Why do you keep trotting out the Federalist Papers?
They are private citizen editorials that have have no force of law and are not even agreed upon opinions.
I presented VA Articles of Ratification that legally bound VA to the United States of America and its Constitution.
There is no sensible comparison as to language or binding legal effect.
Why? Because they are evidence as to the original intent of the parties. That is all that matters. I presented the VA proviso reserving the right to unilateral secession. There is no sensible argument that Virginia did not intend at the time of ratification to reserve a right to unilateral secession.
I ask again, do you know of another historically significant elected leader that is on better authority about the origins of the Civil War than Jefferson Davis?
And I presented a great deal of evidence showing that failure to enforce the fugitive slave clause of the US Constitution was merely a pretext and that the real cause was partisan sectional legislation that impoverished the Southern states while lining the pockets of Northern corporate fatcats. That is furthermore backed up by the fact that the original 7 seceding states refused to return even when offered slavery effectively forever by express constitutional amendment.
Speaking of intent of the parties, the Federalist Papers are hardly as compelling as the VA Articles of Ratification themselves.
They state very plainly that withdrawal from the Union was a power reserved by the People of the United States, in toto.
No interpretation or divining or guessing as to intent. A plain reading and an open mind is all that’s needed.
I offered the Corwin Amendment to this discussion and it was in place and offered BEFORE any secession.
The Fugitive Slave Act was the law of the land and the slave states were fed up with its lack of enforcement.
They knew the lack of enforcement meant their slave property would continue to escape to the north in increasing numbers. Only a Confederacy would offer a new national barrier that would be more effective in stopping the escapes.