"Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most sacred right - a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world . . . Nor is this right confined to cases in which the whole people of an existing government may choose to exercise it. Any portion of such people that can, may revolutionize, and make their own, of so much territory as they inhabit. " Gosh, old Honest Abe is so eloquent it almost brings tears to my eyes.
Lincoln is talking about a revolutionary right.
There is no right to unilateral state secession under U.S. law. In the Prize Cases in 1862, the Supreme Court said that the actions of the "so-called confederate states" (to use their words) were rebellion and that the federal government was empowered to put down the rebellion. This was a -unanimous- decision.
Walt
>> "Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most sacred right - a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world . . . Nor is this right confined to cases in which the whole people of an existing government may choose to exercise it. Any portion of such people that can, may revolutionize, and make their own, of so much territory as they inhabit. " >> Gosh, old Honest Abe is so eloquent it almost brings tears to my eyes.
> Lincoln is talking about a revolutionary right.
> There is no right to unilateral state secession under U.S. law.
OK, I understand now. It's acceptable to gain your independence by outright war and bloodshed, but unacceptable to do it by the peaceful consent of the people.