Replies

“To say that any State may at pleasure secede from the Union is to say that the United States are not a nation . . .”

United States are not a nation?

Even as President Jackson expressed his personal opinion the United States was intended to be a single nation with absolute power, his words give reason to question the thought process of this hot-tempered duelist.

The Constitution says nothing about states having the right to secede at will, nor does it say that they cannot.

Some interpret the 10th amendment (i.e. all powers not explicitly delegated to the Federal Government are reserved for the states and the people) to mean that since there is no explicit prohibition against secession, states may do so at will.

Others interpret Section 10 of Article 1 of the Constitution to implicitly at least forbid secession. If states do not have the right to declare war, negotiate treaties, or impose tariffs, then they are not fully sovereign nations and thus cannot assume the powers of a nation at will.

There's a legitimate case to be made for both interpretations, and this legal disagreement is, in a nutshell, what the Civil War was all about.

jeffersondem: "United States are not a nation?
Even as President Jackson expressed his personal opinion the United States was intended to be a single nation with absolute power, his words give reason to question the thought process of this hot-tempered duelist."

And thus... just for ek_hornbeck's edification, jeffersondem confirms my report that our Lost Causers loathe & despise Andrew Jackson, not because he was a slaveholder or Indian oppressor, but because he was a patriot!

And Jackson had numerous other admirable qualities, including the fact that he was the only US President ever to pay off the national debt -- not just pay-down, he paid it off entirely.
That's why other patriots, like our current President, go out of their way to defend Jackson.

Now, as to jeffersondem's narrow point regarding: is the USA a singular or plural term?
Before roughly 1900 there was no set rule on plural vs. singular and one was used about as often as the other.
Do you remember the 13th Amendment?
It also refers to the United States as plural, so, contrary to Shelby Foote, the Civil War did not suddenly change our terminology.

But... being a typical (an unapologetic) Democrat, jeffersondem just cannot simply admit, "yes, you're right about Jackson", but instead must search for some minor point of grammer to claim victory over.