[Ditto]

Since there is no prohibition against secession anywhere in any article or any amendment, then secession is a reserved state power, and a right reserved to the people of the states.

Gee. I wonder why James Madison didn't see that? Maybe he was just another 'damnyankee'.

[Twodees]

Madison was aware of what the 10th amendment provided. The fact that he wrote letters in his dotage in which he claimed that what he intended to include in the Constitution was much more than the text contained is beside the point. The states ratified the Constitution as written. Madison's subsequent letters seem to have failed ratification.

You may read the 10th amendment's plain English and translate it into Martian if you like, but it still reads exactly as it did when it was ratified. The meaning hasn't changed any more than the meaning of the 2nd amendment has changed.