[Raven6]

They formed a confederacy after they had voted to leave the union, thus they were no longer subject to Article 1, Section 10, Clause 1... That is how. I know this may be hard for you to fathom, but there truly was a time when states did indeed consider, and rightfully so based upon the way the Constitution was written, themselves sovereign and in possession of the right to remove themselves from the union. The problem we have today is that people tend to want to view actions in history from today's perspective.

Many folks could benefit from reading War for What? by Francis W. Springer. It provides correct historical perspective.

[moonshot925]

No state had the right to secede from the union.

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Roger B. Taney

“The South contends that a state has a constitutional right to secede from the Union formed with her sister states. In this I submit the South errs. No power or right is constitutional but what can be exercised in a form or mode provided in the constitution for its exercise. Secession is therefore not constitutional, but revolutionary; and is only morally competent, like war, upon failure of justice.”

In other words, there is no way for the concept of unilateral secession to be exercised under the US Constitution, for no mode or form of such is provided in that document. Chief Justice Taney wrote the above in a memorandum, 26 January through 1 February 1861.