Texas v. White was a landmark Supreme Court case decided in 1869 in which the court established that, shockingly, the secession of a state from the United States is unconstitutional and despite Texas’s declaration of secession from the Union during the Civil War, Texas had never actually left the Union and all acts by the state legislature declaring otherwise were “absolutely null.”
In 1850, based on the terms settled under the Compromise of 1850, which settled border disputes regarding territories the United States had obtained during the Mexican-American War, the federal government paid $10 million in bonds to the state of Texas in settlement of boundary claims.
On Feb. 1, 1861, two months before the Civil War broke out, the Texas legislature declared that the state had officially seceded from the United States and declared itself a part of the newly-founded country of the Confederate States. However, the state badly needed money, and some of the bonds given to the state from the Compromise of 1850 remained in the state’s possession in 1861. Thus, the state decided to sell off the bonds. These bonds would be redeemable beginning in 1865.
However, the state legislature, which, at this time, was now in open rebellion against the United States, feared that the U.S. Treasury would not honor bonds sold by a Confederate state, and so repealed a law requiring the governor to sign bonds that were to be sold by the state. A military board was established to sell the bonds to help finance the war effort.
In 1865, two men, George White and John Chiles (among other people) bought some bonds from the state of Texas in exchange for cotton and medicine. None of these bonds were endorsed by the governor. In the meantime, White and Chiles sold the bonds to many other individuals, at least one of whom was able to redeem the bond for money from the Treasury,
After the Civil War ended and reconstruction began, the federal government ordered a new government, loyal to the Union, to be established. In a convention, citizens of Texas established a new constitution and elected a governor, James Throckmorton, while also allowing the governor to seek recovery of the bonds.
In an effort to recover these bonds, the state of Texas filed suit in the Supreme Court of the United States against White and Chile, arguing that the bonds had been sold illicitly to finance a rebellion against the Union and that since none of the bonds had been endorsed by the governor, and asked that the Treasury be prohibited from paying out these bonds. The state argued that because the bonds had been sold illegally, it retained the right to those bonds.
White and Chiles argued that since Texas had seceded during the Civil War, it was not eligible to bring suit in the Supreme Court since federal law was not applicable in Texas and the court lacked jurisdiction. The attorneys for White and Chiles also argued that since Texas was subject to military rule at the time during Reconstruction, residents of Texas had no constitutional rights nor representation in Congress.
The court considered the question of whether or not Texas was eligible to even sue in the court in the first place, and whether or not Texas could reclaim the bonds.
On April 12, 1869, the court ruled in favor of Texas in a 5-3 decision. The court said, “When, therefore, Texas became one of the United States, she entered into an indissoluble relation” and that the Union was “perpetual,” as the Constitution “in all its provisions, looks to an indestructible Union, composed of indestructible states.” In essence, the court had said that in spite of the legislature declaring that the state was not part of the U.S., it had never actually left the Union since Texas was an indissoluble part of the United States, thus giving authority to the court to hear the case. Despite joining the Confederacy and being under military rule during Reconstruction, Texas had remained a U.S. state, while all citizens of Texas had remained U.S. citizens.
Because of this, the court held that states could not simply unilaterally declare secession from the United States, and all acts made by the rebellious Texas legislature were “absolutely null.” As a result, the contract between the illegal secessionist government was void since that government had no authority to make the contract, and the bonds were not negotiable as they were not endorsed by the governor of Texas, declaring that the state’s relationship was “treasonable and void.”
Therefore, the court said in Texas v. White, Texas retained ownership of all the bonds and the new Texas government was entitled to either the return of the bonds or repayment from those who had redeemed the bonds.
Dissenters argued that the issue of whether Texas should be a state was to be decided by Congress rather than the courts, while others argued that although the bonds were sold illegally by the secessionist government, Texas was not a state during the time of the Civil War, and so the court lacked jurisdiction over it.
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