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U.S. state: Difference between revisions
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{{Main|Secession in the United States}} | {{Main|Secession in the United States}} | ||
The Constitution speaks of "union" several times, but does not explicitly discuss the issue of whether a state can [[secede]] from the Union. Its predecessor, the [[Articles of Confederation]], stated that the union of the United States "shall be [[Perpetual Union|perpetual]]." The question of whether or not individual states held the unilateral right to secession was a passionately debated feature of the nations' political discourse from early in its history and remained a difficult and divisive topic until the | The Constitution speaks of "union" several times, but does not explicitly discuss the issue of whether a state can [[secede]] from the Union. Its predecessor, the [[Articles of Confederation]], stated that the union of the United States "shall be [[Perpetual Union|perpetual]]." The question of whether or not individual states held the unilateral right to secession was a passionately debated feature of the nations' political discourse from early in its history and remained a difficult and divisive topic until the American Civil War. In 1860 and 1861, 11 southern states each declared secession from the United States and joined to form the [[Confederate States of America]] (CSA). Following the defeat of Confederate forces by Union armies in 1865, those states were brought back into the Union during the ensuing [[Reconstruction era]]. The federal government never recognized the sovereignty of the CSA, nor the validity of the [[ordinances of secession]] adopted by the seceding states.<ref name=PavkovićRadan/><ref name="74700TvW">{{Cite web |title=Texas v. White |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/74/700 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180313024759/https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/74/700 |archive-date=March 13, 2018 |access-date=March 14, 2018 |publisher=Legal Information Institute |location=Cornell Law School, Ithaca, New York |df=mdy-all}}</ref> | ||
Following the war, the United States Supreme Court, in ''[[Texas v. White]]'' (1869), held that states did not have the right to secede and that any act of secession was legally void. Drawing on the "[[Perpetual Union|perpetual]]" union language of the Articles of Confederation, and its succeeding [[Preamble to the United States Constitution|Preamble to the Constitution]], which states that the Constitution intends to "form a more perfect union", and speaks of the people of the United States a single body politic who are the authors of the more perfect union ("We the people"), the Supreme Court found that states did not have a right to secede. The court's reference in the same decision to the possibility of such changes occurring "through revolution, or through consent of the States", essentially means that this decision holds that no state has a right to unilaterally decide to leave the Union.<ref name=PavkovićRadan/><ref name=74700TvW/> | Following the war, the United States Supreme Court, in ''[[Texas v. White]]'' (1869), held that states did not have the right to secede and that any act of secession was legally void. Drawing on the "[[Perpetual Union|perpetual]]" union language of the Articles of Confederation, and its succeeding [[Preamble to the United States Constitution|Preamble to the Constitution]], which states that the Constitution intends to "form a more perfect union", and speaks of the people of the United States a single body politic who are the authors of the more perfect union ("We the people"), the Supreme Court found that states did not have a right to secede. The court's reference in the same decision to the possibility of such changes occurring "through revolution, or through consent of the States", essentially means that this decision holds that no state has a right to unilaterally decide to leave the Union.<ref name=PavkovićRadan/><ref name=74700TvW/> | ||
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There have been numerous other minor adjustments to state boundaries over the years due to improved surveys, resolution of ambiguous or disputed boundary definitions, or minor mutually agreed boundary adjustments for administrative convenience or other purposes.<ref name="StatesShapes">{{Cite book |last=Stein |first=Mark |title=How the States Got Their Shapes |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2008 |isbn=9780061431395 |location=New York |pages=xvi, 334}}</ref> Occasionally, either Congress or the U.S. Supreme Court has had to settle state border disputes. One notable example is the case ''[[New Jersey v. New York]]'', in which [[New Jersey]] won roughly 90% of [[Ellis Island]] from [[New York (state)|New York]] in 1998.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Greenhouse |first=Linda |date=May 27, 1998 |title=The Ellis Island Verdict: The Ruling; High Court Gives New Jersey Most of Ellis Island |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/27/nyregion/ellis-island-verdict-ruling-high-court-gives-new-jersey-most-ellis-island.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121115211230/http://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/27/nyregion/ellis-island-verdict-ruling-high-court-gives-new-jersey-most-ellis-island.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |archive-date=November 15, 2012 |access-date=August 2, 2012 |work=The New York Times |df=mdy-all}}</ref> | There have been numerous other minor adjustments to state boundaries over the years due to improved surveys, resolution of ambiguous or disputed boundary definitions, or minor mutually agreed boundary adjustments for administrative convenience or other purposes.<ref name="StatesShapes">{{Cite book |last=Stein |first=Mark |title=How the States Got Their Shapes |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2008 |isbn=9780061431395 |location=New York |pages=xvi, 334}}</ref> Occasionally, either Congress or the U.S. Supreme Court has had to settle state border disputes. One notable example is the case ''[[New Jersey v. New York]]'', in which [[New Jersey]] won roughly 90% of [[Ellis Island]] from [[New York (state)|New York]] in 1998.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Greenhouse |first=Linda |date=May 27, 1998 |title=The Ellis Island Verdict: The Ruling; High Court Gives New Jersey Most of Ellis Island |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/27/nyregion/ellis-island-verdict-ruling-high-court-gives-new-jersey-most-ellis-island.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121115211230/http://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/27/nyregion/ellis-island-verdict-ruling-high-court-gives-new-jersey-most-ellis-island.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |archive-date=November 15, 2012 |access-date=August 2, 2012 |work=The New York Times |df=mdy-all}}</ref> | ||
Once a [[Territories of the United States|territory]] is admitted by Congress as a state of the Union, the state must consent to any changes pertaining to the jurisdiction of that state and Congress.<ref>Article IV, Section 3, Constitution of the United States</ref> The only potential violation of this occurred when the legislature of [[Virginia]] declared the [[Confederate States of America|secession of Virginia]] from the United States at the start of the | Once a [[Territories of the United States|territory]] is admitted by Congress as a state of the Union, the state must consent to any changes pertaining to the jurisdiction of that state and Congress.<ref>Article IV, Section 3, Constitution of the United States</ref> The only potential violation of this occurred when the legislature of [[Virginia]] declared the [[Confederate States of America|secession of Virginia]] from the United States at the start of the American Civil War and a newly formed alternative Virginia legislature, recognized by the federal government, consented to have [[West Virginia]] secede from Virginia. | ||
{{further|How the States Got Their Shapes}} | {{further|How the States Got Their Shapes}} | ||