May 17, 2006
Secession Posted by Frederic D. Schwarz at 05:30 PM EST John Steele Gordon is correct that the idea of New York City seceding from New York State is both old and crazy. However, the constitutional clause that he cites would not prevent the city from becoming a separate state—-if the existing state and federal governments agreed, which is not likely. A number of states have been formed from territory of other states since the passage of the Constitution. Leaving aside the disputed status of Vermont, if you look at a map of the United States in 1789, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia all extended far to the west of their current borders. Present-day Kentucky was carved from Virginia’s western portion (as was West Virginia later on), Tennessee from North Carolina, and most of Alabama and Mississippi from Georgia. Then, of course, Maine was separated from Massachusetts in 1820 as part of the Missouri Compromise, and when Texas became a state in 1845, it included parts of present-day Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. So it can be done, though it would require New York State to voluntarily surrender its jurisdiction over the city. And as we say in Manhattan, that seems a remote contingency.
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