New Amsterdam? Upstate Groups Hold Rally For Secession

The state of New Amsterdam?

Several upstate NY groups held a rally in Bainbridge on Sunday to build support for upstate to secede from downstate. The rally was organized by some gun-rights groups and landowner groups that are in support of hydraulic fracturing in parts of the state.

The groups have been among those in recent months who, frustrated by state policies, have called for parts or all of upstate to secede from the rest of New York.

The groups said they are studying two options:

• One would require the legislatures of New York and Pennsylvania to approve the secession, as well as the U.S. Congress.
• The other would create a small New York state government with two autonomous regions — upstate to be called New Amsterdam and downstate to be called New York). That would require either legislative approval or approval through a Constitutional Convention process.

One of the state policies in New York that the separatist groups take issue with is the gun-control law, called the SAFE Act, that was approved in 2013. There have been bills in the Legislature for upstate to secede as well one to do the same thing in Long Island.

According to lohud.com some of the groups who organized the event include Americans for Restoring the Constitution, Deposit Gas Group, Divide New York State Caucus Inc., FundamentalHumanRights.org, Landowner Advocates of New York Inc., New Yorkers United for Kids, NY2A, Oath Keepers, Red Dragon Inc., Sapbush Road Group, SCOPE, Tri-County Tea Party, Upstate New York Towns Association Inc., We the People of New York Inc.