ith the consent of Massachusetts, of which it had
been a part.

West Virginia was admitted during the war, the consent of Virginia being
obtained afterwards.

_Clause 2.--The Territories._

_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;[1] and nothing in this constitution shall be so
construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any
particular state.[2]_

[1] The power to _acquire_ territory is not expressly granted in the
constitution, but it is implied as an act of sovereignty. Territory was
acquired by the general government before the constitution by cession from
states, and since the adoption of the constitution it has been acquired by
purchase, by discovery, by conquest, and by annexation.

The power to _dispose_ of territory is also an attribute of sovereignty,
and would have belonged to the general government without this provision.
But this provision places the power in the hands of _congress_; otherwise
land could be sold by the treaty-making power. Under this provision
congress receded to Virginia that portion of the District of Columbia
south of the Potomac.

The power to govern any territory which it possesses is also an attribute
of sovereignty. This clause gives the power to congress; but any law for
the regulation of territories needs the president's signature, the same as
any other law.

[2] It will be remembered that North Carolina and Georgia had not at the
time of the adoption of the constitution relinquished their claims to
certain territory lying outside of their state limits. This provision was
made as a concession to them. But they afterwards, North Carolina in 1790
and Georgia in 1802, ceded the disputed territory to the United States.

SECTION IV.--GUARANTIES TO THE STATES.

_The United States shall guarantee to every state in this Union a
republican form of government,[1] and shall protect each of them against
invasion,[2] and on application of the legislature, or of the executive
(when the legislature cannot be convened), against domestic violence.[3]_

[1] That is, the United States will protect each state against one man or
a few men who may try to usurp the functions of the state government. By
inference, the United States could insist upon a republican form of
government even if the people of the state desired some other. Happily, no
necessit