Keith,

I agree that the term "Civil War" is a troubling and possibly inaccurate term for the rebellion that occurred against the federal government in this country between 1860-1865. I guess before we get off into the unending debate and myriad names favored by different individuals, maybe we need to get back to Doyle's original "Legality Question" or we will have effectively hijacked his thread (I plead guilty) before it even started.

Personally, I believe the Constitution did not address the right of secession, and up until the American Civil War, most people North and South believed states had the right to freely join or leave the Union. I think the reason for secession,not its legality and the man sitting as president, had more to do with the reason for war. I do not believe if the South had seceded in 1856, that a war would have necessarily resulted.

Jim