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The CRAZY Plan To Split California Into Six States
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May 19, 2025
▶ In this video I talk about the various attempts, throughout history, to separate California into more states. California, the 31st state to join the Union since 1850, has a history of proposed divisions. Tim Draper's 2013 proposal to split it into 6 failed, but it reflects a long-standing trend. Historical attempts include a 1850s bid to divide at latitude 35, a 1855 attempt for a 3-way split, and the 1859 Pico Act for 2 states, halted by the Civil War. Divisive sentiments persisted through the 20th century, with proposed splits in 1941, 1956, and 1960s based on North/South divisions. In 1992, rural-urban tensions fueled a vote for splitting, which didn't materialize. Since 2003, numerous proposals emerged, including CaliFOURnia (2003), Western California (2009), South California (2011), and the idealized State of Jefferson revivals. Tim Draper's 2013 Six Californias initiative, aiming for representation and competition benefits, fell short. Other proposals, like New California (2018) and Cal 3 (2018), faced constitutional challenges. Despite ongoing movements, the likelihood of successful division remains uncertain. The motivations behind these proposals often stem from regional, political, and demographic differences within the state. ▶ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Intro 00:41 Timeline of Attempted Break-ups of California 01:40 Pre-State Break-up Attempt (1850) 02:29 Initial Southern Discontent (1855) 03:40 The Pico Act & Attempted Creation of "Colorado" (1859) 04:51 Internal Split Within The Separatists (1881) 05:23 State of Jefferson Attempt (1941) 06:15 State of Shasta Attempt (1956) 06:34 Tehachapi Mountains Line Split (1965) 07:18 Second Tehachapi Mountains Attempt (1967) 07:49 First East-West Split Attempts (1970-76) 08:48 State of Alta California Attempt (1978) 09:09 Referendum & Attempted Secession Of Northern Counties (1992) 10:29 CaliFOURnia - Four States Split Attempt (2003) 11:13 Western California State Attempt (2009) 11:44 South California Proposal (2011) 12:12 Jefferson State Attempt, Again (2013)
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California
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California became the 31st state on September 9, 1850. And since then, as we obviously know, it has been one single state
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But what if there were more Californias? In 2013, a man called Tim Draper made a pretty crazy proposal to split this state into six
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It failed to qualify as a California ballot measure for the 2016 state elections due to
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receiving insufficient signatures. it's a sign of something bigger and a historic trouble California has had throughout time
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You see, while California has remained as a single state throughout all its existence from 1850 to
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today, it's probably been the state that had the most proposed divisions, it's just that they all
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failed. Well, all but the very first one, since the original California was the province of Las
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Californias within the Viceroyalty of New Spain, including Baja California in Mexico and other
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provinces to the east. But within the US state of California, proposals of division were motivated
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by regional differences, political ones, and other factors we will learn about. The California State
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Library even has a dedicated page online where they present a timeline of all the attempts at
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dividing the state. There even was an attempt to divide it before they achieved statehood
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So first, let's go through this timeline, learn about and understand these attempted breakups
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and then focus on the point of the video, the 6th California's proposal. You can use the
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timestamps to skip ahead if the historical context isn't interesting to you. California became a
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state in 1850, on the 9th of September. Earlier that year, on August 1st, as the path to statehood
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became evident, some of California's residents tried to interfere. Agustin Arasti, a prominent resident of San Diego, wrote to US Senator Henry Foote of Mississippi
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to ask for his support in dividing California. In his letter he stated
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Unless the vision should take place, the people of Southern California would be impoverished
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and driven away. And what's crazy is that the Senator agreed. Foote proposed an amendment to a Senate bill which would
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Split California at latitude 35 degrees and 30 minutes, with the northern part becoming California and the southern part becoming the territory of Colorado, a state name that hadn't been taken yet
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It was put to a vote and failed 23 to 33, still an impressive result
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California became a single state, but the South kept wanting to be independent from the North, within the Union
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Meetings kept happening in the south and a convention was even held in Santa Barbara with delegates from every southern county except Santa Clara and Santa Cruz
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I don't know why the convention unanimously called for a division of the state
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But due to disagreements on where to draw the boundary they left that decision to the state legislature
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Through the same California State Library website we can access all the documents about these moments as well
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It's very interesting the first page of the document resulting from this convention states the objection to
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state government and particularly the union of Northern and Southern California. At the same time
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at local elections, the southern counties elected pro-division legislators. The entire group of
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Los Angeles County representatives pledged themselves to support a division of the state
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San Diego elected Aguston Arrasti, who had long been a supporter of a separate south
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to the state assembly as well. The sentiment continued and by 1855, a bill was put forth in
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the State Assembly by member Jefferson Hunt to split the state in three. It passed, but amid
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accusations that pro-slavery forces were behind it, the bill failed to clear the Senate. But they
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didn't give up. In 1859, the PICO Act was signed by California Governor John B. Weller, which would
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have split California into two states, creating the new southern state of Colorado. We can actually
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see the notes of Assemblyman David F Douglas about this It was Resolution 22 in relation to the formation of the territory of Colorado The resolution was passed by the representatives and by the voters themselves but when it finally moved to the National Congress to
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be approved by the Senate, it wasn't even put to a vote. Federal approval never came, due to an
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inability to schedule a vote because of the start of the Civil War. I guess it was a case of two
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issues. First, they had more important and urgent things to deal with, and second, half the country
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is already trying to secede, let's not help half a state do that too. There was however interestingly
