Well, which founders?
I KNOW what you are thinking.
But I'm sorry; John C. Calhoun is not a founder.
But James Wilson was a signer of the D of I and a delegate to the Constitutional Convention:
"As to the purposes of the Union, therefore, Georgia is not a sovereign state...
in almost every nation, which has been denominated free, the state has assumed a supercilious preeminence above the people who have formed it: Hence, the haughty notions of state independence, state sovereignty and state supremacy...Who were these people? They were the citizens of thirteen states, each of which had a separate constitution and government, and all of which were connected by articles of confederation. To the purposes of public strength and felicity the confederacy was totally inadequate. A requistion on the several states terminated its legislative authority; executive or judicial authority, it had none. In order, therefore, to form a more perfect union, to establish justice, to insure domestic tranquility, to provide for common defense and to secure the blessings of liberty, those people, among whom were the people of Georgia, ordained and established the present constitution. By that constitution, legislative power is vested, executive power is vested, judicial power is vested...
We may then infer, that the people of the United States intended to bind the several states, by the legislative power of the national government...Whoever considers, in a combined and comprehensive view, the general texture of the constitution, will be satisfied that the people of the United States intended to form themselves into a nation for national purposes. They instituted, for such purposes, a national government complete in all its parts, with powers legislative, executive and judiiciary, ad in all those powers extending over the whole nation."
--James Wilson, 1793
Which founders?
Walt
I am still waiting for some quotes from all those books on his website.
Walt
Yopu seem unable to provide any support from the record.
I can, and I have. I'll add a few comment to help you out.
"[T]he several states composing the United States of America [did you catch that Walt - the states form the Union, not the other way around] are not united on the principle of unlimited submission [do you have a clue as to what Jefferson meant?] to their general government; but that, by compact [an agreement, like the AoC], under the style and title of the Constitution of the United States, and of certain amendments thereto [can't forget those amendments], they constituted a general government for general purposes [only that which involves all states, not an individual state], delegated to that government certain powers [the states formed the Union, and only gave it certain powers], reserving [meaning they keep what they didn't give the national government], each state to itself [notice that the states are still sovereign, separate entities], the residuary mass of right to their own self-government [reiteration of their sovereignity]; and that whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers [those that the states did not give up, those that are not enumerated in the Constitution], its acts are unauthoritative, void and of no effect.[if the federal government - any branch - employs a power not delegated, the states (and people) can ignore it, it's illegal]"
Thomas Jefferson, Kentucy Resolution of 1798
Jefferson also opined in his 1801 inaugural address,
"If there be any among us [any state] who wish to dissolve the Union [notice that means Jefferson didn't think it was permanent] or to change its republican form [again, notice the lack of permanence], let them stand undisturbed [don't send in the military to force them to stay], as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion [the states would have their differences] may be tolerated [the federal government may not like it, but the states are free to go] where reason is left free to combat it [and at a later time the differences may be resolved peacefully]."
I'll also add these by Madison,
"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few [limited] and defined [enumerated or listed]. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous [many] and indefinite [those not listed]. "
James Madison, Federalist No. 45"[T]hose who endeavor to lull asleep our apprehensions of discord and hostility between the States, in the event of disunion ... [recognition that it can happen]
James Madison, Federalist No. 6"This ... places in a strong light the disadvantages with which the collection of duties in this country would be encumbered, if by disunion [recognition that it can happen] the States should be placed in a situation ..."
James Madison, Federalist No. 12"If we attend carefully to geographical and commercial considerations, in conjunction with the habits and prejudices of the different States, we shall be led to conclude that in case of disunion [recognition that it can happen] they will most naturally league themselves under two governments."
James Madison, Federalist No. 13"ASSUMING it therefore as an established truth that the several States, in case of disunion [anybody see a pattern here] ... "
James Madison, Federalist No. 8"In a review of these transactions we may trace some of the causes which would be likely to embroil the States with each other, if it should be their unpropitious destiny to become disunited [nope, no pattern here]."
James Madison, Federalist No. 7
But James Wilson was a signer of the D of I and a delegate to the Constitutional Convention:
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it...it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
Declaration of Independence, 1776, signed by:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
John Hancock
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
Matthew Thornton
I can't find a single founder that thought secession was legal or justified - I found 56 on one document.
The historical record in no way supports it.
I think you are wrong