In view of our desire for freedom from the persistant meddling
by state officials in city affairs,
in particular the harassment of our citizens and our municipal police
by the so-called "Metropolitan Police,"
I, Fernando Wood, hereby declare our city a free and independent state
to be named Tri-Insula.
If President Lincoln considers this an act of war,
then the state of Tri-Insula shall declare war
upon the United States of America, to claim her independence.
No longer must our children be called upon to crush the legitimate
struggles of other diseffected peoples
striving for their own independence
from the forces of tyranny.