[Repeal 16-17]

" Each State, in ratifying the Constitution, is considered as a sovereign body, independent of all others, and only to be bound by its own voluntary act. In this relation, then, the new Constitution will, if established, be a FEDERAL, and not a NATIONAL constitution."

James Madison Federalist No. 39, January 1788

That was before the Civil War and Reconstruction.

[DJ MacWoW]

And? It was written by the creator of the Constitution. I believe that his opinion oand vision trumps Lincoln’s.