Governor Perry on Texas Secession

I think this story is very interesting, and so I will do my best to cover it.

Rockwell.com Blog
- Stephan Kinsella
- April 16

I've been telling people for quite a while now how great it would be if Texas were to secede--it's big enough to be a separate country (and, of course, it was at one point, with President Sam Houston). Texas Governor Rick Perry has become my new favorite governor, by publicly entertaining the idea of secession. As noted here, "Speaking with reporters after a tea party rally in Austin today, Gov. Rick Perry said Texas can leave the union if it wants to."

"Texas is a unique place. When we came into the union in 1845, one of the issues was that we would be able to leave if we decided to do that," Perry said. "My hope is that America and Washington in particular pays attention. We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, who knows what may come of that."See also Perry fires up anti-tax crowd.

Now I think Perry is mistaken about the treaty of annexation whereby Texas joined the Union--it merely contemplated Texas splitting up into 5 separate states--and that would probably require Congress's approval anyway. (see also Snopes) It's a common myth that this Treaty explicitly gave a right to secede; I believe this is a confusion of the 5-state-split issue. That said, however, as pointed out here, Texas, like all states, of course has the constitutional right to secede, in part because the federal government was never granted the authority to prevent this (it's inconceivable the 13 original states would have signed a compact creating a new agency that had the power to make war on them if they decided to leave the arrangement!).

(I'm sure the libertarian centralists (2, 3) will disapprove of Perry here--why, if a state were to leave the union, the federal courts could no longer tell it what to do, and the Fourteenth Amendment and its Privileges and Immunities would be lost!)Update: Kevin Gutzman writes with an intriguing argument for the right to secede:As I discuss in ch. 3 of Virginia's American Revolution and in my 2004 Review of Politics article "Edmund Randolph and Virginia Constitutionalism," Virginians retained the right to reclaim the powers they were delegating to the Federal Government (that is, to secede) in case those rights were perverted to their oppression (which has to be a matter that is for them alone to decide).

Under the Supreme Court's long-standing Equal Footing Doctrine (that all states must be treated alike), which reflects the universal understanding of the ratifiers, that means Texas can secede if it wants to. Now, of course, it could be that the president, in the mode of Lincoln, would ignore Texas's right. That's a separate issue.

Perry fires up anti-tax crowd

By KELLEY SHANNON / Associated Press

Texas Gov. Rick Perry fired up an anti-tax "tea party" Wednesday with his stance against the federal government and for states' rights as some in his U.S. flag-waving audience shouted, "Secede!"

An animated Perry told the crowd at Austin City Hall — one of three tea parties he was attending across the state — that officials in Washington have abandoned the country's founding principles of limited government. He said the federal government is strangling Americans with taxation, spending and debt.

Perry repeated his running theme that Texas' economy is in relatively good shape compared with other states and with the "federal budget mess." Many in the crowd held signs deriding President Barack Obama and the $786 billion federal economic stimulus package.
Perry called his supporters patriots. Later, answering news reporters' questions, Perry suggested Texans might at some point get so fed up they would want to secede from the union, though he said he sees no reason why Texas should do that.

"There's a lot of different scenarios," Perry said. "We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we're a pretty independent lot to boot."

He said when Texas entered the union in 1845 it was with the understanding it could pull out. However, according to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Texas negotiated the power to divide into four additional states at some point if it wanted to but not the right to secede.

Texas did secede in 1861, but the North's victory in the Civil War put an end to that.
Perry is running for re-election against U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a fellow Republican. His anti-Washington remarks have become more strident the past few weeks as that 2010 race gets going and since Perry rejected $550 million in federal economic stimulus money slated to help Texas' unemployment trust fund.

Perry said the stimulus money would come with strings attached that would leave Texas paying the bill once the federal money ran out.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, also Republicans, have been outspoken against the federal economic stimulus spending and were supportive of tea parties in their states. The protests were being held throughout the country on federal income tax deadline day to imitate the original Boston Tea Party of American revolutionary times.

In an appearance at the Texas Capitol last week, Perry joined state lawmakers in pushing a resolution that supports states' rights protected in the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He said the federal government has become oppressive in its size and interference with states.

Since then, Perry has been featured on the online Drudge Report, and other conservative commentators and citizens have latched on to his words.

After praising veterans in the cheering crowd Wednesday, he said: "I'm just not real sure you're a bunch of right-wing extremists. But if you are, we're with you."
Perry said he believes he could be at the center of a national movement that is coordinated and focused in its opposition to the actions of the federal government.

"It's a very organic thing," he said. "It is a very powerful moment, I think, in American history."
For her part, Hutchison issued a newspaper opinion piece Wednesday criticizing the Democratic-led Congress for spending on the stimulus bill and the $1 trillion appropriations bill.
"On April 15 — Tax Day — some in Congress may need a reminder of just who is underwriting this spending: the American taxpayer. I am deeply concerned over the swelling tax burden that will be imposed on all Texas families," she wrote.

The crowd at the Austin tea party appeared to be decidedly anti-Democrat. Many of the speakers were Republicans and Libertarians.
One placard said, "Stop Obama's Socialism." Another read, "Some Pirates Are in America," and it showed photographs of Obama, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wearing pirate hats.

Rebecca Knowlton, 45, of Smithville, said she took the day off of home-schooling her three children and brought them to the rally to teach them about civic duty. Knowlton, a critic of the Social Security system and the United Nations, said she felt camaraderie at the demonstration.
"The movement is growing stronger," she said. "You're not alone."

10th Ammendemnt and the State of Texas

If you are not familiar with the 10th Amendment, then let me spell it out for you. It states that all powers not listed in the Constitution are thereby granted to the states and the people at large. We must remember that the Federal government was created, and confirmed, by the states, and not the other way around. In light of this, we, as Americans, must stop bowing to the will of a Federal government, and start invoking the rights of the states. Thomas Jefferson once stated, "A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate." Jefferson understood, as did John Locke, that man was born with inalienable rights, and that those rights could never be infringed upon by any government. Jefferson's dedication to this idea is further shown in the Declaration of Independence when he said "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights" The governor of the state of Texas clearly understands this point as well!