Talks of Texas secession have re-invigorated following Britons’ startling vote to leave the European Union.
Advertisement
Following the Brexit vote, a survey indicated that nearly 6,000 Twitter users used the phrase “Texit” (in reference to Texas secession) on the social media site.
Texas previously seceded from the U.S.in 1861 but was added to the USA again after the Union won the Civil War.
The movement suffered a blow at the Texas Republican Convention in May, when state delegates declined to endorse the idea of a referendum on secession, but that it got as far as it did was a surprise to many who have dismissed a Texit as an impractical solution dreamed up by a fringe movement.
Miller said the Federal Government has been abusing Texas for the past decade and the only way to free the people from this abuse is through Texas independence. The issue is founded, in part, in the history of Texas, which was once its own independent nation.
Texas was an independent country from 1836 to 1845 and breaking away from the US has been an age-old debate there.
This resolution, which stipulated that Texas could, in the future, choose to divide itself into “New States of convenient size not exceeding four in number, in addition to said State of Texas” is often a cause of confusion about the state’s ability to secede. A state convention in 1861 voted 166 to 8 in favor of secession – a measure that was then ratified by a popular vote, making Texas the seventh state to secede from the Union. One of these is a built-in permission slip to split into as many as five individual states should they wish to do so, without requiring the approval of Congress.
During the Civil War, Texas secession did happen, along with the secession of several other states.
Daniel Miller, head of the Texas Nationalist Movement, sent a tweet to Gov. Greg About Friday morning calling on him to schedule a statewide referendum on “Texas independence”.
Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune.
And Texas is not alone when it comes to following the Brexit example.
“If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede.”
Advertisement
The group was pushing for a small, democratic, nonviolent and egalitarian state.
