States With Most Signatures to Secede Took Millions in Federal Money

All the states petitioning to secede from the United States that obtained enough signatures to elicit a response from the White House - with the exception of Alabama - were some of the largest recipients of federal funding in 2010.

Census records show that six of the seven states that amassed more than 25,000 signatures on their petitions to form independent nations in the past week took more than $10 million in revenue from the federal government that year.

The seven states - Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina - took more than 23 percent of all federal revenue allotted to the states that year.

Missouri also received $11 million and has collected more than 29,500 signatures, but the electronic votes are divided between two identical petitions, disqualifying the state from receiving a White House response.

Petitions to secede started popping up on the White House's We the People website three days after President Obama won re-election.

The number of states petitioning had reached the teens by Monday. By 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, every state except Vermont had a searchable secession petition on file, and each had gathered at least 600 signatures. A petition must have a minimum of 150 signatures to be found in the We the People search database.

ABC News' reported Monday that Texas was the first state to hit 25,000 signatures, growing to more than 30,000 by the end of the day. Texas' petition now has more than 100,000 virtual signatures.

In addition to the state's bid to leave, a user named Caleb M. created a petition asking that his home city of Austin be allowed to withdraw from the Lone Star State, while remaining part of the United States. Caleb still needed almost 20,000 signatures to get a response from the White House.

The Obama administration policy is not to address petitions that don't receive at least 25,000 clicks within the first 30 days after their posting.

A White House official told ABC News Tuesday that the secession petitions that made the cut would receive a response.