The question, however, is whether the state is the fundamental particle of sovereignty or whether smaller political entities, down to the individual, have the same power.
No, what I am saying is the State and the Federal are the only political entities discussed in the USC.
To be sure, this is a very complex subject. WV’s secession is a very interesting topic. It is a perfect example where counties seceded from a state, and isn’t this what you wanted to discuss? Or are you not really ready to discuss it, just hurl it around for some strange reason...
Black's Law Dictionary, Revised Fourth Edition, 1968, p. 1176
“A national government is a government of the people of a single state or nation, united as a community by what is termed the “social compact,’ and possessing complete and perfect supremacy over persons and things, so far as they can be made the lawful objects of civil government. A federal government is distinguished from a national government by its being the government of a community of independent and sovereign states, united by compact."
Federalist #39
Were the people regarded in this transaction as forming one nation, the will of the majority of the whole people of the United States would bind the minority, in the same manner as the majority in each State must bind the minority; and the will of the majority must be determined either by a comparison of the individual votes, or by considering the will of the majority of the States as evidence of the will of a majority of the people of the United States. Neither of these rules have been adopted. Each State, in ratifying the Constitution, is considered as a sovereign body, independent of all others, and only to be bound by its own voluntary act. In this relation, then, the new Constitution will, if established, be a federal, and not a national constitution.