You really are having trouble with this, aren't you? The States are sovereign, except in those specific and limited areas in which they delegate a portion of their sovereignty to the central government (e.g. the power to declare war, coin money, etc.).
Then secession is forbidden out of your own mouth.
Walt
Walt, how do you figure? The question is, what power did the people of the several States delegate to the Federal government to coerce a State back into the Union? A way to test your hypothesis is by looking at the actions of the Federal government after the inauguration of the new Federal government under the new Constitution in 1789. What actions did the Federal government take to force NC and RI into the new Union? Or did the Founding Fathers consider them to be out of the Union until they ratified?
Respectfully,
D J White