Rhode Island
- In 1790, the urban center of Providence was frustrated with the state government's reluctance to ratify the Constitution and join the United States. In response, Providence threatened to secede and ratify on its own as its own state. The threat finally compelled the state to ratify by a narrow majority under the name of Rhode Island and the Providence Plantations.
- In 1984, angered over the state's refusal to enact noise pollution laws, the township of New Shoreham, located on Block Island, threatened to secede from the state. Reportedly, both Massachusetts and Connecticut expressed interest in annexing the island. The state compromised, giving the island ability to limit the sale of noisy mopeds.
Read more about this topic: List Of U.S. State Partition Proposals
Famous quotes containing the word island:
“The shifting islands! who would not be willing that his house should be undermined by such a foe! The inhabitant of an island can tell what currents formed the land which he cultivates; and his earth is still being created or destroyed. There before his door, perchance, still empties the stream which brought down the material of his farm ages before, and is still bringing it down or washing it away,—the graceful, gentle robber!”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)