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Does California or any other state have the right to secede? Is the Calexit movement even legal? The Constitution is largely silent on the question. As it turns out, the issue of the right of secession is at worst, a head scratcher and at best, a pro

To Secede or Not to Secede



To Secede or Not to Secede With California state government seemingly going its own way and with much division in the country, even in California where cities are beginning to push back against an extreme left tide, the subject of secession has re-awakened from its long sleep. California's governor and much of the Left apparently have decided that they want all the benefits of being part of the United States, but without the responsibility or adherence to the law of the land. With that we are reminded that the first cause of the American Civil War was the South's (Democrats) refusal to accept the outcome of a presidential election...the election of Abraham Lincoln. It was essentially a war between Republicans and Democrats. And so it revives.
As a little background, much history is analysed in light of the era in which it is written. During the Great Depression of the thirties, historians looked hard at economic concerns. Charles Dickens wrote in 1862, possibly in response to the panic of 1857, "The Northern onslaught against slavery was no more than a piece of specious humbug designed to conceal its desire for economic control of the Southern states." In 1857 - 1858, more than 5,000 banks failed, mostly in the North. The South was shielded by the stability of the cotton market. When Lincoln was asked why he didn't just let the South go in peace, his response was, "I can't let them go, who will pay for the government?" Early in our history, the South primarily produced cotton, rice, sugar, and tobacco. The North and European countries purchased these raw materials and turned them into manufactured goods. By 1828, foreign manufactured goods faced high import taxes. Foreign raw materials were exempt. As a result, the manufactured goods industries of the North benefited twice, once as producers of manufactured goods and as importers of raw materials. The South was left to struggle against foreign competition and either purchase manufactured goods from the north, paying steep transportation costs or purchasing from overseas paying import tariffs. With much of the tariff income collected in the South and then used to pay for Northern infrastructure like railroads and canals, the South felt exploited. They don't teach this anymore. From the fifties and sixties and still to the present day, most historians examine more closely the slavery and race issues. Who was right? Probably both. I can't imagine over 400,000 Union soldiers giving up their lives so the federal government can be flush with cash. Many liberal historians make the mistake of judging countries, the United States in particular, by their slave trade instead of by their abolishment of it. Since the last presidential election in 2016, we begin to see clearly the result of a stubborn rejection of a legitimately elected chief executive...the defiance of and renunciation of our system of government.

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Contrary to what many people might think, at least for the first eighteen months of the war, the preservation of the Union was the primary objective...a war for and against the principle of secession. In any case, the Great Civil War did happen. The loss of over 750,000* men, a bloody reality. This April 9th will be the 153rd anniversary of the end of the American Civil War. It will be fascinating to discuss what most historians avoid. Did the South, in light of their grievances, have the right to secede? The South said they had the right, the North said they did not. Most history books do not discuss the issue. It remains largely unspoken. Even David Barton, contemporary historian, when I asked him a relatively short time ago about the subject, had scant information to offer. The purpose of this article is not to take sides in the conflict, but to expose some little known history. James Buchanan, Lincoln's predecessor, allowed seven states to leave in peace. Not to say President Buchanan believed they possessed a right to do so, but he also believed that the federal government did not have the right to coerce a state from seceding. Famous French historian and America observer, Alexis de Tocqueville, visited America in 1831- 1832, known for his best work, Democracy in America wrote:
"The Union "was formed by the voluntary agreement of the states; and these, in uniting together, have not forfeited their nationality, nor have they been reduced to the condition of one and the same people. If one of the states chose to withdraw its name from the contract, it would be difficult to disprove its right to do so."

John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States, said on the 50th anniversary of the Constitution:
"The indissoluble link of union between the people of the several states of this confederated nation [bring together in an alliance] is, after, all, not in the right but in the heart. If the day should come (may heaven avert it) when the affections of the people of these states shall be alienated from each other; when the fraternal split shall give way to cold indifference, or collusion of interests shall fester into hatred, the bands of political associations will not long hold together parties no longer attracted by magnetism of conciliated interests and kindly sympathies; and far better will it be for the people of the disunited states to part in friendship from each other, than to be held in constraint."
Another President wrote:
"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 valuable, 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."-- Abraham Lincoln, 1848
The most interesting case for right of secession involves the states of Virginia, New York and Rhode Island. These states included a clause in their ratifications of the Constitution permitting them to withdraw from the Union if the new government should become oppressive. It was on this basis that they agreed to ratify. Virginia cited this provision when seceding in 1861.


Since the Constitution is based on the principle of co-equality, that is, no state has a right other states are denied, the right of secession, if it exists, must extend to all states. It is interesting to note that William Lloyd Garrison, probably the most prominent abolitionist in America, wanted the North to secede from the Union. He felt that the North would continue to be morally tainted by the slavery of the South and that by leaving the Union, the North would be under no obligation to return runaway slaves. Garrison felt that the cost incurred by the South of returning runaway slaves would collapse the institution. Even Confederate General James Longstreet felt that the South should have ended slavery and then seceded...partly because Longstreet knew that Great Britain would never have recognized the Confederate States of America while slavery among the southern states was still in existence. In any case, It was widespread knowledge that this most "peculiar institution" was doomed. It is also interesting to note that the New England states threatened to secede several times in the early nineteenth century. William Rawle, a Philadelphia lawyer and proud Union man conceded that it would be perfectly legal for a state, under certain conditions, to leave the Union. His text was used to teach constitutional law at West Point between 1825 through 1840. It seems to have been, at least at the time, an understood accommodation. Does California or any other state have the right to secede? Is the Calexit movement even legal? The Constitution is largely silent on the question. As it turns out, the issue of the right of secession is at worst, a head scratcher and at best, a provable right. *A new study in 2012 by David Hacker of Binghamton University in New York has recalculated the death toll and increased it by more than 20% to 750,000. New York Times

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Ray DiLorenzo -- Bio and Archives

Ray DiLorenzo is a career pilot having retired after 22 years as a contract fire pilot with the California Department of Forestry (Cal-Fire).  He is presently affiliated with Stand Up America US Foundation founded by Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely (Ret).


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