In 1982 the islands of Key West Florida succeeded from the Union forming "The Conch Republic", And despite this sounding like a hoax or simply a ploy for attention, the islands succeeded for legitimate reasons.
It began on April 18th, 1982 when the US government placed a border control station without notice on US Route 1, the way in and out of the Islands. The border control which had been placed due to concerns about illegal refugees coming in from Cuba, caused an uproar for the Conchs (citizens of the Key West Florida Islands). National border guards required people to stop and show proof of citizenship as well as allow their cars to be searched for drugs or illegal stow-aways. These inspections not only provided a hassle for the residents, but caused major delays in traffic with back-ups that sometimes spanned a total of 19miles. This was far more than a simple inconvenience as it deterred tourists from coming to the Key West, which was the primary income source for the islanders. The mayor at the time Dennis Wardlow was quick to act as he contacted both the border control and Florida's state government officials. However Wardlow's attempts to get ride of the border control were met with unsympathetic responses. Even the captain of border control had responded to Wardlow saying it was "none of his buisness". The response outraged Conchs.
In an interview with reporters Wardlow told them that "by establishing that border they have declared us a foreign nation... We're tired of the U.S government picking on little Key West". Agitated by the federal government and feeling trampled over by the country, on April 23rd the Key West succeeded from the US declaring themselves "The Conch Republic".Wardlow had been quick to concoct a new government, appointing around 30new people to positions such as "secretary of underwater affairs" and "minister of nutrition". While the whole thing was very serious, the government was far more "tongue-in-cheek" than anything. As part of their succession, Wardlow declared war by breaking some stale bread over a man dressed in US navy garb and, "approximately one minute after declaring war and firing a 'verbal shot' at the U.S., Wardlow surrendered to a nearby naval officer and requested $1billion in foreign aid to compensate for 'the long federal siege'."(Cavanaugh) While the $1billion dollars was denied by the government, the whole spectacle raised enough public eyes for the border control to be removed.
Despite being a faux nation, the Conchs were able to procure a duel citizenship from congress, both Conch and American therefore remaining a part of the US as well as continuing to keep alive the Conch Republic.
Aside from their original succession, the Conch republic has only ever partaken in one other "military" action. In 1995, the US Army Reserve planned to conduct a training exercise that stimulated the invasion of a foreign island. However, this plan was not conveyed to any of the Conch officials, and therefore when the practice was launched, the Conch's viewed this as a full scale war. They quickly mobilized their "army" of men in boats who used water cannons to fire stale cuban bread at the American soldiers (no joke this actually happened. STALE cuban bread. for real). The leaders of this training exercise aka the 478th issued an apology the next day saying they "in no way meant to challenge or impugn the sovereignty of the Conch Republic" and submitted surrender directly after.
Since then Key West has produced their own phony passports which can be purchased in souvenir shops for a fee of $100-$1200, and they continue to celebrate their national independence day on April 23rd. Today, the Conch Republic has become both a source of local pride and a huge tourist attraction bringing in more and more people to the Key West to learn about the obscure history of the Conch Republic.
https://conchrepublic.com/our-history/
https://medium.com/war-is-boring/key-west-declared-a-faux-war-on-the-united-states-in-1982-f2c40b429e75
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conch_Republic
Great Post! I had never heard about the Conch Republic. I had no idea that the Key West islands tired to secede from the United States. I found it really assuming that the United States Navy surrendered to the people of the Conch Republic and apologized for their actions. I also was assumed by the fact that some of these passports are selling for around 1,200 dollars. Overall though, great post and good detail about the Republic and their cause.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post, Leah! I, too, had never heard anything about the Conch Republic before your post. I think it's very interesting to think about to what extent the US government would have gone to prevent the small republic from seceding. Unlike the Confederacy, the Conch Republic was extremely unimportant to the economy or culture of the United States, to the point that most have never even heard of it. Because of its unremarkability, I wonder how hard the United States would have fought to keep it. This is somewhat similar to the different behaviors of England to the United States and Scotland. Obviously, the English fought extremely hard to try to keep the American colonies as part of their empire, but in 2014, the British allowed the Scottish people to vote whether or not to stay, which is clearly a far more peaceful demonstration than the American Revolution. I wonder if it would have been the same if the Conch Republic was more eager to maintain independence despite obvious military inferiority. Thanks for sharing!
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