Under the Compact, every state in the union is acknowledged as being sovereign. Bearing this fact in mind, there were no constrictions or affirmations with regards to states leaving the union since that would have been redundant vis-a-vis state sovereignty. In fact, an amendment was proposed in 1861 that would have required any state desiring to leave the union to have the approval of 3/4 of the states prior to seceding. As such, if secession was so obviously prohibited, no such amendment would have been necessary.
Lincoln was unwilling to address the matter of succession since it would mean conceding to the Southern states' the lawful basis for their desire to leave. As such, he was always diligent to refer to them as "insurrectionists" rather than "secessionists". He used the Battle of Fort Sumter to reinforce their narrative and press his already advantageous position for churning out propaganda. And that is what has afforded his war such positive press in the eyes of history, essentially making people think that his victory over the South qualifies as legal vindication for his reasoning simply because the North won the war.
Last edited by Pariah; 2016-07-15 9:01 AM.
