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In theory, America believes in self-determination. We have a Federal system that allows people to move from state to state. But we do not seem to have a mechanism for allowing areas of adjacent states to migrate the state boundary.
This is not a hypothetical question. Right now, a total of thirty-three Illinois counties are trying to join Indiana. And if such a thing is truly possible (subject to a supermajority vote by the residents and the growing state), we would see borders change all over the land: 90% of Oregon's land mass would happily be absorbed into Idaho, for example, to get away from Multnomah County. So would most of California.
So this is a practical question: what does it take to allow borders between states to be adjusted? Assuming we are for it, would we not also allow, say, Alberta to join the US on that basis?
Discussion (92)
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News stories suggest the state losing the counties has to agree. But I am not sure why this should be so - if we truly believe in self-determination?
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Article IV, Section 3:
constitution.congress.gov
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Why? Because it is the law, and because the states were sovereign originally.
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We could let Alberta join the US, but that might make things sticky with Canada. It's not very likely to happen. Possibility, but not probability.
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Arahant, thank you for the citation. Article 4 section 3 shows that both the donor and the recipient state need to agree and calls for neither a supermajority nor even a popular vote on the topic. It would seem straightforward for the 33 Illinois counties' representatives to get the matter taken up by the Illinois legislature. You would need a beard in Indiana's.
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Heh, now that's funny. It used to be straightforward enough, but now that Mike Madigan is gone, who all do they have to bribe? And how much?
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