Texans petition White House for permission to secede from US

Hundreds of thousands of southerners have demanded that Texas and seven other states be allowed to secede from the US following President Barack Obama's re-election.


Texas was an independent Republic in the 1800s and has long been wary of Washington Photo: Jae C. Hong/AP

By Raf Sanchez, Washington

5:59PM GMT 15 Nov 2012

Petitions on the White House website have reached the 25,000 signature threshold needed to force the Obama administration to issue a formal response.

Texas, which was briefly its own nation in the mid-1800s and remains deeply wary of rule from Washington, has over 100,000 signatures calling for it to break away.

Petitioners asked for the chance to "re-secure their rights and liberties" which "are no longer being reflected by the federal government".

Related Articles




Rick Perry, the Governor of Texas, was forced to deny that he supported the independence movement, saying he believed "in the greatness of our Union and nothing should be done to change it".

Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina have also reached the threshold, while petitions calling freedom for the other 43 states are still gaining signatures.

Although there is no real chance of secession, the petitions are a sign of the entrenched opposition to Mr Obama.
Unionists mounted a counter-offensive on the White House website, asking the President to "deport everyone that signed a petition to withdraw their state from the United States Of America".