The growing movement to secede from Illinois and become the 51st state
Episode
28 min
Read time
2 min
Topics
Productivity, Sales & Revenue, Product & Tech Trends
AI-Generated Summary
Key Takeaways
- ✓Constitutional pathway: Article IV of the U.S. Constitution requires two approvals to create a new state — consent from Congress and from the existing state legislature. For New Illinois, the state legislature approval is the critical barrier, since the very body they oppose must authorize their departure, creating a structural paradox at the movement's core.
- ✓Referendum momentum: Organizer Loretta Nuland has placed a non-binding separation question on ballots in 33 Illinois counties, winning every single vote. Results show strong margins — Fayette County at 79%, Clay County at 80%, Edgar County at 83% — including Madison County with 250,000 residents, which shifted broader public perception of the movement's legitimacy.
- ✓Fiscal dependency tension: A key counterargument to secession is economic: rural downstate counties receive approximately $2.00 in state services for every $1.00 paid in taxes, while Cook County residents receive roughly $0.90 back per dollar. Secession supporters counter they would generate replacement revenue through lower taxes, deregulation, and coal industry revitalization.
- ✓Secession as political leverage: University of Illinois historian Kenneth Owen identifies a productive use case for secession movements — even failed ones. When conventional political channels stall, the credible threat of secession forces dialogue. Illinois Democrat LaShawn Ford, who attended a 2023 New Illinois conference, represents this dynamic, opposing the split while engaging directly with rural grievances.
- ✓Two hallmarks of viable secession movements: Owen identifies distinct cultural identity separate from the target entity, and clear political stakes defining what leaving would gain. New Illinois demonstrates both — downstate residents trace roots to 19th-century Kentucky and Tennessee settlers, and articulate specific policy goals around taxes, gun laws, immigration enforcement, and pension debt reduction.
What It Covers
NPR reporter Connor Towne O'Neil investigates the New Illinois movement, where rural downstate counties seek to secede from Illinois and form a 51st state, driven by frustration over Chicago's political dominance, high taxes, and a Democratic supermajority that leaves conservative rural voters without meaningful legislative power.
Key Questions Answered
- •Constitutional pathway: Article IV of the U.S. Constitution requires two approvals to create a new state — consent from Congress and from the existing state legislature. For New Illinois, the state legislature approval is the critical barrier, since the very body they oppose must authorize their departure, creating a structural paradox at the movement's core.
- •Referendum momentum: Organizer Loretta Nuland has placed a non-binding separation question on ballots in 33 Illinois counties, winning every single vote. Results show strong margins — Fayette County at 79%, Clay County at 80%, Edgar County at 83% — including Madison County with 250,000 residents, which shifted broader public perception of the movement's legitimacy.
- •Fiscal dependency tension: A key counterargument to secession is economic: rural downstate counties receive approximately $2.00 in state services for every $1.00 paid in taxes, while Cook County residents receive roughly $0.90 back per dollar. Secession supporters counter they would generate replacement revenue through lower taxes, deregulation, and coal industry revitalization.
- •Secession as political leverage: University of Illinois historian Kenneth Owen identifies a productive use case for secession movements — even failed ones. When conventional political channels stall, the credible threat of secession forces dialogue. Illinois Democrat LaShawn Ford, who attended a 2023 New Illinois conference, represents this dynamic, opposing the split while engaging directly with rural grievances.
- •Two hallmarks of viable secession movements: Owen identifies distinct cultural identity separate from the target entity, and clear political stakes defining what leaving would gain. New Illinois demonstrates both — downstate residents trace roots to 19th-century Kentucky and Tennessee settlers, and articulate specific policy goals around taxes, gun laws, immigration enforcement, and pension debt reduction.
Notable Moment
One New Illinois member involved in drafting the proposed state's constitution stated that if both the Illinois legislature and Congress reject the separation bid, he estimates better than a 50% probability of armed conflict, and described scenarios involving surrounding the state capitol building in Springfield.
Episode Transcript
I'm Ayesha Roscoe, and you're listening to the Sunday story from Up First. Two hundred and fifty 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 two fifty Years of Life, Liberty, and Happiness. Americans tend to think about the Declaration of independence as a founding document, the start of something, the 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 just not gonna work. We, 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. Support for NPR and the following message come from Washington Wise. Decisions made in Washington can affect your portfolio every day. Washington wise from Charles Schwab is an original podcast that unpacks the stories making news and how they may affect your finances and portfolio. Host Mike Townsend and his guests explore policy initiatives for retirement savings, taxes, trade, and more. Download the latest episode and follow at schwab.com/washingtonwise or wherever you listen. Support for this podcast and the following message come from AG one. Summer vacation means a different schedule, and healthy habits put on pause, except for the thirty seconds it takes to mix AG One. One scoop plus eight ounces of water every morning. AG One helps you keep one thing consistent, High quality nutritional support every single day, no matter where you start your morning. Visit drinkag1.com/up first to get a free AG One travel case with seven free AG One travel packs in your welcome kit with your first AG One subscription order while supplies last. We're back with a Sunday story. I'm joined by reporter Connor Towne O'Neil. He spent months following a group of people who want to split up Illinois and create a fifty first state. Connor, hi. Welcome to the podcast. Hey, Ayesha. Great to be here. So, Connor, I just wanna get this straight. You've been talking to people who basically wanna succeed from their own state? Yeah. I've been talking to people in the New Illinois movement. New Illinois, that's that's what they'd call this new state. And what they want is for all the …
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