Article IV of the United States Constitution addresses the relationship between the states and the federal government. It includes rules about how states must recognize one another’s laws and records, how persons charged with crimes or held to service or labor were to be handled across state lines, how new states may be admitted, and the federal government’s duty to protect each state.
Text of Article IV
Section 1
Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State.
-Article 4 Section 1 Clause 1
And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.
-Article 4 Section 1 Clause 2
Section 2
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.
–Article 4 Section 2 Clause 1-
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.
-Article 4 Section 2 Clause 2
No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.
-Article 4 Section 2 Clause 3
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.
-Article 4 Section 3 Clause 1
The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.
–Article 4 Section 3 Clause 2
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.
-Article 4 Section 4 Clause 1
What Article IV Does
Article IV helps define how the states relate to one another within the Union. It requires states to give recognition to certain acts and records from other states, provides rules involving interstate criminal matters, addresses the admission of new states, and commits the federal government to protecting the states.
Historical Importance
Article IV is important because it helps hold the states together as parts of one nation rather than as isolated governments. It lays out rules of mutual recognition and cooperation, and it also gives Congress authority over the admission of new states and over federal territories.
Some provisions in Article IV reflect the historical realities and conflicts of the late eighteenth century, including language concerning persons “held to Service or Labour,” which was tied to slavery and later affected by subsequent constitutional developments.
Source Note
The wording above reflects the historic text of Article IV of the United States Constitution.