[The Iguana]

You are operating on the assumption the South is of the same nation as ...say.. Massachusetts.

Obviously, many northerners operated under just that assumption.

I think many reconciled Confederate generals operated under it as well after the war. For example: Robert E. Lee.

[Mark in the Old South]

General Lee surrendered an army but he was never an elected official. The legal authority of the South never surrendered. The legality of the South's Independence was a issue that was never tested in the Courts. One of the reasons Pres. Davis was never tried was they were not sure they could get a conviction. It seems the Court back then could read the Constitution and gave a da## what it said.

I understand it is a popular debate topic in law schools as to the legality of the state of West Virginia. I hear you have to be really bad to loose if you take the con position.