Constitutional limits on changing the name of a state?

[Scarberry, Mark]

I thought Hawaii had officially changed its name to Hawai'i, but that
does not seem to be the case.

 

Mark Scarberry

Pepperdine

 

 

From: conlawprof-bounces at lists.ucla.edu
[mailto:conlawprof-bounces at lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of James Maule
Sent: Friday, October 22, 2010 1:35 PM
To: Conlawprof at lists.ucla.edu
Subject: RE: Constitutional limits on changing the name of a state?

 

Further bits of helpful analysis, all with constitutional questions
lurking beneath the surface:

 

1. Many states have names derived from the name the geographic area held
as a territory. Congress determines the names of territories. For an
interesting examination of the pitfalls of Congress getting involved in
naming a territory, see
http://imnh.isu.edu/digitalatlas/geog/explore/essay.pdf (How Idaho got
its name).

 

2. At least two states were formed not from a territory but from being
carved out of another state: West Viriginia (name chosen by state
constitutional convention, see. e.g, http://bigthink.com/ideas/21406;
see also http://www.wvculture.org/history/statehood/statename.html);
Maine (used a name that had been given to the area in the 17th century).

 

3. At least one state legislature (Arkansas) considered itself competent
to determine the pronunciation AND the placement of the apostrophe to
form the possessive, without consulting Congress or obtaining its
approval.

 

4. I don't have Stewart's book handy (loaned out), but there is one
state whose spelling was changed - and I cannot remember which one - so
that things ended up with the state spelling its name differently from
how it appeared in several federal statutes, until later in the 19th
century one spelling became standard. 

 

There have been proposed state names rejected by Congress (e.g.,
Lincoln, Columbia, Franklin, Jefferson) but in the context of
individuals in an area seeking admission to the Union as a state (and in
many instances, the proposed boundaries also didn't get Congressional
approval).

 

Jim Maule

Villanova University School of Law

 

 

From: conlawprof-bounces at lists.ucla.edu
[mailto:conlawprof-bounces at lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Goldstein, Jared
Sent: Friday, October 22, 2010 3:38 PM
To: Conlawprof at lists.ucla.edu
Subject: Constitutional limits on changing the name of a state?

 

In November, voters in Rhode Island - officially, the "State of Rhode
Island and Providence Plantations" - will be deciding whether to change
the state's official name to "the State of Rhode Island," dropping the
vestigial and somewhat embarrassing "plantations" appendage. Lincoln
Chafee, the former Republican Senator who is running for governor as an
independent, declared that the state cannot change its name unless the
U.S. Constitution were amended, because "Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations" is how the state is listed in the Constitution (see Art. I
Sec. 2). 

 

A couple of local reporters called me (there are some advantages to
working for the only law school in the state) and asked whether I
thought Chafee is right. I don't think so because (1) as sovereign
entities the states presumably had power to decide their names and other
matters of sovereignty before the Constitution was adopted; (2) the
Constitution does not allocate the naming power to the United States;
and (3) the Tenth Amendment reserves to the States any powers not given
to the United States. 

 

I don't know of any other times a state has changed its name and
couldn't come up with a historical precedent, other than the general
principle of reserved state powers. I'm also unsure whether the United
States would be obligated to change any or all of its documents if the
state decided to change its name to Eggplant or Utopia. Still, is there
any reason to doubt the state's power to decide what its name should be?

 

_______________________________

Jared A. Goldstein

Professor of Law

Roger Williams University School of Law

Bristol, RI 02809

(401) 254-4594

 

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