Quote · Up First from NPR
The growing movement to secede from Illinois and become the 51st state
Where this was said
The Expert View: Can This Actually Happen?
At 17:50 · chapter starts 17:03
Dr. Kenneth Owen brings scholarly grounding to a movement that's easy to dismiss. He identifies two defining hallmarks of serious secessionist movements: a sense of cultural identity distinct from the political body being left, and clear political stakes — what can actually be gained by leaving. He sees both in New Illinois, and acknowledges the movement is building the political infrastructure you'd expect. The historical precedents New Illinois cites — West Virginia splitting from Virginia, Maine splitting from Massachusetts under the Missouri Compromise — are real, but Owen stresses the context was so extraordinary (Civil War secession, slavery-era balance of power) that they don't constitute usable precedent. The constitutional mechanism exists in theory; it has never been used to create a new state on this scale. And yet, he notes: 'They all sound crazy right up until the time that they happened.'
Secession is baked into the American identity — it's the founding act. History professor Dr. Kenneth Owen says New Illinois has both hallmarks of a serious movement: a distinct cultural identity and clear political stakes. The structural obstacles are huge, but the movement isn't irrational.
New Illinois loves to cite West Virginia as proof it can be done, but the Civil War context makes that comparison nearly meaningless. The only times states have split in US history involved extraordinary circumstances — the Missouri Compromise, the Confederacy — that simply don't map onto today.
Even if New Illinois never becomes a state, the threat of secession might force a renegotiation of the Illinois social contract. Dr. Kenneth Owen has seen this pattern before: when regular politics fail, the threat of leaving can force a conversation that actually moves things forward.
