[Non-Sequitur]

Secession is done peacefully, and may end in war...

If secession is done legally, and if the seceding states don't go out and shoot up federal forts. Then it most certainly ends in war.

...but a revolt is war first and foremost. The colonist demanded nicely to be separate from England, they didn't go sack British garrisons in New York and New Jersey prior to declaring independence.

They fought several pitched battles with the British between April 1775 and July 1776. They raised an army, captured Fort Ticonderoga, invaded Canada, lost and later forced the British out of Boston, and battled for New York, all before declaring independence. Hardly peaceful actions.

When South Caroline and the New England states were going to secede, they held conferences and conventions, they didn't rush into the White House and perform a coup d'etat.

And they didn't secede either. Didn't even seriously threaten to secede.

As for the Founders, all save Alexander Hamilton (another Whig statist) were at odds with Lincoln's philosophy. When Washington had to put down the Whiskey Rebellion with troops (first suspension of habeas corpus in America), he did so peacefully and rescinded the tariff that upset the rebels in the first place.

When Washington put down the Whiskey Rebellion it was by calling up 13,000 troops and sending them after the rebels. And interestingly enough Washington relied on the same piece of legislation to justify his actions as Lincoln used to call up the troops to put down the Southern rebellion, the Militia Act of 1792.

Oh, and it was a tax not a tariff. Tariffs are on imports, Washington's government was taxing domestically produced whiskey.

And let me spell something out for those who don't realize the cost of the Civil War in human life. Adjusted for the current US population it would be the equivalent of 6 million dead Americans. Think about that when you see all the pissing and moaning over a couple thousand dead in Iraq.

Let me ask you this. Had the war cost 600,000 lives, but the South had emerged victorious, would you say it was worth the cost?

Also, Lincoln expected the war to last a month or two. He completely botched his assessment of its duration and cost.

There was a lot of that going around then.

[spacecowboynj]

Ahem:

According to some secession theorists, the American Revolution, in which Thirteen Colonies successfully fought for independence from the British Crown was a secession, as opposed to a revolution. Revolutions seek to replace current governments, while secession movements merely seek separation from current governments. According to this view, the independence movements of Latin American countries were also examples of secession (from Spain). Other positions emphasize the colonial nature of British rule, and the previous restrictions on participation by colonists in the government.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secession#American_revolutions

This is really common sense stuff.

[spacecowboynj]

"Oh, and it was a tax not a tariff. Tariffs are on imports, Washington's government was taxing domestically produced whiskey."

OMG I about fell out of my chair when I read this. A tariff IS a tax...HELLO!!!??? The US had no income tax in those days and their method of revenue was a tax on gods called a TARIFF. I don't know if you're aware of this, but there are several kinds of taxes. Sales, corporate, income, yada yada.

O brother fine, here you go:

A tariff is a tax on foreign goods. When a ship arrives in port a customs officer inspects the contents and charges a tax according to the tariff formula. Since the goods cannot be landed until the tax is paid it is the easiest tax to collect, and the cost of collection is small. Smugglers of course seek to evade the tariff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariff