted. Really.

According to a law professor from Michigan, there is small section if Idaho where major crimes can not be prosecuted—thanks to a giant blunder by Congress.

The problem begins with the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone is mostly in Wyoming, but a sliver of the park extends into Idaho and Montana. When Congress created the U.S. District Court of Wyoming it included all of Yellowstone National Park. Big mistake.

Stay with me here.... so let's say you commit a murder in the portion of Idaho that's in the park (The red "Loophole Land" on my map). You'd be arrested and bound over for trial in the US District court in Cheyenne, Wyoming. But Article III of the Constitution states that the trial must be held in the state where the crime was committed—in this case Idaho. So you are sent to Idaho for trial. No problem there. But the Sixth Amendment also says that the jury must be drawn from the state and District where the crime was committed. The state is Idaho... but the District is the Wyoming District (which includes the sliver of Idaho that's in the park). So the jury would have to be drawn from residents who live in the portion of Idaho that lies in the park.

And that's where it gets interesting: nobody lives in that patch of Idaho. Nobody. No jury pool means no trial, means you go free.

This curious loophole was discovered by Prof. Brian C. Kalt, a respected legal scholar from Michigan State University. Georgetown Law Journal is reporting on the matter in an upcoming issue. (You can read Kalt's full article here)

Of course, committing crimes is bad. Don't do it. But if you're a screenwriter, this is great stuff! Maybe Dick Wolf will start a new series Law and Order: Idaho just to take advantage of this legal anomaly.

And if all this wasn't bizarre enough, Idaho's "Loophole Land" is just a few steps from another patch of American soil that also fell outside the law. Dubbed "Lost Dakota" it was a few acres of land that—erroneously—were not part of any state and thus, theoretically, outside the reach of law enforcement. (Much more on this in my book Lost States) Eventually that situation was fixed when Lost Dakota became a part of Montana. But Loophole Land remains an unsettling, well, loophole. If your nemesis suggests a camping trip near the Idaho/Wyoming border.... don't go!!!

Rick Perry and Texas secession revisited

Can Texas secede from the Union, as presidential candidate Rick Perry once suggested? Probably not. Can Texas split into multiple states pretty much whenever it wants? Yes, absolutely—and, most Texans of the 19th century assumed this would happen. The question was not "if," but "when" and "how." There were multiple plans introduced into the Texas legislature over the years, some for two Texases (or is it Texi?), others for three or four. One proposal that got introduced multiple times is shown in the  map above. In its most-recent iteration (1870) it was called the Beaman plan and divided Texas in three: Jefferson in the east, Matagorda in the west and Texas in the middle. The proposal didn't get enough votes, but Texans kept trying. (Several of the plans are described—with maps—in Lost States)

Now that Rick Perry is officially in the presidential race, I wish he'd clarify his statement about secession. He might be a great potential president; he might be a lousy one—I have no way of knowing. But I do know that the jury is still out on his command of American history and geography. The right to split into multiple states is explicitly true for Texas, although it's also true for any state. While Texas has never split, Massachusetts has—creating Maine. Virginia also split, creating West Virginia.

But the topic of secession (that is, leaving the US)  is more tricky. The last time any state tried it, a civil war was triggered, and we all know how that turned out. That said, historians and scholars like Thomas Woods point out that secession isn't actually unconstitutional. The whole thing is a lot more nuanced than you learned in elementary school. Rick Perry might actually have a command of this stuff... or he might have it all wrong. It's not clear just yet which one that is.

Kanawha - the rough draft of West Virginia

Before West Virginia was, well, "West Virginia," it was "Kanawha." That was the original name for a proposed state that would split from Virginia. The idea actually dates back to long before the Civil War. And the reason is crystal clear on this historic map. Darker-shaded counties have more slaves, lighter counties have fewer. You can see at a glance that the people of western Virginia had fewer slaves, and thus were much less interest in preserving the institution of slavery. When statehood finally came to pass, the shape of the new state was pretty close to the plan of Kanawha.  What I can't figure out, however, is why the "N" in Kanawha is backward.

Historian: North Dakota not really a state

In November of 2012, the people of North Dakota will vote to become a US state. This is no joke. It turns out the 122-year-old state constitution has a flaw that no one noticed until historian John Rolczynski caught it in 1995. You can read up on all the details here, but the outcome is that—technically—North Dakota is still a territory; that is, until they vote to fix the problem next year.  Since no one has created an updated map of the 49-state America, we figured it was our duty to do so.

Family trip? Be thankful for good roads

Planning a family trip in the USA this summer? Most likely, you'll be driving on some of the world's best roads... made possible by the same cranky folks who pressed for new states in the last century. More than one new state proposal was created by rural groups who were dissatisfied with the terrible backcountry roads that were common in America in the 20s and 30s. Bad roads were not just an inconvenience... without a decent way to get crops to market, they were seen as an impediment to prosperity. Our fun little one-minute video (above) tells the story of one of these proposals: Texlahoma.

