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Here are some speeches by President James Buchanan ... Lincoln's predecessor!

Here's another:

"In his final message to Congress, on December 3, 1860, James Buchanan surprised some of his southern allies with a firm denial of the right of secession. The Union was not "a mere voluntary association of states, to be dissolved at pleasure by any one of the contracting parties," said Buchanan. "We the People" had adopted the Constitution to form "a more perfect Union" than the one existing under the Articles of Confederation, which had stated that "the Union shall be perpetual." The framers of the National Government "never intended to implant in its bosom the seeds of its own destruction, nor were they guilty of the absurdity of providing for its own dissolution." State Sovereignty was NOT superior to national sovereignty, Buchanan insisted. The Constitution bestowed the highest attributes of sovereignty exclusively on the federal government: national defense; foreign policy; regulation of foreign and interstate commerece; coinage of money. "This Constitution," stated the document, and the laws of the United States...shall be the supreme law of the land...anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding."

--"Battle Cry of Freedom, p. 246, by James McPherson

Walt

You always conveniently overlook the fact that the States, when they ratified the Constitution did so as 13 Sovereign and Independent States, and never gave up their sovereignty after ratification. In fact the State ratification Conventions for New England, Rhode Island, Virginia and every other one of the 13 States reserved the right to resume power whenever it was perverted to their oppression.

Walt, your argument holds no merit nor right! You must remember that the Founders ideals are precedent! And unless all the States voted to give up their sovereignty (which they never did when ratifiying, nor did they afterward) Congress had, and the President had no legal authority to forcibly compel a State to stay in the Union! What Lincoln did was in direct opposition to the ideals of the Founders! When the Articles of Confederation were repealed, the phrase "Perpetual Union" was null and void. You seem to be of the belief that all political power emanates from Washington. NO! The People are the supreme authority, and as such they had the right to make or unmake any Constitution. Your views have the Founders spinning in their graves!