Unlike the British Empire in 1776, the right of secession was recognized as a constitutional right in the United States after 1789. The charges of "treason and sedition" against the Confederate Battle Flag -- 1861 to 1865 -- are, therefore, false. The right of secession from the second republic established by the U.S. Constitution was explicitly asserted as a reserved right of the States by Virginia, New York, and Rhode Island in their respective ratifications of that document. The other States acknowledged secession as a constitutional right when they accepted without any qualifications the ratifications of Virginia, New York, and Rhode Island. The constitutional right of a State to secede from the Union was taught at the United States Military Academy at West Point. The books used were Views of the Constitution by William Rawle, an abolitionist, and a friend of Franklin and Washington, which expressly affirmed a State's right to secede and Commentaries on American Law by James Kent, which implicitly acknowledged the reserved rights of the States. Historically, the most zealous proponent of secession was Massachusetts. Massachusetts, and other New England States, threatened to secede from the United States in 1787, 1796, 1800, 1803, 1811, 1814, and 1845. Under Abraham Lincoln, it was "the Stars and Stripes", not the Confederate Battle Flag, that became the symbol of sedition in 1861. Lincoln overthrew the second republic of the United States established by the U.S. Constitution when he launched his war against the South. As the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the "Prize Cases, December 1862: "[Congress] cannot declare war against a State or any number of States by virtue of any clause in the Constitution... [The President] has no power to initiate or declare war against a foreign nation or a domestic State
Several of these States have combined to form a new Confederacy, claiming to be acknowledged by the world as a Sovereign State
Their right to do so is now being decided by wager of Battle."
There was no legal right under British law for a colony to secede from the British Empire. The actions of the American Revolutionaries -- from the Boston Tea Party, to publishing pamphlets calling for independence, to convening the Continental Congress, to taking up arms at Lexington and Concord -- were treasonous and seditious.
The CSA did in fact legally secede from the Union. The problem was that the North refused to recognize it due to the fact that they were going to lose all that revenue from those high tariffs they had been collecting.
Not it was not. The Supreme Court ruled so in 1869.
Legal Secession Conventions were conducted in accordance with the Constitution.
The Constitution is silent on the method of secession, so stating that secession conventions were conducted in accordance with the Constitution would be incorrect.
Several of these States have combined to form a new Confederacy, claiming to be acknowledged by the world as a Sovereign State Their right to do so is now being decided by wager of Battle."
Please continue with the quote. The Court went on to say:
"The ports and territory of each of these States are held in hostility to the General Government. It is no loose, unorganized insurrection, having no defined boundary or possession. It has a boundary marked by lines of bayonets, and which can be crossed only by forcesouth of this line is enemies territory, because it is claimed and held in possession by an organized, hostile and belligerent power.
All persons residing within this territory whose property may be used to increase the revenues ofthe hostile power are, in this contest, liable to be treated as enemies, though not foreigners. They have cast off their allegiance and made war on their Government, and are nonetheless enemies because they are traitors."
The Court is recognizing the southern acts for what they were, a rebellion of the states against their government.
The CSA did in fact legally secede from the Union. The problem was that the North refused to recognize it due to the fact that they were going to lose all that revenue from those high tariffs they had been collecting.
Losing the small percentage of the tariff generated by the southern states would have hurt, but not significantly. That was hardly a reason for war.
The Father of the Constitution, James Madison of Virginia, said that both you and Joseph E. Fallon are both dead wrong.