Siskiyou, Modoc Counties to Deliver “Declarations of Withdrawal” from California within Days

Two counties are planning to send delegations to Sacramento, the state capital, on August 28th to submit formal “Declarations of Withdrawal” from the State of California.  The two, Siskiyou and Modoc, both of them northern inland counties bordering Oregon, are among the seven counties in the state’s north that have decided over the past few months, either through board-of-supervisors resolutions or through referenda this June or both, to secede and form a rural, conservative 51st state of the United States to be called the State of Jefferson.

The idea dates to an extended publicity stunt in the 1940s and has often aimed to include parts of southern Oregon as well, though Oregonian enthusiasm is in little evidence this time around.

Mark Baird, who heads the Jefferson Declaration Committee, stated when the planned declarations were announced on August 22nd, “This has been done before when Vermont split from New York, Kentucky formed from Virginia, Maine split from Massachusetts.  The process has precedent and forming a new state is not secession.  We are in the realm of possibility.  Our goal is to create a state where the citizens of Northern California are represented with a voice aligned with their values.  We see this re-set as a game-changer for economic growth, new business formation, job creation, improved education, a reduction in regulations, and decreased taxes. The time has come for 51.”

However, only the U.S. Congress is authorized to create new states.

[For those who are wondering, yes, this blog is tied in with my forthcoming book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas to be published by Auslander and Fox under the title Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements, Independence Struggles, Breakaway Republics, Rebel Provinces, Pseudostates, Puppet States, Tribal Fiefdoms, Micronations, and Do-It-Yourself Countries, from Chiapas to Chechnya and Tibet to Texas.  The book, which contains dozens of maps and over 500 flags, is now in the layout phase and should be on shelves, and available on Amazon, by early fall 2014.  I will be keeping readers posted of further publication news.  Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even though you haven’t read it yet) on Facebook.]

Related: hear the author of this blog discuss the Cascadia independence movement in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia in a recent interview for Seattle’s N.P.R. affiliate station KUOW-FM.  Click here to listen.

Related articles from this blog:

“Jefferson State Fever Spreads to Colusa County as 51st-State Movement Refuses to Fade Away” (Aug. 2014)

“Sutter County Supervisors Vote to Leave California, Join ‘State of Jefferson’” (July 2014)

“‘State of Jefferson’ Backers Remain Optimistic, While 6-Way Partition of California Heads for 2016 Ballot” (July 2014)

“Yuba Is Latest California County to Join ‘State of Jefferson’ Movement” (April 2014)

“Sutter County Supervisors Mull Secession from California as Part of State of Jefferson” (March 2014)

“Study Finds Silicon Valley’s 6-Way California Split Is Doable” (Feb. 2014)

“Glenn County Becomes 4th California Jurisdiction to Opt to Join ‘State of Jefferson’” (Jan. 2014)

“Northern Californian Voters Torn between ‘State’ or ‘Republic’ of Jefferson” (Jan. 2014)

“10 Separatist Movements to Watch in 2014” (Dec. 2013)

“State of Jefferson Idea Won’t Go Away: Activists across Northern California Push for Statehood” (Nov. 2013)

“Silicon Valley Technocrats Plan to Flee U.S. for Libertarian Floating Cities” (Nov. 2013)

“Modoc County Joins Siskiyou in Seeking to Split from California as State of Jefferson” (Sept. 2013)

“Other California & Oregon Counties May Be Jumping on ‘State of Jefferson’ Bandwagon” (Sept. 2013)

“Siskiyou County, California, Takes the Plunge, Votes to Secede as Kernel of New ‘State of Jefferson’” (Sept. 2013)

“Colorado’s Secession Wildfire Spreads to Northern California: Siskiyouans Raise “State of Jefferson” Flag” (Aug. 2013)

“Let a Thousand Secession Petitions Bloom: The U.S. Balkanized, but Perhaps Only on the White House Website, Nowhere Else—but Most Importantly: What Does All This Have to Do with Topless Car Washes and the State of Jefferson?” (Nov. 2012)

“‘South California’ Statehood Movement Reignites in Election Year” (Sept. 2012)

Sutter County Supervisors Mull Secession from California as Part of State of Jefferson

Following similar moves by more northerly counties, Sutter County, in north-central California, is expressing interest in joining a secession movement to create a separate State of Jefferson within the United States.  Late last year, the boards of supervisors of Siskiyou and Modoc counties, along the Oregon border, voted to secede, and three California counties—Glenn, Siskiyou, and Tehama—will have questions about secession on the ballot in June elections this year.  In Siskiyou, there will be a separate question about a vaguely defined “Republic of Jefferson,” which proponents claim is more an autonomous region than a move to declare independence from the U.S.

This map, showing one of many possible boundaries of a State of Jefferson,
counties with active formal explorations of joining are circled in red.

