AMERICA - Civil War and Secession

"Celebrating Secession Without the Slaves" by KATHARINE Q. SEELYE, New York Times 11/29/2010

Excerpt

The Civil War, the most wrenching and bloody episode in American history, may not seem like much of a cause for celebration, especially in the South.

And yet, as the 150th anniversary of the four-year conflict gets under way, some groups in the old Confederacy are planning at least a certain amount of hoopla, chiefly around the glory days of secession, when 11 states declared their sovereignty under a banner of states’ rights and broke from the union.

This issue highlights a very long problem in the area of States Rights. Essentially the belief that the Constitution of the United States of America (aka Federal Constitution) does NOT override State Constitutions nor law.

Our Federal Constitution is the supreme law of our land, therefore DOES override State laws.

Also note Article IV, Section 3:

New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without Consent of the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of Congress.

The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.

In essence, a State cannot leave our union without consent of Congress.

The latest example that has its origin in State Rights, is the Tea Party movement to repeal of the 14th Amendment, particularly Section 1:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.

Which is an attempt to allow States to decide who is a citizen.

These people do not realize that the protection of THEIR rights, and human rights, is dependent on Federal Constitutional protections.

To prevent States from violating OUR rights, you NEED a supreme law of the land.