A group calling themselves New California proclaims their state has become ungovernable. On January 16, 2018, the members read their Declaration of Independence.
The plan is to form a new state comprised of rural counties and San Diego. The proposed new terrain would be separate from the majority of coastal locations. In an online document, New California proclaimed the current state is governed by tyranny and has become ungovernable.
The group said that regulation, taxation, and mono-party politics are the factors that led to the decline of essential services and chaos of the state. They added that California lacks in areas of law enforcement, healthcare, education, and infrastructure.
The 51st state would be called New California and would be composed of cities such as San Diego, San Jose, Fresno, Chico, and Eureka. Larger coastal cities such as Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area would not be included. Sacramento would remain the capital of the old state.
CBS reported the political group fashions their proposal of using the San Andreas Fault for the division of the state after the split of the Virginias. Article IV, Section 3 of the United States Constitution grants the group the right to secede. They intend to gain state legislative approval, then send their resolution of statehood to Capitol Hill.
Past Actions to Split the Golden State
Proposals for dividing the state occurred at least 13 times since being admitted into the Union. Some secession proposals were politically motivated; others were not. One unique action suggested splitting two states to create a third.
In October 1941, Gilbert Gable, the mayor of Port Orford, Oregon conceived a plan to create a new state by combining portions of Southern Oregon and Northern California. The proposal included Josephine, Curry, Klamath, Jackson, Siskiyou, Del Norte, and Modoc counties.
Christopher Hall stated that the poorly maintained roads, which affected Oregon’s local ore and timber industries, were the reasons Gable attempted to fracture the two states.
Members of Congress met at their possible state capital of Yreka, California in the following November and decided that Jefferson would be the name of their new state. Later young men holding rifles were stopping automobiles in the area and dispersing documents that were their Proclamation of Independence.
The Proclamation stated that the region would secede from the two states every Thursday until they were granted additional information. Shortly afterward the Japanese Empire attacked Pearl Harbor. Many Americans then united across the whole nation and the plan to split California dissolved.
Two California’s members, Eleanor Smith and Michael Di Leo recalled that Senator Richard J. Dolwig proposed a split in 1962. He planned to divide California approximately 100 miles north of Los Angeles at the Tehachapi mountains. Dolwig was a Republican from the San Francisco Bay Area he said that the reason why he attempted to separate the state was due to water and not politics.
The activists do not want to secede from the U.S. they only want to create a new state. Robert Paul Preston, the founder of Two California, stated that the region has been unmanageable for a long time, because of problems with education, high taxes, and its business ratings of 48th or 50th in the country are their argument for seceding He further reiterated that their state has become ungovernable.
By John A. Federico
Edited by Cathy Milne
Sources:
USA Today: New California declares ‘independence’ from California in bid to become 51st state
USA Today: New California? 5 times Californians failed to split the Golden State
ABC News: New California declares ‘independence’ from California, hopes to become 51st state
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