What is Admission to the Union?
The '''Admission to the Union Clause''' (also known as the '''New States Clause''') is a part of the [[United States Constitution]]. It lets [[United States Congress|Congress]] add new states to the [[United States]]. There were [[thirteen Colonies|thirteen states]] when the Constitution came into effect. 37 new states have since been added to the United States by this clause. Each new state has an [[equal footing]] with the ones that already exist.<ref name=DEoS>{{cite web|title=Doctrine of the Equality of States|url=https://law.justia.com/constitution/us/article-4/15-doctrine-of-the-equality-of-states.html|website=Justia.com|location=Mountain View, California|access-date=April 5, 2016}}</ref> ==Text== '''Article 4, Section 3, Clause 1 ([[US Constitution]]):'''<br/> Original text: {{quote|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.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation, Centennial Edition, Interim Edition: Analysis of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 26, 2013|url=https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-CONAN-2013/pdf/GPO-CONAN-2013.pdf|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|access-date=April 5, 2016|location=Washington, DC|pages=16–17|year=2013}}</ref>}} Simpler text: {{quote|New States can be added by the Congress into the United States. No new State can be added from land from inside an existing State, or multiple States, unless the [[government]]s of those States and Congress agree to it.}} ==References== {{reflist}} [[Category:History of the United States]] [[Category:United States Constitution]]