"The states give a PORTION of their sovereign power to the National Government."
And, arguably, the power to join into a separate confederation was in that portion.
"Read John C. Calhoun, the man was a genius."
Yeah. Real genius. Argued fervently that folks like me are too dark-skinned to exercise self-government--and that was at the core of his arguments regarding "state's rights."
The entire intent of secession was to set up a totalitarian state with but one goal--keep slavery viable by externalizing costs from those who actually owned slaves to the public at large.
I don't agree with his stance on slavery, but I do agree with his concept of two Presidents, one for the North and one for the South, each with veto power. We could check the liberal states easily.