Section 4

A. Admission to Statehood

Only Territories may be admitted as new States into the Union. A Territory may become a State only if all the following conditions are met:

1. A three-fourths (¾) majority of votes cast in a lawful Territory-wide referendum approve Statehood;

2. The Territory’s population exceeds 500,000 Persons; and

3. Congress affirms the admission by a simple majority vote within ten (10) days of receiving the certified referendum result. If Congress does not act within that time, admission shall be presumed and take effect automatically.

A State cannot lose its status and be reduced to a Territory solely due to a population decline.

B. Secession

In keeping with the principles of Consent of the Governed and political stability, a State may secede from the Union, but only if a three-fourths (¾) majority of votes cast in a lawful Statewide referendum approve secession. If such a referendum succeeds, the secession shall take effect on the first day of January of the first calendar year that is at least one hundred (100) days after the vote. The seceding State does not have a right to any federally owned assets.

Any seceding State that later wishes to return to the Union may only do so as a Territory. Readmission requires a two-thirds (2/3) majority in both chambers of Congress in assent. Once readmitted, the new Territory may not hold a referendum on Statehood for at least ten (10) years after the date of readmission.