Republicans Want New Hampshire to Leave United States

A growing number of conservatives are pushing for New Hampshire to secede from the union.

The New Hampshire House will soon consider CACR 20 and House Bill 1130, which in part call for the state to become independent from the rest of the United States.

Under CACR 20, Republican state Representative Jason Gerhard proposed that New Hampshire should peacefully declare independence from the U.S. if the national debt surpasses $40 trillion. To date, the debt number stands at upwards of $34 trillion.

Meanwhile, another Republican, state Representative Matthew Santonastaso proposed in HB 1130 that New Hampshire create an Independence Study Committee.

The committee would consist of members from the state House and Senate and experts in economics, law and government. The findings of the group’s research into New Hampshire’s secession would then be considered before the state Legislature.

The bills arrive as a previous poll from the University of New Hampshire found one in five state residents would consider a vote to secede.

“In general, the talk of secession across the states is mostly just that, talk,” Nicholas Creel, a business law professor at Georgia College & State University, told Newsweek. “We’re in a highly polarized period where the parties are very far apart ideologically, making compromise difficult.”

Creel added that the media also tends to be fragmented along party lines, reinforcing political divisions and conflict.

Discussions around secession have been popping up for years.

In 2012, when President Barack Obama was reelected, various online petitions emerged calling for state secession, and tens of thousands expressed their support for the notion.

“These sorts of calls for breaking up the union are deeply unserious, supported by only those who don’t fully understand what secession would entail,” Creel said. “They have no realistic chance of happening as the law is clear that secession itself is not constitutional and we are nowhere near the level of acrimony needed for people to actually support the political violence that would be required to effectuate it in defiance of the law.”

Paul Beck, a political science professor at The Ohio State University, said states occasionally threaten secession, but it hasn’t been a serious threat since the Civil War.

If it actually played out, many complications would arise over tariff barriers, federal land ownership and Social Security and Medicare benefits.

“Every once in a while, people in states with disputes with the federal government threaten secession,” Beck told Newsweek. “Since the Civil War it has never been a serious threat and is not now, in Texas or New Hampshire.”

In 2022, New Hampshire considered a proposal that would see the state exit the United States. While 13 lawmakers supported the measure, the overwhelming majority rejected the calls for secession.

Secession Gains National Traction

Still, New Hampshire isn’t the only state recently considering the implications of leaving the union. Texas has had a significant number of secessionists for several years. The Texas Nationalist Movement has 619,000 active supporters and says it is the third-largest political organization in the state behind the Republican and Democratic parties.

Amid Texas’ conversation over a potential secession, Gerhard wrote in a recent letter that New Hampshire and Texas would have an alliance if they seceded from the union.

“Freedom is not an abstract notion, it is a way of life, and the federal government continues to overlook the freedoms of both Texas and New Hampshire,” Gerhard wrote to the Texas Nationalist Movement.

“We believe that the shared principles, desires, and plights of Texans and Granite Staters highlight the importance of maintaining a relationship with one another. As New Hampshire makes its efforts to secure independence, it promises to strengthen the voices of both regions. Together, both states can uphold the principle of freedom and autonomy.”

Texas Nationalist Movement President Daniel Miller said the state is facing a border crisis that the federal government is “choosing to blatantly ignore.”

“This crisis directly affects the lives of Texans right here and now, prompting our independence debate even more. So much so that the question at hand is not if Texas will achieve independence, but when,” Miller said in a statement. “When the time comes, Texans everywhere should be delighted to have a state like New Hampshire on its side.”

Miller went on to say that both states have similar concerns about the federal government.

“Truth be told, Texas and New Hampshire are living under the same collapsing roof provided by the federal government, and it’s time both states assert their rights and build a government that adheres to the needs of the people,” Miller said.

Texas resident Chris Hensley, who is the president of Houston Financial First Group, said the calls to secede from the union for both states come down to an overall feeling of dissatisfaction and desire for autonomy.

Despite this, he feels the calls for secession are merely the loud voices of a small group.

“The overwhelming response against secession in New Hampshire sends a clear message,” Hensley said. “It echoes what many of us feel, even down here in Texas. While we cherish our state’s unique identity and sometimes bristle at federal policies, the idea of leaving the United States seems more like a dramatic gesture than a feasible plan.”