Texas v. White

Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700 (1869), argued 5, 8, and 9 Feb. 1869, decided 12 Apr. 1869 by vote of 5 to 3; Chase for the Court, Grier in dissent. Following the Civil War, the presidentially reconstructed government of Texas brought suit to recover state‐owned securities that had been sold by the state's Confederate government. Defendants argued that Texas, which had seceded and had not yet been restored to the Union, was not a state and therefore could not sue in federal courts. Hence the case presented fundamental questions concerning secession, Reconstruction, and the nature of the Union.

Asserting that the Constitution created “an indestructible Union, composed of indestructible States” (p. 725), Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase held that secession was illegal and that Texas had never left the Union. He admitted that participation in the rebellion had left the state without a lawful government and had suspended its rights as a member of the Union. Consequently, under the Guarantee Clause, Congress had authority to reestablish state government. Although Texas had not been restored to its normal position in the Union, Chase noted that Congress had recognized the presidentially reconstructed government as provisional, entitling it to sue in the federal courts. Turning to the merits of the case, Chase ruled that the state's Confederate government had been unlawful, that its acts in support of the rebellion were null and void, and that the state was entitled to recover the securities.

The decision endorsed the Republican position that the Union was perpetual and that Reconstruction was a political problem that lay within the scope of congressional power.

See also State Sovereignty and States' Rights.

Donald G. Nieman