RICHARD S. DUNHAM
THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON—If Texas is going to secede from the Union, it will be without the blessing of the Obama administration.

The White House on Monday formally turned thumbs down on an electronic petition signed by more than 125,000 people demanding that the Lone Star State be permitted to withdraw its star from the U.S. flag.

In a statement entitled “Our States Remain United,” the Obama administration rejected nine secession petitions that have received at least 25,000 signatures on the White House’s “We the People’’ website, the threshold to require an administration response.

“In a nation of 300 million people — each with their own set of deeply-held beliefs — democracy can be noisy and controversial. And that’s a good thing,” wrote Jon Carson, director of the Office of Public Engagement. “Free and open debate is what makes this country work, and many people around the world risk their lives every day for the liberties we often take for granted.”

Secession petitions have proven to be a popular pastime among conservative firebrands in recent months. The White House has received secession requests for all 50 states, along with one asking for Austin, Texas, to be given permission to remain in the United States if the rest of Texas secedes. More than 675,000 people have affixed their names to those petitions on a White House website, but the White House commitment to formally respond applies only to petitions that have at least 25,000 signatories.

The other petitions rejected by the White House, all from former states of the Confederacy, sought independence from Washington for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Many of the Texas petition signers were from outside Texas, including hundreds who signed it to bid good riddance to the only American state to once have been a sovereign republic. A small band of rebels in California in 1846 declared independence from Mexico but never formed a government.

The understated White House response on Monday seemed more like a high school history lesson than a revival of fiery Civil War rhetoric. Team Obama welcomed a healthy debate over the Union but cautioned that the debate should not be used to “tear us apart.”

The administration then pivoted to Obama talking points.

“Whether it’s figuring out how to strengthen our economy, reduce our deficit in a responsible way, or protect our country, we will need to work together — and hear from one another — in order to find the best way to move forward,” Carson wrote.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a vocal critic of the federal government and the Obama administration, flatly opposed the secession movement. After the petition drive gained steam, Perry’s office issued a statement lauding “the greatness of our Union.”