[rockrr]

The ultimate authority of deciding if a state is to stay with or vacate the Union was not granted to the Union, thus it resided solely with the states.

Thank you for using the proper plural form. The only way to secede was to do so mutually - by the states. That wasn't how the cornfederates did it. They chose unilateral secession which wasn't recognized by anyone except themselves.

Lincoln honored his oath by putting down an insurrection.

[smoothsailing]

Mutuality and perpetual Union were peculiarities of The Articles of Confederation, which were replaced by the U.S. Constitution, so ignoring the 10th Amendment was a violation of Lincoln’s oath and an unlawful act. Lincoln was a lawyer, he knew that. It didn’t matter to him, he saw his loyalties as lying elsewhere.

Since further discussion will most certainly be circular, I will withdraw. It’s old history and hardly worth beating to death further.

I bid you a good day.