“The denial of the right to secede from a voluntary union is itself a primary justification for secession.” (Keep in mind too, while it was early European Americans who originally brought the solution of secession to the table they did not envision this movement to be one comprised of multicultural ideology regardless of today’s acceptable posturing within certain secessionist ranks. — Ed.)
Secession is a term and a concept that holds various and differing connotations to many individuals. It is an idea seldom thought about by most Americans in our day. Those that have some familiarity with the term generally associate it primarily with the War of 1861-1865. To the majority the concept of secession is a far away notion, little understood and even less thought of as a practical concept applicable to our current political arrangement. After all, most Americans believe that whatever secession was all about the issue must have been settled when the forces of the Union defeated the South.
This treatment of secession is one dimensional and flawed. Most Americans would agree that it is impossible, nay unjust, to settle matters of legal principle through the use of force. On the schoolyard we do not reward the bully that is stronger than his fellows by accepting that his point of view must be right just because he is stronger. We do not accept this in our system of civil law. A mere individual with a right and just cause can and often does prevail against large and powerful corporations on points of justice and legality. It seems un-American to simply accept that a question as powerful as the nature of the compact that holds the Union together might be answered in no other way than force.
The commonplace view of secession is also flawed in that the idea is generally applied only to the South and the Southern political mind. This treatment of secession denies the fact that our very independence from the British Crown was a result of secession. It also ignores the principles expressed in the founding documents and the words and thoughts of those that shaped our early history. Finally this line of thought also ignores the fact that secession was first proposed not in the South but in New England. Secession is as American as apple pie. The first American Patriots were secessionist and throughout our history men that understood the primary nature of the federal compact supported the principle of secession.
A Summary of the Nature and Role of Government
Man is by necessity a social creature. It has been thus since the dawn of man. We banded together in small hunter-gatherer groups in prehistoric times, we built tribal communities and over time developed the system of government that gave rise to the modern nation state. Government is the guarantor of greater peace, tranquility and health than might otherwise be obtainable. It serves to protect property and rights; its does not grant or create them.
John C. Calhoun in his Disquisition on Government viewed the institution of government as; “although intended to protect and preserve society, has itself a strong tendency to disorder and abuse its powers, as all experience and almost every page of history testify.”
What then are we to make of this fearful beast that we rely on so heavily. How might a people make government a servant of their needs and avoid becoming servants of the government itself? John Ponet in 1556 argued that the power of any ruler is not absolute but is constrained by natural law. Christopher Goodman in 1558 expanded on the ideas of Ponet and argued that The People were not required to obey unjust rulers in every circumstance. These thoughts and those of others combined to bring an end to the concept of the divine right of kings. Our tradition of political thought in the West is heavily influenced by the idea that no government retains absolute right to rule.