Does Texas have to right to secede from union?

Answer 1

Nobody really seems to know.

Fox News Contributor claims the agreement under which Texas annexation was executed (Joint Resolution for Annexing Texas to the United States, Approved March 1, 1845) permits the state to break into four additional states (five in all), or to leave the union altogether. While the former was clearly included, I was unable to find a declaration of the latter.

The Supreme Court, ruled in 1869 that no state can secede once annexed (Texas vs. White). This case was brought to court to settle a bond dispute, but in order to do so the Court was required to render an opinion regarding whether Texas had legally left the Union during the Civil War and ceased to become a state. As I read the majority opinion, I found the logic somewhat tortured--but I'm not an attorney or a legal scholar.

Finally, we have the Constitution. Article IV Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution describes the annexation process. Secession, however, is not addressed.

Layman's opinion: Given the silence of the Constitution on the matter and the language of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, it stands to reason that if the American Revolution was a legal separation or secession from British rule, then Texas secession or separation from the Union is also legal. This logic would apply to every state state in the Union as well.

I hope this was helpful.

Answer 2

nothing in the Joint Resolution for Annexing Texas to the United States or the Joint Resolution to Admit Texas as a State permits Texas to seceed from the United States. However, most people do not know that under both of the joint resolutions sited above, there is a provision (the third of three) that permits: "New States of convenient size not exceeding four in number, in addition to said State of Texas and having sufficient population, may, hereafter by the consent of said State, be formed out of the territory thereof, which shall be entitled to admission under the provisions of the Federal Constitution." Texas could split itself into, upto five separate states with all the rights and standing of the present State of Texas. That would not mean much of a change in the House of Representatives which is based on population, but it could add eight additional "Texas States" Senators To the senior body of the Congress.

Answer 3

There are no amendments in the US Constitution for any State to succeed from the United States. Texas does have a notable history in that unlike other US States, Texas was an independent nation that was first annexed by the USA from Mexico.