Forgottonia Revisited

Forgottonia seems to be a hot topic these days, so I thought I'd revisit the entry from Lost States:
Illinois has lots of freeways. Lots. But one section of the state got left out--the counties in the western bulge. Largely cut off from the rest of the state by the Illinois River, this area didn’t get any fancy freeways in the Interstate boom of the 1960s and 70s. In protest, a group of residents decided to form their own state, Forgottonia. They appointed a governor and tried to attract attention. But what they really wanted was Interstate 72, which would provide a shortcut between Chicago and Kansas City. The highway legislation that would have built I-72 was defeated in Congress in 1968, and then again in the early 70s. Parts of I-72 were eventually built decades later, but even today I-72 only extends to the Illinois-Missouri border.

And so Forgottonia still struggles. Businesses have steadily left. Amtrak’s arm had to be twisted to ensure continued service. The region even had a college up and move to a different state—which is pretty amazing considering the infrastructure they decided to leave behind. Such is the sad story of Forgottonia. It never had a real shot at statehood—and it’s still pretty much forgotten. But they do have corn. Lots and lots of corn. So as long as America keeps drinking 64-ounce fountain drinks, Forgottonia’s people will survive. About the only thing that could hurt Forgottonia today would be medical reports suggesting high-fructose corn syrup isn’t healthy.
  Oh.

The ultimate royal wedding: USA and UK

With so many Americans interested in the upcoming royal wedding, maybe it's time to re-propose another kind of marriage—the U.K. joining the U.S. Sure it sounds preposterous, but in 1947, at least one very powerful U.S. Senator was working hard to make this happen. His name was Richard Russell, Jr. of Georgia--and his plan was to add England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales as four new states. He may have been the only person on earth who thought this was a good idea. Normally, this kind of thing would be laughed off as the idea of a crackpot, but because it was proposed by a U.S. Senator, the media dutifully reported the plan.

Press reports from 1947 said the British received the idea “coldly.” How coldly? Think absolute zero. If you skipped high school chemistry, absolute zero is the coldest temperature known to exist. In theory, nothing in the universe can actually reach absolute zero—but I think maybe the British did in 1947.
Of course, they didn’t just launch into a tirade of expletives, because the British are much too sophisticated for such a coarse response. So rather than condemn Senator Russell, the plucky Brits simply pointed out that Georgia still owed money borrowed from the British during the Civil War. It was the perfect retort. Russell had assumed that America had the upper hand, because the United States had just bailed out Britain in WWII. He had forgotten that England had spent more that $200 million to help the South in the war between the states—money that was never repaid. Hmmm. Maybe this whole thing was backwards—perhaps Georgia should be added to the United Kingdom. All the 1947 shenanigans are detailed (with a nice map too) in Lost States. 

Maybe it's time to resurrect this idea. If they were Americans, Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton might move to California or New York... or Cleveland—which is something Americans would fancy. Oh, wait... we'd also get Charles and Camilla. Nevermind. Forget the whole thing.

The forgotten Union state in the Confederate south

With the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War this week—and the premiere of a new Lincoln movie The Conspirator, it makes sense to revisit one of the important untold stories of the war between the states—namely that many southerners did not want to secede from the Union. Slavery benefited wealthy plantation owners, not the poor dirt farmers of the Appalachians. Many of these hill people resented being dragged into what they considered "a rich man’s war." This sentiment led to a movement to create a pro-Union (or at least neutral) state in the south, named Nickajack. It's it's discussed in my book Lost States.  Read on for more about the lost state of Nickajack.

51st state elects representative

The 51st state of Washington DC elected it's representative to Congress Tuesday. OK, so Washington DC isn't a state yet. But like most wannabe states, they do have an official-like election to chose a "shadow" representative. The winner receives permission to wander around Congress and pretend; he gets to sit in a special chair and probably wear a secret decoder ring. No disrespect to winner Mike Panetta (above) ... it's just that shadow representatives don't get to do the important stuff... like vote. But I wish him all the best in his 51st state quest. And his 51st state license plates are really cool. I want one.

Long Island "state flag"

I'm sure that Cesidio Tallini is an excellent designer... and I'm certainly not against Long Island statehood. But the color combination he chose for the state flag of Long Island... is kinda giving me a headache. I thought it was just me, but some specialists in color theory at Penn State agree that orange-on-blue is  a no-no. But don't give up Cesidio... just tweak the colors a bit! Read more here from the Long Island statehood site. And look away before you get a headache!

Yooper rest area = tree

Mother Jones just did a piece on Yooper statehood. For you non-locals, a Yooper us someone who lives in the U.P. (Upper Peninsula) of Michigan. So U. P. = Yoop.... get it? Anyway, statehood for the Upper Peninsula (including portions of northern Wisconsin) has been discussed for many years. Occasionally, the talk gets more serious--like the 1970s proposal of a new state of Superior (see above). The Mother Jones writer makes the point that it's easy to see the cultural difference between lower Michigan and the U.P. by counting the number of public rest areas. The lower part of Michigan has lots of 'em. The U.P.??.... well, they just use a tree. Read more here.

