If the issue of secession is moot, did we then not have a right to secede from Britain?
***While the validity of withdrawal from the Union is debatable, the validity of withdrawal from Congress is explicitly recognised.***
Then why did the North feel the need to force the South to sign the Amendment? They already had the Congressional representation right?
We can debate the legality of rebellion and secession till the cows come home; it doesn’t affect the legitimacy of the 14th Amendment as written.
The Union made state legislative ratification of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments a precondition of their resumption of federal representation so that those representatives could not later disown those Amendments and reopen the issues the war had settled.
Like I said: a hard bargain; but when you bet everything on black and the house wins, you’re bargaining position has pretty much Gone with the Wind.