History
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On April 18, 1982, at the head of the highway out of the Florida Keys, the United States Border Patrol established a road block, and for the first time in United States history an entire section of the country was officially treated as a foreign land. Returning travelers were required to prove United States citizenship and were subjected to forced searches. At noon on April 23, 1982, the island of Key West, in a mock ceremony, declared its independence from the United States by naming ministers of a new nation called the Conch Republic and by hoisting its own flag.
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Key West, Florida · United States
