Chicago could become the newest state in the United States if one lawmaker has his way.
Brad Halbrook — who is a Republican member of the Illinois House of Representatives — filed resolution HR0101 back on Thursday, February 7, 2019; and is urging the House of Representatives of the United States to allow the city of Chicago to secede from the state of Illinois and become its own state.
Could Chicago Become the Newest State in the United States?
The bill — which was co-sponsored by Chris Miller and Darren Bailey, who are fellow representatives of Halbrook — claims that “even communities north of Chicago are considered ‘downstate’ because they have more in common with rural southern and central Illinois counties than they do with the City of Chicago”; that “the majority of residents in downstate Illinois disagree with City of Chicago residents on key issues such as gun ownership, abortion, immigration, and other policy issues”; and that “the dissension between downstate Illinois and the City of Chicago spans the nearly 200-year history of the State,” with several attempts in the past to divide Illinois into two states.
This proposal is indeed nothing new: back in 1925, the city of Chicago passed a resolution to form the State of Chicago; and the residents of western Illinois declared their region as the “Republic of Forgottonia”.
Howard Carroll — who was a state senator back in 1981 — passed a bill through both chambers of the state legislature of Illinois which would have split Cook County from the rest of the state.
Organizations continue to push for separation between the City of Chicago and Illinois — such as the Southern Illinois Secession Movement and The Illinois Separation as two examples.
As a house resolution, the bill has yet to be assigned to a committee and does not need approval from the senate or governor of Illinois.
Summary
The separation of states continues to be a focus in the news media. For example, a proposal to divide the state of California into three separate states — California, Northern California, and Southern California — was introduced last year.
That initiative is not to be confused with a campaign for the state to secede from the United States to become a sovereign nation. An organization called YesCalifornia was granted permission by the attorney general of California to advocate for the official secession of California by collecting signatures to qualify what is known as the California Self-Determination Referendum Act for the ballot in November of 2020…
…nor is that initiative to be confused with a northern portion of the state wanting to secede from the state of California and become the state of Jefferson; and in yet another initiative, a large area comprised of 17 counties in California which calls itself New California and declared independence from the rest of the state as of Monday, January 15, 2018.
Unrelated is the possibility of the District of Columbia of becoming a state one day as well; but that is unlikely to happen anytime soon — if at all.
As for the state of Chicago, the processes of secession or statehood is difficult enough that it is not probable for all intents and purposes.
Whether or not any of the aforementioned initiatives will be successful, one thing is for certain: residents and citizens of Chicago are unhappy; and the majority of them seems to want change from the status quo as soon as possible.
An interesting question to answer is what would be the fate of both airports which serve the greater Chicago metropolitan area: would they be part of the proposed state of Chicago; or would either of them remain in Illinois?
Photograph ©2017 by Brian Cohen.
