Does a State have the right to secede?
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08-29-2013, 08:47 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-29-2013 10:54 AM by wsanto.)
Post: #54
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RE: Does a State have the right to secede?
(08-28-2013 01:54 AM)Thomas Thorne Wrote: Madison's views on secession are fascinating given that he and his political tag team partner,Thomas Jefferson ,were respectively the secret authors of the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 which introduced "Interposition" and "Nullification" into the political world, words which laid the foundation for secession. Tom, thanks for the excellent post. I am a novice when it comes to understanding this history and all the posts in this thread have been very educational for me. It's clear that politics hasn't changed much--with politicians and activists supporting laws, doctrines, etc. when they suit their current purpose and then decrying them later when it is politically expedient. That being said, it seems rather clear to me what Madison thought of nullification and secession. He describes his position with regard to the 1798 Virginia Resolution in the letter previously posted. It seems he felt that the collective of the states in the Union held the power to check the Federal Government from abusing its authority in making laws that a particular state or states thought were unconstituional. He goes so far to say that it was a delibrate use of the plural (States) to dissuade the notion that any one state (and I presume a minority of states) held the power to act unilaterally against the central government and ,by extension, the other states. And he even sites an example of Jefferson taking the position that the central government has authority to use force when a State is delinquent in upholding their compact to the other states. It seems to me that, though Kentucky and Virginia (i.e Jefferson and Madison) authored and passed resolutions against the Alien and Sedition Act, these resolutions were more political theory and formal protests and they were never put into any force in those States. And the law was executed in their states under their protest but with no interposition or nullification. Please correct me if this is wrong. Thanks-- Bill C ((( | '€ :} |###] -- }: {/ ] |
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