[aruanan]

If that were really true, of course, the Civil War would never have been fought. "Virtually every" political leader in Washington would have let the secessionist states go their own ways. But of course they didn't do that. Instead, they prosecuted a long, bloody war to prevent it. So that part of Williams' case simply fails.

Your short paragraph above is loaded with irrelevant conclusions.

[r9etb]

Your short paragraph above is loaded with irrelevant conclusions.

How so?

Williams claims that "virtually every political leader of the time and earlier believed that states had a right of secession."

Against that, we have the plain fact that when events came to a head (in the only test case to date), these same political leaders acted against the secessionist states.

Actions speak louder than words.