"The denial of the right to secede from a voluntary union is itself a primary justification for secession"
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Vermont
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Burlington Declaration
We,
the participants in the First North American Secessionist
Convention, though representing many different and diverse groups and
constituencies, agree on the following principles as representing the
truths of natural law and historical experience:
1. Any political entity has the right to separate itself from a
larger body of which it is a part and peaceably to establish its
independence as a free and legitimate state in the eyes of the world.
2. Governments are instituted among peoples, deriving their just
powers from the consent of their citizens, and whenever any form of
government becomes destructive of the legitimate goals of life,
liberty, prosperity, and self-determination, it is the right of the
people in democratic fashion to alter or abolish it, and to institute
new government in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect
their safety and happiness.
3. Any government formed by and dependent upon a constitution to
regulate its actions and affairs has certain legitimate powers
delegated to it, but any powers not so delegated are reserved to the
people of that state and their democratically chosen political bodies.
4. Nations once independent should engage in peace, commerce, good
will, and honest friendship with all nations, and observe good faith,
justice, and harmony toward all, but establish entangling relationships
with none, nor engage in colonial dominance, political or economic,
over any.
5. Direct democracy, with one vote for each and every citizen (as
the polity shall designate citizenship), has proven to be a desirable
form of governance among people, but it can operate with justice and
equality only when at a small enough scale that each person may be
known to every other person; when representative forms of government
are undertaken, they should likewise best be established at a scale
small enough so that each representative can be informed of the
opinions and beliefs of the general run of the people in the
constituency or community which that person is chosen to represent.
It is within this body of principles that we ask all governments to
operate and it is by them that we ourselves, individually and the
organizations we represent, intend to be guided.
Burlington, Vermont
November 4, 2006
North American * Secession and Independence Movements
*Hawaii and Puerto Rico are obviously not part of North America, no offense intended
Active Secession Movements Around the World
One Nation Indivisible? A Study of Secession and the Constitution