Right, that was the Founder's definition of the kinds of "necessity" which compelled them in 1776 to issue their Declaration of Independence.
They also believed that mutual consent was all the authority needed in 1788 to abolish the old Articles of Confederation in favor of their new Constitution.
But no Founder or later President ever proposed or supported unilateral, unapproved declarations of secession at pleasure.
They considered those to be rebellion, insurrection, domestic violence, invasion and/or treason.
And those they opposed with all the military force necessary, be it 1806 (Burr), 1814 (Hartford), 1830 (S.Carolina) or 1860-1 (Confederates).
[BroJoeK]: Right, that was the Founder's definition of the kinds of "necessity" which compelled them in 1776 to issue their Declaration of Independence.
Perhaps BroJoeK forgets what ratifiers of the Constitution said about what was necessary to resume their own governance in their ratification documents [my bold below]:
New York: "That the Powers of Government may be resumed by the People, whensoever it shall become necessary to their Happiness;..." [Link 1]Rhode Islands: "That the powers of government may be reassumed by the people, whensoever it shall become necessary to their happiness:" [Link 2]
windsorknot above refers to the Virginia ratification.
Isn't it odd, BroJoeK, that Madison, Hamilton, and Jay, the three authors of the Federalist Papers that explained the Constitution to the public, voted for their state ratifications of the Constitution that said their state could resume or reassume their own governance.
The New York ratification also included a statement very similar to the Tenth Amendment, an amendment that was later proposed to the Congress by Madison (who said that the Constitution already means this, but it doesn't hurt to add it). The Tenth Amendment was ratified by the states and became part of the Constitution. Here is what New York said in their ratification document (the words below weren't a proposed amendment in their ratification document, it was a statement in that ratification of what the Constitution meant):
"that every Power, Jurisdiction and right, which is not by the said Constitution clearly delegated to the Congress of the United States, or the departments of the Government thereof, remains to the People of the several States, or to their respective State Governments to whom they may have granted the same"
South Carolina cited the Tenth Amendment in their causes for secession in 1860. Virginia cited their ratification document in their 1861 secession.