US Constitution: Article IV - The U.S. Constitution - Decoded!

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The U.S. Constitution - Decoded! (/)

Article IV of the US Constitution: States, and Federal-State Interactions

Article 4: This article discusses the states, interactions between states, interactions
between the states and the federal government, and the duties owed by the federal
government to the states. It also reinforces the dual-sovereignty principle, and
underscores the strong belief of the Founders that we are primarily citizens of our states,
which are themselves joined in a confederation. We make reference to specic wordings
in the various sections, therefore for your reading ease we append the entire text of Article
IV at the end.
Section 1, the full faith and credit clause, is one long sentence that came (with some
adjustments in wording) from the Articles of Confederation. It says that each state will
respect the laws and judgments of other states, and that Congress may enact laws
detailing how that requirement will be enforced. Since it was from the Articles of
Confederation, there was very little discussion of this rst section in the Federalist papers.
According to the provisions this section, a contract made in one state must be considered
valid in the others, a person convicted of a crime in one state is considered a criminal in
the other states, and a person can not abandon their legal debts by high-tailing it to the
next state over. It also means that divorce decrees must be respected ensuring that child
support owed (or visitation rights decreed) in Wyoming must still be paid even if the
ex-spouse has moved to Alabama. Similarly, adoptions nalized in one state are valid in
any other; probate of an estate is accepted by the others, et cetera. Madison, in Federalist
#42, pointed to this clause as one of several specically intended to provide for the
harmony and proper intercourse among the States.
This clause also implies (and has been upheld in many court cases) that the actions of state
courts are to be recognized by any court under US jurisdiction which includes federal
courts plus courts in US territories. In federal courts where the state law in question
conicts with federal law, the federal court is not required to enforce that conicting state
law (this comes under the auspices of Article VI).
Section 2 has three clauses. The rst clause ensures that citizens of each state will be
treated as citizens of the other states, while they are there. Since each state considered
itself a separate entity (under the umbrella of the confederation), this clause ensures that a
citizen of Utah is not treated as a foreign national while visiting (or temporarily living in)
Louisiana. Of course, this applies equally to any other combination of states.

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The next clause provides for extradition of accused persons who ee to another state to
the state in which they have been accused of crime regardless of what state they ed
from or in which they tried to hide. The fugitive who ees to another state also is not
protected by having arrived in the new state before an indictment is issued.
The third clause of Section 2 was tucked into this Article towards the very end of the
Constitutional Convention by two convention members from South Carolina; it is the
Fugitive Slave Clause. While utterly abhorrent to us today, this clause is based in very old
historic law, which provided that chattels adhere to the person of their owner even when
located elsewhere. According to Madisons notes on the Convention, a minor adjustment
in the wording of this clause (person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws
thereof) was intended to separate the concept of returning fugitive slaves from the
concept that slavery was legal in a moral view. This is another instance where the
Founders managed to placate the slave-holding states suciently to keep them in the
edgling and fragile union, while including verbiage that would support the eventual
abolition of slavery in the new country.
Before moving on, lets go back to the rst clause of Section 2, and briey address the
treatment of corporations. We address it here, rather than in the paragraph above on that
clause, because for now it is a side-note. It will, however, lay essential groundwork for
when we look, later, at the 14th Amendment and see how perversions of that
amendment lead directly to some of the problems we face today. Corporation is dened
in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as a body formed and authorized by law to act as a
single person although constituted by one or more persons and legally endowed with
various rights and duties including the capacity of succession. According to the Concise
Encyclopedia, a corporation is a specic legal form of organization of persons and
material resources, chartered by the state, for the purpose of conducting business. It
goes on to list important characteristics of corporations, including juridical personality
(the corporation itself as a ctive person), ha[ving] legal standing and may thus sue and
be sued, make contracts, and hold property. What all this legal gobbledygook means, in
essence, is that a corporation is treated legally in many ways as though it were a natural
(esh-and-blood) person.
Section 3 has two clauses that address the formation of new states and jurisdiction over
non-state territories. The rst clause gives the rules for admittance of new states.
Congress may admit new states. If a state wishes to partition itself, or if two (or more)
states wish to conjoin into one (or each carve o some territory to donate to a new state),
the legislatures of all the states involved AND Congress must approve. New states have an
equal basis with pre-existing states, and the same privileges and responsibilities. Texas
was an independent Republic before it joined the US, and special rules apply under the

