I have heard a couple of times throughout my young life that Texas, if it wanted to, has the right to recede from the US. Is this actually true, or simply myth? (Sorry if that is a dumb question. I am still learning.) The reason I ask is because I am kicking around the idea of a story that involves Texas becoming independent from America. (There is A LOT more to the story idea than just Texas receding. Stuff like the FBI battling Terrorists trying to take over Texas, Texas receding because it was forced to, and so on.) How would it be done legally in the US? And has this story idea been done before? Thanks in advance.
You can probably google this, but you'll need to use "secede" rather than "recede". Based on a quick look, I'm not seeing any real reason why Texas would be able to legally secede, but you could always have them do it anyway - it would then come down to negotiations and/or a decision about having a second civil war to force them to stay.
No. This is an urban myth as old as the hills. Texas cannot just decide to secede through any form of state act. Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700 (1869)
Actually, as many as five. It's a pretty old idea that only had real currency up through the early 1900's. Most of the reasons why such an event would be implemented have been resolved through modern technology and infrastructure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_divisionism
Of course, any State that purports to secede isn't going to consider U.S. Supreme Court decisions binding. It they actually did it (not bloody likely) the issue would have to again be resolved by force.
That reminds me of an old joke (1959, in fact): Texas: Now that Alaska's a state, we're not the largest state any more. We're only the second largest now. Alaska: If you don't stop complaining about that, we'll split into two states, and then you'll be the third largest.
