[4CJ]

Did the old states had the right to unilaterally secede at will before the Constitution? We're not talking about the process that formed the new Constitution, mind. I'm asking if under the Articles of Confederation the state of New York had the right to leave at any time without question and without the approval of the other states?

Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.

Unless you can find a prohibition against secession in that document, I rest my case.

[Non-Sequitur]

Unless you can find a prohibition against secession in that document, I rest my case.

Article 13. Every State shall abide by the determination of the United States in Congress assembled, on all questions which by this confederation are submitted to them. And the Articles of this Confederation shall be inviolably observed by every State, and the Union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them; unless such alteration be agreed to in a Congress of the United States, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every State.