Originally posted by Matt Black:
Did the individual states have the right to secede before the Civil War, on what basis under the Constitution, and which Amendment stripped them of that right ie: could Florida in theory secede today?
What can of worms did you wish to open???
There are many different views of whether the South's secession in 1860 and 1861 was legal or not. Yet, in the Constitution, admission to the Union via statehood is spelled out, but no mode of departure/secession is addressed. The Constitution does say that each state is free and independent and retains its sovereignty. The states that did Secede used this to infer that there was a ecession right.
In 1828, Congress imposed a series of tariffs on the import trade (because the South's economy depended mostly on farming and trade with Europe, these tariffs were veiwed as unfair, causing more money to leave the South than to be brought in because their imports cost more than their exports). Known as the Tariff of Abominations, the South spent $331 million on imports while the North spent $31 million, due to the fact that the South did more trade with Europeans than the North. Since the tariffs could not be abolished, Southern states passed Nullification Laws, and threatened secession to protect their economy. Northerners argued that secession was neither permitted constitutionally, nor was it a proper way to deal with unfair tariffs. The North believed that the Nullification Acts were unfair to the North. Attempts by Congress to provide solutions failed.
The tariff issue was by no means new. In 1832, a state convention in South Carolina declared a high protective tariff null and void. President Andrew Jackson threatened to send federal troops into Charleston to ensure enforcement of the tariff; but a compromise tariff was worked out before force was actually used. The next time the issue came to a head, the South threatned secession from the Union. In response to many culminating events, but particularly the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency, South Carolina started the ball rolling for secession.
By the early 1800s, the North and South had very different beliefs, life styles, and economies. Northerners worked mainly in factories, manufacturing goods such as tools and clothing to sell to other parts of the country and lived in crowded cities. Most Northerners opposed slavery and believed it to be wrong although many were also strongly racist. In the South, most of the white population lived on plantations and farms of varying sizes, growing tobacco, cotton, and cash crops that they sold mainly to Europe. Southerners supported slavery and the theory of states' rights. All of these differences created a rift that divided the country and grew as time went on.
Many Southerners favored the idea of secession and supported it with the theory of states' rights which says that each state is independent and has the power to decide whether Congress passes laws that are unconstitutional. The supporters of states' rights held that the national government was a league of independent states, any of which had the right to secede.
In the Constitution the Bill of Rights prevents the government from taking a citizen's property from them. Since slaves were viewed as the property of the slave holder, and since northern states refused to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act, thus denying the South of their property, southerners used this part of the Constitution to defend their secession.
Northern states referred to Article 1, Section 10 of the Constitution that reads "No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance or confederation... or coin money... No state shall lay any Imposts or duties on imports or exports... No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war unless invaded..." to point to actions of the South they deemed in violation.
After the War ended, several cases covering the topic were heard. Though it may have seemed moot to many, in 1869, the Supreme Court declared that secession was unconstitutional (Texas v White, 74 U.S. 700). Several other caes followed that confirmed the same.
