North Dakota Senate Resolution A-2
Resolution A-2 as follows:
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA:
Whereas, ever since the close of the civil war, the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Jersey, because of their dense population and consequent dominant power of Congress, have so manipulated Congress and congressional legislation that said states have become rich at the expense of the rest of the Union; and
Whereas, through the manipulation of tariff laws said eastern states have protected their manufacturing industries at the expense of the cotton, tobacco, corn, hog, wheat, cattle, and fruit growers of the nation, which said producing states have been struggling ever since the Civil War without any actual protection under tariff laws; and
Whereas, through such manipulated, unjust, and discriminatory measures there has grown up in said eastern states a financial oligarchy, with Wall Street as the centre of the financial power of the Union; and
Whereas, said Wall Street interests are now seeking to reach out through the chain banking system to obtain absolute control of the balance of the nation, which they have already looted through the Tariff System, and with the purpose in view, evidently, of making the people of [the]… other states financial peons; and
Whereas, in addition to the unjust, discriminatory, and grasping attitude of said states, detailed in this resolution, said financial east, through the New York Stock Exchange and the House of Morgan, and with the accumulation of the peoples [sic] money flowing to the east under the system described, their field of operations has been extended to foreign countries, and huge, unnecessary, and uncollectable loans have been made to every country on earth, and the bonds of said countries sold to the people of this country to their loss and damage; and
Whereas, said financial interests of said eastern states have influenced the administration of our Government to loan money to foreign governments, which were then and are now unable to pay; and
Whereas, in each and every instance of such government loans, the said financial interests have influenced this government to either cancel said foreign loans or discount them at an unreasonable rate and defer payments until the net returns, when paid, if ever, will not be equivalent to the interest on the debt; and
Whereas, in case of disturbances or war in foreign countries, said financial interests, desiring to protect their said loans to foreign governments, are the first in this country to talk war, and demand that our young men offer their lives to protect their money; and
Whereas, said financial interests maintain in their metropolis a place known as the "Stock Exchange" where securities are gambled daily, and the markets of our products caused to rise and fall with the turn of their gambling wheel; and
Whereas, we are now fully and unalterably convinced that said states have not had, and will never have, the best interest of the rest of the nation at heart, or ever intend to live in the Union under a plan of justice to all;
WE therefore Recommend, that we, the remaining…states, secede from the above-named states, carrying with us the Star Spangled Banner, and leaving them the stripes, which they so richly deserve; let them continue to prey upon their own people; give them a free hand, but they must keep off us. All we will demand is that our remaining territory have no treaty or trade relations, no agreements or understanding whatsoever, no business or social connections, and we can then proceed to build anew, and carry out the principles of Democratic government as founded by the immortals Washington and Jefferson.
Be it further resolved, that this resolution be duly authenticated, and sufficient copies thereof forwarded to our Senators and Representatives in Congress, for the information of Congress and the press of the country.
Which was referred to the Committee on State Affairs.[1]
[1] State of North Dakota, Journal of the Senate of the Twenty-Third Session of the Legislative Assembly (Bismarck, ND: Bismarck Tribune, 1933), 127-40. Available for download, https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/23-1933/regular.