The comments in the article are really a reflection of the poor quality of our current education system. The author makes the mistake of trying to understand historical events through modern lenses, instead of understanding them through the lenses of the time.
The “right of succession” was a hotly debated topic right from the intial enactment of the Constitution all the way through the Civil War, and it was not split along north/south lines.
Several New England states came within a hair of succeeding over the War of 1812.
Andrew Jackson (a southener & president from 1829-1837) believed the union could never be broken, and was very vocal about it. The fact that the quote on Jackson’s statue in New Orleans is: “The union must and shall be preserved.” shows how ardent Jackson was on this issue.
President Buchanan (A Pensylvanian, and Lincoln’s predecesor) believed the federal government didn’t have the constitutional authority to use military force to prevent a state from leaving the union (another topic that had been hotly debated for decades prior to the Civil War.)
Succession may have been settled by the Civil War, but it was anything but settled prior to that. For decades prior to that honest, intelligent people from every part of the country fell on both sides of the issue.
For someone today to make a blanket comment that succession in 1860 was universally viewed as an illegal activity in 1860 is to show a stunning lack of understanding of American history. Lord help us if this is the quality of education our schools are providing today.
Nonsense. A few hotheads and newspaper editorialists grumbled about it, but at the Hartford Convention, where the New England states met to talk about their grievances, the idea never got off the ground. The final report of the convention never mentioned it. Still, the word that it had even been discussed caused southern papers to scream bloody murder. Here's what the Richmond Enquirer (Thomas Jefferson's favorite newspaper, by the way) said on the subject:
The Union is in danger. Turn to the convention in Hartford, and learn to tremble at the madness of its authors. How far will those madmen advance? Though they may conceal from you the project of disunion, though a few of them may have even concealed if from themselves, yet who will pretend to set the bounds to the rage of disaffection? Once false step after another may lead them to resistance to the laws, to a treasonable neutrality, to a war against the Government of the United States. In truth, the first act of resistance to the law is treason to the United States. Are you ready for this state of things? Will you support the men who would plunge you into this ruin?The scandal that secession had even been mentioned was used by the Democrats to accuse their opponents of treason, and was enough to destroy the Federalist Party. I guess their principled position on union was flexible when they had a grievance, though.No man, no association of men, no state or set of states has a right to withdraw itself from this Union, of its own accord. The same power which knit us together, can only unknit. The same formality, which forged the links of the Union, is necessary to dissolve it. The majority of States which form the Union must consent to the withdrawal of any one branch of it. Until that consent has been obtained, any attempt to dissolve the Union, or obstruct the efficacy of its constitutional laws, is Treason--Treason to all intents and purposes.
Any other doctrine, such as that which has been lately held forth by the ‘Federal Republican’ that any one State may withdraw itself from the Union, is abominable heresy – which strips its author of every possible pretension to the name or character of Federalist.
We call, therefore, upon the government of the Union to exert its energies, when the season shall demand it – and seize the first traitor who shall spring out of the hotbed of the convention of Harford. This illustrious Union, which has been cemented by the blood of our forefathers, the pride of America and the wonder of the world must not be tamely sacrificed to the heated brains or the aspiring hearts of a few malcontents. The Union must be saved, when any one shall dare to assail it.
Countrymen of the East! We call upon you to keep a vigilant eye upon those wretched men who would plunge us into civil war and irretrievable disgrace. Whatever be the temporary calamities which may assail us, let us swear, upon the altar of our country, to SAVE THE UNION.