Historical and legal precedents make it clear that Texas could not leave the Union, at least not legally. Many historians believe that when the Confederacy visited Appomattox in 1865, the idea of secession was also defeated, McDaniel said. The Union`s victory set a precedent that states could not legally secede. “The answer is clear,” Scalia wrote. If there is one constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right of secession. (Hence the oath of allegiance: “One nation, indivisible.” It only proves that if an American president is allowed to act outside his legitimately limited authority, he is capable of unleashing terrible violence against the life, liberty and property of those he claims to serve. The Confederate States (including Texas) left the Union legally, civilly, and peacefully after suffering several years of excessive and unfair federal tariffs (taxes) that severely affected Southern trade. Lincoln refused to recognize Confederate secession, calling it a “rebellion” and a “threat” to “the government” (without ever explaining exactly how “the government” was “threatened” by legal, civil, and peaceful secession), and acting outside the legally defined framework of the president`s office, or the U.S. government in general, to force the South back into Northern control. [5] Texas seceded from Mexico in 1836, mostly pushed by American settlers into the former Mexican territory against the Santa Anna government.
[6] Justice Antonin Scalia is often quoted with the following argument. In a letter to an aspiring screenwriter, Scalia said, “If there is one constitutional question resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right of secession.” After President Barack Obama`s victory in the 2012 U.S. presidential election, bumper stickers and signs reading “Secession” appeared in Texas. [43] The election also triggered a wave of petitions on the White House website “We the People.” While the Texas petition did not appear first, it surpassed those of other states with more than 125,000 signatures, well above the 25,000 needed to trigger a response. [15] [39] The petition states that secession would “protect the original ideas and beliefs of our founding fathers, which are no longer reflected by the federal government” and protect Texans from “gross violations of their rights.” [44] The request for secession from Texas was followed by another that allowed Austin to secede from Texas and remain in the Union. [44] The White House issued a 476-word response rejecting the idea. [15] Take, for example, Harvey Tucker, a professor of political science at Texas A&M, whose position on the subject has been parroted by other professors and strangled by lazy media. According to Tucker, “The consensus among scholars is that the Civil War solved all of these problems. Texas has no right to secede. » Discussion of American Law The secession of the States of the Union began shortly after the American War of Independence. The U.S.
Constitution does not deal with secession. Each of the colonies came into being with separate grants from the British Crown and had developed relatively different political and cultural institutions prior to national independence. Craig S. Lerner wrote that the Constitution`s primacy clause argues against a right of secession, but that the Republican Guarantee Clause can be interpreted to mean that the federal government has no right to prevent a state from leaving as long as it maintains a republican form of government. [3] According to Sanford Levinson, a professor of government at the University of Texas, the simple answer is no, Texas cannot secede because states do not have that right. However, it does not follow that, because a State cannot secede constitutionally, it is obliged in all circumstances to remain in the Union. There is a natural right reserved for all that cannot be given to any government, and no government can take it away. It is the natural right of a people to form a government for its mutual protection, for the promotion of its mutual well-being, and for such other purposes as it deems most conducive to its mutual happiness and well-being; But if, for any reason, the government thus formed becomes prejudicial to the rights and interests of the people, instead of protecting their persons and property, and ensuring the happiness and prosperity for which they have been appointed, it is the natural right of the people to change their government independently of constitutions. For remember, the Constitution is an agreement between the people that the government it forms should be exactly the government it prescribes; If it recognizes a right to exist, it must protect the person who enjoys that right, and if it imposes a mutual duty on a part of the people, it will have imposed the fulfillment of that duty. If a government fails in any of these essential aspects, it is not the government that the people wanted, and it is their right to change or abolish it. In January 2013, TNM members met in Austin to promote the resolution, which led to a mention of secession by a legislature on the opening day of the legislature. [15] In May 2016, the Texas GOP narrowly refused to put a secession resolution to a vote at the 2016 Texas Republican Convention.
[33] However, in 2020, the Republican Party of Texas included a council in its party platform (with 93% approval) declaring that the federal government has interfered with Texas` right to self-government, that any legislation that violates the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution should be “ignored, rejected, rejected, and rescinded.” and that Texas retains the right to whether a future Congress or president changes the current political system from a constitutional republic to something. or. [34] In the years following Texas` accession to the United States, tensions over slavery and state rights increased.