“To the people alone is thus reserved as well the dissolving as the constituent power. With these qualifications we may admit the same rights vested in the people of every state in the Union with reference to the general government.”
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De Tocqueville, in his work entitled “Democracy in America,” says:
“The Union was formed by the voluntary agreement of the States, and in uniting together they have not forfeited their nationality, nor have they been reduced to the condition of one and the same people. If one of the States chose to withdraw its name from the contract, it would be difficult to disapprove its right of doing so.”
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Another eminent foreign author, Thos. Colley Grattan, in a work entitled “Civilized America,” says:
“Any State may at any time constitutionally withdraw from the Union, and thus virtually dissolve it. It was not certainly created with the idea that the States, or several of them, would desire
a separation. But whenever they choose to do it they have no obstacle in the way."
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In the convention of Virginia, called to ratify or reject the Federal Constitution, Madison, Lee and Innis, in defending the Constitution from the powerful assaults of Patrick Henry, contended
that, in ratifying the Constitution, theStates would not absolutely surrender any power whatever—that to delegate powers was not to surrender them, and that they would have a right to renounce
them whenever, in their opinion, the federal oovernment should become destructive of the ends for which it was established.
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Thos. Jefferson:
“States,” said Jefferson, “can wholly withdraw their delegated powers.” “If they (the States west of the Allegany) declare themselves a separate people, we are incapable of a single effort to
retain them. OUR CITIZENS CAN NEVER LIE INDUCED, EITHER AS MILITIA OR AS SOLDIERS, TO GO THERE TO CUT THE THROATS OF THEIR OWN BROThERS AND SONS, or to be themselves the subjects, instead of the
perpetrators of the parricide. Nor would that country quit the cost of being retained against the will of its inhabitants, could it be done. BUT IT CANNOT BE DONE.”
This doctrine of the possible right of a State to resume its delegated powers was distinctly announced in the Kentucky resolutions of 1798, which were drawn by Mr. Jefferson, and in Madison’s resolutions passed by the legislature of Virginia the same year.
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In 1821 the following resolution was passed by the legislature of Ohio almost without opposition, only seven votes being recorded against it:
“Resolved, That in respect to the powers of the governments of the several States that compose the American Union, and the powers of the federal government, this general assembly do
recognize and approve the doctl-ines asserted by the legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky in their resolutions of November and December, 1798, and January, 1800, and do consider that
their principles have been recognized and adopted by a majority of the American people.”
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The right of secession was so strong that New England WOULD eventually secede that John Adams refused a local reverand a subscription to build a college in Tennessee, being it would soon be a foriegn country to New England. He saw "no possiblility of continuing the Union of the States; their dissolution must necessarily take place; and he therefore saw no propriety in recommending to New
England men to promote an institution in the South.” A similar statement was made by Hamilton when the question of the adoption of the Constitution was before the people of the State of New York. Said he: “This (the dissolution of the Union) after all seems to be the most likely result.” New England, especially Massachusetts, has always held that it was her right to withdraw whenever she pleased. Massachusetts distinctly asserted this right.
1811
When the question of the purchase of Louisiana was before Congress in 1811, Mr. Josiah Quincy, of Massachusetts, said- and placed in the record of the U.S. House of Representatives (twice):
“If this bill passes. it is my doliberate opinion that it is virtually a dissolution of the Union; that it will free the States from their moral obligation; and as it will be the right of all, so it will be the duty of some to prepare for separation, amicably if they can, violently if they must.”
A committee of the legislature of Massachusetts reported a resolution to the same effect. This same doctrine of the right of secession was reaffirmed by the New England States in 1812, and
the famous Hartford Convention was called for the purpose of effecting that object.
1844
Massachusetts again asserted the right of secession on the admission of Texas in 1843, when Charles Francis Adams introduced to the legislature a secession and disunion the following resolutions, which passed, and which have not been rescinded to this day:
“Resolved, That the annexation of Texas is, ipso facto, a dissolution of the Union."
“Resolved, That Texas being annexed Massachusetts is out of the Union.”
January 16, 1857
A disunion convention assembled at Worcester, Massachusetts, at which the following resolutions were passed:
“Resolved, That the meeting of a State disunion convention, attended by men of various parties and affinities, gives occasion for a new statement of principles and a new platform of action."
“Resolved, That this movement does not seek merely disunion, but the more perfect union of the free States by the expulsion of the slave States from the confederation, in which they have been
an element of discord, danger and disgrace."
“Resolved, That henceforward, instead of regarding it as an objection to any system of policy, that it will lead to the separation of the States, we will proclaim that to be the highest of all
recommendations, and the grateful proof of statesmanship, and will support, pollitically or otherwise, such men and measures as appear to tend most to this result."
“Resolved, That the sooner the separation takes place the more peaceful it will be; but that peace or war is a secondary consideration in view of our present perils. Slavery must be conquered, ‘peaceably if we cane forcibly if we must.’”
In October of 1857 another Disunion Convention was held in Cleveland, Ohio.
In 1828 a Disunion Caucus was held in Charleston, South Carolina
In 1850 a Disunion convention was held in Nashville, Tennessee
In May of 1843 at the 11th annual meeting of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society a resolution was adopted calling for the Union to be annulled.
In May 1844 in New York City an Anti-Slavery Meeting called for the dissolution of the Union and the repeal of the U. S. Constitution. Proposed by William Lloyd Garrison and won by a vote of 3 to 1.
On August 22, of 1844 Federick Douglas spoke in favor of Disunion.
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David Upton