[4CJ]

The United States was already united, as shown by the use of "perpetual union" TWICE in the Articles of Confederation.

The Articles of Confederation & Perpetual Union use the term "perpetual" 5 times, the Constitution none. When 9 states (less than the 13 legally required by the Articles) ratified, a new government was formed that did NOT incorporate the Articles nor state that it was perpetual. The 5 other states were not united, existing separate from this new union; the states of North Carolina and Rhode Island & Providence Plantations wouldn't consider ratification until a bill of rights had been added.

[WhiskeyPapa]

The Articles of Confederation & Perpetual Union use the term "perpetual" 5 times, the Constitution none.

The Constitution is "the supreme law of the land."

And the government under the Constitution -is- perpetual. At least, that is what Robert E. Lee said:

"The framers of our Constitution never exhausted so much labor, wisdom and forebearance in its formation, and surrounded it with so many guards and securities, if it was to be broken by every member of the Confederacy at will. It was intended for 'perpetual union' so expressed in the preamble, and for the establishment of a government, not a compact, which can only be dissolved by revolution, or the consent of all the people in convention assembled. It is idle to talk of secession."

Robert E. Lee, January 23, 1861

Walt

[donmeaker]

The right of secession is not in the constitution. The right of rebellion or revolution remains, but is subject to a rigorous test: A successful rebellion or revolt must win. The rebels lost.

Even if there was a right of secession, I doubt the founders would have had their process include a traitor-Secretary of War shipping the accumulated arms of the republic to the rebels (oops, secessionists!) followed by theft from federal armories, followed by drafting the militia (regulated by congress) into the rebel army, followed by firing at unarmed federal ships.

Like a marriage, the terms would have been subject to negotiation and perhaps mediation until the south resorted to violence (theft of government property, and firing at federal forts). Once that illegal process began, it stopped being secession, and became a rebellion.