It cannot be
maintained on Mr. Madison's or Mr. Webster's theory, that the
States prior to the Union were severally sovereign, but by the
Union were constituted one people; for, if this one people are
understood to be a federal people, State secession would not be
State suicide, but State independence; and if understood to be
one consolidated or centralized people, it would be simply
insurrection or rebellion against the national authority,
laboring to make itself a revolution. The government seems to
have understood Mr. Madison's theory in both senses--in the
consolidated sense, in declaring the secessionists insurgents and
rebels, and in the federal sense, in maintaining that they have
never seceded, and are still States in the Union, in full
possession of all their political or State rights. Perhaps, if
the government, instead of borrowing from contradictory theories
of the constitution which have gained currency, had examined in
the light of historical facts the constitution itself, it would
have been as constitutional in its doctrine as it has been loyal
and patriotic, energetic and successful in its military
administration.
Another reason why the doctrine that State secession is State
suicide has appeared so offensive to many, is the supposition
entertained at one time by some of its friends, that the
dissolution of the State vacates all rights and franchises held
under it.
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