Civil War Unconstitutional?

During the Mexican-American War, the New England states almost left the Union.

They even went as far as having a "conference" of of dis-satisified states.

At that time, the Yankees stated that the constitution did not prevent them from seceding.

Personally, I'm glad that Lincoln took the stance that he did.

The southern states certainly had the constitutional right to succede from the union, and then, afterwards, form the Confederate States of America. The authors of the constitution no doubt desired that a succession or a rebellion would occur if and when the Union became an instrument of tryanny (a subjective label, to be decided by the would-be rebels). In the wording of the constitution this was both legally permitted, and recomended. However, this is not to say that any such Union government, faced with rebellion was to surrender the nation. Because it would be impossible to foretell the validity of any rebellion (valid meaning; a revolt against tyranny, rather than a revolt designed to intall it) in the future, or even definitively by contemporaries of the event, the government must resist all such agitation. Thus, in terms of the constitution, the C.S.A had a right to exist, and Lincoln the right to eliminate it. Of course, it's highly debatable as to which side's philospohy was correct, but that is ouside the scope of the constitution in my opinion.

Edited by Herodotus