You must not have been following - According to Madison, Virginia has the right to secede, when the rights of its citizens are denied/infringed.
- Virginia does not have the right to petition the FedGov to secede, but the right to secede.
BJ has backed away from Madison’s doctrine.
"The honorable gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. GERRY) asks if the sovereignty is not with the people at large; does he infer that the people can in detached bodies contravene an act established by the whole people? My idea of the sovereignty of the people is, that the people can change the Constitution if they please, but while the Constitution exists, they must conform themselves to its dictates. But I do not believe that the inhabitants of any district can speak the voice of the people: so far from it, their ideas may contradict the sense of the whole people."