Key West once seceded, surrendered a minute later, and then applied for $1 billion in federal aid. Why?

The madness all goes back to 1982, when the U.S. Border Patrol blocked passage on one of only two roads linking the Florida Keys to the mainland. Vehicles were pulled over so that authorities could search for any hidden drugs or illegal immigrants. The city council of Key West complained that the activity was harming the city's valuable tourism industry.

Feeling trampled upon, Key West jokingly "seceded" from the US. To make a point. The city felt disrespected, and they wanted to get the attention of higher levels of government.

After declaring independence on April 23, 1982, a date that is still observed today, Key West surrendered and applied for $1 billion in foreign aid to make up for lost tourism revenue.

Since some residents of the city felt that the US Government was treating them as foreigners, they thought they might as well just break away from it. Since then, tourism has rebounded, and the publicity generated actually was very beneficial to the local economy of the Florida Keys.

The "Conch Republic," as the nation become known, was sometimes thought to include all of the Florida Keys, with the capital being Key West. However, no official borders were agreed upon.

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