Federation of States - September 10, 2001 - In accordance with the SIP Constitution which had been Certified by six States in Jackson, Mississippi at the Organizing Convention of the National Southern Independence Party for the ratification process at the State level on May 12, 2001, the Certified Constitution of the Southern Independence Party was unanimously Ratified by the States participating within the time limit (90 days). The deadline for signed letters of notification of the Ratification vote from the various States was September 4, 2001. Six (6) Southern States Ratified the Constitution of which Five States met the deadline for Notification in writing. Those States were Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas.

Virginia advised successful ratification by telephone and timely mailed their letter of notification to H. D. Gresham Jr., the National Chairman of the Southern Independence Party, but apparently due to mail delays over the Labor Day weekend, it did not arrive on the scheduled date of September 4th.

The Chairman of the Federation of States referred the matter of the lost letter of notification from Virginia to the Constitutional Court because it had been mailed August 22, 2001, well prior to the September 4th deadline. The Constitutional Court of the Federation of States ruled that the Virginia Ratification vote should be counted due to the lost mail exception.

The two States abstaining from the ratification vote were Alabama and Arkansas, both of who were not sufficiently organized during the time of the ratification process to take part in the process. Florida had not yet had a Chairman appointed by the Federation of States, although a Provisional Chairman began functioning there a couple of weeks before the deadline for Ratification but was not eligible to participate.

With the Ratification of the SIP Constitution, planning may now go forward for a fall SIP National Convention which will be for the purpose of implementing the Constitution and seating the two house party congress from the various States. The Constitution has safeguards built into it against usurpation of authority by the elected national leaders in order to guarantee a State=s Rights type party government in the mold similar to the Confederate States of America's national government of the 1860's.

Meanwhile, prior to the fall national Southern Independence Party convention, each of the States shall be working to build their county and district organizations to reach the proverbial grass roots of the people in order to enhance the opportunity of running State and local candidates and electing some.

The National Chairman, H. D. Gresham Jr. stated: “We do not embrace the Party of Abraham Lincoln (Republican) regardless of the conservative reformers therein nor the Democratic Party regardless of their supposed support of the working man and the farmer. We find that in reality, both of those national parties have a history of forsaking the conservative reformers and the working men and farmers. The Southern Independence Party, on a State level, shall address issues and problems, which will please both the conservative reformers, the working men and their unions as well as the farmers. We are neither Republican nor Democrat. We of the SIP are Confederates working for the families of Southerners of all races at home in their States where such efforts should be instead of in Washington, D.C.”