Is North Dakota really a US state?

[dnoblett]

I came across this one a week or so ago, interesting. I have driven across that state many times along I-94, can you say COLD!!! in the winter.

 

North Dakota is amending its constitution because of a long-standing technical omission that some claim makes its statehood invalid. So does that mean it's really just a US territory and not a state at all?

 

But an 82-year-old care home resident in Grand Forks, North Dakota, is throwing the truth of that universally held statement into some doubt. While reading the state constitution, which is 40 years older than he is, John Rolczynski noticed it omitted to mention the executive branch when explaining which new officers need to take the oath supporting the US Constitution.

 

This, he says, makes the state constitution invalid because it is in conflict with the federal constitution, which requires all officers of the three branches of state government - executive, judicial and legislative - be bound by the oath.

 

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14142111

[Mick]

Well, now that is a thorny issue for sure. Like the lawyer from U. of Vermont said, statehood is probably safe. What I remember about North Dakota goes all the way back to the summer of 1974. A couple of buddies and I took an extended sojourn around the country, staying on the road for about three months and camping out most of the way. Drove across North Dakota on U.S. 2 on our way to watch Evel Knieval try to jump the Snake River Canyon on his rocket cycle. We drove across North Dakota at night and I recall listening to Mystery Theatre on the radio out of Canada. Also, stopped at a truck stop in Rugby, which is the geographical center of the North American continent.