Good counsel.
From my reading, it appears the Declaration of Independence was a unilateral action by the colonies and was not based on the mutual consent of Britain. Or the votes of Spain, or Portugal, or Canada, or anyone else in the international community.
It appears the D of I was an action, based on findings, of the people who signed the document: Samuel Huntington, Roger Sherman, William Williams and Oliver Wolcott from Connecticut; Thomas McKean, George Read, and Caesar Rodney of Delaware; Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall and George Walton of Georgia; and so forth and so on.
The Document was styled “Declaration” of Independence - not “Petition” of Independence.
My understanding, from reading the D of I, is “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
Further, “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as TO THEM (emphasis added) shall seem most likely . . .”
Of course, not everyone agrees with these words. The King of England, for one.
And then there was Abraham Lincoln. Under the Lincoln “consent of the governed” theory the consent of the federal government was needed before people could exercise the right to alter or abolish.
I'm not arguing people in California should leave the union now. There is a better course of action: people in California should repent, change their ways, and act like they have some sense.
But if the people of California decide to issue a D of I (they will not), it would be their decision and would not require the consent of a King.
That’s correct. The Dof I is a unilateral decision, but not without clear justification and notice given to “a candid world”.
The Colonists didn't secede from British rule - they openly rebelled. And as a last resort and only after exhausting every other remedy.
The southern slavers chose violent insurrection as their first recourse.
they chose poorly.