The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy (1855-1931), a Baptist minister and a Christian socialist.  It was intended to ingrain the "indivisible" aspect of the Union following the War of Northern Invasion into the heads of all Americans.   Mr. Bellamy was no constitutional scholar, but his pledge has survived.

You forgot the "under God" part of the pledge in your recitation.

For an authoritative Virginian perspective, I suggest St. George Tucker's  "View of the Constitution of the United States", written in 1803 when he became a judge of the Virginia Supreme Court and was a distinguished law professor at William & Mary.  He was a distinguished Virginia jurist who believed the Constitution clearly provided for both nullification and secession (and the father and grandfather of a number of other distinguished sons of the Commonwealth).    

As you may be aware, the Constitutional Law course at the US Military Academy used as its standard text  from 1830-1860 William Rawle's View of the Constitution of the United States of America.  Rawle's book taught secession as a right the states had under the Constitution, so it is no surprise that the graduates of the Academy had that view, including the sons of Virginia.

Obviously, any right such as that is only utilized with the greatest of care.  Hence, Virginia's initial reluctance to leave the Union which most Virginians undoubtedly loved and respected due to the prevailance of Virginians in its formation.  However, once Lincoln called for 75,000 troops to invade the South, Virginia, Kentucky and Arkansas all saw the tyranny that had taken over the Federal government, and left peacefully as they believed was their right (as did the other secession states before them).

The exit of several states never threatened to destroy anything.  It merely meant the US would have fewer states and less territory.  The destruction concept was something Lincoln and his crew created for a spin to support the war.

Most Virginians are the subjects of PC public education.  I doubt constitutional law is taught in the Virginia public schools.

JDS





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