Article IV — The States

Verbatim

Section 1. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.

Section 2. The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.

A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.

No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.

Section 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.

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; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.

Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

Plain English

Section 1 — Full faith and credit

Each state must give full faith and credit to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. Congress can pass general laws specifying how these acts, records, and proceedings are proved and what their effect is.

Section 2 — Privileges and immunities

The citizens of each state are entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states.

A person charged with a crime in one state who flees to another state must be returned to the state with jurisdiction over the crime, on the demand of the executive authority of that state.

Note: The original text contained a Fugitive Slave Clause requiring states to return enslaved people who escaped to free states. This clause was effectively voided by the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery.

Section 3 — New states and federal territory

Congress can admit new states to the Union. No new state can be formed within the jurisdiction of an existing state, or by combining two or more states or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the affected states and of Congress.

Congress has the power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations for the territories and other property belonging to the United States.

Section 4 — Guarantees to the states

The United States guarantees every state a republican form of government and protects each state against invasion. The United States protects each state against domestic violence on the application of the state legislature, or of the state's executive when the legislature cannot be convened.

About

Article IV governs how states relate to each other and to the federal government. It addresses interstate cooperation, the admission of new states, and federal guarantees to the states.

The Full Faith and Credit Clause (Section 1) has been the basis for major modern legal questions, including the recognition of out-of-state marriages, divorces, child custody orders, and corporate registrations. Most importantly, it was central to the legal status of same-sex marriages before Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) made marriage equality a federal right.

The Privileges and Immunities Clause (Section 2) prevents states from discriminating against citizens of other states in fundamental matters. It has been read to require, for example, that a person who moves to a new state generally has access to that state's courts, can earn a living there, and can travel through the state on the same terms as residents.

The Extradition Clause requires states to return people charged with crimes elsewhere. In practice, extradition is governed by federal law (the Extradition Clause Implementation Act) and by interstate compacts, and is rarely refused.

The Fugitive Slave Clause was one of the most controversial provisions of the original Constitution. It required free states to return enslaved people who escaped to them, and was the basis for the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850. The Thirteenth Amendment eliminated the underlying basis for the clause by abolishing slavery.

The Republican Form of Government Clause (Section 4) has been read by the Supreme Court as primarily a political question — one that courts will not directly enforce — leaving Congress to decide what counts as a republican form of government.

The Domestic Violence Clause has been used to authorize federal military assistance to states during natural disasters, civil unrest, and other emergencies, on request from state authorities.