“You get out of the Union the same way you get into it. . .”
And where is that procedure found in the Constitution?
“The only way they could have laid claim against the will of the Federal govt. which owned it, would have been by successful revolt (like the American Revolution), which they did not manage.” In other words, might makes rights. Now we get to the essence of the northern argument for Lincoln starting an optional war.
You know that it isn't. But that doesn't change the fact that unilateral secession is expressly unconstitutional and illegal. That leaves only a negotiated settlement in congress or the Supreme Court - or revolution.
In other words, might makes rights.
Or in the case of the Civil War, Right makes right.
In other words if you start a revolution don't cry and complain if you lose it.