Forced to Be Free: Coercive Acquisition and Constitutional Imperialism

Abstract

An emerging body of research in American Political Development reveals the importance of constitutional institutions in sustaining empire. This use of constitutional institutions opens a question about whether the coercive acquisition of territory can be constitutionally legitimate. This essay argues that coercive acquisition violates a political standard of constitutional legitimacy: the principle of consent-based allegiance. Excavating this political standard sheds light on old controversies including the legitimacy of the acquisition of West Virginia and acquisition through joint resolution. It can also contribute to an important scholarly agenda of interrogating the relationship between domestic constitutional normativity and the normativity of global affairs.