Lincoln and Webster both based their fantastic notion that the union preceded the states on the DoI. They tried to hold the DoI up as superior to the US Constitution, just as the DF is doing today, and their purpose was to circumvent the Constitution. I can only conclude that circumventing the Constitution is still the aim of people who will use such a weird construct to support their agenda.
Shhh .... there's folks here that eveidently still believe it!