Not disputing what you've said here, but just seeking understanding....ELB wrote:A lot of people don't realize that. Periodically that provision of the law that annexed Texas to the US, the one that says Texas can split into five states, pops up in various forums, but the posters don't seem to realize that was not a special grant of power, it was a limitation on what Texas could do under Article IV Section 3. I.e. it could split off no more than four new states.seamusTX wrote:Article IV, section 3 of the Constitution allows for the admission of new states and the splitting or unification of existing states. The Constitution is silent on the issue of secession from the United States.
- Jim
The text of Article IV, Section 3 says:
Source: http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_A4Sec3.htmlNew States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new States shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.
The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.
Where does the limitation occur on how many states can be formed out of one?