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Article 4

Article 4 What is Article 4 of the Constitution?

Article 4 of the United States Constitution is the section that talks about the states. Article 4 discusses the responsibilities and duties of the states as well as what responsibilities the federal government has to the States. 

How is Article 4 Broken Down?

Article 2 of the United States Constitution is broken down into four different sections. These sections are broken down further into clauses.

Section 1 of Article 4 of the Constitution

Section 1 of Article 4 is called the Full Faith and Credit Clause. This section of Article 4 requires each state to extend credit and full faith to the public acts, court proceedings, and records to other states. Congress has the right to watch how this happens.

Section 2 of Article 4 of the Constitution

Section 2 of Article 4 of the Constitution talks about what obligations the states have.

Clause 1: Clause of Section 2 Article 4 is also called the Privileges and Immunities Clause. This clause says that the states must protect immunities and privileges between states. 

Clause 2: Clause 2 is called the Extradition Clause. According to this clause, any person who is charged with a crime and tries to run to another state can be forced by the local authorities to return to the original state. This is called extradition.

Clause 3: Clause 3 of Section 2 Article 4 is called the Fugitive Slave Clause. This clause was first applied to fugitive slaves during slavery. If a slave ran away to another state, they would have to be brought back to the original state so the owner could claim the slave. However, this clause is no longer necessary since slavery was abolished by the 13th Amendment.

Section 3 of Article 4 of the Constitution

Section 3 of Article 4 talks about federal property and any new states that are accepted into the union.

Clause 1: According to this clause, new states can be admitted into the Union by Congress. However, new states cannot be made by combining multiple states that already exist, unless they get permission from the state legislatures.

Clause 2: This is the Territorial Clause, sometimes called the Property Clause. According to this clause, the United Congress has the final power over any territory in the country. This clause also lets Congress get remove other territories or create laws for them.

Section 4 of Article 4 of the Constitution

Section 4 of Article 4 is the last section of Article 4. It talks about what obligations the United States has.

Clause 1: This clause is often called the Guarantee clause. According to this clause, the United States federal government must guarantee each state a government that is a Republic.

Clause 2: This clause protects each state against invasion or domestic violence.

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