The growing movement to secede from Illinois and become the 51st state
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What historical context does the Declaration of Independence provide for modern secession movements?
I'm Ayesha Roscoe, and you're listening to the Sunday Story from Up First. 250 years ago this weekend, the Declaration of Independence was signed. It marked the beginning of American democracy. This year, NPR has been looking at how things have gone in the series America in Pursuit, stories from 250 years of life, liberty, and happiness. Americans tend to think about the Declaration of Independence as a founding document, the start of something, the text that brought the country together. But if you read it closely, you realize it's also a breakup text. A good portion of the Declaration of Independence is saying it's not you, it's me. This is not going to work. We don't work well together, you know.
So in addition to being a document declaring freedom, The Declaration of Independence is also a document of secession. Today we have a story about a group of people who see themselves as following in a fundamentally American tradition. A group of people who are claiming their right to declare their independence from a state they feel no longer represents them. We, the people of the counties of New Illinois, solemnly publish and declare that these counties are and of right ought to be a free and independent state. When we come back, a modern-day secessionist movement in the state of Illinois. Stay with us.
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Every week on our series, If You Can Keep It, we tackle the biggest political stories and why they matter for our democracy. Join me, Jen White, Mondays on the 1A podcast from WAMU and NPR.
Hi, it's Terry Gross, the host of Fresh Air. Catch my interview about the birth of the culture wars.
Even breakfast cereals have become part of the culture wars.
Author Isaac Butler takes us back to when the Christian right mobilized against provocative art. Listen to Fresh Air on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. We're back with a Sunday story. I'm joined by reporter Connor Town O'Neill. He spent months following a group of people who want to split up Illinois and create a 51st state. Connor, hi. Welcome to the podcast.
Hey, Alicia. Great to be here.
So, Connor, I just want to get this straight. You've been talking to people who basically want to succeed from their own state?
Yeah, I've been talking to people in the New Illinois movement. New Illinois, that's what they'd call this new state. And what they want is for all the counties in Illinois, except Cook County, that's where Chicago is, to succeed and become their own state, the 51st state.
So, basically, they just want to ditch Chicago. Why? Power.
Power. In Illinois politics, to be far from Chicago is to be far from power. Chicago is a big city, the third most populous in the country. The rest of Illinois, rural, far less populated. What that means is they don't have the same voting power as the Chicago area in the state legislature. Right now, because Chicago is a blue, liberal area, Democrats have a veto-proof supermajority in the state legislature, to the dismay of the people in rural, downstate Illinois, who are mainly conservative.
Okay, so people from rural Illinois have created this group, New Illinois, with the goal of seceding from present-day Illinois and starting a new state. That's a pretty ambitious goal. Is there even a legal pathway to do this?
There is, and it's in the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution lays out, in Article 4, what has to happen in order to admit a new state to the republic. There are two big things, the approval of Congress and the approval of the state's legislature.
So that's a pretty high bar. I mean, especially since the reason the new Illinois people started their movement is is that they don't like how their state legislature makes decisions. And it seems unlikely that the current state legislature is going to let, you know, a whole lot of the state just up and leave.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What historical context does the Declaration of Independence provide for modern secession movements?
0:00–6:16
2
What is the New Illinois movement and what are its goals?
6:16–17:01
3
What challenges do the New Illinois advocates face in their secessionist efforts?
17:01–17:28
4
How does the legal framework support or hinder the creation of a new state?
17:28–30:58
Speakers
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