[{"command":"add_css","data":[{"rel":"stylesheet","media":"all","href":"\/sites\/default\/files\/css\/css_rZjCmUBEHftE91DeNru5KqLSSaOmvYzpnCjBdzKdLqM.css?delta=0\u0026language=en\u0026theme=heritage_theme\u0026include=eJwrTi1LzdNPzkksLq7Uy8tPSQUAPMsGtA"}]},{"command":"invoke","selector":null,"method":"openEssay","args":["10000126","\n\n\u003Carticle about=\u0022\/constitution\/articles\/4\/essays\/127\/claims\u0022 class=\u0022node node--type-constitution-essay node--promoted node--view-mode-embedded clearfix\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ch1 class=\u0022title\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EClaims\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003C\/h1\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-location\u0022\u003E\n Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-context\u0022\u003E\n \n \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E...nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n \n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-body\u0022\u003E\n \n \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShortly after the Constitutional Convention had adopted a constitutional provision that required the consent of affected state legislatures if Congress tried to create a state out of the territory of any existing ones (Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1), the Framers faced a potentially divisive problem that arose from that provision. The Framers feared that states might weaken federal power by preventing Congress from making \u0022needful Rules and Regulations\u0022 for admission to the union of the western territory ceded to the United States during and after the American Revolution. The western land claims of many states were still unresolved, and the Convention had adopted a provision that required the consent of state legislatures in order to create new states out of existing states; for these reasons, the Framers feared that some states might argue that any territory for which Congress would try to make \u0022needful Rules and Regulations\u0022 was in fact their territory and so could not be prepared for admission to the union by the United States.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ETo prevent such a misconstruction and protect the legitimate claims of the new federal government, Daniel Carroll of Maryland proposed at the Convention that \u0022nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to affect the claim of the U.S. to vacant lands ceded to them by the Treaty of peace.\u0022 While holding that states were not sovereign nations and thus could not in principle claim land ceded by one nation (Britain) to another, James Madison recognized (as Justice Joseph Story later wrote in his \u003Ci\u003ECommentaries on the Constitution of the United States\u003C\/i\u003E) that the question of \u0022to whom of right belonged the vacant territory appertaining to the crown at the time of the revolution, whether to the states, within whose charter territory it was situated, or to the Union in its federative capacity\u0022 was \u0022a subject of long and ardent controversy, and...threatened to disturb the peace, if not to overthrow the government of the Union.\u0022 To avert a potential crisis, Madison successfully proposed that the Convention should be \u0022neutral and fair\u0022 and \u0022ought to go farther and declare that the claims of particular States also should not be affected.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESince its adoption in the Constitution, this clause has spawned very little constitutional controversy and has functioned largely as its author hoped: by giving the same protection to both state and federal land claims, it diffused potential conflict over whose claims in the western territories would have constitutional preeminence. Potential conflicts were put over for decision by the political branches, which successfully handled the disposition of the western territories.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n \n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--media\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--photo\u0022 style=\u0022background-image: url(\/sites\/default\/files\/Jeffrey_Sikkenga.jpg)\u0022\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--info\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ch4 class=\u0022con-essay-author--name\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ashland.edu\/faculty\/history-political-science\/sikkenga-jeffrey\u0022\u003EJeffrey Sikkenga\u003C\/a\u003E\n \u003C\/h4\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--job\u0022\u003E\n Associate Professor of Political Science, Ashland University\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-tabs\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cul data-tabs class=\u0022tabs\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000126-taba\u0022\u003EFurther Reading\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000126-tabb\u0022\u003ECase Law\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000126-tabc\u0022\u003ERelated Essays\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n \u003C\/ul\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv data-tabs-content\u003E\n \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000126-taba\u0022\u003E\n \n \u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDale van Every, Ark of Empire: The American Frontier, 1784\u20131803 (1963)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000126-tabb\u0022\u003E\n \n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000126-tabc\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000124\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003EAdmissions Clause\u003C\/a\u003E\n \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000125\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003EProperty Clause\u003C\/a\u003E\n \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/17878925\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003ETerritories Clause \u003C\/a\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \n\u003C\/article\u003E\n"]}]