UN seats for US states

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The US was also given the option of allowing two states to vote in the UN.

Stalin originally wanted all the of the various SSR's to be able to vote, but Roosevelt replied with the fact that the US is made up of 48 states and if Stalin wants all the SSR's to vote, then all of the states get to vote as well.

The two extras was the compromise.

Obviously, we assume the compromise- otherwise, considering the relatively small number of countries at that point, the General Assembly becomes a US rubber-stamp.

So, 2 US states are given UN votes. Firstly, how does this work? Does the US as a whole get 3 votes, or do 2 states (I assume 2 of Texas, New York and California) get a vote each? Or do the votes go to US territories (probably Hawaii and Puerto Rico)?
If the second, how do they get around the Constitutional prohibition on states conducting foreign diplomacy?
If the third, what happens when/if Hawaii gets statehood?

Some other ideas- The UK is a major power at this point. Do they demand votes for Scotland and Wales- or for parts of the Empire? What about France?
EDIT: Note that India was given a seat in 1945, as were the Philippines.

What happens if a state votes differently from the US as a whole on some issue? Perhaps Texas, if selected, sides with apartheid South Africa?

Also, in the current OTL anti-UN climate among the American right, what happens if Texas decides to leave the UN- as there have been calls for the US as a whole to do?
 
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I would consider that the only two US states that should receive a UN seat would be Texas and California. I would even argue for Hawaii. These are the only three that historically (or ahistorically in California's case) were independent nations in the 19th century.
 
Yes, that's a problem. We assume ITTL there's an amendment to allow it, possibly only in this case or with the specific permission of the President.
 
The UN isn't a foreign nation. The individual states do carry out their own form of 'foreign affairs' when they send trade delegations overseas.
 

NomadicSky

Banned
I like the idea of Texas and California having seats, in the UN, although Texas and NY make more sense. Especially with NY being the seat of the UN.
 
Couldn't they switch the vote around amongst states? Like California/Texas one year, New York/Florida the other (for example)?
 
I like the idea of Texas and California having seats, in the UN, although Texas and NY make more sense. Especially with NY being the seat of the UN.

I guess the logic of it is escaping me. Why would New York be offered a seat? The importance of New York hardly eclipses that of Vermont or New Hampshire.
 
We're talking about US states getting a seat on the UN, not US cities. I don't see the possession of NYC by NY as being a reason to give it a seat. That would mean that Geneva, Switzerland, would have a seat also.
No, but New York City is the main reason New York is more important than New Hampshire or Vermont, it's basically one of the major economic centers of the world. Also, wasn't New York still the most populous state at this point? (I forget when it was surpassed by California)
 
The U.S. was given the option? Hmm. I hadn't known that.

If the U.S. had taken it, would there be pressure for the E.U. to reduce its number of U.N. seats to three? :) Nobody cares about that rule now because the USSR fell apart, but if it was still active... (I can't really see it, though. E.U. nations would dislike it, and the U.S. wouldn't want to do that either given how swimmingly it/they usually get along with Europe.) It makes a certain amount of logical sense.

Heck, though, why stop there? Technically, Mexico is a federation of states too...
 

Thande

Donor
It might be put on a rotating basis, like how ten of the seats on the Security Council or the presidency of the European Union works. Otherwise I imagine there would be an uproar - after all, although it's less prevalent an attitude now than it used to be, the American constitution enshrines the idea that all the states are constitutionally equal (e.g. all having two senators, each having one vote in the event of a presidential electoral deadlock).
 
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