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Resolution of Annexation Texas may decide on its own to create up to four additional
states from out of its own territory.
The second clause in this section grants Congress the power to make needful rules and
regulations in US territories or other property. In addition to places like Puerto Rico,
American Samoa, and Guam, this includes national parks and forests, wildlife refuges,
Bureau of Land Management areas, Indian reservations, and other types of land. We
should all be aware of this especially with the Federal land takeovers (especially in the
western states) in recent years. At the time the Constitution was written, several states
had claims on territories (almost exclusively to the west) outside those states. They were
concerned that the new Congress would supersede their administration of those areas.
This last section of the clause was specically to address those concerns. The states
interests were given the same protection in their land claims as the federal government
was given. History shows that those extra-state claims were later handled successfully so
this clause was successful in serving its purpose.
Section 4 of Article IV should be center stage in a couple of large issues today. It is called
the Guarantee Clause, because its terms require the federal government to make specic
provisions to all the states. In only one sentence, this section addresses three separate
and important issues aecting every state, and so it is included here verbatim (as well as
appended below). The United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a
Republican form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on
Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be
convened), against domestic Violence.
Lets split this long sentence into its component parts. A Republican form of government
expresses the Founders disgust for and disdain of democracy. Unfettered democracy is
mob rule, with no protection for the rights and interests of individuals or minority groups.
As Madison says so beautifully in Federalist #10, democracies ...have ever been found
incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as
short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths. This portion of the guarantee
clause ensures the protection of the minority interests of the inhabitants of all the states,
by guaranteeing a republic that form of government based on laws and principles that
no majority (or super-majority) vote can overturn. They were also attempting to prevent
the inclusion of monarchist, collectivist, or socialist forms of government. Private property
and individual rights based on property (starting with ones own body) cannot be
protected under any system that denies the existence or the morality of individual,
private property.
Shall protect each of them against Invasion, at the time of its writing the Founders were
thinking of Great Britain, Spain, French-Canadian, and Indian incursions yet they knew

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full well that time would bring new threats. This clause works with Article I, Section 8,
clause 15, where Congress is granted the power to call forth the militia to repel
Invasions. Madison writes in Federalist #43 ...protection against invasion is due from
every society to the parts composing it... They were also concerned that a President from,
say, South Carolina, would favor protecting his home state of South Carolina in an attack
and send all military forces to protect that state, even if both Vermont and South Carolina
were under attack.
It is obvious to anyone willing to observe disinterested fact that the Federal government
has absolutely, unequivocally, and utterly abrogated its duty to the states by refusing to
secure our borders against those entering this country illegally. Whether the purpose is a
better life, escape from oppression, or the intention to carry out nefarious attacks
against our citizens, states, country, and sovereignty, does not matter. It is the duty of the
Federal government to protect the states against invasion. (It is the duty of Congress to
nd appropriate ways to address the legitimate desires of non-Americans to come here
legally; see Article 1, Section 8, clause 4.) The current administration has even gone to the
ridiculous lengths of bringing lawsuit in Federal courts to stop actions taken by states to
protect themselves. They also show their utter lack of knowledge of the Constitution by
bringing these suits in Federal District Courts, even though the Constitution clearly states
in Article III, Section 2, 2nd paragraph that [i]n all cases... in which a State shall be Party,
the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. Any judge with even the imsiest
understanding of (and respect for) the Constitution should throw such cases out of court.
Any that do not do so should be removed from oce by impeachment, as they have
broken their oath to uphold the Constitution (or demonstrated their untness to hold
oce through ignorance of that which they have sworn to uphold).
This leaves us with the issue of states suering from repeated invasion that the federal
government refuses to address. Are the states required just to sit there and be overrun?
NO! Remember, the states retain sovereignty and have the right (and the duty!) to call out
their militias to protect themselves. Article 1, Section 10, last clause, states, [n]o state
shall... keep troops... or engage in war, unless actually invaded... demonstrating very
clearly that the states retain the right and ability to call forth their militias to repel
invasions. Hamilton even declares, in Federalist #29, ...it would be natural and proper
that the militia of a neighboring state should be marched into another, to resist a common
enemy... so it would be perfectly permissible and Constitutional for Arizona and California
to join forces to protect their southern borders. Not only that, but if Nebraska found itself
facing a raft of ills due to the presence of illegal aliens, IT could send its militia to Arizona,
too! Admittedly, the Founders thought the most likely common enemy of the states would
(eventually) be the federal government. Madison addresses this directly in Federalist #46
and he does not counsel the states to acquiesce and become subservient; no, he describes
various types of non-violent resistance methods to be used by a state or combination of

