Yes, there would be a lot of hand-wring because of loss of federal dollars, but I don’t think the colonies were at any less risk. Why did the new country thrive? Freedom, and specifically, the free market economy which is freedom is action (remarkably, Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” was published in 1776). If tiny little resource-poor Hong Kong could become a financial powerhouse, any state could do it, even if no ocean harbors.
Is state nullification constitutional?
Well, below is part of an argument for it’s constitutionality and below that is a link with further discussion about how state nullification of unconstitutional federal acts was contemplated at the time of our founding.
The Supremacy Clause: “This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land...” (Art VI Clause 2 (partial)).
Any federal law NOT made in pursuance of the Constitution is NOT the law of the land. The Supremacy Clause does not validate nor ratify unconstitutional federal acts.
The Ninth and Tenth Amendments confirm the underlying presumption of the Constitution as also expressed in the Declaration of Independence: power and right begins and resides in the states and the people. All federal power is enumerated and delegated by the states and the people via the Constitution. If the Constitution has not delegated an enumerated power to the feds or prohibited the power from the states, that power remains in the states and the people.
State nullification of unconstitutional federal acts is not forbidden by the Supremacy Clause and is supported by the Constitutional presumption of state and individual power as confirmed by the Ninth and Tenth Amendments.
The Constitution as written and originally intended and understood, is the centerpiece of the rule of law in the U.S. and the standard by which federal acts are deemed valid or invalid. Many think personal moral or political viewpoint is a valid basis for federal power. But there is only one basis of federal power: the Constitution as written and interpreted based on a good faith effort to find the understanding of original intent. ALSO, state nullification of federal law based on anything OTHER than the Constitution violates the Supremacy Clause and is invalid.
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/dunkin/150302