The Northwest Territorial Imperative is an idea popularized since the 1980s within white nationalist and white separatist groups in the United States. According to it, adherents of these groups are encouraged to relocate to a five-state region of the Northwestern United States — viz., Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana or the western part at least to Interstate 15. Northern California, Alaska, Wyoming, British Colombia, Alberta, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and some parts of Canada are sometimes also included. The intent is to eventually declare the region an "Aryan" homeland. The primary proponent of this idea was Richard Girnt Butler (1918–2004), leader of the Aryan Nations. The major current exponent of Northwest Migration is Harold Covington (b. 1953) of the Northwest Front.
Beginning in the 1980s, the idea inspired a number of groups, Ku Klux Klan leaders, and Christian Identity churches to set up shop or relocate to the Northwest. Northwest nationalism and a desire for an independent Northwest American Republic was one of the inspirations motivating Robert Jay Mathews (1953–1984) and his group, The Order, to embark on a spree of robbery, murder, and counterfeiting in the region.
The Northwest Territorial Imperative has several left-wing and liberal counterparts in other secessionist movements in the Northwest, such as Cascadia and Ecotopia, which are largely motivated by environmental, regional, or Green concerns.
Famous quotes containing the words northwest, territorial and/or imperative:
“I got my first clear view of Ktaadn, on this excursion, from a hill about two miles northwest of Bangor, whither I went for this purpose. After this I was ready to return to Massachusetts.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“All the territorial possessions of all the political establishments in the earth—including America, of course—consist of pilferings from other people’s wash.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“Because humans are not alone in exhibiting such behavior—bees stockpile royal jelly, birds feather their nests, mice shred paper—it’s possible that a pregnant woman who scrubs her house from floor to ceiling [just before her baby is born] is responding to a biological imperative . . . . Of course there are those who believe that . . . the burst of energy that propels a pregnant woman to clean her house is a perfectly natural response to their mother’s impending visit.”
—Mary Arrigo (20th century)