I’ve seen that quote cited several times, yet have never been able to find where it originally came from. I find it highly unlikely that the man who said this; “Constitution, in all its provisions, looks to an indestructible Union composed of indestructible States.” as the Chief Justice of the supreme court would have stated secession was not rebellion.
I have found that Chase did not want Davis brought to trial, but not for the reason the quote states. He believed that the 14th Amendment already punished Davis, and the other rebel leaders, by stripping them of their voting rights. So it would be double jeopardy to also convict him in court.
Case of Davis, 7 F. Cas. 63, 102 (C.C.D. Va. 1867)
Nevertheless, the fact still stands that the southern rebels were pardoned for committing treason by Andrew Jackson. And that Davis was pardoned by President Carter in 1978. So they might never have been convicted of treason, but they did commit it and were pardoned for it.
I provided two sources for the quote. The fact remains that the states are sovereign. That they never delegated the power to the federal government to prevent each state from unilaterally seceding, and that the 10th amendment makes clear that any powers not delegated to the federal government by the states remains with the states.
In addition to that, 3 states passed express provisos openly stating at the time of ratification of the constitution, that they retained the power of unilateral secession. Included in that were the two biggest and most powerful states which happened to be the leaders of the two sections of the then 13 states. Every state understood itself to have that right.
There is no provision in the constitution which allows the federal government to prevent it. Secession is not treason. The union is voluntary and is based on consent.