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states. However, should the federal government become so outrageous that it sends the
army against the states, he speaks directly of the use of the armed citizenry and the state
militia to resist. He also posits this as being highly unlikely to happen because of the
requirement for a blind and tame submission to the long train of insidious measures
which must precede and produce it. Mr. Madison was spared the sight of todays federal
government, refusing its duty to protect, and actually taking oensive actions against
states endeavoring to require the federal government to do its duty, and to protect
themselves in the absence of federal aid.
As for the very last clause in this section, it establishes limits for when the federal
government may come in to a state to protect it against domestic violence. The federal
government is not allowed to send troops into a state on its own estimation that domestic
violence is occurring (or about to occur). It must wait until the state legislature requests
federal assistance. If that legislature is not in session and cannot be quickly called into
session, then the governor of that state may make the request. Weve seen a recent
example of this clause in action recently during and immediately after Hurricane Katrina.
Then-President Bush was widely vilied for his delay in sending the National Guard to
assist Louisiana with its troubles during and after the hurricane. Yet he could not legally
act until the request for assistance was made (he even called both ocials on 8/28, asking
them to request federal aid they refused)! There was certainly plenty of incompetence
and blame to spread in the aftermath of that storm (especially FEMAs poor eorts) but
let us at least be honest that this was not a dastardly attempt on the part of President
Bush to drown the Ninth Ward. Katrina was one of the largest, most powerful (Category 5),
most long-lasting storms ever to hit the mainland. It made landfall in an area that is
horribly vulnerable to ooding, and is protected by a levee system built to protect it from a
Category 3 hurricane and which had a long backlog of remedial repairs needed. No matter
what the response on the local, state, and federal levels, Katrina would have done just as
much physical damage. The federal government was not in charge of evacuations, could
not order or enforce mandatory evacuations, or assist the local personnel with
evacuations. Any person remaining in the Lower Ninth Ward was at risk, and there was no
recourse once the storm hit. After the storm, there was plenty of mismanagement and
incompetence on all those same fronts: local, state, and federal. Yet the fact remains,
federal aid could not be sent in until it was requested by the state of Louisiana.
References:
*Constitution of the United States of America
*Badnarik, Michael Good To Be King 2004 The Writers Collective
*Skousen, W. Cleon The 5,000 Year Leap 2006 National Center for Constitutional Studies
*Hamilton, Madison, Jay The Federalist Papers 2001 Dover
*Heritage Guide to the Constitution www.heritage.org

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*Justia US Law law.justia.com

*Publius Huldahs blog at http://publiushuldah.wordpress.com
*McGarity & Kysar Did NEPA Drown New Orleans? The Levees, The Blame Game, and the
Hazards of Hindsight. 2006 Cornell Law Faculty Publications
2012 by the author

Article IV:
Article IV Section 1 Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts,
Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general
Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved,
and the Eect thereof.
Section 2Cl1:The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities
of Citizens in the several States.
Cl 2:APerson charged in any State withTreason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall ee
from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of
the State from which he ed, be delivered up, to be removed to the State
havingJurisdictionof the Crime.
Cl 3:No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping
into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from
such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such
Service or Labour may be due. (Changed by 13th Amendment, Section 1)
Section 3Cl1:New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new
State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdictionof any other State; nor any State be
formed by the Junction oftwoor more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of
the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.
Cl 2: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.
Section 4 The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union aRepublicanForm
of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the

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Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against

domestic Violence.

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