So the government has no right to put down any rebellion or insurrection, since all the rebels have to do is announce "we're exerting our natural rights."
“Natural rights become the basis for law.”
“So the government has no right to put down any rebellion or insurrection, since all the rebels have to do is announce ‘we’re exerting our natural rights.’”
Any government worth its salt would try to put a rebellion down; however, it must be able to rationalize/justify the costs. The loss of 600,000 men, the flower of our youth, is arguably too high a cost.
Nevertheless, the Constitution was clearly a voluntary association—the new country was not formally called “America” but “The UNITED STATES of America”; there was no clause which stated that a state could not withdraw. The reason was that the architects of the Constitution believed in natural rights.
Today, a secession would not be violently responded to by the Federal Government, because armed action against Secessionist state government would be the ultimate in anathema. The only thing that might dissuade a successful Secession in these modern times would be the National Guard—not their federalization, but their professionalism in supporting any Commander in Chief’s orders.