Secessionist Movements In America Refuse To Die

You would think that Scotland’s failed independence vote in September might discourage Americans from going the same route. And after the South’s failed attempt to break away over 150 years go, who could think of trying it again? Well, about a dozen regions, as it turns out. They might not have much popular support, and Mel Gibson didn’t make a blockbuster about them, but secessionist movements in America refuse to die.

One of the oldest is Hawaii, the beautiful island-state that was a sovereign kingdom until it became a U.S. territory in 1898. Several pro-independence organizations have been trying to reverse that ever since. The movement, however, is split between those who hope for true independence and those who prefer something similar to the sovereignty of Native American tribes in the U.S.

Back on the continent, however, some of those tribes aren’t happy with that arrangement. Some Lakota Sioux, for example, have been campaigning to build the Republic of Lakotah — a homeland covering thousands of square miles in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana. Actually, they don’t need to secede. They say they never belonged to the United States to begin with. They just need others to recognize that.