Enter what? The Union?
As free and independent states, just as it says in the D of I. But, as Chief Jiustice Jay said in 1793, they nevertheless saw themselves as one people, and managed their affairs sccordingly.
I don't see anything that Jay said that conflicts with what President Lincoln said:
"The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further matured, and the faith of all the then thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of Confederation in 1778. And finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was "to form a more perfect Union."
Do you see anything that conmflicts with what Jay said and what President Lincoln said?
Walt