[WhiskeyPapa]

There was already a mechanism in place to withdraw from the Union ... the supreme authority of the people through the auspices of the 10th Amendment!

The -people- preserved the Union.

Walt

[GOPcapitalist]

The -people- preserved the Union.

No, not really. That statement implies a collective action of general consensus by the people of the nation. In reality there was sharp division, leading some people to invade the land of other people and proceed to kill them in order to advance their cause and power.

[Colt .45]

"The -people- preserved the Union."

No Walt .... The President of the United States unconstitutionally provoked and went to war to forcibly keep the Southern States from seceding. There was no referendum on whether the Northern States wanted to preserve the Union in 1861. Ft. Sumter was fired on and then Lincoln got what he wanted, the chance to subjugate the Southern States. Lincoln was acting in a self-serving capacity, he usurped his constitutionally mandated authority, and the Yankees went along for the ride. By 1865 Government-over-Man was the norm. That is NOT how the Founders set this counttry's government up.