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  • In the aftermath of the June 2016 referendum allowing the United Kingdom to leave the European

  • Union, some back in the United States have started wondering if they can do it own referendum. In

  • particular, the long standing Texas independence movement, which dates back to when Texas was

  • still a part of Mexico, has seen a huge resurgence. More than a quarter of a million people have

  • allegedly pledged their vote to secede, according to the Texas Nationalist Movement. But is

  • secession even possible? Could Texas see their own version of Brexit? A Texit?

  • Well, as a matter of a fact, for about ten years in the mid 1800s, The Republic of Texas

  • was an independent, sovereign country. This came about after the Texas Revolution in 1835

  • as a result of more and more Americans moving into the Mexican province of Texas, and clashing

  • with the Mexican government. But Texas the country was sort of a failure. It amassed

  • a huge national debt and was barely able to police or defend itself. It did, however maintain

  • a quiet trade relationship with the British, which had a foreign policy of excluding countries

  • which supported slavery. British influence threatened to abolish slavery in Texas, which

  • would undermine the American slave trade. So, to avoid potentially losing slavery, the

  • US negotiated the annexation of Texas as the 28th state in 1845. Since then, Texas has

  • integrated a cultural independence movement from the rest of the US, and today it has

  • reared its head once again.

  • So, since Texas used to be its own country, is there some legal way for it to become one

  • again? Well, technically, the US constitution doesn’t expressly allow or prohibit state

  • secession. Some argue that certain passages imply one or the other, but there is no clear

  • delineation. Usually, when that happens, it is up to the Supreme Court to decide on the

  • topic, which indirectly came up in 1869, just 24 years after the annexation. The case of

  • Texas v. White was based on the argument that during the Civil War, Texas had seceded alongside

  • the rest of the Confederate states, and thus any actions it had taken were as a seceded

  • state. But the Supreme Court found that just because they’d said they seceded didn’t

  • make it so, and based on the Articles of Confederation, the United States is a “perpetual union”.

  • Thus, no state can secede simply through actions or declarations by that state.

  • In the end, no matter how many resolutions, or conferences, or legal maneuvering, there’s

  • no clear way for a state to secede. And despite how popular of a topic Texan secession has

  • been, an overwhelming majority of Texans have no real interest in leaving the United States.

  • Just 18% said they would vote to secede, with 75% voting to stay in a Rasmussen poll. So

  • even if Texas could legally secede, it almost certainly wouldn’t anyway.

  • But let’s say the Supreme Court reverses itself and allows Texas to secede, could the

  • new Republic stand on it’s own? Just how powerful is Texas? Find out by watching this

  • video! Thanks for watching Seeker Daily, don’t forget to like and subscribe for new videos

  • every day!

In the aftermath of the June 2016 referendum allowing the United Kingdom to leave the European

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