[jdege]

State your sources. When and where did ANY state agree to create an "explicitely perpetual" union?

When and where has ANY state "surrendered its right to unilaterally secede?"

The Articles of Confederation

Agreed to by Congress November 15, 1777; ratified and in force, March 1, 1781.

Article XIII. Every State shall abide by the determination of the united States in congress assembled, on all questions which by this confederation are submitted to them. And the Articles of this confederation shall be inviolably observed by every State, and the union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them; unless such alteration be agreed to in a congress of the united States, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every State.

[ClearCase_guy]

I would say that you just shot yourself in the foot. The Articles of Confederation were seen as a bad thing. We wanted to get rid of them. We replaced the Articles with our current Constitution.

As we were going about that upgrade, we decided to drop the language about a perpetual union. Doesn't that tell you anything?