{Things I Learn}

So, recently I learned that there could have potentially been a 51st state in our nation today.

No, I'm not talking about Washington, D.C.  I'm talking West Coast...

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The region that makes up Northern California and Southern Oregon is a people group all to themselves.  When you think of California, typically you think of places like San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Fresno, and other cities like them.  All of these places are densely populated with tons of stardom flowing out of them, right?  Well not all of Cali is like this.  In fact, if you were to drive to the tiptop of California's borders, you will feel like you are in another land.  Mountainous and free, these people are far opposite from their fellow-Californians further South.

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The culture was so divided top-to-bottom that back in the late 1930's, plans began developing to make that region a state of its own.  They went through all the "legalities" and wrote up their own constitution as a state, stopping people at the invisible borders so that they can have a copy of their new 'birth certificate.'  They gave their new state a name to officiate it: Jefferson.

Everything was set, and plans were for go; they were to announce their new statehood on Monday, December 8, 1941.  Does this date ring a bell?

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Yup.  Instead of announcing the birth of a new state, the U.S. declared war on Japan.  Anything good to come out of this new statehood would be drowned in the cries of war.  The State of Jefferson never got to announce their birth, and most of the American people have never known they ever wanted to exist.

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Although not legally recognized as an official state, Jeffersonians still say they are not from Northern California, and they are not from Southern Oregon;  they are from Jefferson, born and raised in Jefferson, plain and simple.  Maybe in the future, the descendants of these rebels will once again declare their independence as a recognized state, and be the 51st state of America - who knows?