Walt you make this so tedious with your misleading selective memory about what the Constitution says. The Constitution says:
"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government..."
So while in the Union, they're guaranteed a republican form of government. There's no implication whatsoever in that text, that the States have to stay in the Union. In fact, the words "in this Union" imply that there may be other states, like Rhode Island did for 2 years, who may wish to remain out of the Union. Again, the Union that Washington wanted was voluntary. The union that Lincoln wanted was involuntary.
In fact, Licoln violated that very clause in Article IV when he clapped Maryland's legislature in irons. I wouldn't call that guaranteeing them a republican form of Government, but you might. Had he declared war on Maryland too? Perhaps you think a Republican form of Government can exist, minus the privilege of writ of Habeas Corpus?
This is just another example, like your statement about how Article VI makes the federal govt. "supreme", of how you mentally tailor the Constitution to suit your reconstructed view of history.
So while in the Union, they're guaranteed a republican form of government.
That is not what is says.
Walt
When Lincoln suspended habeas corpus in 1861 it was limited to the Maryland area. He was faced with a rebellion, the safety of transportation of troops and supplies through Baltimore was in jeopardy, and Washington, D.C. was in danger of being cut off. He acted as he saw fit and, as Chief Justice William Rehnquist has reminded us, the Constitutionality or unconstitutionality of his actions have never been decided.
Fast forward a year to the south when Jefferson Davis forced a suspension of habeas corpus through the confederate congress. What was Davis afraid of? Why did he need to take this most basic right away from the southern people? His legislation was used to by local military commanders to declare martial law in southern cities miles away from the fighting. What about these abuses? If you believe that Lincoln was wrong then surely you agree that Davis was just as wrong as well, don't you?