Really?
Was secession not "a wholly unilateral activity by individual states"?
Did Madison -not- indicate that the "convention had some colorable claim to be operating under the authority of the existing government"?
Walt
Under the AoC, the secession was a wholly unilaterial activity by sovereign independent states. Their sovereign status is unquestionable, being explicitly written into the AoC.
Madison DID indicate that the convention had some colorable claim to be operating under the authority of the existing government.
They had expressly written instructions authorizing them to recommend revisions to the AoC.
While they had a colorable claim to operate, they had no claim to do what they did in convention.
Remember that Madison had to write his assertion anonymously under the name Publius.
What they did may have been intended for the greater good, but it was not exactly kosher. Had it all been on the up and up, he would not have felt a need to write as Publius, and they would not have sealed the record of the proceedings for 50 years until all of the actors were dead.