Article Four of the United States Constitution

Article Four of the United States Constitution
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Name	Article Four of the United States Constitution
Part of	United States Constitution
Provisions	Full Faith and Credit Clause; Privileges and Immunities Clause; Extradition Clause; Admissions Clause; Property Clause; Guarantee Clause
Ratified	1788
Location	Philadelphia Convention

Article Four of the United States Constitution establishes relationships among the United States and between the United States federal government and the States of the United States. It addresses recognition of public acts and records, interstate obligations, procedures for admitting new states, federal control of federal land, and guarantees of a republican form of government and protection against invasion and domestic violence. Article Four was a focal point in debates at the Philadelphia Convention and in subsequent controversies such as the Missouri Compromise, the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision, and Reconstruction-era disputes.

Text

Article Four contains four sections and a short concluding clause, originally drafted at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Its text includes the Full Faith and Credit Clause, the Privileges and Immunities Clause, the Extradition Clause, the clause addressing fugitive slaves in its original form, the Admissions Clause governing the entry of new states such as Vermont and Kentucky, the Property Clause affecting federal holdings like those in District of Columbia and Western territories, and the Guarantee Clause assuring a republican form of government. The final clause contemplates protection by Congress against invasion and domestic unrest, relevant to events like the Whiskey Rebellion, the Civil War, and the Worcester v. Georgia controversies.

Full Faith and Credit and Privileges and Immunities

The Full Faith and Credit Clause requires states to respect the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of other states, a principle invoked in cases such as Williams v. North Carolina and Obergefell v. Hodges. The clause has been litigated alongside statutes like the Defense of Marriage Act and disputes involving recognition of same-sex marriages prior to Obergefell v. Hodges. The Privileges and Immunities Clause bars discrimination by states against citizens of other states in matters such as access to civil rights instruments adjudicated in courts like the Supreme Court of the United States and tribunals involved in cases such as Corfield v. Coryell and Toomer v. Witsell. Debates under these clauses have intersected with issues involving the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Civil Rights Act of 1964, and contests over interstate commerce adjudicated by justices such as John Marshall and Roger B. Taney.

Extradition, Fugitive Slaves, and Interstate Relations

The Extradition Clause obliges states to surrender persons charged with crimes in another state, applied in disputes involving governors like William Blount and cases referencing interstate rendition that later implicated federal statutes such as the Extradition Act of 1793 and jurisprudence in Ker v. Illinois and Puerto Rico v. Branstad. The original Fugitive Slave Clause, superseded by the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution after the American Civil War, was central to controversies including the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, the Anthony Burns affair, and the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision. Interstate relations governed by Article Four have shaped federal interventions during crises like the Nullification Crisis and the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, and have had implications for interstate compacts such as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and disputes settled by the Supreme Court of the United States under original jurisdiction.

Admission of New States and Federal Property

The Admissions Clause empowers Congress to admit new states, a process used for territories such as Louisiana Purchase lands, Alaska, and Hawaii, and constrained the creation of states from existing states without consent, implicated in the formation of West Virginia during the American Civil War. The clause intersects with statutes like the Northwest Ordinance and acts admitting states such as the Colorado Enabling Act. The Property Clause vests Congress with authority over federal property, affecting management of lands associated with Yellowstone National Park, Fort Sumter, the National Mall, and administration issues involving the General Services Administration and agencies like the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service. Litigation over federal property rights has reached the United States Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States in cases involving public lands in the Western United States and disputes with state governments.

Guarantees of Republican Government and Protection Against Invasion and Domestic Violence

The Guarantee Clause obliges the United States to ensure that each state maintains a republican form of government, invoked in debates over Reconstruction, the Reconstruction Acts, and contested during the admission of governments after the Civil War. The clause underpinned Congressional action in Reconstruction era prosecutions and measures like the Enforcement Acts. The protection against invasion and domestic violence has justified federal responses to events such as the Whiskey Rebellion, Nat Turner slave rebellion, the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and federal deployments in Hurricane Katrina relief operations. Judicial treatment of Guarantee Clause claims in cases like Luther v. Borden has often relegated enforcement to Congress and the President of the United States rather than the courts.

Historical Context and Interpretation

Article Four emerged from compromises at the Philadelphia Convention addressing failed experiences under the Articles of Confederation and lessons from events like Shays' Rebellion. Framers including James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Roger Sherman debated national cohesion, reflected in Federalist essays such as those by Publius and later critiques by figures like Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry. Article Four's provisions were pivotal in sectional conflicts over slavery, federalism disputes involving John C. Calhoun, constitutional crises culminating in the Civil War, and Reconstruction-era amendments including the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Subsequent legal development by the Supreme Court of the United States and statutes like the Interstate Compact Clause-related enactments have shaped modern interstate relations, while scholarship from historians such as Eric Foner and legal scholars like Akhil Reed Amar continues to analyze its role in American constitutionalism.

Category:United States constitutional law