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a state split and a new state was admitted during the civil war period. The war only ended in 1865
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but in 63 West Virginia split from Virginia and was admitted as a new state. But this was because
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Virginia sided with the confederacy and so when a part of it wanted to secede, the union was eager
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to make it happen to have more states on their side. Because California was already on their side
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it didn't make sense to allow the split to happen. With the civil war taking over the national stage
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and being important at a local level too, the idea of splitting up California died out for a bit
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In 1881, the remaining supporters even split among themselves in the fight for the establishment of
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a Southern California state, as many were concerned with the exponential growth of the city of Los
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Angeles and the fear it would dominate, the new state, due to its much larger population. It's
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interesting how initially, the borderline for the separatists was more of a north-south divide
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while recently it becomes a coast, interior, or urban, rural one as we'll see ahead
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With the topic losing interest and the internal split within the movement, the idea really died out and was only revisited about 60 years later in 1941
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This year, a group of armed men in California gained national attention by halting traffic
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near the location of Ireca to proclaim the state of Jefferson, four southern Oregon counties, and the California counties of the North, Modoc, and Siskiyou
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But this was an entirely different movement. Before it was the south of California when he to secede, now it was the very north, including
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parts of southern Oregon. The men claimed their actions were a patriotic rebellion against the states of California
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and Oregon and planned to continue actions like this every week until further notice
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However, just as the civil war having started put a stop to the southern California secession
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movement, the start of World War II for the US with the attack on Pearl Harbor put an
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end to the state of Jefferson movement as a much bigger issue began, causing secession
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to lose interest. A small attempt for secession took place again in Northern California after the war in 1956
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Citizens of eight Northern California counties announced plans to secede and set up the state
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of Shasta, which was to feature legalized gambling and no income and sale taxes
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They apparently had a lot of national press coverage, but their plans never moved forward
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However, one thing started to become clear. Northern Californians felt abandoned and Southern ones did too
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Neither wanted to be stuck in a state with the others, and movements aiming to split the
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state kept existing with representatives at the highest level. In 1965, State Senator Richard
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Dalwig presented an act to split the state in two. We can see the scan of it here. These two
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new states would be split along the Teatrapi Mountains with one existing in the north and
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another in the south. The California Senate approved it with 27 votes in favor and 12 against
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This is what's most surprising to me. Not that local communities wanted this to happen throughout
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time, but that those desires were reflected at a political level. The proposal moved to the
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assembly, but never made it out of committee meetings. So, you know the saying, if at first
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you don't succeed, try, try again. So he did. Two years later, in 1967, Dowick presented another
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bill. It aimed to do the exact same, split the state with the north-south divide, along the same
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mountains. I believe the only difference from the previous proposal was that the Santa Barbara
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County would join Northern California, this bill also died in a Senate committee and was never put
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to a vote. So he kept trying, again and again, with new bills in 1968, 69 and 70, all of them
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meeting the same fate. After he gave up, a new senator took on the torch, but a key change took
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place The desired division was no longer between North and South it was between East and West As the Western and coastal areas of California grew more and more being more industrialized and urbanized the eastern ones stayed behind if you will and were more rural and less populated
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In 1970-71, Senator Randolph Collier proposed splitting the state in this manner, and it failed
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Perhaps thinking he would have more success with the north-south option, he tried again
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in 76, wanting to actually divide the state in three, the first time in history that the
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split was not for two states, but more. His bill stated, What's odd is that, perhaps due to the minority desire and unsuccessful path of these attempts
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we don't have much information as to why they were specifically proposed, why they chose
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these delimitations for new states, and why they failed. But their continued existence throughout time proves there was at least a minority desire
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for separation. In 1992, 31 counties got to vote on whether they would like the state to split in two
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For this one, given that it's more recent, we have some more information, namely an article
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in the Los Angeles Times about it. Echoing gripes that first rumbled through California in the mid-1800s, the separatists
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say the state has grown unmanageably large and is saddled with a government that is unresponsive
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to the people. Most of the counties voting on the split-state question are in the rural north, places where
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local industries are ailing, and alienation from the state's burgeoning big cities runs deep
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The only urban counties that agree to place the issue on the ballot are in the Bay Area
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San Francisco, San Mateo, and Solano. So here we confirm it. The split was now a rural-urban one with smaller rural populations feeling abandoned by the
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state government. The rural counties are struggling desperately and we're tired of nobody listening to us
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in Sacramento. The vote won and 27 of the 31 counties voted to secede in a non-binding vote
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This initiative was pushed and led by Republican Assemblyman Statham who wanted to secede the
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27 northernmost counties into a new state of about 2.1 million people
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He then got ambitious and pitched a three-state partition instead, campaigning to hold a binding
