"I pledge allegiance...to the Texas flag..."

As part of the negotiations to enter the "Union", Texas was given the right to divide itself into an additional four states at some point in the future, for a total of 5 "Texian" states, though no one has ever considered it worthwhile - it still has that right!

A Joint Resolution of Congress (not a treaty) was adopted by the U.S. Congress on March 1, 1845, providing for the annexation of Texas, and Texas acceded soon thereafter...

The Joint Resolution does apparently provide that Texas can divide itself into up to five states, but there seems to be little agreement in the legal community as to whether the provision is valid now, even if it was valid at the time of Texas's admission (which itself seems to be a debatable proposition).

The exact quote: "New States, of convenient size, not exceeding four in number, in addition to the State of Texas, and having sufficient population, may hereafter by the consent of said State, be formed out of territory thereof, which shall be enititled to admission under the provisions of the federal constitution." (The remainder of the quote discusses slavery, and is certainly invalid under the Thirteenth Amendment.)

Note that there appear to be three conditions even if the condition is valid: 1) that the states be of a "convenient" size, 2) that one is a continuation of Texas, and 3) that -perhaps- the opportunity to create new states is a one-shot deal, depending on how the language is interpreted.

Betcha a donut that if push came to shove, Texas could (after substantial litigation) do whatever it wanted to do (JMHO, of course). :wink:

Contrary to the quotation you provided, it is not true that "there seems to be little agreement in the legal community as to whether the provision is valid now." Rather, there is broad unanimity on the subject among those in the legal community: Texas has the same rights as any other state -- no more, no less. Every other state can subdivide only according to Article IV of the constitution, and that applies to Texas as well.

The disagreement, then, is largely between those who understand how the constitution works and those who don't. That's not a disagreement within the legal community, that's a disagreement between people who know what they're talking about and those who haven't a clue.