This Day in History: May 20

We the Citizens of Mecklenburg County do hereby desolve the political bands which have connected us to the Mother Country & hereby absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the British crown & abjure all political connection, contract or association with that nation who have wantonly trampled on our rights & liberties & inhumanely shed the innocent blood of American patriots at Lexington.

So according to the Founders' understanding of Liberty, not only could states secede from a union, but smaller political subdivisions, like counties, could as well. And they could adopt their own laws. And form their own militia defense.

Or at least so the story goes. The first recorded appearance of this declaration was in 1819, and some question its authenticity. Still, it's instructive to note such sentiment was promulgated in the early part of the 19th Century, and might give us a template for trying out here in the early part of the 21st.

I've not weighed in on "the Free State Project" because I admire their goals (albeit I'm not surprised by the infighting between the New Hampshire and Wyoming factions), but I have reservations about how realistic their chances of achieving them are, and hesitate throwing water on the efforts of people who are walking the walk. It would be affirming to see if their objectives are achievable on a smaller scale--perhaps within one of those factions, a "Free County Project" might yield some interesting potentials.