Article IV
The States
Full Text
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 Effect thereof.
Section 2
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.
Section 3
New States may be admitted by the Congress into this 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.
Section 4
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this 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.
History and Context
Having defined the powers of the federal government, the framers turned to the states themselves. How would these semi-sovereign entities relate to one another? Under the Articles of Confederation, they often acted as rivals, erecting trade barriers and refusing to recognize each other's laws. Article IV was designed to transform this league of rivals into a unified nation of partners. It forces the states to respect one another's laws and citizens, and it lays out the process for admitting new states, envisioning a nation that would grow and expand across the continent.