Ah but you see slavery was never specifically recognized by the Constitution. The words 'slave' or 'slavery' appear nowhere in it. Nowhere are there any expressed or implied permissions or restrictions on it so the powers to enact legislation affecting slavery were not powers reserved to the United States. The states could legislate against it or for it as they wished.
Ah but you see slavery was never specifically recognized by the Constitution. The words 'slave' or 'slavery' appear nowhere in it. Nowhere are there any expressed or implied permissions or restrictions on it so the powers to enact legislation affecting slavery were not powers reserved to the United States. The states could legislate against it or for it as they wished.Perhaps you are right. Now substitute the word "secession" for "slavery".
Northern states were not adhering to Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution ("No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due."). That is specifically mandated in the Constitution. How did they get around that?