The Republic of Texas is a separatist group which claims that the annexation of Texas by the United States was illegal and that Texas remains an independent nation under occupation. They claimed to reinstate a provisional government in December 1995. The group has almost no support among Texans, and there are no politically significant independence movements in Texas. Parallels can be drawn to sedevacantism in the Catholic Church.

The group has had several conflicts with the United States government, mainly over the group's assertion that because the United States' government of Texas is illegal, it has no right to collect taxes. As the group's "provisional government" has also issued "bonds" which some seemingly unsophisticated investors apparently thought were legitimate bonds issued by the state (rather than the "republic") of Texas, some of the organizers have been accused of securities fraud.

In January of 2004, a man in prison in Aspen, Colorado claimed that the state of Colorado had no jurisdiction to extradite him to California on a probation warrant, on the grounds that he was a citizen of the Republic of Texas. He claimed that the sliver of land which contains Aspen was a part of the original Republic of Texas and, as such, he was not a citizen of the United States. His claim was rejected by the courts.

The Republic of Texas movement has, at times, splintered into different groups, and there are now several independent Web sites claiming to be the "official" Republic site, and others come and go from time to time.

External links

• Republic of Texas separatist group websites
  • the-republic-of-texas.org
  • republic-of-texas.net
  • texasrepublic.com

• Slate: The Republic of Texas Article published in 1997.