Statehood question continued

[jules5485]

User "In A Pickle," thank you for your response on my question about Hawaii, but I have another along the same lines. What if Kauai (as it is its own island with people living there) decided that it did not want to be a part of the state of Hawaii, could its' people vote to separate not only from the state, but also from the country and form its own separate nation? Why or why not, is the bigger question. The other statement to consider while answering this is why in 1820 could the state formerly a part of Massachusetts (now the state of Maine) break from Mass and become its own state? Thanks again for answering my first question!

[Octavius]

There is something here:

http://www.hawaii-nation.org/reconciliation-kauai-adv.html

[Clanad]

If I may... within the last year or two, the citizens of the town of Killington, Vermont actually voted to secede from the State of Vermont and join the neighboring State of New Hampshire. The issue causing the action had to do with proerty taxes. Had the action been persued, it became apparent that the controlling political bodies, i.e., the State legislatures of each State would have had to accede to the petition. The problem then, became one of contstituitonality. The U.S. Constitution, following the Civil War of 1860-65, was amended and ratified to include Article XIV, which included language about national citizenship, among other things. This terminology was not present in the original document, although Lincoln used it as one basis for the War. Prior to this amendment, the States, individually could define citizenship. It's generally conceded that, absent any further Amendment to the Constitution, secession, at any level, is not an option.
The reference from the poster concerning the 1820 issue was, obviously, mitigated by the ratification of Article XIV. Unilateral secession is not allowed, however it's open to interpretation whether mutually agreed upon secession might be. Not likely, in my opinion...