When I was in Junior High School, my Texas History teacher said that Texas was the only state that could ever secede from the Union legally due to some unforseen error during the signing of the surrender papers. Can the Teeming Millions shed any light on this subject? Is it true, then why hasn’t Texas done it yet?
See the urbanlegend.com opinion on the matter.
They have another page here, that as far as I can tell, says the same thing (in so many words).
I found a pretty good link on this topic: http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ref/abouttx/secession/index.html
It does talk about some unusual circumstances regarding Texas’ readmission, but nothing about a “right” to succeed. There is another page which talks about Texas’ annexation, and it does indicate that Texas might have the ability to split itself into four states, if it wanted to.
Texas is the only state that was an independent republic before joining the US. It was actually a long, drawn-out process with heated debate by both sides. Here’s a good time-line showing how Texas became a state:
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/1845/
To answer your specific question – No, Texas cannot secede but we could divide into 4 additional states if we want. Here’s a link to some good info on the Texas annexation:
http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ref/abouttx/annexation/index.html
Texas did try it once. In 1861. Legal documents would likely not be honored if attempted. Then and now. Texas may have been the only Confederate state not to be infiltrated by Union troops. The Union troops made some minor attempts, they took Galveston briefly, but it was outside of the region of large scale bloody battles.
Vermont was an independent republic before joining the US as the 14th state. Hawaii was an independent republic from 1893 to 1898 before it joined the US- however, it joined as a territory and did not become a state until ca. 61 years later. Some people also claim that California joined the US as an independent republic, since American settlers there declared independence from Mexico at the beginning of the Mexican-American War. However, if I understand correctly, the legal basis for the US’s acquisition of California was by cession from Mexico and not by annexation of the settlers’ republic.
And let’s not forget the Republic of West Florida, which flew the Lone Star flag for 74 proud days thirty years before Texas.
Thanks to everyone for helping me out with this. It has been burning in my mind for years!
You know what? I learned about this from my friend but there was a federal case involving Texas which basically forbade any state that entered the Union from leaving it-- it was a huge states’ rights issue… i dunno if that helps but… yea (=
SoxFan59 posted some information on the legality of secession in this thread.