Admissions Clause

E47303

The Admissions Clause is the provision of the U.S. Constitution that empowers Congress to admit new states into the Union and regulate their terms of entry.

Observed surface forms (1)

Surface form Occurrences
Admission Clause 1

Statements (47)

Predicate Object
instanceOf clause of the United States Constitution
constitutional provision
appliedInCase Coyle v. Smith
Pollard v. Hagan
Texas v. White
appliesIn United States of America
appliesTo new states formed within the jurisdiction of the United States
appliesToEntityType U.S. states
authorityType plenary power of Congress over admission of states
basisFor equal footing doctrine for newly admitted states
citedAs Article IV of the United States Constitution
surface form: U.S. Const. art. IV, § 3, cl. 1
concerns admission of new political entities as states rather than territories
constitutionalCategory structural provision
constitutionalDomain federalism
statehood
territorial expansion
constitutionalStatus still in force
constrains unilateral secession or reconfiguration of states without congressional and state consent
distinguishedFrom Territorial Clause of the United States Constitution
surface form: Territory Clause of Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2
empowers United States Congress
enables admission of territories as states
foundIn Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution
geopoliticalImpact enabled expansion of the United States across the continent
governs process of state admission to the United States
governsActionBy United States Congress when admitting states
grantsPower admit new states into the Union
set conditions for admission of new states
hasTextBeginning "New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union"
historicalContext adopted with the United States Constitution in 1787
influences state enabling acts
terms and conditions imposed on territories seeking statehood
interpretedBy Supreme Court of the United States
surface form: United States Supreme Court
jurisdiction federal
language English
legalEffect authorizes admission of states on equal footing with existing states as a matter of practice
limits creation of new states within the jurisdiction of existing states without consent
formation of new states by the junction of two or more states or parts of states without consent
notAppliesTo creation of territories
foreign sovereign states outside U.S. jurisdiction
partOf Article IV of the United States Constitution
relatedTo Guarantee Clause
Territorial Clause of the United States Constitution
surface form: Territory Clause
requiresConsentFrom United States Congress
surface form: Congress

legislatures of the states concerned
subjectMatter alteration of state boundaries through consent and congressional approval
union membership of states
usedBy Congress in admitting all states added after the original thirteen

Referenced by (5)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Article IV containsClause Admissions Clause
subject surface form: Article IV of the United States Constitution
New States and Federal Property relatedTo Admissions Clause
this entity surface form: Admission Clause