[4CJ]

Sorry. I've seen that misstatement by R. E. Lee trotted out so often it's pathetic. Perpetual in law means open-ended, not "forever", just as was proven by the dissolution of the "perpetual" Articles. Secondly, "perfect", as in "made more perfect" means bettered, not permanent. The Articles could be subverted by a single state unwilling to agree to the petitions of the other states, the Constitution removed that requirement, and added a national taxing authority and national defense which "perfected" the Articles.

Justice Chase's decsion in Texas v. White was destroyed by Justice Grier in his dissent. If Chase's premise is correct (they states never left & were still members of the union), then Chase's conclusion re: the bonds was the reverse of what the premise dictated.

[lentulusgracchus]

Perpetual in law means open-ended, not "forever", just as was proven by the dissolution of the "perpetual" Articles.

Thank you for pointing that out again, although from the context of Marse Robert's letter, Lee seems to have understood "perpetual" in the sense people usually, erroneously, do -- per omnia saecula saeculorum, forever and ever, and so on. The legal meaning relies more on the original Latin sense, which is seen in the title dictator perpetuus which Julius Caesar accepted (conferred on himself) just before Brutus deified him. The Latin sense is the same as that which you describe, of concurrency, open-endedness, and continuation.

I also addressed the issue of threshold versus perpetual consent as they apply to the Constitution in my post #381, above. In that discussion I rely on the definitions laid out by Prof. Elaine Scarry in a 1981 University of Pennsylvania law review article on the Militia, nuclear policy, and the meaning of popular consent within the context of the Constitution.

Scarry's larger theme was that Defense policy generally needs to be rewritten to conform with original intent, rather than with the General Staff's estimate of likely strategic and tactical contingencies surrounding future decisions to release major weapons -- i.e. to commit to their use, but on the way she covered the concept of consent.

[WhiskeyPapa]

Sorry. I've seen that misstatement by R. E. Lee trotted out so often it's pathetic. Perpetual in law means open-ended...

That's not all the letter.

"The framers of our Constitution never exhausted so much labor, wisdom and forebearance in its formation, and surrounded it with so many guards and securities, if it was to be broken by every member of the Confederacy at will. It was intended for 'perpetual union' so expressed in the preamble, and for the establishment of a government, not a compact, which can only be dissolved by revolution, or the consent of all the people in convention assembled. It is idle to talk of secession."

Robert E. Lee, January 23, 1861

It's pathetic to try and pervert Lee's clear meaning.

Walt