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referendum for it. It passed the state assembly but died in the state senate
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And so we finally get to the 21st century, where things really pick up steam and more
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and more proposals, albeit I would argue less serious, start taking place
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So far since the year 2003, there have been 6-7 proposals to split up California
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in 2003, Martin Hutchinson presented this cleverly called California proposal, aiming to split the
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state in four. San Diego and Orange County, then Greater Los Angeles, then Northern and Central
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Valley, and the San Francisco Bay. This proposal was made after the 2003 gubernatorial election
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recall, which resulted in replacing the incumbent Democratic governor with a Republican. The
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proposed areas for the split somewhat match election results, and so I think that was the
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motivation, but it didn't go anywhere. In 2009, former Assemblyman Bill Mays introduced legislation
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to separate the 13 coastal counties into a new state named Western California, while the remaining
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45 inland counties would remain as California. Mays' primary reason for wanting to split a state
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was because of how conservatives don't have a voice, according to him, and how Los Angeles and
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San Francisco control the state. Essentially, it would allow the smaller interior rural populations
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which tend to be more conservative, to be further represented in elections, but it also wasn't
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followed through. In 2011, Jeff Stone called for a number of counties to separate and form the new
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state of Southern California. Officials in Sacramento responded derisively, with a spokesman
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for the governor saying a secessionist movement What is this 1860 And he right it might sound absurd but the fact that the movements have been around since 1860 may show a rooting problem with the way the territory works Jeff Stone is a Republican and so the split might also have to
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do with political divides. By 2013, the old state of Jefferson idea began gaining traction. The
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Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors approved a declaration to pursue seceding from California to
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form a new state. In the coming months, Murdoch, Glenn, and Yuba would approve similar declarations
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In fact, as of 2016, at least 21 Northern California counties have sent a declaration
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or have approved to send a declaration to the state of California with their intent of leaving the state
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and forming the state of Jefferson. This time, Oregon's southern counties seem to not be interested
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This is an ongoing process, but doesn't seem to be evolving towards anything
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And so we get to 2013 with the Six Californias initiative. When venture capitalist Tim Draper submitted a new proposal to split California into six states
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citing improved representation, governance, and competition between industries. In 2014, Secretary of State Deborah Bowen approved the proposal allowing supporters to start collecting signatures
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in order to qualify the petition for a ballot. 800,000 signatures were needed and only about two-thirds were valid
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so they fell short of qualifying for the November 2016 ballot. The idea was to split California into six
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Jefferson in the north, then North California beneath it, Silicon Valley in the west coast as well as West California
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and the interior would be split into East and South California. The names could use a little work here to be honest, they're just all called California
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In 2018, the 2000 proposal got a revisit as Paul Preston proposed the creation of New California
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with the Central Coastline counties. This was also politically driven and conservative backed
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The proposed New California would have included the rural counties that make up most of the state's area
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leaving out the more heavily populated areas around San Francisco, Sacramento, and Los Angeles
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It's exactly the same as the other one. I think they just switched the names of California and New California
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Finally in 2018 also the same team Draper abandoned the six California's idea and brought back the three California's one with his new project
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Cal 3 gathering 600,000 signatures to place an initiative on the November 2018 ballot
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Proposing that it should be split in three Northern California, California and Southern California
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Despite getting valid signatures, the Supreme Court of the state pulled a proposal from the ballot for further constitutional review and that was the end of it
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There have been additional movements both since 2018 and throughout history altogether that are slightly different from a split but that also involve changes in California's territorial existence
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such as the 2020 proposal of breaking off part of Oregon and Northern California to create a greater Idaho
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In 2022, the San Bernardino County began approval to attempt to secede California and join Nevada
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or Arizona, and other theoretical ideas too, such as the creation of the Ecotopia State
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as described in a 1975 novel, the Cascadia Independence Movement, or the thought of reunifying
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with Baja California. Not to mention the Independence Movement of California for it
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to entirely secede from the US and become an independent republic. So, those are the various and many proposals throughout history for a breakup of California
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into two, three, or even six states. Understanding how this proposal initially had to do with North vs South differences
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then moving to East vs West, although sometimes mixing the two, basing their claims for separation
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on the fact that one side of the state is highly populated while the other is not, one
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is industrialized and urbanized, while the other relies mostly on agriculture and is
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mostly rural. All subjects that are connected to, or even cause, the political difference between each
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side's electorates. Despite this being a common occurrence throughout California's existence, I don't believe
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any of these movements will ever be successful. But what do you think? Would you like to see California break apart and which type of division do you think makes
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sense in that scenario? Let me know in the comments. Thanks so much for watching this video, subscribe if you want, and I will see you next time
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