Ann Coulter supports Alberta statehood

Love her or hate her, you have to admit that Ann Coulter knows how to get attention. And so when she mentioned that Alberta should become the 51st state, Canadian ears perked up. While Canadian media were all over the story, Americans didn't hear much about this when Ann made her remarks a few months ago. In case you missed it, here is the link. Of course, you can read the full story of Alberta's (and British Columbia's) potential statehood in Lost States.

Visit the 3rd Dakota

If your summer vacation this year takes you to Yellowstone National Park, you might take a side trip to one of America's oddest geographic anomalies: Lost Dakota. Nobody lives there now... and there aren't even any signs or maps to help you get there. But in the corner of Yellowstone--where Montana, Idaho and Wyoming meet, there was a little patch of Dakota. Lost Dakota gets the full treatment in the book , watch the video above for a quick overview.

Montezuma's Revenge

With everyone so concerned about Arizona's new immigration law, I'm surprised no one's talked about how we actually got our border with Mexico. Before 1843, the southern part of Arizona and New Mexico was a part of Mexico. James Gadsden was instructed by the president to buy up a huge portion of Mexico, but our neighbor to the south balked. As a consolation prize Mexico did agree to sell us a small sliver, which we now call the Gadsden Purchase. Without that deal, Tucson would be in Mexico today. Of course Arizona wasn't a state back then--in the days before air conditioning, the population was small. When Arizona was considered for statehood, many proposed combining what is now Arizona with New Mexico to create a super-sized state called Montezuma. For a bigger map, go here.

Jefferson, copper, and Hitler

The curious thing about most of the statehood proposals I researched is that very few seemed to produce actual maps. That is, proponents would describe their statehood idea, but did not usually offer a map of the new state. Jefferson was an interesting exception. This statehood idea--proposed in 1941--would have included northern California and southern Oregon. Nearly all the press reports included a map like the one above (from the Gastonia Daily Gazette). The map is interesting for a couple reasons. First, it doesn't give viewers much context. Given that this is from a local paper in North Carolina, you'd think it would give readers a wider "you-are-there" perspective. I can only guess that back in 1941, it was assumed that newspaper readers knew where California and Oregon actually were. Today, I'm not so sure.  Second, the map highlights copper deposits; and the accompanying article mentions copper as the key to the proposed state's economy. My how things have changed--when's the last time you used a phone with a copper wire? (You know, the phones that attach to a wall.)  And speaking of how times have changed, I can't help but note the comments of Superior Judge Coleman of neighboring Jackson County, Oregon. He was against the Jefferson idea, and thought it should be stopped immediately before the proposal had a chance to grow. Here is his quote: "We must not make the mistake of laughing off this government as a silly stunt. Don't forget that Adolf Hitler started in a small way too." Yikes! Evoking Hitler? Really?

Statehood for Iceland

Everyone's been thinking about Iceland the last week or so, but why hasn't the news media been reporting on proposals to make Iceland a U.S. state? Well, um, maybe because the idea was only considered briefly--60 years ago. The main proponent was Rep. Bud Gearhart of California, who figured that owning the strategically-positioned island would help keep America safe from the Soviets. Gearhardt actually wanted to buy up a whole bunch of Atlantic islands to buffer the U.S. from foreign threats. As mad as the idea was, less than 2 decades after Gearhart's proposal was dismissed, the Soviets set up nuclear missiles in Cuba and pointed them right at Washington D.C. Maybe Bud was onto something. (More in the book)

Where Forgottonia?

So where the heck is the lost state of Forgottonia? I forgot. Kidding.... bad joke. It's the western bulge of Illinois.

Why Forgottonia?

I have been fortunate enough to do two national radio interviews in the past week, and I must admit surprise that both hosts wanted to talk about Forgottonia. It wasn't much of a statehood movement... and I almost didn't put it in the book. But people seem very interested in this effort to cleave a new state from western Illinois.  Forgottonia's main export is high fructose corn syrup—and, believe it or not, that's what is pictured above. I know, it looks like drums of toxic waste, but it's not. Well...  
Here's a map of Forgottonia.

Fess, Daniel, and Transylvania

Fess Parker's recent passing has reminded many of his iconic portrayal of Daniel Boone in the 1960s TV series. Mr. Parker had a history degree and saw his series as a way to educate the public about the American story. However, I couldn't find an episode where the characters talk about the state the real Daniel Boone tried to create, called Transylvania.... which overlaid much of modern Kentucky. If he had been successful, we'd all enjoy the Transylvania Derby each year! (Trivia note: singer Pat Boone is a descendent of the real Daniel Boone.)