[donmeaker]

What constitutional restrictions have the states rights proponents ignored?

How about the right of black Americans to own guns. The right of black Americans to vote, to travel by common coach, to educate their children in league with others in their neighborhood. The right to compete in the job market for work that they are capable of performing.

Not to mention the right to not be lynched, and to marry by mutual agreement.

Enough for a start?

[rustbucket]

Northern states ignored the Constitution in refusing to return escaped slaves. Those who argued for states rights before the WBTS argued that Northern actions were unconstitutional and that the Constitution should be followed.

In many situations before the war, blacks were legally treated as property. It was legal at that point in time to restrict slaves from having guns, from voting, etc.

After the the war and the 13th and 14th Amendments blacks were given the same rights as whites, in theory at least. In practice, they were still denied rights for a long time.

Today, the 13th and 14th Amendments are accepted as parts of the Constitution. If they are part of the Constitution, they should be followed, Justice O'Connor not withstanding.

What you are probably objecting to are the actions of bigots who didn't follow the law. A lot of these bigots went to church too. Would you discard Christianity simply because some bigot believed it?

BTW, in your post above to 4CJ, the spelling is Sumter and the ship was Star of the West. The ship was loaded with troops to reinforce Fort Sumter in violation of an agreement between Buchanan and South Carolinians.