Also James Madison:
"It is not usual to answer communications without the proper names to them. But the ability and the motives disclosed in the Essays induce me to say in compliance with the wish expressed, that I do not consider the proceedings of Virginia in ’98-’99 as countenancing the doctrine that a state may at will secede from its Constitutional compact with the other States. A rightful secession requires the consent of the others, or an abuse of the compact, absolving the seceding party from the obligations imposed by it."
"A rightful secession requires the consent of the others, or an [sic] abuse of the compact, absolving the seceding party from the obligations imposed by it."
We have long had an abuse of the compact, in fact many and intolerable. Even the most avid imperialists among the Founders, even Lincoln who established Empire over Republic, would balk, I think, at the open totalitarianism. Either that or they mouthed words only.