Without a doubt the union of States is a contractual agreement between Independent States, granting specific powers to its agent, the Federal Government. Before the War of Northern Aggression of 1861, this was a moot point, as evidenced by the manifold political treatises presented to the public, via newspaper essays, known as the Federalist Papers, by the Founding Fathers of the Republic. One such thesis proclaimed that under the proposed Constitution, the Union would "still be, in fact and theory, an association of States, or a Confederacy". Another essay stated that "each State, in ratifying the Constitution, is considered as a Sovereign body, Independent of all others, and only to be bound by its voluntary act".
As "Free and Independent States", the members of the Union reserve the right to direct the affairs of their citizenry in their own best interest without interference by the Federal Government. In the event that the Congress of the United States should overstep its jurisdiction, the Sovereign States reserve the right unto themselves to declare those legislative measures null and void within the boundaries of their respective States. This constitutional theory was first implemented by the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, respectively, to nullify the First Amendment violations of the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, themselves found to be unconstitutional.
The principal of nullification maintains that the decision of whether the national government, as agent of the States, is acting in accordance with the terms of the Constitutional Compact, belongs to the States alone. Ironically, nullification was introduced by Southron delegates James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun, in an effort to maintain the Union. however, in 1833, the United States brought the issue of nullification and State's Rights to a head when the Congress of the United States passed the Force Bill authorising President Andrew Jackson to use military might to enforce congressional decisions. The threat of armed invasion brought the radical idea of secession to the forefront of American political debate.
According to the Treaty of Paris of 1783, the king, George III of Great Britain had proclaimed the Colonies to be Sovereign States and recognised the autority of the Articles of Confederation. However, this "perpetual union" was dissolved on June 21,1788, when the nine ratifying States seceded from the Confederacyand each in turn resolved to apply for admission to the Union under the new constitution, reserving the right to repeal their resolutions of ratification. The reserved right of secession is evident in the resolutions of Virginia and New York. The delegates of Virginia made known that " the powers granted under the Constitution...may be resumed by them." New York, likewise, declared that " the powers of government may be reassumed by the People whenever it shall become necessary."
It is my assertion that nullification, though a right and therefore constitutionally sound, cannot be honourably pursued. Upon becoming a member of a contractual union, it is the obligation of the State to abide by such decisions found to be in the best interests of said union. However, a contract, being reciprocal in nature, should the Independent States and the people thereof feel that their Constitutional Rights have been infringed upon by the common agent, the Federal Government, and all compensatory actions having been exhausted, it is the responsibility of the State Government, as protector of the Rights of its Citizenry, to secede from the Union and preserve its sovereign status as originator of Federal Power, retaining and resuming those powers being abused.
That it is the right of the State to peacefully withdraw from the Union without resistance was expressed by the Chicago Convention in 1860, upon nominating Abraham Lincoln as the Republican candidate for President of the United States, stating by resolution that "we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes." Later, in 1862, the Supreme Court of the United States filed an opinion stating that "under the Constitution, neither the President, nor Congress, has the right to make war upon a Sovereign State, or its peoples" and " knew of nothing to prevent a State from lawfully seceding."
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