At a board of supervisors meeting on March 25th in Yuba City, the seat of Sutter County, Mark Baird of the Jefferson Declaration Committee made a presentation before the board on secession from “Southern California.”  Though a vote was not on the meeting’s agenda, that could occur at future meetings.  Each member of the board expressed support for the idea, however, and a vote could be held some time soon.  A reporter noted that there was not single expression of opposition to Jefferson statehood at the meeting, which also elicited public comments.

Mark Baird giving a State of Jefferson presentation

Originally a movement in 1941 to create a State of Jefferson from a cluster of adjacent California and Oregon counties where residents felt they were getting insufficient government services, the modern Jeffersonian movement is aligned with the Tea Party and aims for less government.  Environmental regulation, gun rights, and “rural values” figure prominently in Jeffersonian rhetoric.

Is this the right metaphor?
Isn’t toilet paper supposed to take crap?

One Sutter supervisor, James Gallagher, said, “I’m seeing a growing discontent.  We are not represented, and we don’t have the ability to govern ourselves.  They tell us how to run our communities and what our values are, and they are certainly not our values.”

The original State of Jefferson flag and seal
(before the recent addition of a Gadsden rattlesnake fondling an assault rifle)

Another supervisor, Ron Sullenger, was more blunt.  “They’re in control.  We’re about to re-elect Governor Jerry Brown,” he said, “and he’s an idiot as far as I’m concerned.  How far will they let us go before they threaten to put all of you in jail for wearing a [State of Jefferson] T-shirt?”

Sutter County supervisor Ron Sullenger taking the oath of office last year.
And no, I have no idea what’s up with that particular flag.
Are four-pointed stars a Jefferson thing?

Sutter County was formed in 1850 and is the site of some of the earliest Anglo settlement in the state.  It is named for John Augustus Sutter, an immigrant from Switzerland on whose property, Sutter’s Mill, at the site of modern Sacramento, gold was discovered in 1848, ushering in the California Gold Rush.

There is also emerging pro-Jefferson sentiment in Yuba County.

[For those who are wondering, yes, this blog is tied in with my forthcoming book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas to be published by Auslander and Fox under the title Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements, Independence Struggles, Breakaway Republics, Rebel Provinces, Pseudostates, Puppet States, Tribal Fiefdoms, Micronations, and Do-It-Yourself Countries, from Chiapas to Chechnya and Tibet to Texas.  The book, which contains dozens of maps and over 500 flags, is now in the layout phase and should be on shelves, and available on Amazon, by early fall 2014.  I will be keeping readers posted of further publication news.  Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even though you haven’t read it yet) on Facebook.]

Glenn County Becomes 4th California Jurisdiction to Opt to Join “State of Jefferson”

Glenn County became the fourth county in northern California in the past year to opt for cutting ties with Sacramento and help form a new “State of Jefferson,” a movement born in 1941 to unite disaffected parts of southern Oregon and northern California into a 49th—by now it would be 51st—state.  The resolution, by Glenn County’s board of supervisors, was approved on January 21st, with a vote of 5 to 0.  (Jefferson was listed in this blog as one of “10 Separatist Movements to Watch in 2014.”)

Glenn County, one of California’s smallest and least populous counties, with just over 28,000 people, joins Siskiyou County (whose seat, Yreka, is considered the nerve center of the movement) and Tehama County, which have decided to put Jefferson statehood on the ballot before voters this year.  The far-northeastern Modoc County, like Siskiyou, declared an intent to secede but has not prepared a referendum as yet.  In Siskiyou, there is also a rival proposal on the ballot, for a vaguely-defined, autonomous “Republic of Jefferson” within Siskiyou County’s boundaries (as reported this month in this blog).

One projection for the boundaries of a future “State of Jefferson.”
Counties that have made formal moves to secession in recent months are circled in red.

The same day as the Glenn County resolution, Del Norte County rebuffed the advances of Mark Baird, the Yreka pilot who has been heading up the Jefferson Declaration Committee (pictured at the top of this article, addressing Glenn County voters earlier this month), and decided to do more analysis before deciding to hop on board with the State of Jefferson.

Yreka barber-shop still life

In Glenn County, Mike Murray, chairman of the county’s board of supervisors, told media, “This is sending notice to the state that we’re tired of being their victim.  We are a byproduct of whatever the urban areas want—the L.A. basin, San Francisco.  They have more representatives.”

Mark Baird

[For those who are wondering, yes, this blog is tied in with my forthcoming book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas to be published by Litwin Books under the title Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar.  (That is shorter than the previous working title.)  The book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags (or, more accurately, 554 flag images), will be on shelves and available on Amazon on March 1, 2015.  I will be keeping readers posted of further publication news.  Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even though you haven’t read it yet) on Facebook and see this special announcement for more information on the book.]