That as the admission of States by Congress under the constitution was an act of legislation, and in the nature of a contract or compact between the States admitted and the others admitting, why should not this contract or compact be regarded as of like character with all other civil contracts liable to be rescinded by mutual agreement of both parties? The seceding States have rescinded it on their part, they have resumed their sovereignty. Why cannot the whole question be settled, if the north desire peace, simply by the Congress, in both branches, with the concurrence of the President, giving their consent to the separation, and a recognition of our independence?
Missed all the previous paragraphs mentioning slavery I take it.
“That as the admission of States by Congress under the constitution was an act of legislation, and in the nature of a contract or compact between the States admitted and the others admitting, why should not this contract or compact be regarded as of like character with all other civil contracts liable to be rescinded by mutual agreement of both parties?”
Some States such as Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia were founding members of the United States of America via the acts of the Continental Congress, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation of the United States of America, and the acts of the Congress before the Constitution of the United States of America came into existence. These States agreed to be bound by Article XIII of the Articles of Confederation of the United States of America which stated:
Article XIII. Every State shall abide by the determination of the united States in congress assembled, on all questions which by this confederation are submitted to them. And the Articles of this confederation shall be inviolably observed by every State, and the union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them; unless such alteration be agreed to in a congress of the united States, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every State.
Nothing in the Articles of Confederation of the United States of America or in the Constitution of the United States of America has repealed the obligation of the founding States nor the States subsequently admitted to the union to “abide by the determination...the union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them; unless such alteration be agreed to in a congress of the united States, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every State.”
The States entered into “a contract or compact between the States” which explicitly provided that “Every State shall abide by the determination of the united States in congress assembled, on all questions which by this confederation are submitted to them...shall be inviolably observed by every State, and the union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them; unless such alteration be agreed to in a congress of the united States, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every State.” The Constitution of the United States of America also added in the Preamble, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union...do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” A variety of articles of the Constitution of the United States of America also denied member States the Power to secede from the perpetual union unless “agreed to in a congress of the united States.” In particular:
Article. VI.
All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.
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; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
“The seceding States have rescinded it on their part, they have resumed their sovereignty.”
The “seceding States” did not have the Power to “rescind” their accessions to the perpetual union of the United States of America “unless such alteration be agreed to in a congress of the united States, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every State.”
“Why cannot the whole question be settled, if the north desire peace, simply by the Congress, in both branches, with the concurrence of the President, giving their consent to the separation, and a recognition of our independence?”
Because the purported secessions of the States constituted unconstitutional usurpations of the Articles of Confederation of the United States of America, the Constitution of the United States of America, and the constitutions of the several States of the United States of America, including in particular the Constitution of the United States of America, Article IV:
Section. 3.
New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.
The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.
Section. 4.
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic Violence.
Rather than seek and secure the constitutional and lawful consent of the Congress and each of the States for a secession of each State, the States in rebellion engaged in an illegal and immoral armed rebellion and attempted assassination of the president Elect before he could be inaugurated as President of the United States of America.
And had the Southern states tried it that way then a whole lot of bloodshed could have been avoided. Instead of by mutual agreement the Southern states instead chose to walk out without negotiation, repudiating responsibility for obligations like debt and treaty built up by the nation when they were a part, and grabbing every piece of federal property they could get their hands on.