National Divorce

We just had a controversy in the news over whether or not the United States could divide by mutual agreement. That would mean splitting into two or more countries without having a war. The split could be between red and blue states. It could be by Texas or California becoming separate counties, or any combination or combination of states based on culture, geography, or other reasons.

The United States is a federation, a Union of separate states. Is it possible for those states, or groups of those states, to mutually agree to divide into separate countries? When the constitution we have now was written, we had a constitution, the Articles of Confederation. Delegates from each state were called and authorized to recommend amendments to that constitution. Instead, without any authority, they wrote a new one, which was adopted by vote of the people of the required number of states and put into effect. There was no authority or precedent for this. The people just did it and it was accepted and has lasted for over two hundred years. In 1776 a group of delegates met and declared themselves independent from Britain. Britain objected and sent an army to enforce the law, but they were defeated after a few years of fighting and Britain agreed to recognize the new country. The new country then had to organize a government. They adopted the Articles of Confederation, as mention above. That government only lasted a few years and was replaced when the present constitution was adopted. Mutually agreed upon by the people, without any precedent or authority except that which they assumed and took upon themselves. These changes were accepted by the people. There was no civil war. My conclusion is that yes, it is possible.