Which state will threaten to secede first

[FarCenter]

235. Forced Emigration: Historic Remedy for British Criminal Activity

For centuries, Great Britain has attempted to resolve its criminal problem by forcibly transporting miscreants to distant parts of the realm. Most of us are aware that Australia and the surrounding Australasian islands served as dumping grounds for Britain's outcasts; however, the fact that the British previously employed North America and the Caribbean as penal colonies is less widely known. Utilizing the abundance of sources generated in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales during the "transportation" process can help genealogists to trace their roots back to the Mother Country. Family historians have indexed and published many of these records.

From the 17th through 19th centuries, the British government transported convicted felons to many parts of the world. Some of the sentences allowed convicts to escape the death penalty; while on the other hand, criminals were often forcibly expelled from the British Isles for lesser infractions, such as repeated theft. Prior to the Revolutionary War, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia received the products of this justice system. The West Indies also served as a major destination. From the late 18th century onward, Australasia became the targeted area and today many living Australians can trace their roots back to these individuals.

The convicts usually served 7- or 14-year labor sentences and then were granted the freedom to stay in their new home, or return to their lands of nativity. Many never went back and remained in the new lands. Australians refer to convict immigrants as "assisted immigrants" and non-convict immigrants as "unassisted immigrants." A good place to begin your study on this topic is the Web site The International Centre for Convict Studies, available at http://iccs.arts.utas.edu.au/index.html.

http://www.genealogytoday.com/articles/reader.mv?ID=471

I didn't mention Georgia and the Carolinas previously, because their history as convict destinations is well known. Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi, as well as southern states farther west were largely populated by emigrants from the southern Atlantic seaboard.