Article IV of the U.S. Constitution

Article IV of the U.S. Constitution addresses several issues related to state citizenship, the relationship between states, and the admission of new states. It requires state governments to give "full faith and credit" to the laws of other states and decisions made by other state courts. The Framers borrowed this idea from the Constitution's predecessor, the Articles of Confederation.

Articles I, II, and III of the Constitution establish and enumerate the powers of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, respectively. Article IV does not involve a political branch. Instead, it binds the states to one another, thereby establishing a Union.

This article describes Article IV of the Constitution. It begins with its historical background and development. Then, it walks through each of Article IV's clauses, which include the following:

• The full faith and credit clause

• The privileges and immunities clause

• The fugitive slave clause

• The extradition clause

• The statehood admission clause and territories clause

• The guarantee clause

The links above provide more in-depth information about each of the clauses. Read them for more specific information about the individual clauses.

Historical Background

The American colonists knew all too well that life under an all-powerful central government was not ideal. So, it's no surprise that they chose a form of government that avoided putting too much power in the hands of a single person.

The Articles of Confederation created a "league of friendship" between the former colonies. States were independent sovereigns and had far more power than the central government.

However, the Articles failed to provide an effective structure for the new nation. The nation was nearing collapse just a few years after the Articles took effect in 1781. Inflation soared. States fought over taxes, territory, and trade. And the federal government didn't have enough power to stop any of it.

In 1787, delegates gathered in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation. But, the Constitutional Convention soon realized that they needed to start over. After a summer of debates, the Framers produced the Constitution of the United States.

The Constitution strengthened the federal government. It also tempered its power by dividing it between three branches:

• The legislative branch (Congress, comprised of the House of Representatives and the Senate), addressed in Article I

• The executive branch (the president), outlined in Article II

• The judicial branch (the Supreme Court), addressed in Article III

Article IV outlines the relationship between state governments. This is known as "horizontal federalism." Other parts of the Constitution, such as the Tenth Amendment, address the relationship between the states and the federal government ("vertical federalism").

The Full Faith and Credit Clause

Article IV, Section 1 states:

"Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof."

The full faith and credit clause builds on the idea of comity. 

Comity is the voluntary recognition of another jurisdiction's laws and judicial decrees. But, the Framers decided they didn't want to rely on comity alone to keep the peace between states. Article IV, Section 1 adds a constitutional obligation.

In Mills v. Duryee (1813), the Supreme Court interpreted Article IV to mean that one state cannot reopen a court case that another state has resolved.

However, Article IV does not force one state to substitute another state's law for its own. Where there is a conflict of laws, a state can choose to prioritize its own laws over those of a different state. In other words, a state may apply its own laws to a matter sitting in its own courts so long as there is some connection to the state, and it would not be unfair for it to apply its own laws.

In recent decades, Article IV has been most influential in the context of family law. For example, the Violence Against Women Act (a federal law) invokes the full faith and credit clause to require states to honor orders for protection and child custody orders issued in different states.

Before gay marriage was legalized nationwide, scholars grappled with the question of whether the full faith and credit clause required states that banned same-sex marriage to recognize marriages carried out in other states.

In the mid-1990s, Congress attempted to legislate around this issue with the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The Court struck down DOMA in Obergefell v. Hodges but relied on the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause rather than the full faith and credit clause.

Privileges and Immunities

Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1 (the privileges and immunities clause) states:

"The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States."

The Constitution's privileges and immunities clause requires state governments to treat residents and nonresidents equally by giving them the same privileges and immunities. In other words, state law cannot favor its own citizens over citizens of other states.

The phrase "privileges and immunities" appears again in the Fourteenth Amendment, which guaranteed due process and equal protection under the laws for all citizens after the Civil War.

The privileges and immunities clause forbids states from discriminating against non-citizens or out-of-staters with respect to the civil rights they provide their own citizens. For example, Virginia cannot treat citizens from Georgia differently from the way it treats Virginians. In other words, whatever civil rights one state provides its own citizens, it must provide those same rights to out-of-staters.

However, states don't have to treat out-of-staters the same as their own citizens in every respect. The Supreme Court has ruled that the privileges and immunities clause does not prohibit a state from discriminating against out-of-staters regarding political rights. Political rights include the right to vote and to run for office, among others.

States may also discriminate against out-of-staters regarding their use of state property. For example, a state can charge out-of-staters higher fees for specific licenses, like a hunting license. The theory behind this is that state citizens pay state taxes to support their state's property and services.

In summary, the privileges and immunities clause requires states to treat out-of-staters the same as their own citizens with respect to fundamental rights. However, they can discriminate against out-of-staters regarding political rights and the use of state property.

Extradition

Article IV, Section 2, Clause 2 (the extradition clause) states the following:

"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."

The extradition clause requires states to deliver criminals who fled a state back to the state from which they fled prosecution.

The Fugitive Slave Clause

Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 states:

"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."

Known as the "fugitive slave clause," this provision was proposed by delegates Pierce Butler and Charles Pickney from South Carolina. It is one of a handful of constitutional clauses that deal with slavery.

Like the extradition clause, the fugitive slave clause is an interstate-comity provision. However, it has two significant differences:

1. The extradition clause requires the state's "executive Authority" to demand the person's return. The fugitive slave clause provides that the person who purported themselves to be the slave's "master" must demand the fugitive's return.

2. The fugitive slave clause only applies to those "held to service or labor" (i.e., slaves). The extradition clause applies to anyone "charged" with treason, a felony, or other crime.

Interestingly, the fugitive slave clause does not use the word "slave." The phrase "person held to service or labour" allowed delegates opposed to slavery to distance themselves from it. But, in practice, it did nothing to loosen slavery's foothold in the United States.

Statehood Admission and Territories Clauses

Article IV, Section 3 addresses how Congress can admit new states into the union. It states the following:

"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.

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."

Throughout the first century of American history, some of the most important controversies concerned the federal government's power to admit new states. Just as controversial was Congress's ability to legislate United States territories.

One such controversy occurred when the United States jumped on an opportunity to double its physical size.

In 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte offered to sell the United States 530 million acres of land for $15 million. However, President Thomas Jefferson doubted whether adding the territory was constitutional. He thought that the acquisition was theoretically beyond the Constitution's enumerated powers and would require a constitutional amendment to expand the country beyond its initial border.

Jefferson ultimately accepted the deal, which became known as the Louisiana Purchase. He did so despite his doubts about its constitutionality and did not seek to pass an amendment to authorize the expansion.

Guarantee Clause

Article IV, Section 4 (the guarantee clause) states the following:

"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."

The guarantee clause of Article IV promises the states that each state will always have a "republican form of government." This means that the federal government and every state in America must use the electoral process. An individual state cannot decide to be a monarchy, even if the populace votes to do so.

However, the Supreme Court has interpreted the guarantee clause to mean that states can choose the type of election process they use. As James Madison wrote in the Federalist Papers, "the States may choose to substitute other republican forms."

In addition, the guarantee clause is a commitment from the federal government to protect each state from attacks.

The guarantee clause saw extensive use during and after the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln wrestled with the clause in relation to the 11 Confederate states that seceded. The question was whether those states still had a "republican form of government." If they did not, Lincoln theoretically had a constitutional obligation to put down the rebellion and ensure that the states used a republican government. Lincoln's First Inaugural Address argued that no state could unilaterally secede from the United States.