[central_va]

Secession is not unconstitutional and therefore not treason.

[Retain Mike]

What follows is a passage from an essay I wrote titled “The Constitution and the Confederacy”. Secession before the Civil War was contemplated by at least New York and another state I cannot remember now. In the 20th century we had an example of peaceful dissolution when Czechoslovakia separated into two countries.

“The Constitution would not have been ratified if James Madison, who was unequaled in among delegates for scholarship of political organizations, had not with others supported positions that states retained sufficient sovereignty to secede as the last resort to a political impasse created by perceived usurpations or abuses of the federal government. This point was further emphasized by the fact the perpetual relationship language binding the colonies and colonists in the Articles of Confederation did not carry over into the Constitution.”

James Madison, Secession, & State Sovereignty

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.war.civil.usa/p5V_C8Hm8yw