Quote:
Originally posted by: Drbio
Did you know?
.............That the only state that holds the legal right to secede from the United States is Texas?
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Which, from an international law standpoint, is probably not true. Had this same debate in law school. Whatever agreement brought Texas within the Union in 1865 after the civil war, likely supercedes whatever right to secede Texas MAY have possessed.
I stress MAY because no one has ever proven to me that such a right actually exists. I don't know anyone that has actually read the relevant documents (as it cannot be found in the Texas Constitution).
Further, given traditional notions of federalism as they existed in the 1840's, why would Texas think that it would not have otherwise had the right to secede? Case in point; the southern states in 1861 clearly thought they otherwise had the right to secede. Which, whether accurate or not, was disagreed with by a Mr. Lincoln from Illinois and several thousand men in blue coats with guns.
Further still, Texas did make the decision to secede in 1861; was the active engagement of Union forces on Texas soil or off the Gulf coast a violation of international law? If Texas did decide to secede, what would it do if 10,000 troops "marched" out of Ft. Hood towards Austin? Petition the Hague? Or the UN? I actually don't think the UN could do anything because it would be viewed as a wholely "internal" conflict.