That reminds me of some fun California History regarding Rough and Ready, California.
The town declared its secession from the Union as The Great Republic of Rough and Ready on 7 April 1850, largely to avoid mining taxes, but voted to rejoin the Union less than three months later on 4 July.[6] The old republic is celebrated annually as a way to attract tourism and as a point of local pride.
The story goes they rejoined when they realized they wouldn’t be able to celebrate the 4th properly unless they were part of the US.
With Elon Musk being twice the entrepreneur and industrialist that Henry Ford was I’m sure his company town will last at least twice as long as Fords’ did.
… An uprising near Nacogdoches in 1826 foreshadowed the Texas Revolution years before Sam Houston’s army defeated Mexico’s forces. In September 1825, empresario Haden Edwards acquired a grant from Mexico to settle 800 families in an area of East Texas that included Nacogdoches. …
Edwards posted notices in Nacogdoches demanding that all landowners show evidence of their claims or forfeit the land. His threatening behavior raised the hackles of these settlers, some of whom held earlier grants from Spain and Mexico. Even though these grants dated back more than 100 years, not all the settlers possessed legal documents to prove ownership.
A questionable election for alcalde, or mayor, of Nacogdoches in December propelled Edward’s son-in-law, Chichester Chaplin, into office. Tensions escalated dramatically.
The tempest raged until authorities in Mexico annulled the 1826 Edwards land grant and ordered Edwards to leave Texas. Lt. Col. Mateo Ahumada, Mexican military commander in Coahuila y Tejas, set out from San Antonio with 20 dragoons and 110 infantrymen to enforce this resolution. Edwards vowed to recruit an army and win independence from Mexico.
Edwards christened his disputed land grant the Republic of Fredonia, based on a concept first articulated in New York by Dr. Samuel Latham Mitchill in 1800.
He had simply added a Latin ending to the word “freedom” to create “Fredonia.” Edwards appropriated the name and designed a flag with two red-and-white parallel bars and inscribed with the words “Independence, Liberty, Justice.” The red-and-white bars represented the Native American and white inhabitants of the region, and Edwards hurriedly sought to finalize a treaty with the nearby Cherokee to strengthen his claim.
Amid the turmoil, Edwards petitioned Stephen F. Austin for aid. Not only did Austin refuse, but also he sent 100 soldiers to support Ahumada. At the same time, Peter Ellis Bean, a Mexican Indian agent, convinced the Cherokee to side with Austin, who wanted no further part of it. “It is my candid opinion,” Austin wrote to Edwards, “that a continuance of the im-prudent course you have commenced will totally ruin you.” …
(the short article is worth reading, it all sounds ever so familiar)
questionable election
nepotism / cronyism
land grab
go-it-alone FrEeDoM!1!!1! [for your own in-group]
sudden realization that your libertarian paradise needs police/army/military/alliances outside your in-group
