The State of Franklin was the possible 14th State located in what is now East Tennessee that never came to be. The struggle over the proposed State of Franklin helped define American policy that emerged in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 that define a process for new states to join the Union.

The struggle over the expansion of slavery dominated the admission of new states until the Civil War. We currently deal with tensions within states like the proposed State of Jefferson in Northern California, and the eastern counties in Oregon who have voted to join Idaho.

Vashon has been similarly wracked by attempts to either join Pierce County, to form our own Vashon County, or to incorporate as a city and this gain independence from King County.