You would have felt better about it if they had waited for the swearing-in ceremony?
the rebels were the ones trashing the Constitution
How so? Shelby Foote has said that if the states had thought that they were locking themselves into the union by becoming states, they never would have signed on. I don't see any provision in the constitution that allows one state to coerce another into the union, or allow the federal govt the right to force any state into the union.