4. "To admit new States into the Union; but no new State 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."
In the articles of Confederation, no provision is found on this
important subject. Canada was to be admitted of right, on her joining in
the measures of the United States; and the other COLONIES, by which were
evidently meant the other British colonies, at the discretion of nine
States. The eventual establishment of NEW STATES seems to have been
overlooked by the compilers of that instrument. We have seen the
inconvenience of this omission, and the assumption of power into which
Congress have been led by it. With great propriety, therefore, has the
new system supplied the defect. The general precaution, that no new
States shall be formed, without the concurrence of the federal
authority, and that of the States concerned, is consonant to the
principles which ought to govern such transactions. The particular
precaution against the erection of new States, by the partition of a
State without its consent, quiets the jealousy of the larger States; as
that of the smaller is quieted by a like precaution, against a junction
of States without their consent.
Pages:
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450