If secession was illegal, then the actions of the those eleven Southern states led to the destruction of the republic as created by our Founding Fathers, and the South bears ultimate responsibility for the deaths of the 620,000 Americans who died in the ensuing war. However, if secession was a legal action, then blame for the aforementioned tragedies can be placed squarely upon the shoulders of President Abraham Lincoln; the deification of the putative “Great Emancipator” can cease, and he can be forever known as the President who plunged the nation into the bloodiest conflict in its history.
The legal theory of secession was largely untested (every previous attempt was summarily put down) and provocative. The southern fire-eaters knew this but instead of exhausting legal remedies they instead sought to enforce secession by force. It didn't work out so well for them, either legally or on the field of battle.
It is common sense that states had and have the right to secede. But really does it matter ? If the states want to go, the US government doesn’t have the reslove or power to stop them this time. The blacks or hispanics couldn’t care less and I don’t see guys from Vermont trying to invade another state this time. I’m not calling for it, but I think the states would win this time easily.
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There is nothing in that link worth much of my time. And the format is extremely annoying.
Article I, Section. 10 paragraph 1. “No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or CONFEDERATION;...” that alone makes the insurrection illegal.
And it was not a War Between the States. Most accurately it was a RAT Rebellion.