Been lots of talk about states seceding lately. Mostly I assume that this is just a bunch of people blowing off steam, though the sentiment is understandable. I take no real position on it other than it would be unfortunate if it came to pass. My point in bringing it up is the question of legality of secession.
On the one hand, I’ve heard/read a lot of people over the years claim that secession is illegal, that “we fought a war over that.” But… we didn’t. The Confederate Slave States of America had seceded successfully. They’d gotten away with it. Home free. Until… South Carolina attacked Fort Sumer and started the War of Southern Aggression, and they got their butts handed to ’em. The war was not because states seceded from the US; it was because they seceded and then waged war on the US.
So, where is secession declared illegal? That it is not explicitly called out as a right of the states does not make it illegal; to be illegal, something has to be clearly defined as such in the law. And while the Declaration of Independence does not have the force of law that the Constitution has, what it says on the subject is pretty clear:
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
In short: it would seem that secession is not something to be taken lightly, but neither is it something that cannot ever be allowed. So where does the “secession is illegal” idea come from?
In any event, the numbers of signers to the petitions is, really trivially small. One hundred thousand Texans had signed? Yeah, well, the population of Texas is about 25.6 *million.*
Still: having grown up there, I’d love to see Illinois secede from Cook County. Indiana could secede from Lake County. The Chicago and Gary could form a unified corruptocracy, but would not be able to enforce their whackjob laws and regulations on the rest of the states. Everybody’s happy!