Superior (proposed U.S. state)

The State of Superior (or State of Ontonagon) is a proposed "51st state" that would be created by the secession of the Upper Peninsula from the rest of Michigan, named for adjacent Lake Superior. Some proposals would also incorporate territory from the northern Lower Peninsula, northern Wisconsin, and even Minnesota. The proposals are spurred by cultural differences, geographic separation from Lower Michigan, and a belief that the problems of the "Superior Region" are ignored by distant state governments. When the Northwest Territory was being organized by the fledgling U.S. government, Thomas Jefferson proposed a state which he named Sylvania, including the Upper Peninsula and territory that is now northern Wisconsin and northeastern Minnesota. The idea has gained serious attention at times, but faces substantial practical obstacles.